What do your mixes look like?

faeflora · 30th July 2003

What do your mixes look like on an analyzer? Do you usually end up with simmilar curves between songs and simmilar genres?

My mixes tend to look the same on analyzers within the same genre.

I'll post a picture of a mix ASAP. I use a mac and don't have Spectrafoo though so it'll look a little cheesy.

Jax · 30th July 2003

I've never looked at my mixes through an analyzer. Do people really find them helpful for emulating particular genres?

In a related-ish note (though only if you saw the shape of the final waveforms!):

I ****ed up recording guitar in the stupidest way last night. I recorded the guitar through the mic that was on the bass amp... and even set level for the guitar amp with the bass amp's mic!! There was no baffling around the bass amp, so the drum bleed was horrendous, easily overpowering the guitar track. At that point I was playing drums and not paying much attention to my engineering! Miraculously, I managed to do a great job LP and HP filtering and strongly dipping the shit out of the "guitar" track until it actually soudned better than acceptable, although it would have sounded exceptional if I'd had my wits about me. The drums sounded fantabulous, however.

But wait it gets worse! Just before that, I recorded myself playing guitar with my bass/guitar player playing bass. I managed to utterly and completely clip the bass track into the shape of a solid and appropriately brown-rendered (by PT) 40-minute long block of useless metallic grinding with a hint of bass moaning underneath. What gerne does that respresent?

e

Oh, and the guitar track was flatlined - as in I recorded NOTHING by setting an input that had nothing connected to it (hahohe haa!!

). The only way to tell what the hell we had been doing for the last 40 minutes was made evident by the two room mics, which I actually managed to setup up so that our session was captured in clear, though ambient detail.

Anyhoo, the waveforms are pretty funny looking, of course, and that's what an almost completely ****ed session looks like. I can laugh because it wasn't a paying client, just us ****ing around. (phew!)

I wasn't stoned or anything.

Teacher · 30th July 2003

they pretty much look the same... for me....

Quote:

Originally posted by faeflora
What do your mixes look like on an analyzer? Do you usually end up with simmilar curves between songs and simmilar genres?

My mixes tend to look the same on analyzers within the same genre.

I'll post a picture of a mix ASAP. I use a mac and don't have Spectrafoo though so it'll look a little cheesy.

faeflora · 30th July 2003

LOL great post jax. A month ago I was recording this band and I forgot to arm the tracks for the toms! Oh well the OHs sounded better than the tom mics anyways and I hate close miced toms.

--

Mac users can take a screenshot of an analyzer by doing the following

press
apple-shift-4 and then click and drag the area you want a screenshot of. OS 9 is saved in jpg I think, and Macosx saves in pdf. You can convert pdf to jpg using "export" in image viewer.

Cape · 31st July 2003

Look preeetty, all those lights. If the mix sounds terrible I just look at the analyser and have a party.

When I'm not smoking I do check the mix on master fader to see if anything is clipping. Pro Tools meters clip well before they should, but strap on PAZ or Spectrafoo, and you'll get a better idea of what is really happening to the meter (you can go all the way up into the blue area in PAZ freq).

One day I'll have one of those outboard analysers telling me stuff I can't understand.

They look cool, but your better A&Bing to stuff you already think is cool. (Which I never get round to doing half the time!!)

XHipHop · 31st July 2003

i love pulling commercial rock tracks into a session and looking at what they look like. ha. i once was doing a quick master and was trying to get my track to look as flat as a blink 182 track but still sound good. it was impossible for me, at the time.

faeflora · 31st July 2003

Hey yah I know it's mostly shite for help when mixing. I just think it's interesting to see the balances of other people's mixes. Occasionally it helps me out though if I'm going a bit too crazy with subbassage.

I still owe everyone a picture..

invisibl · 31st July 2003

I find PAZ ( what I own) is great for checking freq build ups that my otherwise tired ( painted on) ears may miss after having been in front of the same track for too long.

Not the same as freshness, But sometimes unavoidable.

Last week I started doing an album fix up & I noticed that the person who had tracked the singer had like a 4-6 Db spike at 500Hz on his trax.

I kept wondering why I instinctively was notching out the vocal there.

I saw the paz profile and realized i wasnt mad after all

But most of all i love to see the clients reaction as they gasp and say "wow" in a most reverential tone.'

e I am SUCH a child.

ojay · 31st July 2003

I had a client who would keep checking on his Spectrum analyser from a Ramsa DA7 that he brought in(just for the analyser). He also insisted on listening on headphones. It drove me wild. He kept on pointing to a peak and saying there needed to be more that frequency. I lost all faith in my mix and we spent 2-3 days just trying to find a bass sound that helped get that and ended up using two different sounds. It didn't sound that good to me in the end but he liked it because it looked good on the analyser.

