Novice Mixing

VSpaceBoy

VSpaceBoy

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I'm trying to get the hang of mixing my own recordings <not that anyone else was doing it it before>, and I can't seem to settle on anything!!

I record mostly rock/techno genre stuff and I'm not sure what to go for in my mixing. I have tried spreading out everything very far, drums, vocals, guitars, bass.. <well not really bass>, and synth in various ways. I thinks it sounds all right. Very Stereo..Then I start to hear other recordings <commercial> and I tend to hear drums, bass and lead vocals stay in the middle, and the guitar is all over the rest. Is there a reasoning behind this? I think mine sound more mixed "stereo" and very neat.

I'm sure I've missed the Mixing 101 course on what the ultimate goal is, but everywhere I look are just tips on mixing techniques rather than guidelines or theory behind placements.

Any thoughts?? Space
 
There really is no one way to do it. But what you want to do with any mix is try to guarantee that it will translate well to different playback systems.

If you go overboard with stereo panning than you risk the listener losing some parts if they are not getting the full sound from both speakers. This might be common in some home setups or restaurants would be a big culprit.

You also should always check your mixes completely in mono. That makes sure that if somebody plays it in mono for TV or whatever reason there are no phase problems.

A principle of sound is that low frequencies are harder for your brain to locate in space. That means there is no real benefit to hard panning low freq stuff like bass and kick. You also want to make sure that anything really important like bass, kick, snare and lead vocals are in the middle since losing one of them during playback could severely impact the song.

Those are the basic rules but rules are made to be broken. If you are just creating music for yourself and friends than do whatever you want. If you want to have a more professional product than you have to make compromises to accomodate industry standards.
 
Once again Tex, you've given me great input/advice.

That makes sense to me about panning, and how it affects all systems. That is one thing that I always fail at.. I am self centered enough to just think that everyone has a system just like mine!! lol.

I do appreciate all the help!!! Thx

Space
 
Also remember that you are your own worst critic. Take lots of breaks when mixing as to not stagnate yourself.
 
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