Mixing Tips
Mixing Tips by Paul Gomersall
So here you are, you've just spent a week of your life (or has it been a year!) writing a song and recording the musical parts onto your system. You're pretty sure you've enough on tape or disk to present a masterpiece to the world but now comes the daunting task of mixing . . .
Why Mix?
Recording can be a pretty haphazard affair. Just by its very nature, ideas tend to get thrown down as they are thought of and more often than not they wont be sonically 100% compatible, or even musically in some cases, with what is already there. It could be that the frequencies of several instruments are in the same range meaning a lack of clarity in the parts or there may be clashing notes clicks and pops. Help is generally needed in the dynamics of some sounds. Whilst they sounded great when all there was on tape/disk was an acoustic guitar and vocal they can get 'beaten up' by all those slamming overdubs.Most instruments fall in the mid-frequency spectrum (between 200Hz and 4KHz) including the lead vocal so work is needed to give the vocal a chance to be heard.Whether the song is for release or a demo, you obviously want it to kick butt and impress your friends and the general listening audience. Therefore you need to get a good spectrum of frequencies. One of the most important aspects of mixing I undertake is to make sure that the vocals are clear and presenting the artist (hopefully) at their best. I would commonly spend 3 hours or more just riding the lead vocal fader into the computer to ensure the words are intelligible. Ironically the vocals for most of your public will be the ONLY thing they hear so it's important to get them right. (Dance music excluded of course!)When all the recording is done your effects and desk will be freed up to use again exclusively for mixing and it gives you a chance to hone in on things that need attention. Getting the song to a stage where with what you have down on tape and how you hear it in your head translates through those two little speakers requires a few tricks of the trade. Sounds need to be given life so they gain a feeling of size and space in a song, whether that be big or small. As a kid I remember sticking my head between the speakers and it actually felt like I could see the person singing as if they were there. This is kind of the objective. To make people BE THERE! You set the mood for the song with how you mix the song and hopefully draw people in..
Finish The Performance First
Make sure you've finished recording all the parts you need. Whilst you can keep adding stuff as you are mixing (common in re-mixing), I always find it much easier to concentrate on the important things you need to do if there is no other recording left to be done. It also gives you a cut off point where you can feel confident you've got all you need. Mixing is your last chance to get rid of all those parts you've not been too sure about. Ask yourself, are they really necessary or can they be muted until later on in the song or got rid of altogether? Cut the Crap! What you are trying to achieve is space for your instruments with the voice, so too many of them may be counter productive with parts blurring or confusing each other. Don't Tear Your Song Apart One of the major pitfalls of mixing is believing that the song needs to be somehow ripped apart and rebuilt. Whilst this type of brutal surgery is relevant for certain projects you do, the majority of the time you have probably already got a fairly decent sounding track before you start with some interesting sounds happening, so you just need to embellish what you have already. Remember also that you have probably been listening to the song a lot and it is human nature to believe that you have to change things and make it sound different for different's sake. Remember (hopefully) you have a unique song with original instrumentation that no one has ever heard before and that in itself is half the battle.
Dynamic Range
One essential consideration before you commence mixing is dynamic range. By this I mean the difference between the loudest and quietest part of a sound or combination of sounds. If you listen to a song on the radio the difference between the loudest bit and quietest bit of a song may only be 3 to 4 decibels. You may say to yourself that you would like your music to have a much bigger dynamic range and therefore greater impact but unfortunately it isn't that simple. Next time you are in a car, flick onto Classic FM and have a listen to music that does have a bigger range. A lot of the time you will find that the volume of the music actually falls below the sound of the engine and can't be heard at all! This is no good for modern music or putting over your song. The trick is to give the impression that your song has loads of dynamics when really it doesn't. Say for instance that the track drops away, leaving only a guitar and vocal. The vocals have to be almost as loud as when everything was playing. What gives the impression of loudness is tone and the ambience of what a loud sound is like in a room, so when the singer is singing loud it has the tonal quality of a loud voice.
The Shape Of The Song
Get a mental idea of what the 'shape' of the finished song is going to be. What I mean by this is try and picture where the highs and low points dynamically, emotionally of the song are going to be and then imagine how, with what you have recorded, you can achieve this. If everything remained at the same intensity throughout the duration of the song it would get pretty boring. This is often referred to as putting 'light and shade' in the mix. There are many producers and artists I know who 'see' the song like a short movie with the various sections of the song being a scene that has to somehow lead into the next. What you want to try and do is build up the track by introducing different musical parts and sounds from the beginning of the song to the end. Take a listen to most records in the charts. Most of them will start with a simple first verse with little instrumentation, maybe even just drums, bass and voice. Now fast forward to the second verse and listen to what has been introduced. This keeps peoples' interest in the song as well as giving the impression of the song building in size as it goes along. Now check between the first and second choruses and again note what has been done to build it.
