EQ Is your best friend!

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by Ken Lewis

i've never actually tried pure spectral mixing, but i think any engineer uses this general technique as a tool without even thinking about it. Having said that, i tend to think anything that limits you to a certain rulebook when mixing is probably a mistake. spectral mixing as one tool in your toolkit for mixing is valuable. limiting yourself to pure spectral mixing seems flawed to me

I agree. There is just so much ways to get a mix done these days, and its great to add as much techniques to your arsenal as possible. That is one of the reasons why I try to mix things up by not only producing and mixing for hip hop, r&b and rock. You can learn so much be working on different styles of music, and meeting different types of engineers and producers that have different knowledge to offer.

[Ken Lewis]

Originally Posted by PettyCash

I agree. There is just so much ways to get a mix done these days, and its great to add as much techniques to your arsenal as possible. That is one of the reasons why I try to mix things up by not only producing and mixing for hip hop, r&b and rock. You can learn so much be working on different styles of music, and meeting different types of engineers and producers that have different knowledge to offer.

I personally couldnt agree more, as is reflected by my resume. However, I will say that i think career-wise, I've been held back in some ways by not being singlemindedly focused on conquering one thing. I think if many years ago, i had decided to ONLY be an urban/pop mixer, i'd be right up there with Pensado and Serban and the other guys who are much bigger than i am. Not to say those guys are singleminded, but they do have a niche by and large. And neither of them, to my knowledge, produce.

I split my time fairly evenly between producing and mixing, and fairly evenly between working in rock and working in urban as a producer and as a mixer. On a personal level, i am MUCH happier for my chosen scattered career path, but who knows, I might have also been just as happy mixing 30 hit records a year instead of 3 or 4. I think i'm better off personally, because i think i'd get bored doing only 1 basic genre range. but it has come with a price that i have been willing to pay and work hard to overcome.

Petty Cash, i do COMPLETELY agree with you in that the range of experience i bring to the table, like you, not only across genre's but across engineering, mixing, production, studio musicianship and songwriting, is something far beyond what most guys bring. but i am occasionally very envious of The Dave Pensado's and Manny Marroquin's of the world.

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by Ken Lewis

I personally couldnt agree more, as is reflected by my resume. However, I will say that i think career-wise, I've been held back in some ways by not being singlemindedly focused on conquering one thing. I think if many years ago, i had decided to ONLY be an urban/pop mixer, i'd be right up there with Pensado and Serban and the other guys who are much bigger than i am. Not to say those guys are singleminded, but they do have a niche by and large. And neither of them, to my knowledge, produce.

I split my time fairly evenly between producing and mixing, and fairly evenly between working in rock and working in urban as a producer and as a mixer. On a personal level, i am MUCH happier for my chosen scattered career path, but who knows, I might have also been just as happy mixing 30 hit records a year instead of 3 or 4. I think i'm better off personally, because i think i'd get bored doing only 1 basic genre range. but it has come with a price that i have been willing to pay and work hard to overcome.

Petty Cash, i do COMPLETELY agree with you in that the range of experience i bring to the table, like you, not only across genre's but across engineering, mixing, production, studio musicianship and songwriting, is something far beyond what most guys bring. but i am occasionally very envious of The Dave Pensado's and Manny Marroquin's of the world.

The very first thing I was ever told when stepping into the music business was "You can't do everything, just stick to one aspect"; and things were made to seem as if this industry frowns on individuals who value being versatile above all else; As if someone that involves themselves in more than one area of work is less likely to excel at any particular thing. So far, I have made it my career to prove nay-sayers like that wrong. For me that came at a price too, as it put my career as an artist on complete hold for a few years now, as demand for my production and engineering skills rose. Despite that I couldn't be happier doing what I'm doing today.

[H-Rezz]

Originally Posted by Ken Lewis

I personally couldnt agree more, as is reflected by my resume. However, I will say that i think career-wise, I've been held back in some ways by not being singlemindedly focused on conquering one thing. I think if many years ago, i had decided to ONLY be an urban/pop mixer, i'd be right up there with Pensado and Serban and the other guys who are much bigger than i am. Not to say those guys are singleminded, but they do have a niche by and large. And neither of them, to my knowledge, produce.

