Looking for places to download free multitrack files?
Are you bored with the ones you have, or
do you fancy trying your hand with some different styles of music?
Whatever you need them for I'm going
to offer my top picks for the best multi-track download websites.
Hi, I'm Sara Carter from simply mixing .com, where each week I bring you simple,
practical advice to help you get better at mixing.
And in this video I'm going to list
my favourite multitrack resources where you can download hundreds of multitrack
files to build up your mixing skills or to showcase your talents to prospective
clients and get your home studio business started.
Now, be sure to stick around until the end, because after I've shared
with you the best free resources, I'm going to share with you
my recommendations for the best paid resources that not only offer you
multitrack files, but also great tuition and the best support.
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Now, first things first, what are multitracks?
I just want to ensure that we know exactly
what we're referring to when we say "multitracks".
To put it simply, multitracks are the individual recorded
elements of a song that can be stereo or mono files of a recording session.
So, in a rock session,
this would be all the individual drum shells and the cymbals,
the bass DI and mic, each guitar and each vocal track.
It's important to note that multitracks differ from stems.
I hear the term stems being used all
the time to refer to multi tracks and that's just wrong.
Stems are stereo bounces of pre-mixed instrument groups.
So for example, a drum stem would be the stereo track of the entire kit.
The guitar stem would be a mix down of all the guitars.
Stems are great for consolidating instrument groups like drums or the bass
or all the guitars in large sessions to make it easier to manage.
But they're not so great to use to practice our mixing skills.
This is because a mix engineer has already committed to the stem all their signal
processing, like their EQ choices, dynamics and the effects.
And that leaves us with not much left to do other than balance the levels.
So now we're both on the same page.
Let's get to it.
The first site to go to for free multitracks is called
Cambridge Music Technology, and it was started by a guy called Mike Senior.
Now, he wrote a book.
He's written two books, actually,
but he wrote this one called Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio.
You get it.
This site is like an additional resource to the book.
Mike's been part of the well-known Sound on Sound magazine team for many years
and has written a couple of books, and this sister site has got hundreds
of multitrack files from lots of different genres of music.
So you can take your pick.
You get a wide variety of recording qualities here as well.
You get tracks that have been recorded
in your typical small home studio, so smaller spaces and cheaper mics.
And then you get tracks that have been recorded in larger facilities.
So it's a real mixed bag and great material to use for training.
My next recommendation is the Telefunken Live From The Lab website.
Telefunken are a well-established microphone manufacturer and it runs
recording sessions only using Telefunken mics.
Each session is tracked live and the multi tracks are made available for free.
And there's a wide range of genres again
to download from, much like Mike Senior's site
but the difference here is that most of these sessions are recorded
with the band or musicians all playing live together.
So you get to deal with problems that come along with any live recording.
So, typically that would be mic bleed,
which is no bad thing, it's a great skill to learn how to deal with.
The recordings are all fantastically
recorded, no surprise there and they are a joy to mix.
So they are my recommendations for getting hold of the best free multitracks
and the links to the websites i've just mentioned can be found in the description
below where you'll be able to access literally hundreds of multitracks to sink
your teeth into and really dive deep and immerse yourself in all kinds
of mixing styles that will challenge you and keep you busy for ages.
Now, it's worth pointing out that the free
resources here are strictly for personal or educational use and not for your resume
unless you can somehow get express permission to use them.
Now, you've got a good idea of how to get hold of some great free multitracks.
Here are my top paid sites to visit to check out their multi-track offerings.
These are sites that I've personally used and I highly recommend you try them out.
If you're looking for multitracks
to use on your resume, then these are where you'll find them.
So the first is the marvelous Warren Huart
and his website and YouTube channel Produce Like a Pro.
Now, Warren is the real deal.
He's a multi platinum producer who has
heaps of free recording and mixing tutorials on his YouTube channel,
which has a massive following and if you visit his site, you can download free
multitracks, some free samples and a couple of exclusive mixing tutorials.
However, by joining the Produce Like a Pro Academy,
you get a full set of muti tracks every month to mix,
Warren's mix breakdown video and access
to an absolutely amazing community who are incredibly supportive and helpful.
The best thing about being a member are
the Friday feedback sessions where Warren listens to your mix live and then gives
you direct feedback, which I think is absolutely invaluable.
The next paid website I recommend is
Dueling Mixes by Graham Cochrane and Joe Gilder.
Both Joe and Graham are well known
on YouTube for their mixing tutorials, and this membership site pits them against
each other to mix the same song with very different results.
And you, as a member, also get to mix the same song and then
watch how Joe and Graham approached their particular version of the mix.
Members vote on their favorite mix.
They win prizes and have a very supportive online community.
You get access to the group's back
catalogue of notes tracks, which is absolutely massive.
My third pick is puremix.net. P uremix is a paid membership site that has
mixing and recording tutorials from loads of Big-Name producers and mixers
people like Andrew Scheps, Greg Wells, Chris Lord-Alge, as well as the site's
founder member and Grammy Award winning producer Fab Dupont.
Now, I love this site and I love Fab's unique and witty teaching style,
and I personally love to watch and learn from the mixing greats.
Now, this site does offer multi tracks, but they're usually quite short,
quite small section of the song, particularly because the songs tend to be
from major artists, but they're still great use of practice.
They occasionally have mix competitions where you can win some awesome prizes.
Personally, I just love watching the mix videos.
It's like you're sitting in on a session with some of the biggest names
in the business and the insights, I find them to be really inspiring.
So I hope you like this video.
And if there are any multi-track sites out
there that I've missed and you like to share them with the YouTube community,
then pop them in the comments below this video.
Finally, don't forget to click the button on screen now to subscribe to the channel
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That's it for today. See you next time.