Trailer
13 min

Part 1

Workflow introduction, console preferences, analog gear, plug-ins, monitoring, rough mix analysis
12 min

Part 2

Final vs. rough mix contrast, vocal EQ and compression, hardware and software effect chains
11 min

Part 3

Drums and bass focus, line amp coloration, parallel compression, subtractive room EQ
14 min

Part 4

VCA system, static balance, mix buss chain, dynamic range, gain staging, stem prints, collaboration

Mixing

Lazarus

David Bowie

Tom Elmhirst

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Song : Lazarus

Duration:00 min / 51 min Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese

Description

Enter the world of prolific mix engineer Tom Elmhirst as he dives into the multi-track session of ‘Lazarus’ – a song from David Bowie’s Grammy-winning final album, ‘Blackstar’. At Electric Lady studios in New York, Elmhirst describes the collaboration with Bowie and his producer Tony Visconti, detailing the entire journey from rough to final mix. Learn about his gain staging principles, console layout, monitoring environment, ergonomic VCA usage, effects routing, and a hybrid workflow that comprises a variety of processing from high-end outboard gear to stock Pro Tools plug-ins.

Show more

Trailer
13 min

Part 1

Workflow introduction, console preferences, analog gear, plug-ins, monitoring, rough mix analysis
12 min

Part 2

Final vs. rough mix contrast, vocal EQ and compression, hardware and software effect chains
11 min

Part 3

Drums and bass focus, line amp coloration, parallel compression, subtractive room EQ
14 min

Part 4

VCA system, static balance, mix buss chain, dynamic range, gain staging, stem prints, collaboration

Comments

(20)

Gregory Imler April 22, 2024 at 8:22 PM

Great video! I was wondering if anyone could clarify the setup Tom is using for the lead vocal and the sends. Around the 6-minute mark he mentions having the lead vocal come back on three faders that are used as "sends." Does he basically have a mult of the lead vocal coming back on those three channels and from there he's doing specific EQ and sending to a specific effect?
Thilo Zirr May 19, 2024 at 4:41 PM

That's exactly how I understand his explanation. You can also check out the Adele video for more details on this technique. The cool thing is, you can send to a combination of multiple effects from each of the three faders and then quickly change the verb/delay landscape just by grabbing the large faders. I'm actually going to try this out in the box on my next mix. Sounds like a great workflow that goes in the direction of using the console as an instrument...
EMMANUEL GRACIAN HIDALGO January 26, 2024 at 7:39 AM

Curve Bender -> Manley Vari Mu -> HEDD = MAGIC
Jesus Flores lobato October 20, 2022 at 3:27 AM

TOM THE LEGEND
Ricardo Wheelock October 20, 2022 at 1:13 AM

I know Tom in person, he is the coolest cat in the business and a lovely human being
Alexandre Sirghi July 3, 2022 at 3:53 PM

Wooooooow ! that was crazy ! Tom is the best !
Vincent Rauhe January 14, 2022 at 2:11 AM

Legendary work! Massively thankfull for the opportunity to learn from this, Tom is an outstanding mixer! I'm very curious about the echoboy on the send to the 480L.. it was completely on dry now somehow. And is the default offset of left and right still there in that echoboy?
Jason Mackay May 18, 2021 at 9:08 AM

Awesome. Thank you so much for putting this together, loved it!
Michael Miltersen June 9, 2020 at 10:03 PM

One of the best so far. I love that he goes thru all his settings.
Dan Smith April 26, 2020 at 8:21 PM

It's soooo good, I love Tom, but it's way too short. You can tell there was so much more and it was heavily edited out. MWTM, this should have been 2hrs so he could have let us hear more and gone deeper into it!
Jiali Chen October 18, 2023 at 8:55 AM

This comment has been deleted.

Jiali Chen October 18, 2023 at 8:55 AM

This comment has been deleted.

Jiali Chen October 18, 2023 at 8:55 AM

Agree！！！
Michel Dagenais February 18, 2020 at 11:15 PM

Very inspiring. Thanks !!
Lauren Passarelli November 16, 2019 at 7:21 PM

I love Tom's musical taste, laid back presentation, and detailed info., he gives us super cool videos.
PETER TEILLER April 1, 2020 at 5:30 PM

Totally agree!
Denis Boucher June 6, 2019 at 10:40 PM

Hi Tom. Do you know how the recording engineers catched this drum sound and which mics (snare and kick) they choose for? Thanks.
Tony Eckenrode April 25, 2019 at 2:21 PM

Brilliant as always from Tom! Good perspective on checking gain staging throughout the mix and keeping dynamics at a mix buss level. I’m blown away at this guy’s creativity everytime I watch him discuss a mix. Well done MWTM!
Pablo Cano April 23, 2019 at 11:31 PM

Oh yes, please add spanish subtitles! Love this man! Love this artist! Love MWTM :)
Oscar Sanchez April 25, 2019 at 2:45 PM

They definitely should add spanish substitles! Is a great video regardless! Love to see you on here sensei!

About Tom Elmhirst

Mixing over the last twenty years, Tom Elmhirst has accumulated a long list of chart-topping tracks working with the likes of Adele, Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, Frank Ocean, Florence & The Machine, Mark Ronson, U2, Peter Gabriel, Travis Scott, Daniel Caesar, Lil Yachty and many more. The list emphasizes Elmhirst’s position as one of the world’s leading mixers, something also reflected in his 17 Grammy Award wins. Drawing upon his early experiences at SARM in the UK and his work with Trevor Horn,...

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