In this short video demonstration, mix engineer and producer Michael James shows how harmonics can be applied subtly to various parts of a mix—such as a vocal, or the bass and drums stem, or across the whole stereo mix—to add a sparkle that makes it come alive. James uses the Dangerous Music 2-BUS+ summing amp’s built-in “Harmonics” analog processor effect for the demo on his mix for the song “Seasons” by artist Hans York.

“I have this really cool track, the balances are good, but I’m looking for a little more magic, a little sparkle. I think harmonics is going to be it. We’ll try it on the full mix, bass and drums sub-mix, and the vocals. You can judge for yourself what you think of it. I’ll let you know what I think of it because that’s what I do: It sounds amazing to me!” says James in the video.

Michael James has mixed Gold, Platinum and #1 records for a wide range of musical artists including New Radicals, Hole, Far, L7, Robben Ford, Kalimba, Edwin McCain, Maia Sharp, A.J. Croce, Chicago, Jawbreaker, and Mario Guerrero, and many more. Michael’s break as an artist came in 1983 with KROQ spinning his first single. During his tenure as staff producer and chief engineer at Radio Tokyo Studios in Venice, CA from 1986-90, he recorded artists such as Jane’s Addiction, Ray Manzarek (The Doors), John Lang (#1 songwriter of “Broken Wings” and “Kyrie”) and Richard Page (Mr. Mister). By 1994, Michael was head of A&R and Producer at Warner/Discovery. Today, Michael helms Alternator Records and IndieProMix. He continues to mix records while promoting music education via special events, master classes and mentoring.

For more information on Michael James visit: http://michaeljamesproducer.com and his blog at https://michaeljamesproducer.wordpres…

More on Dangerous Music products at http://dangerousmusic.com/

No more articles