sonusman
Banned
I was going to save this for an article, but decided after some recent listening to various projects done by home recording engineers that I would "rant" this in this forum.
I get asked the questions "What frequencies should I cut or boost for this or that"? Or, "What should I use compression on"? Or, "How do I get my mix loud"?
While many books could possibly be written covering these subjects, I am going to share some thoughts about mixing right here that I think will serve most well. Believe it or not, this is not going to be that long of a post.
1- From listening to many home recorded songs, I have come to the conclusion that many are monitoring at levels far too low to mix effectively. There may be issues involved with turning it up a bit, so it is not that I am without sympathy for those reasons, but mixing at low volumes means you will have the tendency to mix too much low end into your mix. Equalizing the monitoring system is not going to solve this problem. Turn those puppies up!
I would recommend that you record a 1KHz test tone on your system, and play back that test tone through the same D/A converters you will use to monitor your mixes. With the test tone recorded at -6db digital full scale, use a dB meter and turn up your monitors until that test tone is at about 85db with a C weight on the meter. I am not kidding.
It is a good idea to do one speaker at a time so that you can see if possibly you have a bad side of your amp, a speaker that is different then the other (it can happen), or bad cabling. If there is a difference between the two sides of the amp, suspect your cabling first, either the amp or D/A converters second and third, then your speakers.
2- Your near field monitors are NOT going to have as much low end, and will have a tighter low end then home stereo speakers will. You HAVE to get used to this difference in the sound. A great way to KNOW the low end of your monitors is to listen to a lot of professionally recorded mixes using the same D/A converters and monitors. There is no other way that allows you to be as subjective. If you are recording on a DAW, find a way to digitally transfer professional mixes to your DAW so they are available to play back.
3- Blending instruments is nowhere as hard as you might think! It only requires that you pay attention to what you are doing, and sadly, I don't hear many people doing that.
Let's take for example that the hi hat and the vocal are going to have some similar places in the mix. This is not uncommon in Pop music. The sibilance of the vocal is going to be about the same as the hi hat frequency. Make sure that you don't have one or the other dominating in the mix!
A kick drum and a bass guitar pluck should have a very similar sound too. Both instruments require that you rid them of low midrange frequencies, like around 200Hz. Solo both and check to make sure that they are not killing each other. While a kick drum can get a little click sound for definition with a eq boost around 3 or 4KHz, the bass guitar will get articulation with a boost around 500-1000Hz. But both are going to have a similar 100Hz body to them, and pay very close attention to that. Also, don't get over-kill on the stuff below 100Hz. With most monitors, it is hard to hear anything below that, and you will have the tendency to boost 80Hz a lot to try to make these two instruments sound fuller. Be aware of that because a 3db eq boost on a kick drum at 80Hz is going to eat up a lot of your potential dynamic range in the mix, and it may not sound as good as you think once you start playing the song on home stereo systems
In the midrange, watch for the vocals to have harsh words that jump out at you. One of the problems many face is that they are performers too, and their midrange hearing starts to get shot, and they don't quite hear those 2-4KHz jumps in the vocal that kill your ears through other converters and play back systems. Also, the guitar is going to have a lot of it's top end in this range, and you need some room for that.
With guitars, watch those boost that are below around 250Hz. Anything below that is not worth boosting on a guitar. You once again are just eating up potential dynamic range in the mix with a boost that WILL not sound good on home stereo speakers. If your guitar sounds too bright, try cutting stuff above 5or 6KHz. I roll out a lot of 10KHz high cut filter on guitar, unless they sound very dull, in which case, you need some boost there to give them "air". At no time is a boost below about 250Hz good for your mix with guitars. Don't do it and be happy in the end!
When you are done with your mix, take a good close look at it in a .wav editor. Do you have a lot of spikes in the mixes that are 6db hotter then the rest of the song? Is your average level well below 50% of the available dynamic range? If either is the case, I assure you that your mix is not good by any means. Those 6db jumps mean that you needed some limiting on a certain instrument, or that you have a eq boost on something and it is causing the track to be super sensitive to that frequency. Say with a guitar, those big low end boosts means that when ever the instrument hits a note with that fundamental frequency you get that much more boost at that frequency. Not a good thing. Eq boosts are only really good for deficiencies in the track. I revert back to if you are trying to use eq to make something sound drastically different, then your best bet is to record the part again and get that type of sound recorded. This way you KNOW what you are getting in the sound.
