Mixing Techniques Sharing Thread !

[geiristudio]

Hi,

I wanna start a mixing technique sharing thread.

I mostly am seeking for techniques in mixing electronic music but rock, acoustic and whatever is very much appreciated !

I'm no pro but i'll share some of my "techniques"

-For bass I use alot of compression. I sometimes put more than one compressors (where maybe there could be an EQ in between or something else).

-For a bassdrum (in electronic music) I tend to double it, where I have one that has a nice click (or sound) and another that has the low-end bass.

-I like using reverbs and a quite suddle delay on snare.

ps. i'm referring to electronic music right now because I'm working on a electronic project.

These are just a few I'm jotting down right now. Maybe i'll post more later on.

Please share your tips !

[Marty J]

Close your eyes and turn the knobs until it sounds good.

[razorz]

Check out a book called the Mixing Engineers Handbook

[geiristudio]

That's nice.. but I was kind of thinking of people sharing any techniques/tips they know that has helped them mixing.

Just whatever you think of

[razorz]

Oh, well 3/4 of that book is dedicated to professional engineers sharing their tips/strategies and opinions on mixing.

Perhaps you will get some good advice though the forums though.

[jitterybit]

keep tracking. take your time. learn your daw's shortcuts. Learn to use Caps.

[donsolo]

make a copy of oblique strategies...

Don't be afraid to pan...

[geiristudio]

See.. that didn't hurt, did it ?

Now keep up, someone will probably learn something of this

[joelpatterson]

If I have a secret strategy, it's this: I imagine that this is someone's FAVORITE CD of all time, the one they put on in the morning to wake up to and the one they put on at night to go to sleep by... then I try to figure out, "Why is this their favorite?"

Generally--as my imagination runs wild--there's always some hook, usually the crystal clarity of the way the saxophone rises above the whole clatter, or the way the vocal has a super-dreamy edge to it, or the way the choir just LIFTS up into the stratosphere... it's always something, something very special and unique.


Back in the early 90's, I would have gone on to say the only way to achieve this was by sitting down at the mixing board with a bottle of Tequila in one hand and a joint in the other... which these days is more likely to be a cup of coffee and a nice dose of Riboflavin and Magnesium... same difference.

[geiristudio]

I definently agree with joelpatterson.. I sometimes do it, but not as often as I should though !

[a1studmuffin]

Originally Posted by Marty J

Close your eyes and turn the knobs until it sounds good.

+1

Honestly, it may sound stupid, but this is really, really good advice. It's very easy to get so distracted staring at something that you don't pay attention to how it sounds. Try to get into the habit when tweaking things of NOT looking at the settings you're tweaking - mapping MIDI controller knobs is handy for this. You have to learn to trust your ears, not your eyes. This doesn't happen overnight - it takes quite a lot of practice and trustworthy monitors before you get good at this. But when you do, you will have a "Neo from The Matrix" moment where time stops, and no matter what source material or plugin you're using, you can just tweak it until it sounds good. I'm speaking from experience as someone who this has happened to in the last 6 months.

[rockstar_josh]

Oh yeah, I definitely get caught mixing with me eyes, and I take care to break myself away from it as much as I can.... this is the best thing about a control surface, I can turn my damn monitor off when I feel I need to just listen!

[Acoustic Cloud]

I have a big piece of cardboard that I cover my screen with sometimes.
Good tip from an old friend. That way you dont have to power the monitor on and off.

[PettyCash]

Closing your eyes, getting a feel for your music, and turning knobs is great, as long as you already know what you are doing in a technical sense when tackling that mix.

Those type of techiques are what you learn over time from others who are willing to take the time to teach them to you. Or you can learn them over time on your own if you have enough drive and patience for it.

Some of the things you will read in the Mixing Engineers Handbook will really only become useful once you have learned enough to actually understand and get a grasp of that content within the book. Its still a good read non the less though, and when you do get more of a hang of your mixing skills, all the books you have read will start to make a lot more sense. Just keep working at it.

And keep asking around, you might get lucky and someone will take the time to spill all his or her jewls and teach you all the technical stuff you are looking to learn.

[donsolo]

I like the Art of Mixing better. It lays things out in a visual way that makes sense aurally.

Also, I like to listen to CDs and write down everything I hear in the mix. Then after doing a lot of that, you can start to see trends (IE where the drums are placed and how loud they are) and you can hear stylistic trends between mixing engineers. It was an exercise we went through a LOT at School.

[geiristudio]

Nice tips guys ! This motivates me and makes me wanna mix and mix and mix..

I know a guy who has been working in this business for many many years and is very pro. He REALLY knows hardware, I mean really knows. You could call him up, explain a problem and very likely he could solve it over the phone.

He just recently built his own studio with some high-end gear. It's still a working project and not everything is ready but it's useable. He's been teaching me a little of this and that, making me understanding what every knob of for example a compressor does. Not just turning the knobs and sorta know what's going on.

