kcearl
I see deaf people
i play keyboard, guitar, bass in that order but I dont play drums....so when i mix it generally goes drums, bass, guitar, keyboards.....I find that my mixes have gotten better by following that simple order/rule 
SouthSIDE Glen
independentrecording.net
Either that or the only thing going through his monitor is the guitar
.I KID!
G.
M
moresound
Loud Sun Studios
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
Hoo boy, do I feel sorry for whoever sings the vocals! It just doesn't work when you push all the instruments up to +10dB but keep the vocals clean and unclipped...
Just kidding!
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I have a theory that for some bands that are used to playing live and not recording in a studio, that sometimes some of the members just get so used to how things sound on-stage form their position, that they get (consciously or unconsciously) used to things sounding like that. The guitarist under that influence wants the mix to sound like 90% guitar and 10% stage monitor
G.
I also mix live bands so that biases my studio mixing habits. If the song is rock and needs to sound loud I do tend to almost bury the vocal. Ideally in vocal tracking I'll run the 'phones a little hot with the vocal a little low to get them to push a bit, short of straining their voice. Other styles of music demand other styles of mixing.
N
NYMorningstar
Recording Modus Operandi
I'm not sure if I'm understanding you right. Are you saying that when you mix live you run the volume in the headphone monitors low so the singer will sing harder?
Bitter Dawn
BM is the Devil's Fuel
I would say this tends to help when mixing. I started off playing guitar, then went to playing bass and then started playing the drums. When it came to mixing as there were songs in my old band where I played every thing and, my focus was trying to find good placement and a sense of balance for each instrument in order to present or capture the right feeling or, atmosphere of the song. Even on tracks where I only played the drums and did vocals, I still tried to present the song(s) in this fashion.
However, I do find myself focusing a lot on the drums because, I want to try to balance all aspects of the kit to ensure that the hats aren't too loud, the bass is just right and that the crashes/splashes/china aren't overbearing plus, it was the hardest instrument to mic with the environment we were working in. Guitar(s) and bass we just put the appropriate mic in close proximity.
D
dintymoore
Guest
Hey guys
I was browsing through some posts, and someone said "This song sounds like it was mixed by a guitarist." The thought popped into my head that any instruments you play affect your mix... For example, if you are a drummer, you make the drums louder in the mix than if you were a guitarist.
Do you guys find yourself doing this?
I'm a drummer/keyboardist. I remember when I was a kid in concert band they said when a certain conductor was about to conduct us that the trombones would be loud because he was a trombonist.
I have noticed that on Phil Collins songs the drums tend to be loud, and that on Paul McCartney's albums the bass is pronounced.
It's good though, it's part of the person's identity.
It reminds me of when you see a news story and you can tell what the camerman is focusing on. A few times it was obvious to me that for a moment the camerman was focusing on a chic's boobs or ass.
So I guess we all tend to concentrate on what we like.
D
dodgeaspen
New member
I try not to be that way but I sometimes hear myself doing it on drum parts.
noisewreck
New member
Yes. That's why I don't have any geetars in my music
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
Mixing live affects how I track and mix in the studio.
Bob Ross
Your god hates me
(I'd swear I already responded to this thread...must be a similar one somewhere around here)
I'm a bass player, and it took me years to learn how to mix bass
...but not because I wanted the bass to be too loud; rather, as a musician the way I hear basslines, they occupy a completely different space than they do on most commercial recordings. They interact with the other instruments differently, they fulfill a different role, they cause different physiological things to happen in listeners. Seriously, I was mixing records for decades before I finally figured out that I had to completely unlearn everything I thought about what a bassline does if I wanted to get a mix to sound like a Billboard hit.
The trick now is to take all that stuff I learned/unlearned about mixing and "reverse engineer" it, apply it to my playing as a bassist!
Yeah, that ain't gonna happen...
I'm a bass player, and it took me years to learn how to mix bass
...but not because I wanted the bass to be too loud; rather, as a musician the way I hear basslines, they occupy a completely different space than they do on most commercial recordings. They interact with the other instruments differently, they fulfill a different role, they cause different physiological things to happen in listeners. Seriously, I was mixing records for decades before I finally figured out that I had to completely unlearn everything I thought about what a bassline does if I wanted to get a mix to sound like a Billboard hit.
The trick now is to take all that stuff I learned/unlearned about mixing and "reverse engineer" it, apply it to my playing as a bassist!
Yeah, that ain't gonna happen...
N
Noctune
New member
I think its not about the instruments you play , but the training that you have.from my experience , i learn from other sound engineers mixing , how the instruments are mixed , panned and eq'd.
the more experience u have in mixing , the better you will get.that is , in my opinion.its all about the practice of balance.
the more experience u have in mixing , the better you will get.that is , in my opinion.its all about the practice of balance.
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
I try my hand at a few instruments and sometimes vocals but when it comes to mixing, I'm trying to get everything heard, but in context and balanced. Sometimes, I can't hear the acoustic guitar if there is one....until I mute it and suddenly there's a big hole in there. So even though it may appear that one's own particular part isn't prominent, it's contributing to the whole. Each element is subservient to the song and some bits need bringing to prominence more than others. Even in music life isn't fair. But at least it sounds good !
M
moresound
Loud Sun Studios
Correct Grim.... in a song aside from the back bone of kick snare and bass everything congeals to make a song if you hear it louder it's because it takes a solo........IMHO
cool
cool