It really comes down to paying attention to instruments that share certain frequency ranges. The click on a kick drum shares the same space as the upper end of guitars, and the bulk of the energy in vocals, but the kick drum is not playing continuously, so it is okay to boost that up a bit to bring it out. But boosting an guitar at that frequency, or even a vocal means a mismatch with the other instruments in that range. We are looking for balance. If you are finding that something is dominating in the mix in a certain frequency range, check to make sure that you don't have boost eq in that range that is contributing to this. If you don't have boost eq on it, then you may need to apply a little CUT eq, but just enough to mellow it out, which is usually around a 3-5db cut. Any more then that and you have a big problem with the way the track was recorded. But another consideration too is how important any instrument is in a certain frequency range. A vocal masking a guitar a little bit is okay because usually, the vocal, drums, and bass are important during vocal passages.
If you are using digital eq's, any more then a 6db cut or boost is going to sound awful! The algorithms are just not good enough to provide a smooth sound and color to a track with excessive eq, so large cuts or boosts with digital eq's should be avoided at all costs. With cheaper analog eq's, you have a similar problem. Are you catching on here? Get you tracks close to the way you want them to sound while tracking and avoid heavy eq.
Before mixing a song, it may be a good idea to run a mix where you use no effects or eq and just adjust volumes to get the best mix you can. Burn that to CD and start listening on many different systems. You may be surprised at how good it actually sounds on home stereo systems, and how much more open and unprocessed your mix is. You will certainly still have a few things you would like to fix, but now you KNOW what needs to be fixed, and are not being biased by the better sounding D/A converters and monitors your setup has.
A great way to think about blending instruments is considering the importance they play in the mix. Obviously, a vocal 99% of the time will be very important. But that doesn't mean that the vocal should over power everything else. I call this "oblique" mixing, where there is an underlying theme that stays consistent, and you have parts that build over that but don't interfere too much. If fact, if you consider what oblique means, mixing a song effectively is very similar in the dynamics. You have a very steady bottom with a little color on top. The color grows and shriks, but you still have a solid foundation that is not really effected by it. This means you really have to consider what each instrument REALLY contributes to the song. Also, "moods" of certain parts should be reflected in the dynamics too. A little guitar ditty during a verse doesn't really need to be blasting away does it? But during a build up at the end of a chorus, you may have a lead that comes in for the last measure to embellish the transition. You need to leave some sonic space for this add in, and leave enough headroom for the added volume.
In Pop tunes, the kick and snare drums are very important, and should be very articulate in the mix, along with the vocals. The bass guitar is usually the harmonic foundation, and should occupy the low end of the mix predominately. Guitars tend to sound sort of quiet in the studio, and at lower volumes. Be wary of that. But, solos should occupy the same dynamic and sonic place the vocals did in the mix.
Strive for when a instruments stops playing that your mix doesn't drop in volume much at all, if at all. Viewing RMS metering of some sort will help a lot with this. If you know how to view peak metering for the RMS value (a skill that takes awhile to learn) even better because you can also see just how often you have used up your dynamic range.
One thing I have noticed a lot is people trying to put extreme dynamics in a song that doesn't need extreme dynamics. Drummers are by far the worst about this in recording, followed closely by singers. Consistent volume levels are desired in recording. How the parts fit together, and to a certain degree, the actual notes being played will create natural sounding dynamics in Pop tunes. Also, an instrument stopping in the middle of the song for whatever reason creates a change in "perceived" dynamics, even though your metering may not show anything different.
Another thing I have been hearing a lot is either sparse or heavy reverbs. Don’t be afraid to use a nice reverb across several rhythm instruments. It is the glue that holds them all together. At the same time, big huge long reverbs all over the vocal line don't work for anything other then Whitney Houston tunes, or the Scorpions…
What I have noticed about the big reverbs many people use is that they leave in a lot of high-end content in the reverb. Hey guys, try cutting everything above 3 or 4KHz on that reverb. Also, I have seldom EVER used a reverb recently where I didn't have at least 40ms of pre-delay on it. A very short decay, with a hi-cut around 3 or 4KHz and a pre-delay that is appropriate will really fatten up a track without having to resort to eq! Play with it and you will never use those huge 3 sec plates with all that 10KHz content again!!!
Use your ears AND your eyes to gauge your mix. Your ears will tell you when thing sound screwy, but viewing your mix in a .wav editor will certainly "show" you some potential problems. View a professionally recorded song in a .wav editor and you will usually see a very well developed .wav, with very consistent peaks on the kick and snare drums, and you won't see the volume jumps when the vocal comes in, and drop when it goes away. Creatively using eq can help tame dynamics a bit, and gentle compression on instruments will do the same.
Anway. Just a rant so to speak about mixing. If it helps anyone, great! If not, at least you have some more material to curse my name by…
Ed
[Edited by sonusman on 11-30-2000 at 21:05]
I get asked the questions "What frequencies should I cut or boost for this or that"? Or, "What should I use compression on"? Or, "How do I get my mix loud"?
