THE ART OF COOKING UP A GOOD MIX!
A tasty recipe for mixes you’ll be proud to share with the world.
Mixing is just like cooking. That’s right, I said it.First you need great ingredients, ideally organic. Next you need good tools with which to actually do the cooking. You can definitely use some creativity, good taste (doh!) and a palate for experimenting and trying out new things…
CREATING CONVINCING DRUM MIXES
Getting your drum mix right.
While this article is centered on mixing “in the box” using a workstation, these methods can easily be ported over for those working on a traditional or digital console…
EQ AND YOUR
VOCAL TRACK APPROACHES
By definition, the vocals are the focal point of a ‘vocal’ song. But getting a good vocal mix and a good vocal sound that cuts through isn’t always easy—especially when a lot of electronic sounds are being used. So here are a few quick eq tips and techniques to help achieve a better vocal mix…
FROM COMPOSER STUDIO TO MIX STUDIO
Taking your tracks down the street may involve more than finding the car keys.
I recently completed the music for an edgy feature-length documentary. Music is prominently featured—there are about 24 cues, ranging from solo guitar to over-the-top, huge techno cues. Enough tracks to keep any engineer busy. Originally, I planned to mix the music myself, delivering two-track versions of the music to the film’s sound engineer…
MIXING IN THE VIRTUAL WORLD
Moving from console to computer.
Mixing…well, that’s a bottomless pit of a subject if there ever was one! As I sat down and thought about how my own approach to mixing had evolved over the years, I realized that the single biggest change I had made was moving from traditional console-based mixing (on classic hardware mixing boards) to the powerful but often challenging world of virtual mixing…
MULTIBAND DYNAMICS
Using a different kind of compressor.
Dynamics controllers—compressors, limiters, expanders, and gates—are among the most useful signal processing devices. We need them to add punch to a vocal track, increase sustain on cymbals, reduce extraneous background noise and hiss, or increase the overall apparent loudness of a mix…
OBSERVATIONS ON MIXING
Thoughts and methods for approaching the mix.
The art of mixing has been described in many ways. “Painting a picture with sound” may be one of the best. But just like a painter, a mixer needs knowledge, tools, techniques and an end result in mind to achieve good results. So just how do we go about this challenging and sometimes frustrating task? Each of us who sits down behind a console, DAW or control surface approaches a mix…
THE SOLID MIX: Learn the Basics of Mixing.
Mixing a song is a lot like building a house: you need to start with a solid foundation (bass and drums), then add support structures (rhythm instruments), make sure the essential utilities are in place (vocals and lead instruments), add walls to the frame (background vocals and percussion), and finish…
10 TIPS FOR BETTER LOW END
Get that low end tight and get it right.
When I’m mixing a song, nothing is more elusive than achieving a perfectly balanced low end. Bass frequencies present unique challenges, and if often takes experimentation, skill, and compromise to deliver a tight and deep mix. This said, when Recording received an email from a reader wondering how to get that “big bass sound heard on today’s recordings”, I set out to compile some of the tips I’ve picked up while trying to make professional mixes…
TRACKING AND MIXING FOR SOLID LOWS
How to get a great low end in your tracks.
The quest for phat low end begins with recording and continues through the mixing and even mastering processes. The end goal is a low end that’s round but tight, deep but punchy. Anyone can just eq up the lows, but this too often results is a soggy, indistinct mush underlying the track…