Be Prepared
A good idea before you start is to get a couple of CDs of music in a similar style to your song so you can reference the balance between the instruments and the overall sound of it. Check the amount of top and bottom end in the track and how much middle frequencies are present which can determine how 'hard' the mix sounds. You can keep referring to these to make sure you are on track.If you have done any rough mixes along the way, get them out and listen to them as well. Listen to any sections of the song that you thought really worked well and bear this in mind as you are working.
What to listen on
Unless you have the Wonga to purchase some pro speakers you will probably have to mix on your 'old faithfuls'.Whilst not ideal, the important thing is that you know the sound of the speakers. I mix on Yamaha NS10s which are far from hi-fi sounding but have a quality to them that I like. They pretty much became standard issue in studios in the first half of the 80s and have stayed there since. Before that the popular ones were AR18's which are still widely used and a lot more hi-fi and Auratones which are very 'middly' radio sounding speakers. I also still use the latter because they are great for helping to balance the crucial mid frequencies and they sound similar to the trannies on which a lot of people listen. You will be at an obvious advantage if you can find speakers that enable you to judge the top and bottom end fairly accurately.
What Volume to Mix at
The human ear alters its sensitivity to different frequencies depending on the volume. The 'Loudness' button found on many hi-fi systems is actually there to compensate for the fact that your ear is less sensitive to bass frequencies at quieter volumes, it just gives a little lift in bottom end intended for low level listening but generally seems to get left in. Tests have shown that ears actually hear frequencies more evenly at around 90dB, which is not loud at all, (a level your granny would probably be happy with). The tendency when you start mixing is that the louder you listen, the more exciting it sounds. Unfortunately this can lead to rapid ear fatigue and you could find that the next day when you listen at a normal level, the mix just ain't got what you thought it had. It may be duller or too bright and lack the punch you felt when it pumped the speakers.Try working at different levels throughout the day and notice how the balance appears to change at the different levels. Often your neighbours may have their own opinions on your acceptable mixing volume.
EQ
There are several reasons for the necessity of EQing. As I said before, the majority of instruments lie in the mid frequencies and so this is generally where most of the work goes on. Having sweepable (adjustable) mid frequencies on your EQ can really help to pinpoint the tone that will allow a particular instrument to be heard more clearly in the track creating more space for the others. First of all, try soloing the sound and have a listen to its frequency range. Is it bright enough? Does it need a bit of help in the bottom end of the sound? Then ask yourself whereabouts in the frequency spectrum of the song you would like this sound to sit and try to pinpoint it withthe EQ. I normally EQ a sound within the song itself as it's easier to hear how it is working in relation to all the other sounds.Try not to over-brighten things. Although top end may sound initially exciting in an instrument, it would mean (depending on the instrument) that a lot of other things would need to be brightened so they don't sound dull. You could end up with a very thin sounding mix. Remember that everything is relative to what else is going on. There have been countless records made on which the relative levels were fine but the mix itself was a little dull. When the song gets to the mastering stage, the whole thing can generally be brightened without disturbing the internal balance, as everything is being brightened by the same amount. That's another article. In psycho acoustic terms, the duller a sound is, the further away it will generally appear. This can be a useful tool for adding depth to the mix.If you have the luxury of speakers big enough to give you a clear picture of what is going on in the bottom end of the track, use it at this point to make sure that the bass isn't too woofy or that the low frequencies go low enough. Whilst there are tricks you can do to put bottom end in a song after it's finished it will never sound as good as getting it right in the first place.
Balancing
Possibly the most important tip on mixing would be to make sure you start with a good balance of instruments. This is crucial if you don't want to 'chase your tail' with the mix and become confused as to what the relative levels should be. It provides you with a benchmark from which you can start turning instruments up and down. Normally, if I do a mix per day I have to get a balance pretty quickly in a few hours.Balancing doesn't just mean balancing levels either. There may be a sound that has an annoying frequency in it that needs to be reduced with EQ. The other end of the scale would be when after sitting all the instruments together, you feel the mix has a big hole in the frequency spectrum and sounds a little cold. If this happens, try and find an instrument (or group of instruments) where you can EQ in some low-mids without losing clarity but warming up the overall mix. Phil Collins has a very low quality $50 cassette deck with an awful speaker built in that he likes to check things on. He knows its sound so well that he can actually makes major decisions about the mix based on this. Remember you are not checking any hi-fi qualities this way, only things in relation to each other. Until I started writing this article I didn't realise what is a huge subject it was, so to try and cover all the topics in one article would probably leave your brain as numb as my typing fingers! In the next article I'll hone down a few of the finer points such as eq, reverbs and effects.