While many books could possibly be written covering these subjects, I am going to share some thoughts about mixing right here that I think will serve most well. Believe it or not, this is not going to be that long of a post.
1- From listening to many home recorded songs, I have come to the conclusion that many are monitoring at levels far too low to mix effectively. There may be issues involved with turning it up a bit, so it is not that I am without sympathy for those reasons, but mixing at low volumes means you will have the tendency to mix too much low end into your mix. Equalizing the monitoring system is not going to solve this problem. Turn those puppies up!
I would recommend that you record a 1KHz test tone on your system, and play back that test tone through the same D/A converters you will use to monitor your mixes. With the test tone recorded at -6db digital full scale, use a dB meter and turn up your monitors until that test tone is at about 85db with a C weight on the meter. I am not kidding.
It is a good idea to do one speaker at a time so that you can see if possibly you have a bad side of your amp, a speaker that is different then the other (it can happen), or bad cabling. If there is a difference between the two sides of the amp, suspect your cabling first, either the amp or D/A converters second and third, then your speakers.
2- Your near field monitors are NOT going to have as much low end, and will have a tighter low end then home stereo speakers will. You HAVE to get used to this difference in the sound. A great way to KNOW the low end of your monitors is to listen to a lot of professionally recorded mixes using the same D/A converters and monitors. There is no other way that allows you to be as subjective. If you are recording on a DAW, find a way to digitally transfer professional mixes to your DAW so they are available to play back.
3- Blending instruments is nowhere as hard as you might think! It only requires that you pay attention to what you are doing, and sadly, I don't hear many people doing that.
Let's take for example that the hi hat and the vocal are going to have some similar places in the mix. This is not uncommon in Pop music. The sibilance of the vocal is going to be about the same as the hi hat frequency. Make sure that you don't have one or the other dominating in the mix!
A kick drum and a bass guitar pluck should have a very similar sound too. Both instruments require that you rid them of low midrange frequencies, like around 200Hz. Solo both and check to make sure that they are not killing each other. While a kick drum can get a little click sound for definition with a eq boost around 3 or 4KHz, the bass guitar will get articulation with a boost around 500-1000Hz. But both are going to have a similar 100Hz body to them, and pay very close attention to that. Also, don't get over-kill on the stuff below 100Hz. With most monitors, it is hard to hear anything below that, and you will have the tendency to boost 80Hz a lot to try to make these two instruments sound fuller. Be aware of that because a 3db eq boost on a kick drum at 80Hz is going to eat up a lot of your potential dynamic range in the mix, and it may not sound as good as you think once you start playing the song on home stereo systems
In the midrange, watch for the vocals to have harsh words that jump out at you. One of the problems many face is that they are performers too, and their midrange hearing starts to get shot, and they don't quite hear those 2-4KHz jumps in the vocal that kill your ears through other converters and play back systems. Also, the guitar is going to have a lot of it's top end in this range, and you need some room for that.
With guitars, watch those boost that are below around 250Hz. Anything below that is not worth boosting on a guitar. You once again are just eating up potential dynamic range in the mix with a boost that WILL not sound good on home stereo speakers. If your guitar sounds too bright, try cutting stuff above 5or 6KHz. I roll out a lot of 10KHz high cut filter on guitar, unless they sound very dull, in which case, you need some boost there to give them "air". At no time is a boost below about 250Hz good for your mix with guitars. Don't do it and be happy in the end!
When you are done with your mix, take a good close look at it in a .wav editor. Do you have a lot of spikes in the mixes that are 6db hotter then the rest of the song? Is your average level well below 50% of the available dynamic range? If either is the case, I assure you that your mix is not good by any means. Those 6db jumps mean that you needed some limiting on a certain instrument, or that you have a eq boost on something and it is causing the track to be super sensitive to that frequency. Say with a guitar, those big low end boosts means that when ever the instrument hits a note with that fundamental frequency you get that much more boost at that frequency. Not a good thing. Eq boosts are only really good for deficiencies in the track. I revert back to if you are trying to use eq to make something sound drastically different, then your best bet is to record the part again and get that type of sound recorded. This way you KNOW what you are getting in the sound.
