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  #1  
Old 03-16-2004, 07:19 AM
millicent frndly millicent frndly is offline
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Default Mixing technique and steps for getting there...

first of all I'm no professional... I just wanted to see if I could get a topic going on mixing steps and I wanted to see how you guys handle this stuff and what order usually you do this type of thing. (ie. compressiong before EQ?) I wouldn't think this would take too much time to type up and I'm curious as to how many ways people accomplish basically the same thing. (My reason for doing this is to see if I can reduce the number of steps before I get to the automation side of things..) Hopefully. I'll learn something from this provided some of you mixing gurus chime in and offer up some good info... maybe this will give some novices some ideas but I'm no ace mixer or anything.. so mostly I'm wanting to know how other people handle the early mixing stages. If you have the time, please reply w/ your techniques.

My mixing steps.. nothing is ever set in stone but this is usually the way I begin.

Step one (Panning, Busses and compression)

I usually start w/ everything pulled up. That gets me through the first couple of steps. I get the basic pans for the mix, you know all the good stuff from overheads to guitars and whatnot. Then I set up my Aux inputs, usually a compressor and a delay/reverb for the drums, a compressor and/or delays for the vox, bass and guitars. I try to handle as much of this w/ aux sends as possible and then usually end up adding track plugins later. I don't have alot of money or plugins so I'm just using the digi-plugins most of the time. I usually don't bring up reverbs and ambient noises until I've got the frequecies notched out in step two but I do create the aux sends here. (I need to make a good mixing template but I haven't gotten around to it yet).

Step two (EQ's and Ambience)

This is where I start trying ("trying" being the operative word here) to get everything in it's own little happy frequency zone. I'm not the greatest at this but have got good enough that the mix sounds pretty full. This is something that of course I'll end up changing as the mix moves forward but the basics will stay. This is also where I start bringing up all the ambient stuff that I set up in step one but left out until now. Delays and reverbs, I'll also dabble w/ any flanges or anything else here.

Step three (Break it all down)

Now I'll pull all the faders out of the mix... bring up the kick, snare, bass and lead vox (and the compression faders for each track/group of tracks). Get them sounding the way I want and then start bringing other instruments/drums/whatever into the mix next in order of importance/performance. Every so often I crank everything up to hear the bass and kick and make sure everything works pretty well. (although really, until I make a cd and get it in my discman or the car, nothing is ever really certain). this is also where I start A/Bing w/ a professionally mixed song that I think has the same feel/sound/whatever that I'm hearing for the song I'm working on. Once I get the mix the way I like it and it works good in the car, jambox etc. Then I start automating and bumping the little stuff around.

Hopefully that will help some guys who are new to this... I'd like to hear some other stuff you guys are doing out there for this sort of thing. I know alot of pro-mixers tend to guard alot of the stuff that they do to make a song have his/her sound. But I'm not wanting secific compressor tips or EQ frequency stuff... just the steps you use to get to automation. (or if you're too lazy to do something like that... then how about some advice on what I might be doing wrong although this has worked well for me so far.) I'm mostly mixing my own stuff so I'm kinda limited on mixing other peoples music. Thanks for reading and replying...

chris
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  #2  
Old 03-16-2004, 09:37 AM
3JDamon 3JDamon is offline
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Default Re: Mixing technique and steps for getting there..

I'm usually in the middle of step two before I'm done tracking. I get each instrument sounding appropriate on its own first, then work with them in the mix and make adjustments for coherence and counterpoint. Obviously I don't start tracking until I've got the item being recorded sounding good, especially drums, which can sometimes take a few days to tweak with mic selection/position and room tuning, depending on how serious the recording is.

I also don't start tracking until I've got a session template made so each song on the album has the same starting point. I'll build the mix with each part that's recorded so performers hear a pleasant mix while they record, which I find helps them work. By the time we're doing vocals, the mix is more than half done.

Then I do a round-robin series of tweaks (mostly EQ & comp) on an instrument-by-instrument basis (tweak drums for each song, then bass for each song, etc) so I have good control over how similar or different each fundamental aspect is from song to song. Then I polish each song independent of the rest. I wouldn't do a "break down" like you say unless things were not sounding right at all, but that hasn't happened to me since I'm rather meticulous about tracking and minimizing the need for things to "work out in the mix".

That's just my routine, YMMV, and the way I go about stuff like monitoring and maintaining back-ups would each have lengthy descriptions as well.
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Old 03-16-2004, 10:37 AM
where02190 where02190 is offline
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Default Re: Mixing technique and steps for getting there..

With no dynamics or eq, I get a mono mix that is comfortable to listen to of the rhythm section. I then add the lead voice and supporting instruments, beginning to do some panning. I'll write some automation at theis point as well, and clean up any stray bits that need to be removed.

Now I'll begin adding compression, usually first on the drums and bass, then as needed.

Next I'll do some subtractive eqing, opening up room sonically for everything to work togethcer.

Finally, I'll add effects, however I'm pretty light handed with them, it's just my style. typically my mixes are no mor ethan 1 or 2 verbs, unless I choose a draumatic effect, which I make very obvious.
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Old 03-16-2004, 12:41 PM
millicent frndly millicent frndly is offline
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Default Re: Mixing technique and steps for getting there..

thanks guys... that's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. Anyone else?

chris
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Old 03-16-2004, 02:24 PM
marcusb marcusb is offline
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Default Re: Mixing technique and steps for getting there..

My technique is similar .. I spend a bit of time working on a mono level balance first, here i'll bring all my faders up and adjust the balance until I have something that sounds half decent. From there before I reach for any EQ I start working on pans. Often some well chosen panning will greatly reduce the amount of corrective EQ you might need. Once I have my balance mix (level + pans) i'll mute everything then:

* Un-mute my overheads, kick and snare channels. Have a listen to their relationship and possibly apply some EQ to any of all of those channels to get them working well. I won't spend forever EQ'ing these, i'll just rough it in a bit and fine tune later.

* Un-mute my bass. Listen to the relationship between kick and bass and EQ/compress to suit. Again working pretty quickly and not getting to anal over the EQ, just going for what sounds right.

* I'll then un-mute everything and listen how the whole mix is hanging. From here i'll usually just selectively mute tracks (maybe keys and vocals but leave the guitars up) and kinda EQ as I go to get everything working together.

I'll write automation as I need it. Often after the first few listens as I know when I want stuff to punch or pull-back. Basically during the mix I very rarely would solo a track, and I don't obsess over putting everything in a specific frequency range (I find that technique creates mixes that don't integrate very well). I just listen and adjust accordingly. If you find yourself thinking "hrm, can't hear the bass i'll turn it up or boost some frequency" first thing I recommend is looking at the OTHER channels that could be masking those frequencies you want. Often cutting a little low mid from guitars or kick will improve the perceived level of your bass guitar without increasing the actual peak level of those particular frequencies, if that makes sense.

Ultimately if the song is well tracked, well played and well arranged the mix should sound good after your initial balance, if it doesn't something is horribly wrong. At the end of the day everyone's mixing style is different and the end result is all the client cares about so as long as you're getting there more power to ya!

CHeers,
Marcus
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