how do you mix?

[ibawls]

I'm curious as to if there is any distinguished methods/process' that serve as basic guidelines or fundamentals to remember and use when mixing the different audio levels in relation to each other to achieve that blended, balanced sound, not like the e.q. levels in my friends car where the bass and hihat are making you squint and tickling your nose hairs they're so loud. The reason i'm asking is because recently i was asked by some friends to come and do demo recordings at their rehearsal studios for local bands looking to have a finished product they can take home after a session at the studios. Of course i said yes, yet I am weary of any experienced engineers/musicians, coming in and possibly complaining about my amateur mixes. I have a little experience, but i know i have alot to learn. I realize much of it is personal preference or what type of music, but what i'm asking about is maybe there is some type of format I can apply so to get a more professional mix, for example, like this instrument should be about the same volume as this one, or these should be panned off to the side, or compared to that, this should be about here, something like that so you know my personal preferences aren't muffling the real.

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Bawls of Isis:

Mixing is the most demanding of the recording process. I have spent 3 hours working with a two or three minute cut trying this and that, reverb here, EQ there, up level here, down level there, pan left/right, do all right? Man, mixing is the real talent, as well as good equipment/gear.

So, don't let anything but your ears determine the veracity of your decided mix.

Many mixes will kind of go boom; but, the three or four that come out golden will make you want to continue.

Green Hornet

 

[pglewis]

Get as good a monitoring system as you can. Mastering professionals seem to overwhelmingly agree that getting the "bottom end" (low frequencies) right is the most common problem they run into with the mixes sent to them. Theres either way too much or not enough, and it's usually because the mixing was done on monitors that didn't have a very flat response.

EQ is probably the most versatile and useful tool in audio (my opinion). Learn how the different flavors work, play with 'em, and get some good EQ tools. There's a lot more to life than graphic EQ's.

Other than that, music is abstract art. There's really no cookbook. I'm with the Hornet.