What is mixing

[RobertN]

What is mixing? I feel dumb from not knowing but, I am a beginner. Most of the people I know dont even do mixs.

How do you mix and what is the best for mixing? Software, hardware, or a combo of both.

Is mixing neccessary for the beginning level.

[7string]

Originally Posted by RobertN

What is mixing? I feel dumb from not knowing but, I am a beginner. Most of the people I know dont even do mixs.

How do you mix and what is the best for mixing? Software, hardware, or a combo of both.

Is mixing neccessary for the beginning level.

If you're that much of a newbie then I would suggest you just lurk for awhile and start reading threads. You'll learn a lot here.

Basically, mixing is the process of taking the individually recorded tracks and blending them together using many different skills and techniques so that they make a song. There are MANY more aspects to it that just blending but for somebody to sit down and type out a lengthy response is probably a bit much for this forum.

However, as you read some of the threads in this forum you will notice lots of links that will lead you to articles and papers that were written by some of the best in the business that might make things easier for you to understand and help you grasp the concept that is mixing.

Luck to you!

[RobertN]

Thanks for the info.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Read this: http://www.bluebearsound.com/articles/mixing101.htm
It's a link to Blue bear's site (a veteran member here).

[Dogman]

7th string did give some good advice. Reading some of what has already been posted can give you some good insight. I won't say what I think mixing is, as I'm new enough that I'll leave it to someone with more knowledge. I will tell you there is some great stuff on this board, and some really good, knowledgable people.

Whatever you do, try and keep it fun. You will see a few people don't do this, but most do, and some people with tons of knowledge do devote there time to help those of us who want to improve our music, but have no aspirations of making a platinum cd.

If you get something you feel is a good sounding recording, post it. It's a blast to hear what other people are doing.
Good luck.
Ed

[Richard Monroe]

Mixing is a world of stuff. Essentially, it involves taking all of the tracks of a recording and making them into 2, left and right, in other words, a stereo recording. I will list just a few of the most important things a mixing engineer does, and there are more I don't even know about. Note that each of these things is also something that the ME may *not* do, choosing not to fix that which is not broken. The better the tracks are, the less mixing will be needed. Many of the things the ME does may have already been done by the tracking engineer, which is often a pain in the ass for the ME, especially if it was done badly in the first place.

1. The ME sets the relative volume or loudness of each track, which may change through the course of the song. He may "mix up" a solo section so it's louder during the solo, or "mix down" something that clashes, or generally sucks.

2. The ME equalizes, or sets the tone of each track, which also may change throughout the course of the song. He may augment or attenuate specific frequency bands in any given track to make it stand out, or burying the track in the mix where it's appropriate. He will eliminate needless frequency bands that a track shares with another track, pulling them apart, so that they aren't competing for the same acoustic space.

3. The ME may apply FX, or effects, to individual tracks, such as reverb, delay, chorus, flange, and many, many, others.

4. He will probably apply dynamic processing, particularly compression, to any or all tracks, to control the variations in volume in the course of the performance. Sometimes, expansion will be used to try and undo badly done compression applied in tracking.

5. The ME pans the tracks, deciding whether the sound will go to the left or right channel, or both, and in what ratio. This may change during the song, and sounds may move from one side to the other, and back again.

6. The ME will edit the tracks, depending on the extent to which the recording artist will let him. This could include actually deleting one or more tracks, because they suck, or just don't fit his mix. He may delete mistakes, and replace them with identical or similar sections from another point in the song, where the artist didn't screw up. He may move a sound to another place that he thinks would have been better, and may move an errant drum hit or two. In the more extreme version, he may actually use samples to replace a badly recorded track, so that the drum hit on the original track triggers a sample, and the sucky drum sound is replaced by the sound of a better recorded drum kit, but with the original track determining *when* it happens. Editing may also include pitch adjustment to correct flat or sharp notes, which is how you make Britney Spears sound sort of like a singer. He may actually delete entire sections of a song, or repeat, or "loop" a section to lengthen the whole song.

7. The ME may "re-amp" a section, running a dry, unprocessed signal through one or more amps, until he gets the sound he wants, and re-recording it.

8. Then the ME will format the music into WAV. files, or Pro Tools sessions, or whatever form is needed by the Mastering engineer.

For reference, the mastering engineer will do to the 2 finished stereo tracks, pretty much all of what the mixing engineer did to the raw tracks, and will put it into "Red Book" format, ready for production and duplication of the final project.

What should you get out of all this? First, every time you playback a recording, you are "mixing", just by touching a fader. Of course, what you are doing, compared to say, Al Schmitt, is like my "driving" in a Neon, compared to what Dale Earnhardt did. Also, it is critical to note that the mixing and mastering engineers are recording artists, and what they do *really* affects the finished song. Thay are as important as the people who wrote, and played, and tracked the music. A great mixing engineer can make mediocre recordings good, good ones great, and great ones, masterpieces. Conversely, a bad ME, or one who simply doesn't "get" the music he's mixing, can suck the life out of it, and trash it completely. Note that one of the marks of good mixing engineers is that they spend a lot of time reviewing prospective mixes with producers and recording artists, offering them input into the final mix. If you are being left out of the loop in the creative process, fire your mixing engineer.

As I said, there is quite a bit more to it, but I hope I've covered the most important stuff, and explained it so it makes sense. Best of luck with all your future recording.-Richie

[Atterion]

Very well put Richard. That's the basics of mixing.