Software:

Cubase 7
UAD Plugins
SKnote Plugins
Slate Digital VCC + FG-X
Pro Audio DSP DSM2
SKnote Plugins

Hardware:

RME Fireface 800
Universal Audio LA 610
Dynacord DRS78


According to the style of the song I wanted to keep it as organic and 'natural' as possible. There are plenty FX going on but I didn't feel as if one of them should stick out, they're mixed in sparingly just to support the mood. 

Vocals ran through a UA LA 610 with pretty hot settings on the input stage and not so subtle compression settings, providing a parallel voc channel. Both tracks have an instance of SKnote's Strip2. I've added some delay from an old Dynacord DRS78 (a pretty lo-fi thing). 

The guitar has some reverb added from the same device, panned a little with the original guitar track this creates a nice width without getting excessive. The given tone of the guitar is preserved, there's not even an EQ. Instead it get's a little 'substance' from UA's Precision Maximizer, Studer A800 & Slate's VCC.

Bass runs through SKnote Strip2 and gets a touch of UA 1176LN, Rev. E, A 800 & Pultec Pro.

Drums were more tricky. Beside instances of VCC on each channel and bus I've used different methods to cope with the challenge of the loud hihat bleed on the snare track and the low level toms in the overheads. Doubled up the OH track to treat one more or less as 'cymbals' while the second one should provide more of the toms, utilizing the M/S ability of UA's Fairchild plugin and a fair amount of equalization. Pro Audio DSP's DSM2 and SKnote's Strip2 helped working out the loud hihat. Drum bus: UAD Neve 33609 adds a little 'glue', Massive Passive M/S'd with Voxengo MSED (encode/decode) shapes the tone.

As send FX I've used the brand new UA OWS, EMT 250, Cooper Time Cube & Cubase' Reverence to add some space. A Dimension D is used for the guitar. UAD RS-1 & RE-201 and a simple tapable Line6 PodFarm delay provide all delays. All of them were used sparingly as mentioned above.

VCC Mix Buss, UA's Ampex ATR-102 and a touch of M/S EQing by Massive Passive work on the master bus. No tradtional compression or limiting happens.


.marQs.