Question on the General Concept of Mixing

GuitarLegend

GuitarLegend

New member
There is a cliché to mixing which goes something like, "Mix with your ears, not with your eyes"

This addressed the concept of trying to get the levels right by monitoring the level meters. I know we do that, we listen, we adjust, we listen again, we adjust again. When it sounds right, its almost done.

But if you are trying to teach someone who IS new to the game, I have been trying to come up with a visual concept to get the idea across. I know that it comes with experience. That's another cliché that doesn't really answer the question. It just puts off answering the question until the "student" has gained enough experience to draw on in order to perform the educated guesses that are part of the mixing process.

I know we do it with our ears and the levels are never constant enough to even start to show the average over time to compare that to what we hear. And even then, the quality of the particular track, the timbre of the instrument, a hundred other things can only be judged by the ear. But I still hear my students coming up with mixes where an instrument is a bit too high or low in the mix and its hard to describe the audible sense without some reference to a visual counterpart, other than plotting each track with a bar chart for example, to show the relative average levels that the ear is perceiving.

I am not even sure if I can phrase the question. And there may not be any other answer than, it comes with experience. But its frustrating to try to convey that experience to the student.
 
The other thing that you forgot to factor in is artistic intent. maybe they wanted that instrument too loud...

Parts of that you said sounds like you are trying to create a formula for a good mix, but this is art and there are no right answers, only intent.
 
Yeah, there's a difference between proper recording levels (not clipping, leaving head room, etc....) and personal taste.
 
Yes of course there is personal taste and artistic intent....but if you post that here, you get other people commenting on a particular instrument being too high or low in the mix...and you get a general consensus about that... I was just throwing around the idea of trying to describe it to a beginner by some visual means
 
Farview said:
Parts of that you said sounds like you are trying to create a formula for a good mix, but this is art and there are no right answers, only intent.
Click to expand...

No, I am not trying to create a formula. That is so embarrassing to me that you think I am trying to do that. I was just trying to find a way of visualizing to the student. I shouldn't have asked the question, I knew it would get shot down by misunderstanding. Yes I know, I didn't know what I was really looking for and didn't phrase the question or the problem. But I wish I had not asked.
 
While I understand you want some kind of visual analog to illustrate the mixing concept, I just don't think there is one. The mixing process is subjective and adjustments you make are all dependent on the recording process that happened before you start mixing, among a thousand other things. For the life of me, I don't know how you could illustrate that.
 
I think there is a visual way of illustrating mixing, but it doesn't necessarily make things easier.

For example, I can visualize the space between the two speakers in front o me as a three dimensional stage, and I can then, using a mixture of level, panning, EQ and reverb, place each instrument somewhere on this stage.

And I can also draws this for some one who is sitting next to me, e.g.; "here is the stage. I'm going to put the drummer here, the guitar here, the keys there, and the string section behind everyone here . . ." and so on.
 
gecko zzed said:
And I can also draws this for some one who is sitting next to me, e.g.; "here is the stage. I'm going to put the drummer here, the guitar here, the keys there, and the string section behind everyone here . . ." and so on.
Click to expand...

That's how Stevie Wonder learned to mix.

:eek:
 
Track Rat said:
While I understand you want some kind of visual analog to illustrate the mixing concept, I just don't think there is one. The mixing process is subjective and adjustments you make are all dependent on the recording process that happened before you start mixing, among a thousand other things. For the life of me, I don't know how you could illustrate that.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I can appreciate that. I couldn't think of one either, that's why I posted the point here. I was just throwing it out there. I'll just continue with the convention and try to come up with some way of expressing the concept. Thanks again.
 
Sometimes I visuallize a mix as a puzzle. fitting the pieces into both the spectrum and stereo field. But I really don't know how to describe HOW I do that. Its an internal head game I do, not sure I could get it out of my head and into somwone elses.
 
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