How do I mix a single stereo track?

B

bvp663

New member
Alright, here's the setup. I've got 2 acoustic guitars and a singer with 2 gt44s set up as overheads to capture it. The recording itself turned out decent, but how exactly do I mix (well, there's nothing to "mix" really), or "polish" the track (2 tracks, Left and Right)? Does anyone have any reccommendations? Some eq, a little compression maybe? I'm still fairly new to this recording thing and I don't have the mixing instinct that many of guys have. Here's what I've done with one of the songs so far.
Suggestions on how to make this thing rock (as much as it can for a simple room recording) would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
You answered your own question. There is nothing to mix. Read this <a href="http://www.bluebearsound.com/articles/mixing101.htm" target="_blank">Mixing 101</a>
to get an idea of what mixing is. It's going to take alot of reading, learning and experimenting before you can get a decent recording under your belt. This BBS is an excellant place to do all that.

It's best not to 'polish' tracks. For this you would be better off if you just start over and retrack it. Try different mic placements and some isolation. By using only the overheads you picked up the sound of the room. Do you hear the room? Once you have that there is no getting rid of it basically. Bringing the mics closer to the source will pick up more of the instrument and less of the room. You could track up close and also far away simultaneously and mix the two together later. Use overdubs, e.g. track the guitars first and do the vocals later.

At any rate there is an infinite number of ways to do it so just stick around, read and learn, experiment and have fun. :D
 
thats some good advice from NY, i don't really have any other advice as far as the mixing. so was this clip just recorded "live" all in one take? i'd just like to say that even though the recorded sound might not be the best, the performance itself was awesome. nice guitar playing and singing too!
 
Yes, the clip was recorded live in one take. I just set the mics up and they did a little acoustic set. I got it while the band was on tour, as they crashed at my apartment for the night. So unfortunately I have no i way of re-tracking it. The song I posted I had already done some tweaking to. Mainly EQ'd the vocals up to make them more audible and added a hint of reverb and threw in some "mastering" plugin I had around.

So i know there's definately things that can be done to the song to at least improve it for what it is. Any simple steps like that is kind of along the line of thinking I was going for. Perhaps using phrases like "mixing" didn't help. :)
 
i guess i need help on this issue as well, i have kids come to me all the time with a stereo mp3 or wav the downloaded of the the net or a stereo track off thier buddies synth. no matter what i do unless its retracked i cant make it sound good, i can make it sound better, but not good. im suding cubase sx and adobe audition.
 
smashngrab said:
no matter what i do unless its retracked i cant make it sound good, i can make it sound better, but not good.
Click to expand...
I *love* when someone inadvertantly answers their own question. :D

G.
 
To make it easier to mix to get a decent sound you might be best tracking the vox seperately from the guitars.
I can hear alot of the room. What i would do is place the mics closer, are you using condensors?
Try treating the room ao it is a bit more dead and then add some reverb at mix down.
Cool tune.
Vox are far back, need to be close miced again. Good singing.
 
smashngrab said:
i guess i need help on this issue as well, i have kids come to me all the time with a stereo mp3 or wav the downloaded of the the net or a stereo track off thier buddies synth. no matter what i do unless its retracked i cant make it sound good, i can make it sound better, but not good. im suding cubase sx and adobe audition.
Click to expand...
GIGO: garbage in, garbage out.

You can't make filet mignon with flank steak.
 
MadAudio said:
You can't make filet mignon with flank steak.
Click to expand...
Agreed. But they both taste great with bleu cheese. :D

That means nothing on topic...I just had a sudden urge for a blue cheese steak... :p

G.
 
What's you're really asking is how to master the tracks.
Of course, some people are ignoring the facts and giving you multitrack mixing retracking suggestions and so on.

Mixing and Mastering are quite different.

You could always post this in the Mixing/Mastering forum. Maybe some of the Mastering Engineers there could give some suggestions.
 
Thanks for the help everyone. That BlueBear Mixing 101 site helped educate me a lot in the direction i should be going, so i think I'll hold off posting this in the mastering forum unless i run into any problems. Thanks again for everyone's help!
 
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