Mixing

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Hi Kevin, what would you consider the key to creating great space within a mix without compromising the tonal qualities of the instruments too much. I'm referring to the sense of an infinite black night that sits behind the best of mixes making them sound limitless in dimension. thanks sk.

(wow, I think that's a very poetic description of "stunning" so, a tough question!, how DO you do mixes that have a stunning spaciality (is spacialityt a word?) - Do you do a lot of muting unwanted signals - to keep silence between musical parts for example? What mix 'space' tricks or philosophies do you have up your sleeve? - use 3 words or less Jules / GS admin)

[not_so_new]

Hi Kevin

Thanks again for hanging with us.

So I wanted to ask you a little bit about your mental and physical approach to a mix. Tring to get inside your head a bit about your process.

Physically there are all sorts of methods I suppose. For example back in my analog days I would start with a mix by just throwing up all the faders and getting a rough going to get a feel, then take'm all down again and start with drum rooms or something. Now days if I track and mix the same band in the computer I am finding that I build my mixes during the tracking and use that as a springboard for the finished mix.

How do you approach something that you are familiar with from tracking as opposed to something completely new? Is there a place you always start or is it always different?

Mentally what is it that you are looking for in the track for inspiration? Again for example some guys use the lyrics (that is how I do it anyway) and some guys will find an element inside the song that is the pulse, the bass or the drums or maybe a guitar riff etc.

Thanks again, this is going to be a great couple of weeks!

[Gie-Sound]

Hi Kevin,

When you are mixing;
-what do you think is the most difficult thing to get right? (What takes a lot of your time?).
-do you have any (almost) "standard-inserts" for certain instruments/sounds?

ThanX in advance

[Jules]

hi Kevin,

There are bound to be a lot of mix questions!

I grouped these 3 together in one thread



Jules
Gearslutz.com Admin

[Kevin Killen]

To the mixers !

Well over the ears I have tried a number of strategys but I have settled on this approach. I will listen to the last ruff mix of the track to get familar with the song. Then I start my own by pushing up the lead vocal. I will work on its sound and effects until i find that satisfying, then start adding in the other instrumentation. I try to work quickly at this point to establish the right tonal balance and create the spaces around the instruments. I will then do some rides and get the overall picture in place.

At this point I will have most elements in the mix ( unless something is truly awful) and I then play around with panning. To me this is a truly important step, getting the instuments to exist freely in their place without stepping on each other.I can spend a number of hours experimenting with this even pushing the width of the mix beyond the normal L R plane. Then I will deconstruct the arrangement to see how little is needed in each section.

With todays DAW's , most songs are over produced, so its amazing to me how much space can be created by removing elements or just editing them down into their most effective contribution. I will start at the intro until I am satisfied that is sounds like a record, then go to the next section and so on. Each time though I am listening to the mix evolve from the top to make sure the arc of the mix is correct. I will check the mix out on headphones and a few smaller systems and then adjust.

My last observations will refocus on the vocal balance to make sure nothing is getting in its way, checking to see that the effects are not gimmicky and trying to add one last bit of magic to a mix that will thrill the artist.

In terms of defaut inserts, I tend to have my preferences just like anybody else but truthfully it is very much guided by the musical content itself.

For projects that i have tracked in a regular studio, I will take a snapshot of that tracking balance after we accepted a take because it infomed that decision. I will go back and reference that as the project proceeds and adjust accordingly, sometimes your initial instinct WAS correct. In DAW world, mixes are being built from day one but I still approach my final mix the same way.