I split my time fairly evenly between producing and mixing, and fairly evenly between working in rock and working in urban as a producer and as a mixer. On a personal level, i am MUCH happier for my chosen scattered career path, but who knows, I might have also been just as happy mixing 30 hit records a year instead of 3 or 4. I think i'm better off personally, because i think i'd get bored doing only 1 basic genre range. but it has come with a price that i have been willing to pay and work hard to overcome.

Petty Cash, i do COMPLETELY agree with you in that the range of experience i bring to the table, like you, not only across genre's but across engineering, mixing, production, studio musicianship and songwriting, is something far beyond what most guys bring. but i am occasionally very envious of The Dave Pensado's and Manny Marroquin's of the world.

Getting Pigeon-holed is tough , I like yourself like producing Rock and RnB/Pop and want to keep it that way(ATM doing a lot of punk Rock/Pop) ..... but i remember a time when i was know as a Pop producer because of the projects i was working on, sure enough a Rock track came my way and i put my hand way up , problem is the only person that knew i had a Rock background was the A&R guy who had to convince the label i was the right guy and up to the challenge because as far as the label was concerned i was a Pop producer, like most labels they had their list of guys they wanted to work on the single, all being known for Rock so the A&R had me do up the track and presented it anonymously this took away any pre judgment ,anyway the label loved it and enquired who did the production, you could imagine the surprise when the A&R guy said that it was me !

Point to the story is i think we as producers or mixers are judged on the volume of work we do in a particular genre not on our ability overall , i think out of the mixers you listed only Serban has managed to get more a foothold into Rock , and like anything it is due in part to the mix he did for 'Since You've Been Gone' by Kelly Clarkson , since then he has been given more Rock mixes from Avril and Pink ..... through Kelly's mix the labels IMO saw that he could cut Rock and make it a hit, once again taking away any pre-judgement of his abilities ...... either way it's a tough balancing act but with greater rewards in terms of diversity .

[optikstrange]

I need to make more threads like this,THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES! Ill prolly make a "Compression Is your best friend" thread and see what happens.

[Ken Lewis]

In 1993, shortly after i got to NYC, i posed the same question "How do i not become pigeonholed into one genre or one thing" to one of my biggest influences, Tony Masterati. What he told me might have changed the course of my career. he said "You will get pigeonholed. there's nothing you can do about it. its going to happen".

That was the exact wakeup call and fire that i needed to strive to make sure it didnt happen to me (more than it has). I'm sure its cost me a ton in income not pursuing one thing and becoming the best and most well known at it, but again happiness means alot to me. I think i've been pretty successful at diversifying, but i'm still on my mission. still have a ways to go, alot to accomplish, alot to prove to myself.

[H-Rezz]

I agree with Tony Maserati , it's inevitable we get pigeon-holed , i didn't plan on it but it happened , but i also feel it is up to us to break out of that if that's our goal or our own personal reward above and beyond economics .....

BTW your drive is amazing Ken, even after all your success you're still hungry to do and try more

[Ken Lewis]

Originally Posted by H-Rezz

I agree with Tony Maserati , it's inevitable we get pigeon-holed , i didn't plan on it but it happened , but i also feel it is up to us to break out of that if that's our goal or our own personal reward above and beyond economics .....

BTW your drive is amazing Ken, even after all your success you're still hungry to do and try more

dude, i've only been doing this professionally for 16 years. i still got PLENTY more in me. Sounds like a long time until your 16 years into it and go, damn, it doesnt feel like its been that long. and on that note, back to mixing the biggest pop star in asia. gonna run

[bino_5150]

wow, I read the first part of this thread. This is another one that makes your brain hurt lol

Yes, technically speaking you can make the mix louder by cutting eq. If you are peaking at -.8 in your daw, and you cut unnecessary freq's out of several tracks, you may gain a dB or two of headroom. Also, the mix would be a lot cleaner and less garbled. So now you can crank the whole mix up a dB or two. With some compression, you may gain a bit more than that.

As for what is more important, that is like asking a baseball player which is more important, the bat or the ball. imo, you need both to make a proper mix, and when used properly, they work hand in hand and compliment each other. And when you bring in the pan pot, then you really have everything you need... maybe a little reverb here and there, but honestly, these are the fundamentals of the mix and without any one, the mix is not complete... I wouldn't do an eq-only or compression-only mix.

