Pro Tools Mixing

[exegesis]

hello, this is my first post on the forums and i thought i would ask a question as i introduce myself.

well, i have been using the mbox for a couple of months now and i have about 18 to 20 songs recorded for an album that i am doing. my question is about mixing, now i understand about the aux and getting the "right leveling" but i mean, what about panning?

the music i recorded is electronic rock, so are there any peopel out there that can give me some pointers on panning and mixing for this type of music? i usually start a mix with the drums at 0db and then mix other instruments to that.

any pointers will be great, looking forward to hear from you guys.

[Izzy White]

I tend to see myself setting my drums (instrumental track) at about -4 db... This will allow me to hear the track at a reasonable manner so I can get the true sound and no over peeks where the music tends to get a little loud and hard to mix the vocals in.. When I keep the instrumental tracks lower its easier for me to get the perfect mix on the vocals... Then I'll take the Final mixdown into Wavelab and then I'll add all my mastering tool-kits to the mixdown...Then I'll normalize the the final master track at 0 db.... This seems to work very fine for me.... Thanks

[exegesis]

thanks, i'll try that out.

anyone have any ideas about how to go about panning?? it can really make or break a mix,

[arcarsenal]

id start out with the kick, bass, vox always at 0, the overheads about <45>, and the guitars and rythym instruments hard left/right. thats just a start, id fool around with it from there.

[Calvin]

well I do the exact opposite. Very few things for me ever get panned all the way left or all the way right. The overheads however always get panned 100% left and right.

[arcarsenal]

oh, i find that keeping the overheads closer gives a better center image of the kit, and makes it sound less gappy, and i find that when i pan rythym instruments hard left/right thats what gives me the space i want, and it really cleans up my mix.

[Rabidium]

I don't know if this is kosher, but lately I've been doing some really good stuff with 'wandering' the instruments around the stereo field a little bit. Using automation, say I might have a guitar at 60> during the verse and slide it in towards center by 20 or 30 during the chorus and bridge. you can change the flavor of a song without distracting instrument changes. But then I'm not going for a live sound. And I do move a lot of instruments around at the same time, so it creates an ebb and flow to the song.

But have fun. The hardest and most rewarding part of recording is mixing. THere is all kinds of great info online about mixing.

Here's a couple articles I really liked:

http://www.digidesign.com/digizine/a..._may03/mixing/

http://www.digidesign.com/digizine/a...arch03/mixing/

http://www.gtamusic.com/Mic%20Pre%20...Nov%202002.htm (Scroll down to the TECH TIP)

http://www.meowmixchix.com/

and yeah. The last one's a joke. Sue me.

-Olaf
Oh, yeah, and listen to Sgt. Peppers with studio headphones on.

[exegesis]

thanks for the pointers and the links, i guess mixing is something that you just have to explore yourself. there is no manual

[arcarsenal]

studiocovers.com is incredibly helpful

[Calvin]

HEHEH see we all do this different. I tend to put my guitars at about 70 or 80 left and right, this seems to be just right for me. I don't like to have them spaced out to 100 because then I always feel like I can drive a car threw the middle of my mix. The overheads when spaced to 100 left and right fill up the outer edges with a good room sound. Of course almost all of the music that I handle is of the punk rock genre so they tend to want everything upfront and in your face. I wouldn't mix this way on everything but for the rock n' roll, thats the way I like it.