grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
It's important to keep this in mind before another thread breaks into internicine warfare......
warartistrecord
New member
I've recently learned that lesson. Not only is it much easier to hear what's going on when your mixes aren't peaking all the time, but it makes it easier to master in the end.
If I had to have a method, which I don't yet, I'd have this one:
1.Tweak the drums and lower their volume so they're not peaking
2.Mix other "rhythm" tracks with the drums
3.Add more melodic tracks with the exception of vocals
4. Mix vocals to these tracks
5.EQ tracks as needed
6.Add compression and effects as needed
7. Adjust volume to compressed/effected tracks
There's probably some issues with that methodology, and it's based on doing popular music, but it's what I'd do right now with a few years of experience.
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Armistice
Son of Yoda
Are you sure you're not confusing volume with signal/level? You can mix at low volume and still have everything peaking and clipping all over the joint... the two aren't related.
I'm a "mix as you go" person. I try to build up a song track by track (usually, until I try some other approach), rather than track a bunch of stuff and see if I can squeeze it in.... but I'm a solo recordist who plays everything and then adds my, or someone else's vocals at the end... so that's probably not the way someone running a real studio would do it.
J
jaynm26
New member
GIVE US FREE!!!! I record alotta dff shit, cant just be one way for me to track or mix really!
Ugghh!!!?? Frankly Im confused by the question are we talkin bout mixers? or Mixing procedure? and what procedure? Gain staging/Balancing/panning/Eqing?
J
jaynm26
New member
Dont forget to plugin the headphones
G
Greg_L
Banned
I'd spend the 4 weeks training you how to dial in sounds and mic them properly. Everything after that is simple.
J
jaynm26
New member
Easy, one key lesson be an Engine"EAR" not an Engine"Eye".
J
jaynm26
New member
I mean RAMI is deaf and he literally just fiddles wit knobs and just makes MAGIC!!! Its hard to explain any particular lesson's or key points for that. I mean i guess buy Bose Noise canceling headphones and try it out I guess.
D
dreib
Active member
I read the question, I thought you said there are no wrong answers?....
VomitHatSteve
Hat STYLE. Not contents.
There are right answers to the wrong question.
So I did some math. I've probably spent 1000-1200 hours in the last 12 years working on all stages of recording combined (tracking, mixing, mastering). They say true mastery of a skill takes 10,000 hours. This means that if you come ask me for one piece of advice on mixing when I'm 135, I'm sure to have a great answer for you! Until then... grain of salt, I guess.
Also, why is everyone dropping the ball on quoting Rush here? Do BSG and I have to carry that entire thread?
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
A planet of playthings, we dance on the strings of powers we cannot perceive......
The two aren't necessarilly related. I mix at low volume because I'm not a good mixer and I can't get as good a sense of balance if the volume is up. It feels like I'm in a whirlwind of sound. But low volume enables me to judge the balance of everything together somewhat better.
I've never bought that. It takes what it takes, especially with all this machinery making modern music....
Well, you may choose a ready guide in some celestial voice........
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
While I know this was a joke, in all seriousness, a lot of people will say this. I'd have to disagree to use this method to some degree. At least in my experience, lets say you called up a bunch of plugins on various tracks in your session, and just tweaked them until they sounded good but you didn't really know exactly what you were doing, or what those settings are really doing, other than just "it sounds good". So let's say somewhere down the line in your mix you notice something you're all of the sudden disliking. Maybe it was an eq move you made on the bass and now it isn't sitting right with the guitars. Maybe it was a compression move you made on a snare and had too fast of an attack so it sounds choked. So if you don't know what each tweak and turn was doing for each plugin you called up, when a problem arises like that further down the line, you're not going to know what to re-call and re-adjust in order to rid yourself of this problem you are hearing. You'll be overwhelmed and have learned nothing. Rather than spending your novice time learning what the stuff is doing and why.
See where I'm going? I'm I'm addressing you, Rami, for the record. Just a remark.
R
RAMI
Guest
If you knew it was a joke, why did you address it?
The
....was your decision.
But, in all seriousness
, when I say I just fiddle with knobs and faders until it sounds good, it's semi-serious, but it's not that far off. It doesn't mean I do it aimlessly. I do things in a certain order, for example, first bringing up faders and getting a ballpark level, etc.....I don't just throw plugs on anything unless I think it will help achieve the final product I have in my head. I don't EQ, compress, pan, or add reverb to anything unless I think it needs it.
So, in essence, fiddling with knobs and faders until is sounds good is what we all do. But it doesn't mean you have to do anything without a purpose.
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RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
If you knew it was a joke, why did you address it?
The ....was your decision.
But, in all seriousness
I don't just throw plugs on anything unless I think it will help achieve the final product I have in my head. I don't EQ, compress, pan, or add reverb to anything unless I think it needs it.
So, in essence, fiddling with knobs and faders until is sounds good is what we all do. But it doesn't mean you have to do anything without a purpose.
I addressed it, because a lot of people actually DO just mess around not knowing what they are doing and think they are mixing. So at the end I mentioned I wasn't targeting you.
But I guess you're right, at the end of the day that is really all we do (whther we know what we're doing or not). If you sat a deaf guy in the room and he watched you work, that's all he'd think anyways.
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RAMI
Guest
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jaynm26
New member
Its called the RAMI mix technique, "I just try to fiddle with mines a little faster"...ummm did that sound weird?
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Get your fingers off RAMI's knob!
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
Well, that's what threw me off. You had a typo there and it reads
I mean ya! Woops, no I meant to do that! I like causing confusion around these parts. Keeps you guys in tip top condition!
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
To be honest, I'm something of a "twiddle the knobs until it sounds good" merchant. Things like frequencies and amplitude scupper me. When I see some of the guys talking about 'cutting 4Db at 250 Hz' or 'the meat of the voice is in the such and such KHz region' or whatever, I'm torn between the light {admiration} and dark {ignorance¬> I haven't got a clue !}. Setting a compressor or expander knowledgeably is as simple for me as charting a course to Pluto, with a whistle stop to Saturn's rings, on a rocket.
However, my twiddling isn't aimless or random either. If I'm looking for a sound I'll try various EQ or effect settings to see if I can get an approximation. I've come to know that, for instance, boosting the various mid settings on my DAW can do wonders for the drums and percussion, but can be the kiss of death in distortion on the vocals or flappiness on the acoustic guitar. So I have to rely on how things sound. Of course, familiarity has bred a little more deliberation on my part.
However, my twiddling isn't aimless or random either. If I'm looking for a sound I'll try various EQ or effect settings to see if I can get an approximation. I've come to know that, for instance, boosting the various mid settings on my DAW can do wonders for the drums and percussion, but can be the kiss of death in distortion on the vocals or flappiness on the acoustic guitar. So I have to rely on how things sound. Of course, familiarity has bred a little more deliberation on my part.
TexRoadkill
Audio Bum
I though you were supposed to fiddle with the knobs until it sounds bad, then go back to the last version of the mix and call it done 