If people spent more time figuring out compression, eq, and stereo imaging, and less time worrying about T-pain autotune, their mixes would progress tremendously... just my .02 cents

[1ManBand]

yo ken i dont know what you think your weakest genre is and i dont listen to much rock but you mixed all falls down.. last call.. storm remix. those are a few of my favorite songs of all time. dave pensado isnt on my list even though his sound is amazing. i dont know if you go by grammys or sales but ur up there with the pensados atleast to me mAN!

[Ken Lewis]

Originally Posted by 1ManBand

yo ken i dont know what you think your weakest genre is and i dont listen to much rock but you mixed all falls down.. last call.. storm remix. those are a few of my favorite songs of all time. dave pensado isnt on my list even though his sound is amazing. i dont know if you go by grammys or sales but ur up there with the pensados atleast to me mAN!

no no no no no. i did not mix all falls daown, i played guitar and some other stuff on it. i did not mix Last Call, i co-wrote the music and performed almost all the music. i did mix the Lenny Kravitz "storm" remix, which was actually more of the radio single than a remix. the album version was never used for anything, the remix had a video and full radio run.

attn: i also didnt mix gold digger, and a whole bunch of other stuff people think i did. This might fall under that "good problem" of being multifaceted. people see my name on a record and automatically assume i mixed it. i perform on or produce on a ton of stuff i dont mix. i'm not trying to get on your back 1manband, but its kind of always a problem. if i hear "great mix on Gold Digger Ken" one more time i'm gonna.... i have plenty of what i think are good mixes to point to, and people are always complimenting me on shit i didnt mix. flattering but no

Manny mixed both those Kanye tracks. he is a genius and hands down one of the best mixers alive in any genre. Dont get me wrong, i'm not saying i think those guys are BETTER than me, i've beaten most of them before when we've mixed the same song (and they've beaten me :-) but they are definitely the A list. Pensado, manny, serban, Masterati, etc.. my resume doesnt hold a candle to those guys........ yet. If Pensado isnt on your list of people to check out, you are doing yourself a disservice. he is on MY list.

rant over. back to mixing. and this thread, back to its regular scheduled topic

[1ManBand]

my bad.. well i love your mix of HEAVY HITTERS!! i am pretty sure u did that. anyone know what hip hop artist pensado has mixed other then warren g?

[optikstrange]

Originally Posted by bino_5150

wow, I read the first part of this thread. This is another one that makes your brain hurt lol

Yes, technically speaking you can make the mix louder by cutting eq. If you are peaking at -.8 in your daw, and you cut unnecessary freq's out of several tracks, you may gain a dB or two of headroom. Also, the mix would be a lot cleaner and less garbled. So now you can crank the whole mix up a dB or two. With some compression, you may gain a bit more than that.

As for what is more important, that is like asking a baseball player which is more important, the bat or the ball. imo, you need both to make a proper mix, and when used properly, they work hand in hand and compliment each other. And when you bring in the pan pot, then you really have everything you need... maybe a little reverb here and there, but honestly, these are the fundamentals of the mix and without any one, the mix is not complete... I wouldn't do an eq-only or compression-only mix.

If people spent more time figuring out compression, eq, and stereo imaging, and less time worrying about T-pain autotune, their mixes would progress tremendously... just my .02 cents

Agreed,For the longest time i never really used eq and i dont know why.I would only compress thinkin it would fix everything.Now that i think about it compression is really overhyped especially for hip-hop production (what i do).Now i have a whole new world to explore with eq's and some decent plug-ins to test out.

Pultec EQ
Smack Compressor
Izotope Ozone
Bomb factory bundle

Ill be in the studio mixing all weekend so ill see what i can come up with.I also need to submit a remix for this contest that ends in less then 24 hours so ill be applyin eq techniques ive been learning recently.Anyways ill try and post results if i have time.

THANKS EVERYONE WHO REPLIED TO MY THREAD! I learned alot.Whoever is goin to San Francisco AES Show holla @ me and ill see u there,Im gonna have my whole crew including some of the best lyricist and beatmakers in the city no joke PEACE!