Approach To Creating A Balanced Mix

[Over Dose]

I'm going to give you guys a little insight to how I create a Balanced Mix.

Starting Your Mix

The first thing that I do when mixing is set the levels, and pan. I find this important to do before using e.q. compression, or anything else because this will let the frequencies build up and expose any problems of clashing frequencies you may run into.

So I start with the vocals muted and work completely on the instruments (you can come back and adjust if needed, later). I start my mixes with all my faders down and will bring my kick up first and let that peak the master buss at about -10. Then I bring in the rest of the drums.

Now, I bring in reverb and delays. I like to set my reverb to tempo. Read this Reverb: Tips and Techniques - Gearslutz.com for instructions on how to do this.

Bringing in the Bass
I find that in a lot of amateur mixes, this can be one of the biggest problems.
I like to bring in the bass after my drums are mixed. Getting a good kick to bass relationship can be difficult, but trust your instincts. Don't "cut" to make room for the kick, that will only create problems with achieving a balanced mix. Now, with that said, if you have an 808 kick, and a bass, you might want to side-chain a compressor to open room up for the Kick when it hits. You want to be able to hear the kick when that bass is going.


Instruments
Now, I bring in pianos, guitars, leads, synths, strings, and all other instruments slowly. I bring them up, I try to find the sweet spot so everything sits just right. Sending them to the reverb return, and constant level adjustments will get them to set in. Sometimes you will need to ride faders. You want the mix to have an exciting points, you want it to build up. A couple dB's higher in the hook possibly when all your instruments are playing. This is important so things aren't all monotonous. This is equally as important as the arrangement. You have to keep the listener interested.

Bringing in the vocals.

Now that we've got the instruments all mixed, it's time to bring in the vocals. First thing I do is bring in the lead vocals. I find the spot where I like them and automate the levels so they sit ontop of the mix. So say the vocalist goes to low on a part and you can't hear them, just bring it up for that part. Or maybe there is just more instruments playing and they are building up to go into the hook, just ride the fader so that the vocals maintain the same relation that they had with the mix when there wasn't so much playing at once.

After all my lead vocals are done, I bring in adlibs, harmonies, background vocals.

You don't want your adlibs to over power your lead take, and you want background vocals to sound like... background vocals. Usually, more reverb on the background vocals so that they are farther back in the mix.

I send all the vocals over to a stereo buss and compress them slightly (this will give them a cohesive sound:"glue"). People often misuse and misunderstand compression. Instead of looking at compression as "leveling out the sound and trimming peaks", you should look at it more as a tool to shape the sound. Here is a great guide to using compression http://www.futureproducers.com/foru...anding-dynamic-processors-compression-352940/

E.Q.

There is corrective e.q. and creative e.q. So far in this mix, we haven't used e.q. Now, the reason for this is because it can create frequency balance problems. So, we have all of our levels set pretty well. There may still be a few kinks, but that may be caused by frequencies all building up in a certain area. Lows and mids are a problematic area for this. Listen to the mix, figure out where what frequencies are clashing, then find the instrument, and cut those clashing/annoying frequency build ups. You might want to set a HPF on the bass and/or kick from 40hz down so the low end isn't muddy.

That is corrective e.q.

Creative e.q. would be more like the "telephone effect" where you cut out from 800hz down, and 2khz up and boost in between.

Or maybe you want to muffle a sound, set a LPF and cut out all those high frequencies.

Maybe you want that "Drake Effect" where the music gets muffle, and the vocals have the telephone effect.

Just set your e.q. to muffle the instruments, and set the e.q on the vocals to the "telephone effect" and automate those plug-ins with a "Master bypass" so they only turn on for certain parts.

E.Q. can also make vocals cut through the mix. This thread http://www.futureproducers.com/foru...derstanding-eq-everthing-its-own-space-29861/ is a good place to start learning e.q.

-Over Dose



P.S. My method varies, and there are certainly an infinite number of ways to mix.

 

[gecko zzed]

My method varies, and there are certainly an infinite number of ways to mix.

This is probably the most important point ^^^

However, your general advice sounds pretty reasonable.

My general (but not exclusive approach) is to:

1 sort out the percussion
2 sort out the bass and bring it up so that kit and bass sit well together.
3 bring up the lead vocals.

I should be able to listen to just kit, bass and vocals and be quite satisfied with that alone.

After I'm happy with that, I:
4 bring up backing vocals and get them to sit with the lead vocals
5 bring up other instruments.

 

[Bristol Posse]

It's always interesting, at least academically, to see what others do, although since everyones brain works differently creatively maybe not particularly relevant

Anyway here is my process (and you'll have to see if you like any of my mixes to see if this is even worthwhile looking at)

Bear in mind that I am writing, recording and mixing everything myself,

1) wait at least a couple of weeks once I am done tracking and am basically happy with the raw tracks

For the next few steps everything is mono and panned straight up the middle

2) throw up the faders and listen to the song through with a note pad handy. Make notes of any areas where there seems to be too much going on, where I might need to mute individual parts etc, timing issues and so on
3)put up the Kick and the bass and work on getting the kick to sit under the bass or vice versa depending on what I want for the song
4) my stuff is always (at least so far) a song with vocals so decide what instrument most closely supports the vocal and throw up those faders to get the balance between the vocal, the main supporting instrument, the kick and bass where I want set compressors and so on
5) Dial in my bus compressor to keep the punch and have it dancing at around 1-2 db of reduction when the main elements are playing to add a little "Glue"
6) add the other instruments, drums and embelishments in and get the balances about where I want them
7) do some basic EQ tweaks to try and get everything playing nicely panned dead center

Now it's time to work on the stereo field

8) start moving things into their own space
9) tweak EQ and levels now that things have some more breathing space to keep the balance as I want it
10) set up reverb sends, I usually have individual mono reverbs for Snare and Vocal, I'll often set the vocal predelay close to an actual fraction of the beat length and then play with it to see if it works better slightly ahead of or behind the beat. I find that way the reverb doesn't step all over the actual vocal as much
Snare verb I just play with until it sounds how I want it
Set up any other mono or stereo verbs I might need
11) EQ the reverbs so they are at the right level of presence for the song
12) pan the mono reverbs into a space that is not in the way of the vox/instrument that they are echoing
13) re check all the levels
14) place all necessary mutes to clean up any open mic non musical stuff

I now have a static mix

15) play it through to check bus compressor activity
16) start working on the fader rides
usually do backing instruments first and then the main vox to make sure the dynamics are where they want.
17) listen to the mix make sure I like it

DONE!
Walk away for at least a couple of days and come back with a notepad and refreshed ears to note any tweaks that may need to be done

 

[clivus]

bookmark this thread.

 

[benherron.rrr]

Very good stuff, Has helped me out alot, I often get overwelmed when mixing