Mix masterclass with Jon Musgrave

This clever feature can be indispensable when you’re mixing, and a great companion to submixing

Jon Musgrave

Jon is a London-based platinum award winning mixer, producer, composer and club remixer with a diverse CV that spans dance, pop, rock and music for media. He’s also a long term contributor to Computer Music. Jon usually handles final mixdowns, which is why we’ve got him to share some of his pearls of mixing wisdom here

VCA grouping is a powerful feature that can be just what you need when you’re mixing, but what are its benefits and how do we use it? That’s what we’ll be tackling in this masterclass today.

We usually associate VCAs with synths, where the voltage-controlled amplifier/ attenuator (VCA) is a key component of the output stage. So how did this name end up being used for a grouping tool? For that we need to go back to analogue mixing desks and more specifically, desks that included fader level automation. By incorporating a VCA into the channel output stage it became possible to have a controlled and thus automated fader level, albeit one where the fader didn’t move. Desk designers then added VCA group faders, and by the flick of a switch you could then control the level, mute and solo of multiple faders.