How Many Ways Can You Mix a Tune?

[Anderton]

Some people think that there's a "right" mix, something optimum for every tune. I tend to think there are probably at least a dozen valid mixes for any given song if you take arranging and processing into account.

 

For example, we've all heard dry, up front mixes that sounded good. My question is whether that mix we thought was great could have been done differently, maybe more diffuse, and we'd still think it's great.

 

Or maybe it depends on the song, like some song lend themselves to being done in lots of different ways and that includes mixes, while others do a perfect moment of Mix Zen when all the controls align like a combination lock.

 

Thoughts?

[Phil O'Keefe]

That's a really good question. I think there can be multiple ways to do a mix - especially if the arrangement and tracks support it. Heck, remixers bring all kinds of new things to a "mix", and I think that can be valid too. But ultimately, I think you have to let the song tell you how to mix it. It comes down to the Most Important Thing that's going on at any moment and what you emphasize, and what the arrangement has going on. You can always add to that (as remixers often do) or do subtractive mixing, and that opens up multiple valid mix possibilities too.

[onelife]

That's a really good question. I think there can be multiple ways to do a mix - especially if the arrangement and tracks support it. Heck' date=' remixers bring all kinds of new things to a "mix", and I think that can be valid too. [b']But ultimately, I think you have to let the song tell you how to mix it.[/b] It comes down to the Most Important Thing that's going on at any moment and what you emphasize, and what the arrangement has going on. You can always add to that (as remixers often do) or do subtractive mixing, and that opens up multiple valid mix possibilities too.

 

I think you are right about that.

 

I recall working on an album a while back where I spent a great deal of time tweaking the mixes. I was mixing in a home studio at the time and my wife was asking why I kept on working on it. She said the songs sounded great and I was asking myself 'when will you know it's finished?'

 

Finally I was satisfied and finished the project. A couple of months later I found a cassette in my car of one of the 'nearly there' mixes and when I listened to it I knew why I had persisted. It sounded good but it didn't speak to me and tell me it was done.

[mistersully]

if you take arrangement into account, the possibilities are endless

[philboking]

I think mix choices are heavily dependent on the mixers perceptual music filters. Each mixer has their own set of music memes based on what they've heard, listened to and performed over their lifetime. Where there is an agreement of various people saying 'This is a good mix' comes from the concensus of where different mixers musical memes intersect.

 

But there are no two people whose filters match exactly, so there can be no exact match on what the 'perfect mix' will be for a given recording. Everyone will come up with something a bit different, and all may sound great.

[UstadKhanAli]

How many people can mix a tune x how many different ways those people can mix = answer.

[Phil O'Keefe]

How many people can mix a tune x how many different ways those people can mix = answer.

 

Math and musicians don't mix... you've got half the forum scratching our heads trying to calculate the solution to that equation.

[dboomer]

I guess I place less value on the "mix" than I do the "performance". As long as you don't end up with a wildly bad mix there can be any number of valid, reasonable ones. If the band has played well and the song is a good one I think you just have to mostly get out of its way.

 

I've never really experienced adding that one thing that pushed a song over the top. And even when I have completed a mix I'm sure that if I were to mix it again a month later i would end up with a different mix

[MikeRivers]

For what it's worth, Boz Digital Labs has a contest going on right now where you download a set of tracks, mix the tune, submit it if you wish, and win fabulous prizes and great fame. Mix it any way you like. There are plenty of tracks including MIDI tracks for the drum so you can edit them and use your own samples rather than what they used in their mixed example.

 

[Hush]

Craig, you supplied us with an answer to this in your Mixing & Mastering books. You shared tracks with a bunch of us and we each did a mix. No two were the same. Some maybe better than others, but not necessarily a best. It was really cool to be a part of that, Thanks.

 

 

 

[Anderton]

Yes, I enjoyed that exercise tremendously. It was fascinating to hear how different people treated the same track.

[Anderton]

How many people can mix a tune x how many different ways those people can mix = answer.

 

 

Obviously, the answer is 42. Everyone knows that.

[Anderton]

Finally I was satisfied and finished the project. A couple of months later I found a cassette in my car of one of the 'nearly there' mixes and when I listened to it I knew why I had persisted. It sounded good but it didn't speak to me and tell me it was done.

 

I know that feeling. Often I can't put my finger on why a mix just doesn't feel "right' but if I persist, it will happen. For example one song just didn't seem as effective as I would have liked. Dropping the rhythm guitar a few dB while the lead was playing solved the problem, but what was even more interesting was that it changed the character of the song, not just during the solo.

 

[UstadKhanAli]

 

 

Obviously, the answer is 42. Everyone knows that.

 

 

You really are a math genius, aren't you?

[UstadKhanAli]

 

Math and musicians don't mix... you've got half the forum scratching our heads trying to calculate the solution to that equation.

 

 

Especially us rock musicians. We're good at counting to 4, and after that, it's taxing.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Classic!

[Anderton]

How many country & western bass players does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1...5...1...5...1...5...1...5

[Phil O'Keefe]

It's funny because it's true.