Well, keep up posting tips, techniques or whatever you feel like sharing that could help your fellow "audio engineer"

[murergobben]

It´s a good thread.
I like to be creative with the panning and the way I send the reverbs also give instruments different functions. To meditate before I start can be a great benefit also because if I´m not in a calm mood it´s difficult to be between the sounds. But the most important thing as said before is to use my ears instead for instance looking at a picture of how the eq looks.
A.

[Keldog]

For tracking vox and acoustic guitar at the same time, I found a tip that has worked out well for me...

Place your LDC (in my case an AT 4050) a few inches in front, and angled slightly upward, of your singer (w/pop filter, of course). Take your SDC (KSM 109 for me) and place it about 8 to 10 inches from the bridge of the guitar and angled toward the soundhole (I know, weird huh).
Play around with the placements but these will get you close.

Go ahead and track it like this, then on mixdown...pan your LDC straight up and your SDC hard right (or left) and flip the phase of the SDC.

I've had pretty good results.
Hope it helps....

Peace.............Kel

[Unclenny]

Ok........

For instruments that generally might be panned dead center (bass, vox)............... I like to put them on a stereo track and fool with the panning to get them summing in subtly different places.

For me that technique works with or without Tequila.

[a1studmuffin]

When I near finishing a project, I do a 3-dimensional swoop on every track:
Volume, Frequency, and Stereo Width.

Which basically translates to:

Is the track the right level throughout the track?
Is it occupying the right frequency range? (Does it need EQing?) Is it conflicting with another track?
Is it occupying the right place in the stereo field? And is it meant to be a "wide" sound or a "thin" sound in terms of stereo width?

This method really makes a huge difference to the quality of my mixdowns as I'll rarely "forget" to fix something wrong in the mix this way.

Also, I tend to highpass *every* single track fairly aggressively except for the kick drum, snare and bass. I'll just sweep the EQ up until I can just hear it affecting the tone of the sound then back off a little bit. This keeps the bottom end REALLY clean and the drums punch through really well. You'd be amazed how much unexpected bottom end some samples can have in them.

I keep most things panned center, and often the samples/synths I use are in mono, but near the end of the mixdown, I'll chuck on a pair of headphones and add a smidgeon of gated reverb (like as little as 2-3%) to sounds that need it, JUST so it's giving the sound some stereo width but without affecting the texture, transients and tail too much. It takes a bit of tweaking, but the results really bring individual (mono) sounds out into the stereo field quite well.

The other thing I'll do is walk around the room/out the door while I'm listening to it. Gives you a fresh perspective, and sometimes things jump out at you that you didn't expect.

[ScottyD]

I walk away from it for a day or two and think about it. Listen to it to over and over on CD in the car on the way to and from work. I take notes on little things I want to change. ...and sometimes I throw away the mix all together and start all over.

-ScottyD

[geiristudio]

Sweet guys ! I'm seeing some tips I use myself, or at least variations on techniques I use sometimes.

This is mixing together to be a great thread and I think everyone, who doesn't have very much experience mixing, should learn a lot here

[digital lofi]

Tear it down and start again.

Save/create a duplicate of of the project and zero everything. Delete mix automation. Completely remix the song.

Sometimes it's surprisings how different a new mix can be. Not always improved, but sometimes enough of a fresh perspective so you know what the issues are.

[Blindside]

This may sound stupid, but I think a major part of a good mix is a good snare sound and good drum levels. That can really make or break your mix, IMO.

I've heard demos of local bands where the guitars,bass, and vocals sound good, but the snare sounds cheap and crappy, and it brings the whole mix down. Getting it in the right place in the mix is key as well. A lot of that has to do with tracking too, though.

[KEYBEEETSSS]

Originally Posted by ScottyD

I walk away from it for a day or two and think about it. Listen to it to over and over on CD in the car on the way to and from work. I take notes on little things I want to change. ...and sometimes I throw away the mix all together and start all over.

-ScottyD

i'm not the only 1 then....good to know...

[Pier]

Originally Posted by joelpatterson

Back in the early 90's, I would have gone on to say the only way to achieve this was by sitting down at the mixing board with a bottle of Tequila in one hand and a joint in the other... which these days is more likely to be a cup of coffee and a nice dose of Riboflavin and Magnesium... same difference.

Riboflavin and magnesium?.... what for?

[acousticmaniac]

Its all about your ears, training them with techniques people have talked about here. Spend a bit of time every week listening to and analysing tracks, making notes and perhaps trying to replicate some elements you enjoy or find useful.

Oh and mixing with the lights off for a while is useful, especially with balancing. A little bit of sensorary deprivation worked wonders for me.

[Keldog]

actually, I'm just here for PettyCash's avatar...

[theque]

Originally Posted by Acoustic Cloud

I have a big piece of cardboard that I cover my screen with sometimes.
Good tip from an old friend. That way you dont have to power the monitor on and off.

i make a black screen saver and have it on a hot corner on the screen, so i just put the mouse in the corner and the screen turns black.

[Blindside]

Originally Posted by Keldog

actually, I'm just here for PettyCash's avatar...

Me too... I say there should be a whole thread, if not forum, dedicated to it.