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In the last issue we talked about preparing what you have on tape for mixing and to get some idea in your head for the overall shape the song.In this article I want to focus on what can be done to enhance the parts you have on tape to help create the final mix with the aid of EQ, effects, compression and finally adjusting the levels.
Tense up Studio
So if you read the previous article you should be sitting with your fingers poised over the faders on the fine balance you set up and ready for action. As you continue with this next section it's important to listen to the mix as a whole and not hear it as just a series of separate instruments. I've lost count of the number of times a drummer has told me he thought the high hat was too quiet or the bass player telling me he thought the bass was too quiet. What I mean by this is that they are focusing too closely on one particular instrument (ie, theirs!)
and not seeing the bigger picture. What I'm trying to say here is that you should keep a broad view of what is going on. Whilst you may get a great snare sound after spending five hours EQing it will not do much for your head when it comes to being constructive about the mix. There are many great commercial songs that have been mixed very quickly or were even the demo mixes. You may get a better finished track by mixing it five times for two hours each and then editing the bits you like than by spending ten hours on one mix.
Ask The Musician Politely To Go Away
Many times when I am asked to mix something I would suggest that the artist not be present for the first few hours of the mix. The main reason for this is that if I do need to solo something and EQ it and stick a few effects on, the artist doesn't freak out about the sound they hear in solo. It's sometimes not how they are expecting to hear it and so causes undue stress to everyone. Once it's placed in the track however, other instruments swallow up certain frequencies and it tonally blends in.
Getting the Backing Track to groove
In order for the song to get peoples' attention it is going to have to translate some of the emotion you felt when you wrote the song into something that is going to come out of two (often crap) speakers. In the case of an up-tempo song, you would hope to see peoples' toes tapping, whereas with a sad ballad, the shedding of a tear would be nice. To help you on your way to this you need to make sure the backing track is doing its job of supporting the vocals. The normal process would be to get your backing track to sound great and then stick the vocals in afterwards. I personally like to have the vocals in pretty much from the beginning so that I know where to 'sit' all the other instruments around it.
In the past I have spent time mixing what I thought was a killer backing track only to find that the lead vocal was getting swamped in the frequencies of the other instruments. This would then lose me a couple of hours while I rectified the problem by EQing some of the frequencies present in the vocals out of the offending instruments.
Choose your elements
Another method you could use is to pick out the elements you believe are important to the song and start from there. You may actually decide the two main instruments in your song are the voice and acoustic guitars.
Get these two things working together with EQ and effects then gradually feed everything else in so as not to overwhelm these key ingredients.There are several approaches to mixing, for instance the radio mix would normally focus on getting the mid-frequencies driving the song whereas the club mix would obviously pay close attention to the bottom end. You could say that people's stereo systems are mainly pretty good these days, so what's the point of a radio mix. Remember that a great number of people will only hear a record on their small TV speaker.
Tools of the Trade - EQ
I read an article once written by some eminent classical engineer. In it he boldly stated that he felt there was no need for EQ at all and that all the sounds should be recorded exactly as you want to hear them. Whilst this is fine for classical music which has a very predictable and generally narrow range of instruments and therefore frequencies, it would remove probably the most powerful sound enhancing tool you have - the 'equaliser'. It is almost impossible to know what instruments you are going to need when you first start recording and very few people have very expensive microphones sitting around at home. Furthermore, if you are using loops and samples you are at the mercy of the person who recorded them and they may need some help.
The two main functions of EQ are:
1.To shape a sound so that it can be heard more clearly or so that it blends better with the other instruments.
2. To radically change the original sound providing something new.EQ, like many other things falls victim to fashion. Back in the eighties there was a tendency to thin out sounds and make them very bright. As the eighties drew to a close the reverse happened and the flavour was duller and more middly sounds, with the bottom end becoming king in the dance clubs. As well as being a backlash on the eighties, low quality sampling equipment and samples from old records played a part in this.
