The Mixing Process

D

dremits

New member
Hi,

I'm just starting out in mixing so I'm mixing a few projects I found on the internet (would love to know where to get more raw wav tracks that need work on actually if anyone knows any links) and i'm just wondering what is the best order of doing things is? Balancing and automation first or dynamic processing before? Or perhaps it doesn't matter?

Just wondering, thanks.
 
Hey dude...
Welcome.

I dunno about an order of things. There probably is but I just do things the way my work flow has brought me.

After I get my instruments tracked, I'll usually solo the drums and bass and tweak those first. Getting the bass and kick to play well together. I don't remember frequencies cuz I just cut til it sounds right but...I'll start with subtractive EQ over additive EQ every time.

As far as EQ or compression first....I dunno. It depends on the material. Try it both ways.

Next I'll bring the rhythm section in. If it's distorted guitars, I'll usually hipass at around 100 to 150 hz so the bottom end doesn't get muddy. In fact, I hipass alot of the instuments to keep the mud from building up.

Last comes the vocals. These I just play around with til they sit in the mix, usually a hipass at around 100hz, some light compression.

Automation is usually the very last thing I do.
After I get the whole song goin with all the parts in. I'll usually tweak the EQ and compression a bit more cuz
it's about how it sits in the mix...NOT how it sounds solo'd.
Then I'll ride the faders with automation on and make a few passes til I find the ebb n flow I'm lookin for.

I don't have it down to a science but so far, this is workin for me.

Luck man...
Kel
 
The first thing I always do is drop a compressor on the master buss with some general go-to settings. Next, like the previous poster, I'll start with the drums. Usually I do sample augmentation or total replacement, depending if I have a midi track available. I usually buss the drums out and compress them, too before they hit the master buss.

Then I'll bring in the bass. If it's just a clean DI track, I like to duplicate that and distort and really compress the piss out of the duplicate. I'll blend that to taste with the original. Sometimes I don't distort the bass...depends on the song. But I'll usually parallel compress it, though. I'll also throw an EQ on there to get out those nasty muddy lows. Get that bass really working with the kick drum and punching the hell out of your chest.

Next, I throw up the guitars. If I have two rhythm tracks, I always start by hard panning. If I have four, I'll still hard pan. I love wide guitars and that's always my starting point. I like for the bass to carry the lows so I like a really present guitar sound...especially on dirty guitars. Again, depends on the song. A song that has all clean guitars is a bit different, but I still like presence. Acoustic guitars...well, I like a lot of strings coming through...but not harsh. Just texture.

Then I throw in the vocals. I usually like to track too many of these...it's a bad habit of mine. I almost always throw on a doubler on the vocals. I'll delay one side by say...17ms...then the other by maybe 20 or whatever. One side will be up 3c and the other will be down 4c or so. Then I'll come behind that and put some reverb on there. Nothing too long. I don't like distracting reverb. And in fact, I have yet to find a reverb I'm truly happy with. Next, I'll come in and slam it with a compressor.

By this time the mix should be rocking pre-automation. If there are any synth or strings, I'll bring those in here. Sometimes I like putting a HINT of strange effects on the strings to give it that "movement" that makes it more exciting. Flange, heavy chorus, whatever. I'll just put it at about 5 to 10% wet and that gives it a cool vibe.

Last, I start really tweaking things out with automation, etc. I'll throw delay on the vocals on ends of the phrases or something to get cool effects, etc. Just whatever I'm feeling at the moment.

Anyway, that's my quick and dirty with lots of details skipped in between. But it's my general guide on everything. The details are what changes a lot depending on the song, anyway.
 
Thanks very much for those detailed posts. They really give an insight into the process so cheers. Oh and thanks for that link jcmastering. Exactly what I was looking for.
 
I too allways finnish of tracking.
Then I eq and compress the drums and bass, id needed I add someverb to the snare or other drums.
I usually cut eq on everything first, add were i feel its needed later in the mix.

I like to compress every single track, not much but little, think it helps gettin me the sound I like.
I add verb delay- and other effects to taste.
then I level and pan, automation in the end.

the I give it a few listens and muck around with levels and eq settings :)
 
Thanks Nakatira. I would agree it seems a good a idea to automate last because automation may need changing after dynamics processing
 
wow I'm the oddball out. The very first thing I do is open all the files one at a time and look/listen for bleed, odd noises clipping, level etc. to make sure it was tracked well. Then I throw up all the faders at Zero pan center an work on a sound stage finding where I want to pan the main parts getting the seperation like I want then when that's done I go back and mix 90% in mono working on tone of the instruments in the mix. I solo ,but all of my eq minus cutting mud and things that arn't a part of the track rumble hissing or hi pass on vocals etc. is done in the mix. I never solo and eq everything then expect it to work. I eq everything based on how it sounds in the mix in mono. When I'm happy ill unclick the mono button an listen to the mix again automate and I'm done. this is alot harder way to mix, imho but I find when I mix this way I require a lot less compression on everything and I spend alot more time with eq and level matching in short it's alot harder but a lot easier to hear when it's right
 
Last edited:
doulos24 said:
wow I'm the oddball out.
Click to expand...
I guess we're both oddballs then. In fact, I'd say that if what you describe defines "oddball", that most pro mixing engineers are oddballs as well. There are some that will EQ while still in mono before panning, but I think that comes down to personal preference as (IME) that seems to be split pretty much down the middle as to whether they like to pan first or not. Personally I'm with you; I set the soundstage first.

