mixing secrets by everyone

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grn

grn

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I figured since the other thread is so full of crap, we could add our own insight in to mixing. I am no expert, but here is what I do...

First and foremost, the most time and care must be spent on tracking. The air is your best mixer. Make sure you get a good sound going in. If it's for drums, I will get the best sound I can in the overheads and get a good stereo image, leaving room in the center for other instruments. For guitar, capture mostly the mid range frequencies and so on and so forth. Vocals are higher, bass is low. The point is to capture a good sound and don't think of it as a single entity, but imagine how it will sound in the mix once all the pieces come together. The distorted guitar may sound great, but then when you listen back it's got crazy harmonics and now you can barely hear the bass. Take out the lows and turn the distortion way down.

When it comes to mixing, I start only by adjusting the volume and getting the levels to where I need them to be. I go as far as I can with just the volume, then when I need more clarity I use compression - especially on drums and vocals. After I've done everything I can with volume and compression, I'm mostly done - because I captured it the way I wanted it to sound. Depending on the instrument, I may add just a hint of reverb... if you can hear it it's too much.

Unless there are crazy mistakes and/or errors, I'm mostly done. Otherwise I will go through and cut the bad parts out and make sure everything is lined up correctly. If the singer stopped a little short of holding out a note, I may extend it slightly - things like that. The most important part of the mixing process is tracking... if you have great musicians, you'll do alright. Study mic placement techniques.
 
What's the point of this thread? You summed up your philosophy of mixing on the other thread with this statement:

grn said:
a lot of what is on this thread is completely useless, if you track your recordings correctly, all you'll need to do is adjust the volume.
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But in this thread, you now say that you add compression and reverb during mixdown.

No mention of panning, frequency conflicts, or what happens to your carefully recorded tracks (that are each already EQed and tracked to perfection) if you decide to add another instrument at the last moment.

To a lot of people that mix for a living, I think both those statements would be wrong. That's just my opinion, of course.
 
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A lot of information on this thread is useless. If you track properly and set your gains accordingly, everything will be the correct volume and sound perfect, and no actual mixing will be needed, besides bouncing it down to stereo. As such, I mix my projects in Sound Forge.



:D :D :D
 
I was assuming all tracking was done, but you are right Harvey. I was trying to make a point in the other thread. It is not all do, but just a brief overview. More clarity can be found using EQ for frequency conflicts and panning techniques. I generally pan the two overheads on the drums to get a stereo image and if I double track guitars, I'll often pan them hard left and right. Kick drum, bass, and vocals are usually in the center for me and I will EQ the kick or bass if they are in conflict with each other. How do you set up for a mix and where do you begin? How do you handle accessory percussion or instruments being added in at a later time? I have much respect for you Harvey and I'm interested in how you approach a mix.
 
Ok, I'll shre my big secret......

I start at the top left knob on the board and turn it fully clockwise, then I go down to the next knob and turn it fully counterclockwise, continuing till I get to the bottom knob. Now for the next channel, and this is really key, I turn the top knob COUNTERCLOCKWISE.... that's right! Then alternate down the strip. I do this till I run out of knobs.

Like you, grn, I knew all that psuedo scientific mumbo jumbo was crap, (EQ, panning, BAH!) so I developed this technique for the perfectly balanced mix. It also works for picking stocks, by the way. ;)

-RD
 
OK, I like the idea of a thread full of everyone's mixing tips, good or not. The other day I had a hurried session with a drummer for three songs. After the first two I decided things weren't sounding good enough, moved the overheads, and BANG, way bigger drums. Now on mixdown the other drum tracks don't sound as good, the kick and the snare are too thin, they've got no depth.

So to give them some depth I duplicated the track and time shifted the duplicate track to simulate a delay (I forget how many ms). I put on a low-pass and adjusted it to take out as much attack as possible to avoid a flam type sound, just leaving the low end to trail off. Compressed the original track with a slow attack and a quick release, and compressed the duplicate track with a very quick attack and a long release. Then mixed the duplicate track in to taste. It helped the situation quite a bit. The drums still didn't sound as good as the last song, but sounded comparably close.

Do I wish that I had just got the overheads right in the first place? Yes.

Was it fun and satisfying as hell to come up with my own workaround solution to my mistake? Hell yes.
 
This had the potential to be a good thread.
Now it is just a bunch of cave humor.

Now my secret......

I mix in the nude so I can feel the music better.








and myself if I feel the urge. :eek:
 
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This is a serious question ...

Do you feel that playing with yourself while mixing can enhance the process or distract from it?
 
chessrock said:
This is a serious question ...

Do you feel that playing with yourself while mixing can enhance the process or distract from it?
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That depends. If you're mixing the soundtrack music for "Assmasters 14" then it might help.
 
chessrock said:
This is a serious question ...

Do you feel that playing with yourself while mixing can enhance the process or distract from it?
Click to expand...

Do you?

You can come over to my basement and mix with me anytime. :eek: :eek:
 
I hate you guys ;) why am I addicted to checking this board anymore?
 
nah keep voting, they reaired our performance today on CBS, but the contest isn't over until the end of november
 
I'd like to use the air in my ex-girlfriend's new b...

oh never mind.

G.
 
Here are my best mixing tips.

1. Mixing is an attitude.
2. If the song sucks, the mix is irrelevant.
3. Working the room, keeping people happy and relaxed is half of mixing successfully.
4. Putting everything proportional in a mix is going to make a shitty mix.
5. Gear are tools in a mix that make life either easier or more difficult, they are not what makes a mix good or bad.
6. A mix can be great and not have great sound.
7. If nothing about the mix annoys someone in the room, the mix is often times not done.
8. Mixing can not be taught, it can only be learned.
9. The overall vibe of the track is much more important than any individual element.
10. Just because it was recorded doesn't mean it needs to be in the mix.
11. Be aggressive.

Enjoy,

Mixerman
 
I've been looking at the thread where people post their studio area. Some nice stuff...there's no two ways about that.

So, I have noticed that a lot of people use actual mixing boards, I guess in conjunction with their software. Anyway it all seems from the pictures to be hooked up to a PC.

I was wondering, are those boards used basically for the ingoing signal? Because once the signal is captured, you use the software (Cubase. protools, sonar, whatever it may be) to make adjustments to the sound is that right?

And also, I was wondering whether people use the range of default presets for things like compression or delay or reverb (whatever the effect or filter or whatever it is called is) that are included in the software? Or do you actually go into those controls and manually tweak the levels of compression etc?

As a rank amatuer, I use presets when I do use effects. As an example, I might use "Thick group vocals" on my singing...but I wont go and tweak the settings within that.
 
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