mixing tips

[ArrMatey]

As an aspiring audio engineer, recording is one part of the learning process but then comes the mixing part. What would be your tips for aspiring mixers/producers.

 

What tips would you give for the following genres:

rock

jazz

indie

metal

pop

 

or if you have a general rule for certain instruments, no matter what genre, let's hear it.

I am looking for EQ infos but nothing really valuable yet...or at least not enough depth usualy.

[geek_usa]

 

Originally posted by ArrMatey What tips would you give for the following genres: rock jazz indie metal pop or if you have a general rule for certain instruments, no matter what genre, let's hear it. I am looking for EQ infos but nothing really valuable yet...or at least not enough depth usualy.

 

 

 

First, ask what the artist wants. Does he want it to sound like "so and so" or something along those lines?

 

Let's say you're doing jazz. It would be a very professional and smart idea to pick up some jazz records and do some "homework" on them and study them to see how the stereo spectrum presents and takes advantage of the different instruments and their placements. This will better help you create a visual image of which direction you want to take when mixing your project.

[where02190]

Listen with your ears.

[geek_usa]

 

Originally posted by where02190 Listen with your ears.

 

 

 

+1

[jackcheez]

or if you have a general rule for certain instruments, no matter what genre, let's hear it.

My general rule is...

Try to avoid general rules.

[jackcheez]

Here's something maybe a little more helpful. I hope. When you record the basic rhythm tracks, start forming an idea of the mix then. If you're having a hard time getting a good sounding rough mix at this stage, you probably need better basic tracks. It should sound good. Play with panning, levels...this way when the singer is doing the vocals and/or overdubs or the guitar player is doing solos and whatnot, you're giving them something pleasant to sing or play to. Their performance will benefit and you're getting an idea of how the mix will go best.

[seaneldon]

if all of the tracks were recorded well, mixing is just moving the faders up and down until they're in the right place

 

other than that, i'd say my number one tip would be buy the best speakers that you can possibly afford. {censored}, buy the best speakers that are even a little bit out of your budget.

[geek_usa]

Originally posted by seaneldon if all of the tracks were recorded well, mixing is just moving the faders up and down until they're in the right place other than that, i'd say my number one tip would be buy the best speakers that you can possibly afford. {censored}, buy the best speakers that are even a little bit out of your budget.

 

 

AND acoustic room treatment.

 

This is one thing I do not have that I desperately need. But I'm moving soon, and it wouldn't make much sense to acoustically treat a room that is only temporary!

[TonyCrazyMan]

One thing I recommend especially much is the "New York compression trick". It seems like many famous engineers use this technique in many different genres and there also seems to be many different techniques applied around this technique or similar to it. So focus on this technique. It works very well with bass guitar, kick drum and snare but I think it works also with other instruments when you start tweaking and sometimes it can work on the whole mix too:

 

1) Choose the track to apply the trick on.

2) Take a copy of this track, set the level fader to no amplitude and press the mute button.

3) Set up a stereo compressor on an FX bus.

4) Send the copied track to the stereo compressor.

5) Put an EQ insert effect on the copied track and cut off all mids.

6) Increase the volume on the compressed track until it makes the sound a little fatter or leave it muted until later to get extra boost when needed.

 

Make sure the signal doesn't lose pan if used this way on a track that is panned to L or R.

 

I've found this trick to be very useful and I want to apply it on almost everything because it always seems to add something interesting. But due to this I've started to setup the compressor not very aggressively, to not lose dynamics. I typically have the threshold set very high to make it rather dry on the signal, the attack fast to make it applied hard, the release as long as I can to make it applied hard over time and the ratio rather high (~10:1) to make it effective. This have the effect of rounding the mix, which takes away a lot of peaks, still doesn't kill the dynamics. So since I want warm smooth sounding mixes I do this trick a lot...

[Phil O'Keefe]

Tony, why do you need to make a copy of the track? I've always just set up a stereo aux bus and feed the drums (the typical "source" for the NY Compression technique) and maybe the bass into that. I've never heard the "pull all the mids" thing either. I'm not saying people don't do that, but it's the first I've heard of it.

[GuitarPLayer61990]

I've got some general things I use for when I'm mixing drums...for the bass drum, I boost 60-100, cut 400-500, and boost 2k-10k for some nice slap and attack, then gate and compress it. As for the toms, I scoop all the mids out so it sits nicer in the mix, and gate and compress those too. Overheads, I cut everything up to 2k, and put some reverb on them. Snare is different dependng on how it was tuned so I cant give any real good tips. Sorry that I forgot the compression and gate ratios, but thats what I usally use as guidelines. Of course, nothing beats your ears...

 

One last tip. Mix with your ears , not your eyes!

[Phil O'Keefe]

You can always strap an EQ across the aux return if you want that.

 

Usually what I do is set up a stereo aux bus, and route drums (and sometimes bass) to that. On the aux return, I'll have a compressor and sometimes an EQ. Traditionally (for the "NY Compression trick"), the EQ is boosted at 100 Hz and 10 kHz by 6 to 10 dB, and the compressor is usually set to slam things pretty good. The aux sends are panned like the source drums and sent to the comp aux bus in a similar ratio to the actual drum mix... then you bring up the aux return until the drums fatten up to your preference... you can mute individual aux sends on individual tracks to take the effect off one instrument, or mute the aux return to take it completely out of the mix on spots where you don't want it. Need more of the effect? Bring the aux return fader up more... want less? Drop it back.

[GuitarPLayer61990]

Another trick for getting a fatter bass drum sound is mic with 2 mics, a kick mic and a LDC, like the D112 and SPB1, mix them both, and then take a dry track of the kick mic, and mix it with the other 2 tracks. Dont mix the copy of the kick mic track. Compress kick track #1 and eq it, mix the LDC track, and leave the dry one alone. You will get a fat as hell sound out of it if you mix it properly.

[UstadKhanAli]

Yes. Low pass filters. High pass filters.

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Tracking as beautifully and wonderfully as possible is your first and best method of mixing. No, really.