The only part that I disagree with you on is that this procedure makes mixing harder. Well...perhaps it makes bad mixing harder, I suppose. ;)

G.
 
Well...perhaps it makes bad mixing harder, I suppose
Click to expand...

lol yea, but I think you know what I mean. finding a hard to please monitor like a ns-10 or auratone in mono makes you work harder on tone an level. Using 2 flat refrence monitors you can get a lil more sloppy with eq an use compression to compensate pushing something louder over the mix rather then carving a hole for it to sit in with eq which you pretty much have to do when going mono like that it makes me work harder, but I get better results.
 
Do you lot mix with hardware or software (or indeed) both and just as a side note where does your mixer sit in your signal chain and what sort of connectivity are you using if you're working with a DAW? (this kind of links to another post of mine but i'll trow it in anyway!)

Thanks,
 
doulos24 said:
finding a hard to please monitor like a ns-10 or auratone in mono makes you work harder on tone an level. Using 2 flat refrence monitors you can get a lil more sloppy with eq an use compression to compensate pushing something louder over the mix rather then carving a hole for it to sit in with eq which you pretty much have to do when going mono like that it makes me work harder, but I get better results.
Click to expand...
We should have quit with agreeing on the general procedure LOL.

Personally I hate mixing on speakers that peak in the mids and much prefer flatter speakers. But I'm not saying that one is better than the other in general, I believe it all depends on the engineer's ears and preferences. The only reason for my ears - and everyone's ears are different on this - that NS10s or Auratones make me work harder is because they lie and my ears have a very low tolerance for that when I'm mixing.

As far as flat speakers "allowing" one to be sloppier with their mixing, that's not the monitor's fault, IMHO, that's the engineer's fault; it's the engineer that chooses to be sloppy. In fact, for the way my ears work, the flatter and more "truthful" (so to speak) the loudspeaker, the more it forces me to get the EQ right because the more it exposes the faults. But again, it's two different ways of skinning the cat, and I leave that up to what works for the engineer.

But back to the "hardness" thing, what I honestly find hardest is just phoning in a mix by rote. I mean, when one does the faders up thing, that flat mix tells you 90% of what needs to be done, and IMHO the easiest thing in the world is to just let go, listen, and follow what it tells you. The hardest thing, OTOH, is to ignore it and just start following some standard recipe (which usually seems to be, "compress the shit out of everything, stack the tracks on top of each other like lasagna noodles, and then pan following a canned LCR map") that has nothing to do with the tracks in front of me.

G.
 
As far as flat speakers "allowing" one to be sloppier with their mixing, that's not the monitor's fault, IMHO, that's the engineer's fault; it's the engineer that chooses to be sloppy. In fact, for the way my ears work, the flatter and more "truthful" (so to speak) the loudspeaker, the more it forces me to get the EQ right because the more it exposes the faults. But again, it's two different ways of skinning the cat, and I leave that up to what works for the engineer.
Click to expand...

actully I ment just in regurads to mono vs stereo mixing for me it's easier to be sloppy with eq in stereo and use compression to place things on top of the mix in the soundstage instead of working the eq in mono and having it fit in the mix

I noticed a huge improvment in my mixing when I went to basicly 90% mono mixing
 
Do you lot mix with hardware or software (or indeed) both and just as a side note where does your mixer sit in your signal chain and what sort of connectivity are you using if you're working with a DAW? (this kind of links to another post of mine but i'll trow it in anyway!)
Click to expand...

depends on the mix I use whatever I need and have to get the best results I can I don't buy into rules and like to experement in mixing most is in the box with a few choice pieces of hardware thrown in I also use a digital mixer tascam dm24 as a midi controller

where does your mixer sit in your signal chain and what sort of connectivity are you using if you're working with a DAW
Click to expand...

depends on which daw im using my laptop reaper setup its not used at all in my pro tools le setup its the midi controller for ptle and i use the converters both in and out with my tascam via adat cable
 
Thanks for the reply. Sorry but i'm going got veer a little off topic here because i'm not entirely familiar with digital connectivity such as adat. Could you connect a digital mixer to an audio interface with adat connectivity to record onto a daw? For example i'm looking into purchasing an Edirol UA25 interface (or possibly it's firewire counterpart). Would this take an adat cable from an 8 or 16 channel mixer or is the edirol still limited in channels from adat?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top