sitting in the mix

[rightbrainnow]

Can anyone recomend a good book or link i could look at for learning how to mix better? I want to learn how to make each instrument "sit in the mix". I dont really understand EQ, I just blindly adjust until it sounds right...however, I have a very technical side which I would like to use to match up the right frequencies etc. Everything always sounds so up front, and I want to learn how to avoid that. Any assigned reading you could recomend?

 

[studiomaster]

Books are certainly one way to learn this. But the best is to gain experience by practicing it.

 

[rightbrainnow]

I practice with faulty results? I know panning to make things "even" isnt enough..is EQ they pathway to "sitting in the mix"?

 

[gummblefish]

theres alot of factors for finding a good mix. It does take time to be able to do it well. Certainly volumes, pans and eq will help you get there. It it also important to alow instruments thier own space in the mix. Sometimes you can cram too much in and instruments will be stepping all over each other. Also think about what you want to achieve from the mix, plan it out. dont just cram everything in at the same time, alow for creativity. Bring instuments in, move them about. This will keep the listener interested. Also think of a mix as 3D not just right and left, you have to think depth as well. Think of it like painting with sounds. Each sound is a colour, build up a scene. Try and carve out space for the instruments, this can be done with EQ and effects Such as compressors, and reverbs. Expirementation is the key here. Dont ever over do it with effects tho, unless of course thats what you want.

 

[legionserial]

Something I do all the time, may be useless to you but anyway...

If theres something you want to cut or boost and you dont know what the frequency is, do a large (5or 6db), narrow boost and sweep it across the whole EQ till you find it, then cut, boost, widen, narrow or tweak as desired.

I found that really helped me for starters, after a while you start getting a grip on where what frequencies are....

As for practice, all practice starts with faulty results, thats how you learn to fix them...can't learn from your mistakes if aren't doing anything to make them...

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Imagine the mix as being a pallate for painting. You have the two basic dimensions of up/down and left/right. Then there is the third dimension of color. It's the combination of those three dimensions that a painter works with. I take the same approach with sound design.

LEFT/RIGHT
The left/right dimension on the pallate is easy to translate to audio, that's the same as the left/right positioning in audio.

This is maily set by panning the tracks as desired, but there are also other tricks using signal phase, or delay and stereo FX that can augment this as well.

FRONT/BACK
The up/down on the painting would translate to front/back in audio Imagine the painting is a view of the sound stage from above looking down with the front of the stage at the bottom and the rear of the stage at the top.

There are many ways for placing instruments in the front-to-rear dimension, but the main categories would include:

Volume: The louder the signal the closer, the softer the further away.

Reverb/delay: The wetter the signal (i.e. the more reverb there is) is often interpreted by the brain as the further the distance from the source (the further back.) Also, do a Teoma search (Google gets too much free advertising ) on "the Haas effect."

EQ: Further objects can tend to have duller HF components to them. This is similar to the distance effect in painting where the further objects tend to have a bit less sharpness or focus to them.

COLOR
The color spectrum in painting would translate to the frequency spectrum in audio. This of course is the main jurisdiction of EQ, but other types of signal processing such as compression and saturation can affect this to a degree as well.

The above are all general principles for which one can always find exceptions. But the main thing is to approach the mixing stage with the idea of creating a 3D sound design for the mix. Designing a good balance in all three dimensions will give you an expanded sound stage with plenty of room to work.

As far as books go, try "Modern Recording Techniques" by Huber & Runstein and "The Mixing Engineer's Handbook" by Bobby Owsinski.

G.

 

[rightbrainnow]

That sounds like great advice, thanks. Considering the numerous hours of college oil painting classes etc...this should be very helpful.