Anyone tried mixing without "solo"?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Henningsgard
  • Start date Start date
Steve Henningsgard

Steve Henningsgard

New member
I've never tried it, but I'm curious to know if there are any advantages to completely ignoring your solo/mute buttons and mixing everything in context? Personally, I doubt I could come up with anything close to the same quality (mediocre though it may be) as when I mix using solo/mute as anyone else would.

Thoughts?
 
My primary method is to mix in-context. I only use solo or mute buttons if, when listening to the mix as a whole, I hear something that bothers me and need to drill down to it.
 
gecko zzed said:
My primary method is to mix in-context. I only use solo or mute buttons if, when listening to the mix as a whole, I hear something that bothers me and need to drill down to it.
Click to expand...

That makes alot of sense.
 
I'm pretty much in line with Gekko. I can't honestly say if I have ever made it through an entire mix session without using solo - I've never really paid attention to that fact - but if challenged to go without solo for a typical song mix session, unless the tracks were really difficult to work with I probably wouldn't feel that handicapped. Sure I prefer to have soloing capability, but it's not exactly at the top of my mixing needs.

G.
 
the top of my mixing needs is better ears and monitoring.
 
If you use "Solo" you are not mixing...you're soloing. ;)

I don't think it's really a big deal about NOT EVER soloing tracks, but it’s a big deal if you are using Solo to make your mixing decisions down to the final steps and last seconds of a mix.
If you are doing that...then you're probably having trouble hearing the mix as a whole and identifying minor adjustments you are making...without the soloing.

Maybe it's a monitor issue or just a need for more ear training...but at some point you should be able to wean yourself off soloing constantly and all the way down to the wire of your mix.
Otherwise, soloing is a tool like anything else, and sometimes you need to do a "reality check"...but it's just a CHECK and not always to make a CHANGE. Too many adjustments during with Solo will never work out well.

One way I like to use Solo (on every track in turn) is to just hear what I got...check for noises and other oddities that might have slipped past the tracking setup...and in the DAW, I use Solo when cut/paste editing a track, of course...but when it's that last phase of mixdown, then Solo should not be lighting up constantly as you work that final phase…IMO.
 
Makes sense. Perhaps forcing myself to use it less might help get from point A to point B faster than soloing, making adjustments, then finding the adjustments actually made it sound worse in context.

Thanks!
 
Many times what sounds great solo'ed, especially distorted guitar tones, doesn't sit well in the mix. I only use solo when I'm repairing blemishes on individual tracks (of which there are many in my music), but never when adjusting level, eq, compression, reverb, etc of individual tracks.
 
miroslav said:
One way I like to use Solo (on every track in turn) is to just hear what I got...check for noises and other oddities that might have slipped past the tracking setup...and in the DAW, I use Solo when cut/paste editing a track, of course...but when it's that last phase of mixdown, then Solo should not be lighting up constantly as you work that final phase…IMO.
Click to expand...

I do this a ton. I don't know if you'd call this "mixing" as much as "engineering" - I could see it go either way, really - but this is what I find myself doing most of the time when I hit solo.

The other thing I use it for a lot, which I personally think is pretty defensible, is to really hone in on the interaction between tracks. Say, noticing that the kick/bass definition was a little iffy in the full mix, so soloing the two of them and spending some time EQing one against the other. You'd obviously want to then unsolo them and listen to what you've done in the full mix to make sure it's not clashing with anything else, but I think it's kind of helpful when you're facing a specific problem to strip away everything you're not concerned about.

I don't mix vocal material very much, but I recorded something with a friend of mine recently that had a main vocal and two harmony tracks. I found it was much easier to get the harmonies to mesh with the lead when I solo'd all three tracks and spent some time EQing the harmonies around the main. When I brought back the rest of the mix, I was much happier with the results. I don't know how applicable this would be to other instrument combinations - on a slow, bluesy, sparse vocal song, really nailing the vocal sound is your priority so having to make some adjustments to the rest of the mix to work with a harmonized vocal isn't the end of the world - but at least here I found it helpful.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
I don't mix vocal material very much, but I recorded something with a friend of mine recently that had a main vocal and two harmony tracks. I found it was much easier to get the harmonies to mesh with the lead when I solo'd all three tracks and spent some time EQing the harmonies around the main. When I brought back the rest of the mix, I was much happier with the results.
Click to expand...

Ah yes . . . I do use solo at times on groups, for example, a drum kit, or a vocal ensemble . . . making sure that these sub-mixes mesh properly.

Even so, I have found that, when heard in context, the sub-mix needs modification (for example, a bass voice that sits well with rest of the harmonies disappears in the main mix and needs a boost).

And when starting a mix, I do solo the tracks as I progressively add them.
 
I really don't solo once I'm "REALLY" into the mix, but before, I'l go though pretty much every track solo'ed grouped checking for anomalies and phase issues, And I will get ballpark FX's and EQ at times.
 
I find I mute more than I solo

For example, vocal isn't sitting well, Mute it to see what is prominient in the vocal range that could be masking/competing for space with the vox
Can't hear the kick real well, mute it see what is causing the mask or does it suddenly feel realy bass light because the kick is absent. That kind of thing
 
Grammy award engineers say

I have checked out many peoples work and I was forced into a mixing bootcamp this past 3 months. The first thing these mix engineers said is soloing and muting too much is a no no!

Honestly, my mixes come together so much faster now by not doing soloing everything to excess as I was doing it before!
Sometimes, the perfection of the mix is the imperfections of how they blend together!!

In the end, it comes down to individual situations but I think mixing requires you hear all parts in context more than soloing!

www.twitter.com/dbxxl1
 
I guess it depends why you 'solo'. From the very beginning, long before I had a machine that had mute or solo, I'd put the faders down and listen to an instrument or vocal on it's own just out of curiosity, to see what things sounded like on their own. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a tool that like many others, makes a good servant..........but a lousy master.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top