Good Mixdowns For Them Ears

  • Thread starter Thread starter T.O.I.Y.Z.
  • Start date Start date
T

T.O.I.Y.Z.

New member
I know there is always more than one way to skin a cat.....here's a question...After all your vox are laid, panned and EQ'd to your ear's satisfaction, what do YOU do to mix?

I've seen people leave their volume "as is" at the zero mark and then mix in the vocals from there.....

I've been to other studios where the overall "Master" volume was raised up to the highest it could go, and then all other track volumes dropped waaaaaay down, to get the mix done.....(Kind of hard to explain but easy to show in person....)

How do you mix?
 
I raise the volume on all of the things I want louder.

And I lower it on things I want softer.


:D
 
T.O.I.Y.Z. said:
After all your vox are laid, panned and EQ'd to your ear's satisfaction, what do YOU do to mix?
Click to expand...
That's kind of like asking, "after you have swallowed your potatoes, green beans and salad, how do you eat?" ;)

EQ, panning, compression, etc. should all be part of the mixing process not something that one does "before mixing". What sounds good soloed does not necessarily sound good when folded into the mix.

A popular general method is to start "faders up". That is, take your raw tracks an throw them into your mixer (or multi-track software) at "faders up", or each channel with the fader set to unity gain (no boost/no cut). Then listen to what you have and see what needs to be done to make things fit as you have planned. Commonly, form there, folks will work on the rhythm section first, followed by rhythm/accompaniment instruments, lead instruments, backup vox and finally main vox.

But the key is adjustments are made to each instrument or submix based upon how they sound in relation to each other and the ideal final mix, not in solo isolation. The faders up is the starting "rough mix", and each instrument is shaped based on what that needs, not on how each instrument sounds the most awesome on it's own.

G.
 
RAMI said:
Are you talking about mixing vocals over "beats"? Or are you talking about REAL mixing???
Click to expand...

I am talking about mixing vocals on a beat......not necessarily a band, but for the sake of argument, we'll say one or two vocal tracks, over a beat
 
I think the problem with this was the way I worded the question....Let me try it a different way...

Once you have all your vocals laid down, as well as the beat, the steps YOU take to begin mixing the song, as far as the ORDER.....Along with that, the question of what YOU do with the Master Volume, and the volume of each of the tracks of vocals and aspects of the beat/instrumental, and the correlation of each together.....

Obviously with the beat aspects and vox you will EQ everything by ear....The question is, when you are doing this, what do YOU do with the Master Volume and each indivual track volume OVERALL......


Another technique I saw someone do was mute all aspects of the beat.....Keep the Master Volume at "0"....Mix all the vocals (adlibs, overlays, hooks/bridges/chorus), then bounce them down to one track all together...(saw another person bounce 3 times on 3 tracks...1 for main vox, one for adlibs/overlays and the third for the hooks).....Then after that was done, un-mute the beat and mix the tracks to the beat

I guess my main point is I have seen people do things different wayz, and come out with good mixes, but I am trying to figure out which way is best, or if there is a "right way" or not for mixing a song
 
As far as volumes go. Start with everything at zero and then...
Daisy said:
raise the volume on all of the things I want louder.

And I lower it on things I want softer.
Click to expand...

EQ and FX-wise, personally, I do what is necessary in no particular order till it's finished. Along the way I might...
Daisy said:
raise the volume on all of the things I want louder.

And I lower it on things I want softer.
Click to expand...

Usually I keep the master at zero.

There is no right or wrong way. Just like there is no right or wrong way to paint a picture. Of course, there are things you should probably avoid doing, but a lot of that is just basic stuff and it depends on whatever factors the piece of music in question is throwing at you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top