The Fundamentals of Mixing

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R_Spaulding

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Like most beginners, I become lost when trying to effectively comprehend and use compressors, gates, EQ, busses, sends, panning, phasing, filters, and many many other terms, tools or techniques.
:confused:
So...
Where does one begin in learning the fundamentals of mixing?
Does anyone have any books or websites to suggest?
 
R_Spaulding said:
Like most beginners, I become lost when trying to effectively comprehend and use compressors, gates, EQ, busses, sends, panning, phasing, filters, and many many other terms, tools or techniques.
:confused:
So...
Where does one begin in learning the fundamentals of mixing?
Does anyone have any books or websites to suggest?
Click to expand...
There's a good starting point right here at Home Recording:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=53878

Go to post #17; it gets pretty good after that.
 
R_Spaulding said:
Like most beginners, I become lost when trying to effectively comprehend and use compressors, gates, EQ, busses, sends, panning, phasing, filters, and many many other terms, tools or techniques.
:confused:
So...
Where does one begin in learning the fundamentals of mixing?
Does anyone have any books or websites to suggest?
Click to expand...
Ok just trust me on this: The Art of Mixing Second Ed. By David Gibson. Single most helpful book you will ever read. Cost:50 Worth:5000. This is the best book ever I reference it every time I mix. Its simply amazing. Go check out your library for it I beg you you wont be disappointed. I have read at least 50 books and over 200 articles this one is the best. Just do it.
 
that is actually the 2nd time that someone mentioned that book in this thread. In reviews of the book, some people have said that it is too repetitive... like this review:

"...What I will say is that the advice given in this book is, in no way, worth the price if the book. The information is far too basic and is presented over and over again until the reader is completely turned-off by the whole concept. In short, we are asked to visually represent a mix in terms of volume, panning, and frequency. This is done with a basic X-Y-Z axis and a series of colored spheres representing the different instruments. That covers about 5 pages. Throughout the rest of the book , we are hit with what seems like hundreeds of these same graphs, each representing examples of different mixes. The problem is, they do not teach us anything other than "every mix is different". To me, that's just not enough.
In short, the basic theory is good, but it is more geared toward a magazine article than to an entire book. By making the concept into a book, we are presented with a lot of over-priced fluff which, in reality, detracts from the fact that the basic theory makes sense... I think the first edition was a more professional book aimed at SERIOUS mixing engineers, whereas the second edition only shows us what Christina Aguilera and other cheesy artists use as their mix. I am totally disappointed."

what could you say against that?
 
R_Spaulding said:
what could you say against that?
Click to expand...
I am familiar with the book; it is the only one that I know of that deals with anything close to the 4D technique of mixing. Though his version of that technique is slightly different, and his way of picturing it is not quite how I would do it, it is gratifying to see someone finally commit an entire book to that kind of approach to mixing.

It is definitely one worth checking out and considering, no doubt about that IMHO. But one thing I've learned is that not all books work best for all people. Books that have hit a sweet note for me have left others with a sour taste, and vice versa. It's no different than reviewing a movie or TV show. I'm sure your tastes don't always agree with Roger Ebert's, and vice versa.

The only way to know is to check it out for yourself. This is why I alwyas suggest taking a casual trip up to Borders or Barnes&Noble for an hour or two, grabbing 4 or 5 books off of the shelf (unlike the local library, they almost always have many of the most popular ones in stock) and taking them over to the in-house coffee shop. Get a coffee and spend some time skimming through the books and see which ones seem to work the best for you.

G.
 
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