It really comes down to paying attention to instruments that share certain frequency ranges. The click on a kick drum shares the same space as the upper end of guitars, and the bulk of the energy in vocals, but the kick drum is not playing continuously, so it is okay to boost that up a bit to bring it out. But boosting an guitar at that frequency, or even a vocal means a mismatch with the other instruments in that range. We are looking for balance. If you are finding that something is dominating in the mix in a certain frequency range, check to make sure that you don't have boost eq in that range that is contributing to this. If you don't have boost eq on it, then you may need to apply a little CUT eq, but just enough to mellow it out, which is usually around a 3-5db cut. Any more then that and you have a big problem with the way the track was recorded. But another consideration too is how important any instrument is in a certain frequency range. A vocal masking a guitar a little bit is okay because usually, the vocal, drums, and bass are important during vocal passages.
If you are using digital eq's, any more then a 6db cut or boost is going to sound awful! The algorithms are just not good enough to provide a smooth sound and color to a track with excessive eq, so large cuts or boosts with digital eq's should be avoided at all costs. With cheaper analog eq's, you have a similar problem. Are you catching on here? Get you tracks close to the way you want them to sound while tracking and avoid heavy eq.
Before mixing a song, it may be a good idea to run a mix where you use no effects or eq and just adjust volumes to get the best mix you can. Burn that to CD and start listening on many different systems. You may be surprised at how good it actually sounds on home stereo systems, and how much more open and unprocessed your mix is. You will certainly still have a few things you would like to fix, but now you KNOW what needs to be fixed, and are not being biased by the better sounding D/A converters and monitors your setup has.
A great way to think about blending instruments is considering the importance they play in the mix. Obviously, a vocal 99% of the time will be very important. But that doesn't mean that the vocal should over power everything else. I call this "oblique" mixing, where there is an underlying theme that stays consistent, and you have parts that build over that but don't interfere too much. If fact, if you consider what oblique means, mixing a song effectively is very similar in the dynamics. You have a very steady bottom with a little color on top. The color grows and shriks, but you still have a solid foundation that is not really effected by it. This means you really have to consider what each instrument REALLY contributes to the song. Also, "moods" of certain parts should be reflected in the dynamics too. A little guitar ditty during a verse doesn't really need to be blasting away does it? But during a build up at the end of a chorus, you may have a lead that comes in for the last measure to embellish the transition. You need to leave some sonic space for this add in, and leave enough headroom for the added volume.
In Pop tunes, the kick and snare drums are very important, and should be very articulate in the mix, along with the vocals. The bass guitar is usually the harmonic foundation, and should occupy the low end of the mix predominately. Guitars tend to sound sort of quiet in the studio, and at lower volumes. Be wary of that. But, solos should occupy the same dynamic and sonic place the vocals did in the mix.
Strive for when a instruments stops playing that your mix doesn't drop in volume much at all, if at all. Viewing RMS metering of some sort will help a lot with this. If you know how to view peak metering for the RMS value (a skill that takes awhile to learn) even better because you can also see just how often you have used up your dynamic range.
One thing I have noticed a lot is people trying to put extreme dynamics in a song that doesn't need extreme dynamics. Drummers are by far the worst about this in recording, followed closely by singers. Consistent volume levels are desired in recording. How the parts fit together, and to a certain degree, the actual notes being played will create natural sounding dynamics in Pop tunes. Also, an instrument stopping in the middle of the song for whatever reason creates a change in "perceived" dynamics, even though your metering may not show anything different.
Another thing I have been hearing a lot is either sparse or heavy reverbs. Don’t be afraid to use a nice reverb across several rhythm instruments. It is the glue that holds them all together. At the same time, big huge long reverbs all over the vocal line don't work for anything other then Whitney Houston tunes, or the Scorpions…
What I have noticed about the big reverbs many people use is that they leave in a lot of high-end content in the reverb. Hey guys, try cutting everything above 3 or 4KHz on that reverb. Also, I have seldom EVER used a reverb recently where I didn't have at least 40ms of pre-delay on it. A very short decay, with a hi-cut around 3 or 4KHz and a pre-delay that is appropriate will really fatten up a track without having to resort to eq! Play with it and you will never use those huge 3 sec plates with all that 10KHz content again!!!Use your ears AND your eyes to gauge your mix. Your ears will tell you when thing sound screwy, but viewing your mix in a .wav editor will certainly "show" you some potential problems. View a professionally recorded song in a .wav editor and you will usually see a very well developed .wav, with very consistent peaks on the kick and snare drums, and you won't see the volume jumps when the vocal comes in, and drop when it goes away. Creatively using eq can help tame dynamics a bit, and gentle compression on instruments will do the same.
Anway. Just a rant so to speak about mixing. If it helps anyone, great! If not, at least you have some more material to curse my name by…
Ed
[Edited by sonusman on 11-30-2000 at 21:05]
yeah - I constantly walk out of the control room and sit on the step outside, or sit in the coffee room etc. It gets you away from the stereo spread etc and hear it like a CD playing in another room. I recommend it 
