Concepts in Mixing

[T.C. Elliott]

There was a question as to how I produced my demos to get a feeling of depth and I thought I'd answer and then, hopefully, hear some other perspectives. Please add your tips, tricks, concepts or process if you're willing to share.

The short answer to the demo in question is fairly simple. I added just a touch of reverb to the master track. Additionally, the drums (I use samples from Superior Drummer 2) have a very prominent room mic that really gives a "live in the room" feel. Come to think of it, I did add a bit of delay to the guitar tracks and a tiny bit of reverb to the bass.

My Advice: If I were using only a stand alone recorder or a drum machine, I would look for an effect/sound that had reverb or I would then add it to the track. I've found that a touch more reverb on the drums than most other instruments seems to work very well. If you're using a DAW then you could just add reverb to the track or you could duplicate the the drum stereo track and then put a reverb on it's most wet setting (where all you hear is the reverb and as little of the original drums as possible) and then mix that in to taste. Then maybe add just a touch of reverb to the master channel, or the final mix. But it's easy to do too much; a little goes a long way.


The Principle: A very intelligent person once described the mixing process as a 3 dimensional sound field:
 
- The main field is frequency. The notes or range of an instrument and how you combine instruments. This is important in the arrangement, what instruments you decide to use for a song and how you use them, as well as the mix, the levels and effects on each instrument or track. For instance, the kick and bass guitar often compete for the same low frequencies so you should be wary of adding a very low synth pad that will mask those elements and you might use an equalizer to cut part of the bass guitar and emphasize another part in order for it not to mask the kick drum and to still stand out.

- Panning: Where the instruments sit on the stage. If you listen to a live acoustic band then whatever instrument is on the left side will hit mainly your left ear and whatever is on the right side will hit mainly your right ear (assuming your sitting/standing in the middle of the venue.) In this example band, we will place a mandolin on the left side and a banjo on the right side. Both instruments feature a higher frequency and a more brittle tone than guitar or other instruments. Having them as far apart from each other as possible will help with clarity and keep them from clashing or masking each other. So when mixing recorded tracks, I try to balance the mix by keeping approximately the same amount of sound on each side (Left and Right.) The biggest advantage to panning is clarity in the mix. Obviously, you should check your mix in mono to make sure it still sounds decent. (In fact, I advise to mix more in mono than not to help with EQ and Compression settings.)

- Spatial Effects: The final dimension of mixing, as it was explained to me, is distance. The instrument farthest from you will have the most reverb, or room sound, and will sound more distant. The instrument closest to you, often the vocal, will sound closest and have the least amount of reverb or delay on it. I tend to like delay more than reverb. It's easy to keep clean and not have the 'echoes' wash out the rest of the mix. But to be fair, I often use both. The general rule of thumb to using reverb is to turn it up until you notice it and then back it off just a bit. I often put just a touch on the final mix, enough you notice the difference when it's gone but not enough to actually hear the reverb. This tends to glue the track together a bit. This is simply a matter of taste, I think.

I hope this makes sense. I know this is just the tip of iceberg but it really helped me begin to get closer to the types of mixes I wanted. And honestly, it's good to think about this again. It's sort of a reset to get myself to focus on the big picture instead of all the tiny details that I obsess over.

I'd love to hear what tips/tricks/concepts or process others use in their mixing.

[Jean Pierre]

Thank you TC for this very complete and interesting answer to my question.

I like this effect of distance, there's also a lot of it in Berrypatch's song ("in the street)

I tend to make recordings with a lot of proximity ... you can hear it on the voice, for example, with breathing sounds (which I often cut out), or even the wedging of my rotating studio chair. You can also often hear it on recordings with an external microphone on the nylon acoustic guitar (parasitic rubbing noises on the spun strings...).

