Mixing busy arrangements

[ttauri]

Any thoughts/advice on how to approach them?

Peece,
T. Tauri

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by ttauri
Any thoughts/advice on how to approach them?

Peece,
T. Tauri

Any specifics would be helpful.

[paterno]

Originally posted by ttauri
Any thoughts/advice on how to approach them?

Peece,
T. Tauri

When I get things that have a lot going on, I tend to do a lot of soloing and listening, before I attempt to actually mix it. I try and look for the elements that are the most musical to me, and those that are less important. I also look for things that have been recorded stereo that might benefit from just being mono. A lot of times 'stereo' guitar tracks, for example, have a mono signal in the middle and stereo effects at a lower level printed along with them [unless they are Mike Landau parts, or someone like him]. I'll often times pan the two together and off to whichever side feels right. Synth parts are good candidates for this as well.

I am also not afraid to mute things that I don't think are working, or re-arrange a part so that it clears out some space. Say there is some kind of percussive part happening on beats 1 2 3 & 4. I'll mute everything but beat 2, or whichever beat seems to have the most impact within the song. This way the part is still there in one form, but it fits into the context of the mix better.

hope this helps a bit...

john

[ttauri]

Originally posted by thethrillfactor
Any specifics would be helpful.

Well, it's just generally an aspect where I deeply feel my suckosity, but for specifics' sake:

I have this one song (house/disco) I go back to every so often to test out various things (if I can find one of the experiments, I'll throw it in the mp3 section). It's like:

- main kick
- low, subby kick
- snare
- claps
- congas
- cowbell (doing a Bar-Kays "Holy Ghost" kinda thing)
- *3* hi-hat lines
- rhythm guitar
- piano chords (highly effected)
- synth pad
- vocal riff
- organ playing during the vocal riff

So, these are the elements that are pretty much playing over the bulk of the song, and my stuggle is keeping the percussive elements clear (like: congas keeping some fullness, cowbell tapping not getting lost), but not relegating the melodic stuff and the main riffage to just being background noise. Basically, trying to turn my mush into "Boogie Wonderland", y'know?

[edit]On a related note, another specific issue I get into in terms of busy mixes is fitting stuff in against loops (or stuff with a loop-y vibe). So maybe a separate kick or snare are trying to play nice with a full-drum-set-loop which has it's own fullness going on, and I'm trying to manage that against the other stuff I'm adding. Say, like how Mecca & The Soul Brother fits a lot of stuff into the mix[/edit]

Peece,
T. Tauri

[ttauri]

Originally posted by paterno
I also look for things that have been recorded stereo that might benefit from just being mono.

[...]

I am also not afraid to mute things that I don't think are working, or re-arrange a part so that it clears out some space. Say there is some kind of percussive part happening on beats 1 2 3 & 4. I'll mute everything but beat 2, or whichever beat seems to have the most impact within the song. This way the part is still there in one form, but it fits into the context of the mix better.

hope this helps a bit...

Inspiring ideas. Thanks.

Peece,
T. Tauri

[djui5]

Yep..the mute button is your friend. Also is setting each instrument in it's own space freq wise (with eq's or whatever you can use) and depth wise...panning can also do wonders

[Curve Dominant]

Tauri,

Check your PM.

One thing Lorne and Cozmic Cat always ingrained in me, was to isolate some really hooky element, something unique yet instantly recognizable, and build the mix around that, relentlessly.

It's a very track-specific art, so it's hard to tell how your track will fit into this equation without hearing it.

[Bob Olhsson]

Originally posted by djui5
Yep..the mute button is your friend.

Gotta get in there and swing the ol' axe!

[Musiclab]

Originally posted by Bob Olhsson
Gotta get in there and swing the ol' axe!

Assuming the client will let you. I've done some dance remixes with 64 tracks
going at one time, and when I tried muting some elements the client insisted
that one track worked with another part and could'nt possibly be muted.
Oh well, then its about finding a balance, being creative with eq and panning, and not trying to make every sound be huge. An example of that style is just about any Garbage record. I agree that muting is best, but sometimes someone falls in love with every element in the track, in which case you have to try someything else.

[ttauri]

Uploaded my example track in the MP3 section, over here.

Peece,
T. Tauri