We spent a day at Puzzle Factory Sound Studios in London with producer and mixer Dax Liniere to break down his mix of “Sunshine Child” by Cavalcade. The track moves from intimate verses to a soaring final chorus, and Dax’s approach balances vibe, punch, and control. You can follow along with his routing and plugin choices below, then grab the free multitracks to try your own mix.
Get the free multitracks: https://producelikeapro.lpages.co/cavalcade-sunshine-child-form/
The master bus sets the tone
Dax treats the mix bus like a console and tape path. A simple gain trim feeds the original UA SSL G Bus Compressor for a touch of glue. Slate VTM and u-he Satin provide two flavours of tape, which stack for density and midrange cohesion. Klanghelm SDRR adds a tasteful bus colour. A light mastering chain sits post mix for comparison only. Gentle EQ lift, a hint of parallel compression from C2, limiting via Pro-L in Modern, and Ozone for dither. With and without is not night and day, which is the point. The mix should carry itself.
Drums that breathe and punch
Philosophy. Dax builds depth with many short rooms and several delays. Reverb send management is smart. To keep drum rooms from filling up with kick bloom, he sends the kick to the same room with inverted polarity. That cancels the kick in the room return without micromanaging sends on every other drum.
Kick. An inside mic does the heavy lifting with bold low lift and click control. A dedicated attack path routes highs above about 1.5 kHz into Airwindows Dyno for transient bite, while lows pass untouched. A dynamic low shelf adds a brief thump only when the beater hits.
Snare. Fix the drum first, sample second. Narrow notches remove rings on top and bottom. Sonnox Drum Gate produces a super short trigger spike, which feeds Slate Trigger. The sample blend is that final 10 percent.
Toms. Rather than hard gates, Dax uses FabFilter Pro-MB keyed to each tom’s fundamental to tame sustain while keeping the kit alive. PSP MixSaturator adds body. Low end stays centred using a pan into a width filter that recentres sub-bass, so you get stereo movement without smeared lows.
Overheads and crush. EQ trims kick spill, u-he Satin adds tape smoothness, Variety of Sound Density provides colour. A crush path hits the Chandler Zener Limiter and mid focus processing for attitude.
Parallel compression. Four flavours ride in and out with automation. A vintage 2254 style path, another gritty path with highs filtered, 112dB Big Blue Compressor for smack, and a quirky custom SynthMaker unit for pump. Blended, they deliver weight without flattening dynamics.
Bass that locks with the kick
The main tone is DI shaped with tape, mojo, and EQ, with a gritty amp layer for the bridge and outro. Airwindows Mojo adds harmonics, Voxengo Marquis Compressor evens performance peaks, and Pro-Q sculpts midrange to sit with guitars and voice. A tiny side-chain dip from the kick, around half a dB, gives the low end a breath of space and helps glue the pair.
Guitars in layers, not walls
Clean intro. A Sennheiser MD 9118 and an R77 ribbon blend for sparkle and body. Light noise reduction keeps exposed parts tidy. Royal Compressor for touch control, tape via Satin, and focused EQ for intimacy. EchoBoy runs two rhythmic taps in parallel. One is set by milliseconds for a slightly offset feel.
Distorted beds. Transient designers up front feed an amp chain built around a Bogner Ecstasy model, Ignite Amps tube power amp, and Framus V30 impulse responses. Density rounds highs and thickens lows. TDR Molot brings colourful grab. Soothe softens abrasive build-ups. Some parts are doubled through a second pedal chain so the composite feels alive rather than cloned.
Lead textures. Valhalla ÜberMod supplies an ensemble shimmer. Compression is firm so the melody sits steady. Eventide H910 widens subtly. A Reaper send-EQ trick shapes only what hits the delays and wideners, so the dry core stays focused.
Keys, synth, and ear candy
A piano arrives in the first chorus with filtered intimacy that opens as the hook lands. A late-arriving Omnisphere bass synth enters for the final build, top rolled off and hit with tape. Field recordings of Tokyo trains tie back to the lyric and create a cinematic exit.
Vocals that carry the song
Verse chain. 1176 to catch peaks into LA-2A for level, De-essing, tape for cohesion, selective resonance control, and a gentle Pultec top lift. The aim is honest presence without harshness.
Chorus chain. More saturation and heavier 1176 work into Klanghelm MJUC for extra weight. u-he Presswerk raises tail energy so phrase ends do not vanish. Soothe trims hiss and edge. Decapitator adds grit, then final EQ and a polish stage to lock it in place.
Stacks and drama. Backing vocals see lighter compression and low-mid cleanup, with Pro-L used as a pin to stabilise stacks. Whisper and scream layers share the lane, with automated compressor settings that suit each texture. A soaring ad-lib at the end floats on PrimalTap and a bright lift.
Reverb and delay as arrangement
There are many rooms and a family of delays, each with a job, and automation rides them as if they were parts in the band. Short rooms make small sources feel physical. Longer throws appear only where a lyric or fill needs emphasis. That is also why the inverted kick send trick is so powerful. Space stays musical, not muddy.
Takeaways you can try today
- Tape twice. A tape plugin up front and another on the bus can mimic record to tape and mix to tape.
- Attack split. Route only the high band of a kick into a transient tool, leave lows alone.
- Centre the lows. Pan with a mono-lows stage after, so body stays central while attack moves.
- Parallel variety. Blend several compressors for tone, then automate their levels by section.
- Shape the send, not the source. EQ the feed into delays and wideners to keep the dry signal honest.
- Samples as polish. Fix the drum, then layer a sample for the last 10 percent.
Download the multitracks and mix it yourself
We are giving away the “Sunshine Child” multitracks so you can explore Dax’s decisions and test your own. Try the routing ideas, swap the tape order, build your own parallel set, and see how far you can push the chorus vocal saturation while keeping clarity.
Get the free multitracks: https://producelikeapro.lpages.co/cavalcade-sunshine-child-form/