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[SteveB]

I like these sort of Threads wherein people discuss their mixing techniques etc, esp here on SC where real-world examples of the Poster's work are available to listen to. (I'm thinking of the album that you released earlier in the year T.C.,which I recall was a uniformly pleasurable listening experience). On other music sites there are many who warble on for 40 lines giving advice willy-nilly, and when someone innocently asks can they upload a piece of music to evaluate their nostrums, they become all coy, and then overwrought citing specious reasons why no music is forthcoming.
My own stuff is too amateurish to include any pearls of wisdom, it's been: throw it in Cakewalk and hope. However, I do have memories of the two Recording Studios I've been in to. The 1st in the 1970s, contained a tape machine that was so big it reminded you of something that Colonel Gaddafi used to drive around in. And the 2nd was in College in the 1990s, where they had a full-sized console and such, and offered a 3 year Audio Engineering course, and they were recording to a computer Hard Drive (possibly early Pro Tools or something). And now we All have a DAW and can do all sorts. I hope this Thread has legs, as they say. 

[Mike_S]

I used to play around a lot mixing tracks with barely any proper knowledge and made some pretty dreadful muddy mixes. At some point I realised they sounded much better if I didn't tinker around so much. I approach mixing much more defensively the last number of years. A bit like a lower league team playing Liverpool might. The idea is just to try to not lose... or mess up the song.

I spend a lot of time getting the volumes and panning right. And I also try and get sound choices with enough contrast to each other. That in itself is a good start. But obviously the people with more skill can take the sound to the next level from here.

 I try my best from here adding or removing reverb or delay and whatever, but it's hard as things start to clash etc. then if I am dead set on the sounds but there is a clash of some sort I will scoop out a bit of Eq from the frequency with the problem. But for a person like me it's really more down to so sound choices at the beginning.

But i do like reading these threads as down the years little nuggets of info have stayed with me.

For some reason something Mark Knopfler said seems relevant when asked about amplifiers he said the best amp he had were his fingers... I guess he meant don't underestimate what is sometimes right in front of you.

Yes always a good thread topic.

Mike

[Ted]

I have started using the Pink Noise technique for my initial mix – in mono – and then begin tweaking levels and panning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQYoFwCRYTw

I find it helpful because I am always unsure about the right levels for drums and vocals. I always want drums too loud, and vocals too soft. The pink noise technique puts me in the ballpark, and then I can adjust.


I even use pink noise on the Micro BR. I found WAV of pink noise online somewhere, and I keep it permanently saved on my SD card. Because the MBR only has four tracks, I have to do a little bit of shuffling in order to audition the pink noise against all of my tracks, but that's the price of using the best recording system that humanity has ever produce or ever will.

[kenny mac]

The guy on the video isn't impressed with it.
I think personally it would drive me insane listening to that.
Interesting theory and watch though.

[Ted]

I think personally it would drive me insane listening to that.
Interesting theory and watch though.

It would probably be irritating to do that on too many tracks. But I like how it helps me get the main 3 or 4 tracks into good margins. For DAW usere, there may be some automation plugin that "listens" to each track for you and adjusts the levels.

[T.C. Elliott]

(I'm thinking of the album that you released earlier in the year T.C.,which I recall was a uniformly pleasurable listening experience).

Thank you very much. I really do appreciate you saying that.

My own stuff is too amateurish to include any pearls of wisdom

I think there is value to going through and sharing your process. It's scary and I'm not asking you to share it, necessarily, but sometimes how one person thinks of something is enough to give someone else a new perspective.

[T.C. Elliott]

I spend a lot of time getting the volumes and panning right. And I also try and get sound choices with enough contrast to each other. That in itself is a good start. But obviously the people with more skill can take the sound to the next level from here... But for a person like me it's really more down to so sound choices at the beginning.

I agree with you. I read somewhere that you can get 80% of your mix done in the first ten minutes by focusing on track level, panning and EQ. It might take me more than ten minutes but I think the idea is pretty accurate. And getting good sounds/recordings to start is huge.

[Zoltan]

I was going to ramble some, but then i decided against it.

I'll keep it short:

Do you know the sound you're after? That should be the main goal.