30th July 2003	#1
faeflora Lives for gear Joined: Oct 2002 Location: washington dc Posts: 2,022 Thread Starter	What do your mixes look like? What do your mixes look like on an analyzer? Do you usually end up with simmilar curves between songs and simmilar genres? My mixes tend to look the same on analyzers within the same genre. I'll post a picture of a mix ASAP. I use a mac and don't have Spectrafoo though so it'll look a little cheesy.

31st July 2003	#6
XHipHop Lives for gear Joined: Jul 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 3,856	i love pulling commercial rock tracks into a session and looking at what they look like. ha. i once was doing a quick master and was trying to get my track to look as flat as a blink 182 track but still sound good. it was impossible for me, at the time. __________________ XHipHop.com is back! Looking for guest posts!

31st July 2003	#8
invisibl Gear nut Joined: Sep 2002 Location: aotearoa Posts: 108	I find PAZ ( what I own) is great for checking freq build ups that my otherwise tired ( painted on) ears may miss after having been in front of the same track for too long. Not the same as freshness, But sometimes unavoidable. Last week I started doing an album fix up & I noticed that the person who had tracked the singer had like a 4-6 Db spike at 500Hz on his trax. I kept wondering why I instinctively was notching out the vocal there. I saw the paz profile and realized i wasnt mad after all But most of all i love to see the clients reaction as they gasp and say "wow" in a most reverential tone.' e I am SUCH a child. __________________ Justify my existence and visit www.50Hz.co.nz .....or not.

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30th July 2003	#2
Jax Lives for gear Joined: Jul 2002 Location: San Francisco Posts: 4,779	I've never looked at my mixes through an analyzer. Do people really find them helpful for emulating particular genres? In a related-ish note (though only if you saw the shape of the final waveforms!): I ***ed up recording guitar in the stupidest way last night. I recorded the guitar through the mic that was on the bass amp... and even set level* for the guitar amp with the bass amp's mic!! There was no baffling around the bass amp, so the drum bleed was horrendous, easily overpowering the guitar track. At that point I was playing drums and not paying much attention to my engineering! Miraculously, I managed to do a great job LP and HP filtering and strongly dipping the shit out of the "guitar" track until it actually soudned better than acceptable, although it would have sounded exceptional if I'd had my wits about me. The drums sounded fantabulous, however. But wait it gets worse! Just before that, I recorded myself playing guitar with my bass/guitar player playing bass. I managed to utterly and completely clip the bass track into the shape of a solid and appropriately brown-rendered (by PT) 40-minute long block of useless metallic grinding with a hint of bass moaning underneath. What gerne does that respresent? e Oh, and the guitar track was flatlined - as in I recorded NOTHING by setting an input that had nothing connected to it (hahohe haa!! ). The only way to tell what the hell we had been doing for the last 40 minutes was made evident by the two room mics, which I actually managed to setup up so that our session was captured in clear, though ambient detail. Anyhoo, the waveforms are pretty funny looking, of course, and that's what an almost completely **ed session looks like. I can laugh because it wasn't a paying client, just us **ing around. (phew!) I wasn't stoned or anything.

31st July 2003	#5
Cape Gear maniac Joined: Jul 2002 Location: London Posts: 191	Look preeetty, all those lights. If the mix sounds terrible I just look at the analyser and have a party. When I'm not smoking I do check the mix on master fader to see if anything is clipping. Pro Tools meters clip well before they should, but strap on PAZ or Spectrafoo, and you'll get a better idea of what is really happening to the meter (you can go all the way up into the blue area in PAZ freq). One day I'll have one of those outboard analysers telling me stuff I can't understand. They look cool, but your better A&Bing to stuff you already think is cool. (Which I never get round to doing half the time!!)

31st July 2003	#9
ojay Gear nut Joined: Nov 2002 Location: London Posts: 80	I had a client who would keep checking on his Spectrum analyser from a Ramsa DA7 that he brought in(just for the analyser). He also insisted on listening on headphones. It drove me wild. He kept on pointing to a peak and saying there needed to be more that frequency. I lost all faith in my mix and we spent 2-3 days just trying to find a bass sound that helped get that and ended up using two different sounds. It didn't sound that good to me in the end but he liked it because it looked good on the analyser.