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Where Do Instruments Sit In The Mix?


Player99

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It's completely up to you, there are no rules except ones you impose on yourself. If you listen to Radiohead's early albums they conform to the 'thom yorke's head' formula; thom's guitar & vocals, and the drums and bass are centered, with whatever johnny's doing panned left and whatever ed's doing panned right. It's a nice and simple way of quickly getting a mix that approximates the live sound.

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I am in the same boat, a giant confusing boat. There is a pretty big difference between scooping speaker blowing peaks on off-the-cuff [read as noise in my case] {censored} one records and actually trying to make a good mix with good practices and such. Listen to your favorite records and analyze what is really happening then try to emulate it. A-B listening is very revealing on stereo recordings.

 

I suck royally but have gotten a better understanding of the way this stuff works with critical listening.

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Usually, I do it this way:

 

Bass Center

Lead Vocals Center

Backing Vocals panned slightly l/r if present

Guitars Panned Slightly L and R if more than one track is present

Drums everywhere.

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Depth (front to back) and width (L/R) are two different mix parameters. You can have a very deep recording with no width (or lots of it), or a very wide (or narrow) recording with no depth. Depth does tend to be more difficult for novice mixers to achieve, but that doesn't mean that stereo imaging and panning are any less important...

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Depth (front to back) and width (L/R) are two different mix parameters. You can have a very deep recording with no width (or lots of it), or a very wide (or narrow) recording with no depth. Depth does tend to be more difficult for novice mixers to achieve, but that doesn't mean that stereo imaging and panning are any less important...

 

 

yep! I like to think 3-D:

 

Top to Bottom (an eq thing)

Front to Back (a reverb thing) and

Left To Right (a panning thing)

 

and then there's the volume thing which can change everything!

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depends totally--i did an album where i went all beatles and mixed {censored} all crazy:

 

drums: right only

bass: center

guitar: left only

vocals: right only

other {censored}: wherever

 

doing stuff like that, imho, really allows stuff to breathe on their own--because each thing occupies their own space. it might be a little more challenging to listen to--especially on headphones--but i think it can sound great that way.

 

if i'm not doing that, i generally revert to the standard:

 

drums, bass, vocals: center

guitars: panned out

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So trebley=high, bassy = low? Louder=closer, quieter=further away?

 

 

Louder = closer

Quieter = further away

 

Brighter = closer

Darker / more attenuated highs = further away

 

Drier, with less verb = closer

Wetter, with more verb = further away

 

There are also other things that are crucial to our perception of depth and distance from a sound source. Indoors, the most crucial are probably early reflections. Their level, as well as other aspects of the early reflections (length, spacing, time before the onset of reverberation, etc.) give our ears / brain clues as to the character and size of the acoustical space that the instrument (or other sound source) is located within, as well as its placement within the room relative to the listener's position.

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One of my favorite artists, Robert Irwin, said that for him, his art was 1% inspiration and 99% ass-scratching. Mixing yourself is similar. A lot of pressing Play and pushing faders and inserting effects and twisting knobs to see what works, for you.

 

I also think mixing yourself is like trying to blow yourself: Try all you might, you're not going to get There.

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One crucial aspect of microphone technique is knowing how far away to place the mikes. I have a saying I use a lot when working with students and interns: Distance equals depth. Get those microphones back a bit from the sound source and don't have the mikes within near-contact distance for each and every part of the song you record - that alone will go a long way towards increasing the depth of your recordings and mixes.

 

Of course, you can't just do that randomly, or you've likely to wind up fighting yourself. If you want the lead vocal "in your face", then track it close to the mic, and maybe use some judicious compression. For the BGVs, try moving them back from the mic a bit when they're singing. Two or three feet can make all the difference in the world. Another thing that can help is mic selection. If you use a really upfront sounding mic for the lead vocalist (IOW, one with a prominent upper midrange presence peak in the 6-8kHz range) try using a flatter mic for the BGV's, or one with a much higher (~12kHz) peak to give them some "air" but to get them out of the way of the lead vocalist.

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One of my favorite artists, Robert Irwin, said that for him, his art was 1% inspiration and 99% ass-scratching. Mixing yourself is similar. A lot of pressing Play and pushing faders and inserting effects and twisting knobs to see what works, for you.


I also think mixing yourself is like trying to blow yourself: Try all you might, you're not going to get There.

 

 

If you are really really flexible you might be able to mix yourself...

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One crucial aspect of microphone technique is knowing how far away to place the mikes. I have a saying I use a lot when working with students and interns: Distance equals depth. Get those microphones back a bit from the sound source and don't have the mikes within near-contact distance for each and every part of the song you record - that alone will go a long way towards increasing the depth of your recordings and mixes.


Of course, you can't just do that randomly, or you've likely to wind up fighting yourself. If you want the lead vocal "in your face", then track it close to the mic, and maybe use some judicious compression. For the BGVs, try moving them back from the mic a bit when they're singing. Two or three feet can make all the difference in the world. Another thing that can help is mic selection. If you use a really upfront sounding mic for the lead vocalist (IOW, one with a prominent upper midrange presence peak in the 6-8kHz range) try using a flatter mic for the BGV's, or one with a much higher (~12kHz) peak to give them some "air" but to get them out of the way of the lead vocalist.

 

phil, i always love when you post studio advice from the tranches. i always try out the {censored} you suggest like the same week.

 

awesome :thu:

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If you are really really flexible you might be able to mix yourself...

 

 

I had a friend in high school who had come across a statistic he liked to quote: 1 out of 100 of us, apparently, can blow themselves. And then he'd look down the hall both ways and speculate: Which one of us is it? Haha.

 

The larger point is if you can find someone you trust to give you honest and knowledgeable opinions of your mixes, grab hold and never let go. A good outside perspective can shorten the process from Endless Rabbit Holes to Something Ready For Moving On.

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