Are some types of music harder/easier to mix than others ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter grimtraveller
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grimtraveller

grimtraveller

If only for a moment.....
I've been wondering about this today although I think I've subconsciously wondered about this for years. Do you find {or would you think if you've not actually mixed songs of different genres}some genres or combinations of instruments easier/harder to mix than others ? Do some kinds of voices prove harder to mix than others ?
 
To some extent, it's always about the source. I've been in sessions that basically "mix themselves" when the band has their s**t together... Bring up the faders and start the "art" stuff because it's going to sound good no matter what.

And then I've been in sessions where it's a pain to get anything to play well together.

I'd say "the more acoustic the easier" as a rule of thumb, but not necessarily a rule...
 
More tracks = more work.

And like John said....it's all about the source.
In a recent thread (can't recall which one)...there were questions about doing lots of DI stuff, and then creating the "tones/feel" for those tracks later in the mix...to which I replied that IMO, the mix is ALL about the tracking stage in most cases, and saving tone/feel decisions for the mix rather than getting the meat-n-potatoes of it DURING the tracking, kinda works against you getting a good mix later....in most cases.
 
I think any style or genre is pretty easy if you have good sounds, good tracks, and good performances. IMO that's really where the magic happens. When you have good source material mixes mix themselves.
 
Death Polka is hard. Maintaining the delicate balance between guitars that rip your eyes out and accordions that dance with your inner German child is no easy task.
 
Massive Master said:
I've been in sessions that basically "mix themselves"
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Yes, it's more about the arrangement than what EQ and other effects you use. When I used to record professionally years ago, one of my favorite sessions was a polka big band. Just pulling up all the microphones to a reasonable volume, and it sounded great. Rock music with five rhythm instruments, all pounding out chords in the same chunky sounding frequency range, are a nightmare to make sound good.

--Ethan
 
Ethan Winer said:
Yes, it's more about the arrangement than what EQ and other effects you use.
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Ethan Winer said:
Rock music with five rhythm instruments, all pounding out chords in the same chunky sounding frequency range, are a nightmare to make sound good.
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Yeah, this is the kind of thing I was wondering about. Would the same nightmare have occurred with the members of the polka band playing in the same way as that rock band, given Massive's earlier statement about generally, acoustic being, easier ?
 
The performance and tracking are going to play a role obviously. Beyond that I'm not sure that genre would play a huge role.

To contradict myself here for a second, if you have something like a bluegrass outfit where you've got double bass, guitar, dobro, violin, banjo and mandolin, there are a bunch of instruments that don't do much to step on the other ones sonically. Banjo and mandolin might be able to do that, but in a traditional setting they don't. The mandolin can chop on offbeats while the banjo provides counterpoint. Once it's time to take a solo or whatever, the band morphs to put the center of focus on the soloist.

Whether this happens consciously or not in that context, it's in the realm of arrangement. That's an area where what you get depends on the interaction between songwriter and producer. The bluegrass example can be applied to any genre. Maybe not so much if you're getting into a doubling, layering, thick wall kind of production.

Given a rock band context with multiple guitars, what you end up with will depend on whether or not all the guitar players understand how easy it is to step on the other guy's toes and how to not do that, or at least do so in a way that serves the production and the song.

Once it gets to mix time, you're handed a bunch of tracks. They gel and provide a clear direction. Or not. Purely from a mix perspective there could very well be problems. Many of the problems could probably be solved by applying better production values. At which point: are you simply the mix engineer or the producer?
 
grimtraveller said:
Would the same nightmare have occurred with the members of the polka band playing in the same way as that rock band, given Massive's earlier statement about generally, acoustic being, easier ?
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I never thought about that. I've heard some pretty muddy sound acoustic instruments, especially inexpensive plywood basses. Clarity and ease of mixing have more to do with masking frequencies than anything else.

--Ethan
 
Would it be fair to say that certain styles of mixing are easier than others regardless of the style of music being mixed? I mean, a documentarian who's happy to stick a couple mics up and take what comes won't spend nearly as much time behind the desk as somebody who wants to sculpt everything into a hyper-real version of itself, right?
 
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