Mixing help?

O

ollie44

New member
Hey guys i am completely new to this whole thing so don't eat me please.

Ok, let's just say i record bass, guitar and some keys. It won't sound right at all will it? will just sound messy and everything will contrast and it will just sound like loads of individual instruments over each other. Is the main way of trying to fix this by using the EQ? Like, is it a clash of frequencies that cause this?

any tips or help would be much appreciated :)
 
Does it sound messy before you record it? That's when you should be fixin it and then all you need is to record it transparently.
 
"It depends."

Some of the best mixes I've ever done were with no EQ, no compression, no nothing except great core sounds and good mic selection and placement to pick it up.

Otherwise, yes -- EQ is to "tailor" the sounds to make them sit better together -- Keeping in mind that it's tailoring -- as in how a tailor will take a suit that fits you pretty well in the first place and make it fit REALLY well. Sounds that just don't work well together aren't going to work well no matter how much you try to "force" them too...
 
ollie44 said:
Ok, let's just say i record bass, guitar and some keys. It won't sound right at all will it? will just sound messy and everything will contrast and it will just sound like loads of individual instruments over each other.
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Are you asking hypothetically? Or are you saying that your recordings end up this way?

If it's the former, then my question is "Why would you assume that?".

If it's the latter, then you have to ask yourself why it sounds this way. A good arrangement played well shouldn't sound like "messy and everything will contrast and it will just sound like loads of individual instruments over each other". If it does, I doubt EQ or any other effect can cure it.
 
Start by panning the individual instruments apart...to taste. That should do a lot to keep them from being all over each other.
Then get their levels balanced...to taste. They're not all going to be the same.
Finally, reach for some EQ if needed to further fine-tune each track within the context of the mix.

It's a process...you start at one point and build the mix.
Sure, if you just throw up the faders and nothing more...it will be a cluster-fuck.
 
Ask yourself first, which instrument in your song/mix do you want to pop out the most? Which one will dominate the other instruments, and which ones are there for back up?

If you are using a program such as logic pro, they offer some great stock plugins for individual instruments. Just throw on one for bass...etc etc. and then adjust to your liking from there.

Hope this helps my friend. Welcome to the nightmare of mixing!!
 
NPowell.music said:
Welcome to the nightmare of mixing!!
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I know it's only a figure of speach the way you said it....but I wouldn't go so far as to say mixing is really a nightmare. :)
If you track with a good sense of where you want to song to go...if you do some pre-production....the mixing is mostly about sorting things out, putting things where they need to go and how they need to go.
It's just that when you have a bunch of raw tracks, that first mixing step can seem nightmare-ish...but just start the process, it will work itself out.
 
EQ is the fix after the fact for the malady you're describing here. Arrangement and some thought put into how you're filling the frequency spectrum of your mix is how you avoid using excessive EQ (and compression) in order to make everything fit after the fact. EQ is a poor substitute for a little planning ahead.

Here's what I have to say about it in Zen and the Art of Mixing (which I can't really improve upon in the time I have available to make this post):

"The more buildup there is in a certain frequency range, the more difficult your job is as a mixer. For instance, if a production has a Farfisa organ, multiple guitars, and piano all playing in the same narrow middle range, you’re going to have a considerably harder time fitting them all into that space than if they’re spread out across the full spectrum. Ift here are two basses, a djun-djun, a low tom beat, and a cello, you’re going to have a hell of a time carving out enough space in the low end to avoid a muddy, undefined mess in the bottom of your mix. And if there’s too much high-frequency information in the mix, the mixer and subsequently the listener are going to find themselves exhausted in short order.

The power that frequency has over the listener should not be underestimated.How you use frequency information in a mix can have a direct bearing on how that mix makes the listener feel. How your parts fill the frequency spectrum in an arrangement can be just as important as how they fill their role musically. Keep this in
mind as you mix."

Enjoy,

Mixerman


ollie44 said:
Hey guys i am completely new to this whole thing so don't eat me please.

Ok, let's just say i record bass, guitar and some keys. It won't sound right at all will it? will just sound messy and everything will contrast and it will just sound like loads of individual instruments over each other. Is the main way of trying to fix this by using the EQ? Like, is it a clash of frequencies that cause this?

any tips or help would be much appreciated :)
Click to expand...
 
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