CHRIS CLAYTON
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT TASKS
Below is a list of common tasks asked of a production assistant. Details as to how each job needs to be accomplished is written out below. If you ever have questions please do not hesitate to ask. Cell: 972.898.2707. Thank you for your help!
VOCAL EDITING
Below is a list of things needed to be accomplished for each vocal track (lead, backgrounds, harmonies, etc.)
• Tuning - utilizing Melodyne and/or Autotune. Natural, inaudible tuning.
• Timing - working towards pocketed vocals that still feel natural and human feeling against the track.
• Cleaning up any loud breaths, pops, mouth noises and cross-fades.
• I will include my final comp'd takes and all the takes within the playlist folders in case you need to grab a word or phrase to make something edit or tune better.
• Consolidate all vocal files into singular individual clips.
• Name the edited vocal tracks in a way I know they are the edited takes.
DRUMS and Track ediTing
Below is a list of things needed to be accomplished for track editing (drums, guitars, keys, etc.)
• Drums - work towards tight, pockets drums that unless otherwise stated are locked to the tempo grid. Feel free to create trigger tracks for kick and snare as well. Also, clean up punches and consolidates drum tracks into singular individual clips. Name the edited tracks in a way I know they are the edited takes.
• All other instruments - work towards tightening up performances so that all tracks are locked together yet still natural and human. Also, clean up punches and consolidate all tracks into singular individual clips. Name the edited tracks in a way I know they are the edited takes.
MIX PREP (SENDING TO MIX ENGINEER)
Below is a list of things needed to be accomplished when sending the Pro Tools session to an outside mix engineer.
• I will send you a Pro Tools session labeled "SONG TITLE HERE mix". You will work off this session to clean and prep the tracks.
• Clean up all punches, crossfades, fades & consolidate into singular individual clips. All the clips should start from zero and be the same length.
• Clean up all track names removing and takes numbers, etc charactes, etc. (ie., Piano.05 should be Piano. Pad3.cm should be Pad3).
• Double check that all tracks are organized and color coded correctly. I am usually pretty good about doing this but double check me.
• Leave all plugins and faders where they are at in the session. I will print all VST's and plugins I am using for a specific effect prior to sending to you. Unless told otherwise I will include a rough mix in the session as well for the mix engineer to reference.
• Delete any unused audio from the session to make the PT session smaller. If you need help understanding how to do this then I can show you.
• Close session, zip the entire PT folder, upload to shared Dropbox and email link to the mix engineer with me copied on the email.
MIX PREP (SONGS I AM MIXING)
Below is a list of things needed to be accomplished when artists, churches or other producers send me Pro Tools sessions or wav files of a song(s) for me to mix.
HERE IS MY MIX TEMPLATE. DOWNLOAD LINK BELOW:
PRO TOOLS SESSION
• Download Pro Tools session and do a 'Save Session As' and label it "SONG TITLE HERE mix".
• Import my mix template and route all the audio into the appropriate busses and places tracks into appropriate routing folders. This includes all sends for snare, vocals, etc. and placing send faders at zero. Notes are the mix template. Finally, prep kick and snare Trigger tracks by copying Snare Top and Kick In audio into their respective Trigger tracks (located in the Drums folder within my mix template.
• Route all reverbs and delays within the template to appropriate tracks (snare, vocals, etc.)
• Organize all tracks into this order from left to right within the PT session. Drums, loops, percussion, bass (both bass guitars and synth/sub basses, electric guitars (rhythm and leads have separate folders), acoustic guitars (and other utility instruments like mandolins, dobros, etc), keys, strings, horns, lead vocals, bgvs, gangs/choirs). Color code all the tracks and audio clips the same color as the folder they are to be routed to. Place the rough mix from the artist/producer at the very far right of the session after the MASTER fader.
• Clean up all track label names. Just need names clearly identifiable. (ie., 01 Kick Out.bip should be Kick Out, Electric Guitar Sparkle should be EG Sparkle).
• Leave all faders and plugins where they are as they came in with the session.
• Close session, zip the entire PT folder, upload to shared Dropbox.
IMPORTED WAV FILES
• Download wav files from link from artist/producer.
• Identify what bit depth and sample rate the wav files are and create the PT session with that same bit depth and sample rate (ie., 48k 24 bit).
• Import all files into Pro Tools. Make sure true mono files are imported as mono and not "false stereo". A great tool is MonoMate
• Import my mix template and route all the audio into the appropriate busses and places tracks into appropriate routing folders. This includes all sends for snare, vocals, etc. and placing send faders at zero. Notes are the mix template. Finally, prep kick and snare Trigger tracks by copying Snare Top and Kick In audio into their respective Trigger tracks (located in the Drums folder within my mix template.
• Organize all tracks into this order from left to right within the PT session. Drums, loops, percussion, bass (both bass guitars and synth/sub basses, electric guitars (rhythm and leads have separate folders), acoustic guitars (and other utility instruments like mandolins, dobros, etc), keys, strings, horns, lead vocals, bgvs, gangs/choirs). Color code all the tracks and audio clips the same color as the folder they are to be routed to. Place the rough mix from the artist/producer at the very far right of the session after the MASTER fader.
• Clean up all track label names. Just need names clearly identifiable. (ie., 01 Kick Out.bip should be Kick Out, Electric Guitar Sparkle should be EG Sparkle).
• Pull all audio faders all the way down. Leave folder fader, subgroup faders and master fader at zero from the template.
• Close session, zip the entire PT folder, upload to shared Dropbox.
STEM PRINTING & MIX VERSIONS
Below is a list of things needed to be accomplished for stereo stem printing and mix versions for songs I mix.
MIX VERSIONS - Stereo wav files printed at the same sample rate as the Pro Tools session.
• FINAL MIX - full mix that was sent to mastering.
• TV mix - mute lead vocal and any melody doubles/stacks - leave BGVS in the mix)
• INST MIX - mute all vocals including lead vocals, doubles/stacks, bgvs and harmonies, gang vocals/choirs - band/instruments only)
STEMS - start 2 bars out from the downbeat the intro of the song. Print at 16bit, 44.1k stereo wav files.
• Drums - full drum kit with any drum reverbs or fx.
• Loops - all drum loops
• Percussion - all percussion elements (shakers, tambos, swells, impacts, hits, etc.)
• Bass Guitar - clean and amp/dirty tracks combined into one stem
• Electric Guitars - use your best judgement here as parts can be different per song. Group rhythm guitars into 1-2 stems, ambient guitars into a stems, and break out lead guitars into stems as seen fit.
• Acoustic Guitars - use your best judgement here as parts can be different per song. Doubled parts can be grouped into stem.
• Pianos - a stem of the main piano track and then addtionals stems for other piano parts. Include reverbs, delays, fx
• Pads - all pads into one stems
• Synths - all lead keys, arps, etc into one stems unless otherwise told.
• Organs/Rhodes/misc keys - print as seen fit.
• Strings, horns, etc - print as seen fit. Include reverbs, delays, fx
• Lead vocal(s) - 1 stems for the lead vocal(s), 1 for any doubles or stacks. Include reverbs, delays, fx
• BGVS/Gangs/Choir - print as seen fit but print gangs/choir as its own stem. Include reverbs, delays, fx
Place stems in a folder labeled as SONG NAME_stems_bpm of song. Place mix versions in a different folder labeled with SONG NAME_mixversions. Place both stems and mix version folders in a folder with the shared Client Files Dropbox folder labrled as SONG NAME_ARTIST NAME ASSETS.