Session Setup, Mix Bus & Drums

Fab starts with his setup in the Inspiration Room and the Ableton settings that will save you headaches: turn off auto-warp for long samples, and hold Command when you drag in stems. He loads the rough mix into MixUp so he can A/B against the producer's vision. Then he sets up his stage on the mix bus with Process.Audio Decibel, a gently set Elevate limiter and Acustica Cream 3 as bus compression.

Next he names, colors and groups every track in real time. Then the drums: Pro-Q 4 in natural phase to clean up the kick, and a parallel UADx Fatso return (a trick from Vance Powell). Process.Audio Sugar adds edge. A dynamic EQ cut at 50–60 Hz fixes the clash between the kick and the boom, and Spicerack gives the kick more attitude.