Mixing stems on a 16 channel PM1000 console

[Mklein]

Hey everyone,

I recently got my hands on a PM1000 16 channel console (thanks to The Bastille Studio in DC), and while I intend to use it as a tracking sidecar in the long run, I have a few mix projects right now I'd like to mix out on. I guess a little background info about my workflow and the projects might help.

audio in ProTools 7.4 through a Digi 002r with lightpipe. Mixing down to an Otari mx5050 1/4" deck. Only really using plugins for subtractive EQ. Outboard dynamics, EQ, and time-bases stuff. Music is basic guitar-centric indie rock, so I'll prob mix out as follows:

1 -- Kick
2 -- Snare
3/4 Drums (toms, overheads, room)
5 -- Bass
6/7 Guitars
8 -- Vocals
9/10 Misc
11/12 reverb return

So, those of you that have mixed on a PM1000, what are your thoughts? Do you dump everything to stereo outputs, or do you throw things into all 4 busses and mix them?

Both echo sends are mono. I'd probably use both of them together for a stereo reverb, and return that reverb on my spare channels.

If anyone has any thoughts/tips/tricks/ideas, let me know!

[Dubious]

I don't have a pm1000 but i do all my mixing on a 16 channel board and that's a very similar approach to how i do things.

I use my DAW to control all the efx sends though.. channels 13/14 get stereo reverb, channel 15 has an analog delay on it for dub stuff and slap back and channel 16 gets a mono spring reverb.

[@?,*???&?]

Mixing stems isn't really mixing.

[losthighway]

I think what is implied is summing. For those in the digital world that like a slightly more analog approach. And since it is the end of a mix process and decisions are being made, it's still kinda mixing.

[Mklein]

Mixing stems isn't really mixing.

What kind of cocksucker comment is that? Did you read the post? What I'm talking about is %100 mixing. Have anything useful to add to the discussion?

[The Scum]

Well, I'm mixing on a PM1000.

Not summing stems...actually mixing.

It's a whole different beast than most consoles. Consider the following:

• -the faders are only really sensitive at the top of the throw.
  -The panpots only really work from about 11:00 to 1:00.
  -The EQs aren't all that wonderful. If the toms, vox and guitars weren't tracked nicely, these EQs aren't going to save you.
  -There aren't any channel inserts.
  -There's no solo or mute facility.
  -There's crosstalk in all directions.
  -There is no "unity gain" config unless you calibrate it yourself.
  -The highs and lows are soft, by design. Flat bandwidth is something like 80 - 15k Hz.

I find than an external monitor controller is essential. Confidence monitoring is a nececcity. Referencing early SST, Sabbath, Stooges, LZII and VHII helps keep me in the ballpark for the lower bandwidth.

But there are some good things:

• -It's so simple that you really know when a mix is coming together, because you actually start to hear it gel.
  -Gain staging is critical, and can impart very different sound.
  • -the channel trim actually puts resistors in series with the input transformer in the bottom settings. If you want to clobber that transformer, use the -20 setting.
    -Which means that you'll need to back the fader way down.
    -An attenuator after the output can be useful, so you can slam the outputs, then turn them back down to reasonable levels.
    -You'll be able to hear when you're pushing too hard - trust your ears, not the meters - mine sounds great with the needles buried.
    -Alternately, back things off and they clean up...but beware the noise floor.
  -The hipass filters are very useful.
  -With some outside tweaking, you can get one pair of busses into the other - subgroup into stereo kinda routing. It requires the submix in jacks. And more attenuators.
  -I usually do a mono-out/stereo-return reverb, and a mono delay on the other send.
  -With a piece of tape or a toothpick, you can use the cue-to-headphone as an additional (noisy, distorted) send.

[jnTracks]

Mixing stems isn't really mixing.

What kind of cocksucker comment is that? Did you read the post? What I'm talking about is %100 mixing. Have anything useful to add to the discussion?

lol

[honkyjonk]

Everything Scum said +1

This biggest problem for me was the eq's. I ended up selling mine because I thought they're almost unusable, even modified. The low eq and high pass filter are nice though.

Sometimes I long for it though. It sounded huge. It's probably great for someone who's used to tweaking eq/soloing/muting in the box.

[drumsound]

Mixing stems isn't really mixing.

What kind of cocksucker comment is that? Did you read the post? What I'm talking about is %100 mixing. Have anything useful to add to the discussion?

I was gonna say asshole, but cocksucker works.

[weatherbox]

Former owner here. I usually worked with it pretty closely to how you'd laid it out. First thing was set levels on the group out faders with oscillator as they don't really run truly parallel of one another in terms of fader position. I'd run inserts out of PT to get outboard on individual channels before they summed into the board, and usually went kick/snare on one, parallel compression and mono room/shoulder mic/etc on two, rest of kit on three and four, bass five, lead vox six, guitars seven and eight, 9 and 10 keys/etc. 11-16 depended on what channels felt like working that day - usually put a lead guitar somewhere, some backing vocals, whatever I could get out of it at the time. Generally ran groups one and two as bass and drums into an API 2500 and groups three and four as everything else into a Drawmer 1968, both feeding stereo auxes in PT. This enabled easy flow alongside things like reverb returns/small backing vocals/etc that didn't get out of the computer; I don't think I ever put the PM1k echo returns into my patchbay in fact. Alternately use 1/2 as your master, 3/4 for parallel (or use the monitor section for that.)