If you want your demo to sound eighties or any other era then use the instruments, EQ and effects they used at that time. Similarly, if what you want is to be contemporary, checkout what you like in the Top 40 and 'borrow' ideas from there.EQing is a very personal thing and I'm not going to sit here and tell you how you should or shouldn't do it.There are a few old tricks that are still useful lurking in ancient publications. For instance, if you want a lead vocal to sound more present within the song then try EQing in frequencies around 2Khz. For bottom end, 80Hz will generally give you more punch than 100Hz.
However these aren't hard and fast rules. The important thing is what sounds good to you. In fact there are no rules about anything with audio, that's why it can continue to evolve in the way that it does. There are certain procedures that are popular though.
Here is a common sequence of Eqing:
1.Starting with the kick drum, get it sounding as you would like - big, clicky etc.2. EQ the high hats, snare drum and top kit.3. Get the bass and get it sounding big and juicy with your kit
Ok that's the top and bottom end of your mix largely done and provides a good basis for the rest of the instruments.
Next:1. Open up a key part of your song, say a synth arpeggio or acoustic guitar and try EQing it as it sits in the song (ie, with the drums and bass playing).2. Continue adding more elements until you have all your parts in place.A common approach is to start soloing everything to get your sounds 'right' only to find that they just don't blend together when the full track is up and running. Whilst it's possible to get close to what you want like this, final EQing of the sound is best done with some or all the other instruments playing.
This ensures that you are choosing the right EQ to get the sound 'sitting' in the track. All this means is that the frequency spectrum of the sound is complimentary to the rest of the instruments. To EQ a sound within the track, turn the EQ on and sweep the frequency knob. At some point the sound may just sound great. If it does, just leave it there. If it doesn't but it sounds a bit better, go to another EQ frequency knob and see if you can improve on what you just started by adjusting that. Remember, taking frequencies out of sounds can have just as radical an effect as adding them, so don't forget to sweep the EQ knob in an anti-clockwise direction as well.
Filtering
If you are lucky enough to have a desk with high pass and low pass filters you can use these to remove any rumble you may have picked up during recording or reduce the top end of the sound to get rid of whistles or noise.One common form of filtering that is currently used to death is dynamic filtering, largely because it is normally done on computer plug-ins that are widely available. What this does is remove all the low and/or high frequencies from a sound or even the entire mix. The filter's severity is then lessened in real-time and this gives the effect of the sound emerging - similar to opening the door as you walk into a club. I used to do a similar effect by using the filters or EQ on the desk and turning them in real-time whilst recording the results onto another track.
Compression
One of the studio effects that is widely overlooked in home studios, yet helps greatly to make a mix more professional is compression. Most songs these days actually only have a very small dynamic range and so getting the mix to SOUND like it has a big dynamic range is the key. Compressors help achieve this by (depending on the settings) lifting up the quieter sounds and turning down the loud ones. Bingo, you have a sound that sounds a lot like the original but whose dynamic range is a lot less. This can help certain instruments be heard more consistently. If you apply more compression you are really using the compressor as an effect. Using severe input and threshold settings and a little tweaking of the attack/release knobs can give very interesting results on most sounds.
As it brings up the quieter part of the sound, the ambience is brought up with it and can help the sound to appear bigger and roomier. This type of effect is particularly useful on percussion or drum sounds.The compressor is virtually indispensable on vocals. As well as fulfilling its usual job of stopping overloads to tape by lifting the quieter parts of the vocal and squashing down the louder bits, it makes the lyrics easier to hear. It also makes the vocals sound more in control and provides an excellent starting point for doing the final rides on the vocal.Effects - What they doEffects have several purposes in mixing. Their general use is to give sounds a space in the track, strengthen the original sound or change the sound.
The space they give can range from a tiny shoebox to a monstrous cathedral or the Grand Canyon and everything in-between. In certain cases, effects can be used to give particular instruments extra beats to aid in the groove of the track. Certain reverbs can help smooth out sounds and fill in spaces to create the atmosphere your song requires.Making the right choices can make a big difference to the final mix. One other option is to put no effects on a sound at all, or leaving it dry as it's often described. Quite often when a sound has its own ambience recorded with it (like a mono drum loop), it sounds good to leave it dry, or at the most put a short effect on it to stereofy it and sit it in the mix without washing it out too much.
Popular types of effects.(Obviously you're going to have to do try these at home if you can as it's hard to describe them in words.)Delays:Time delays can be generally split into four bands:Very short:These delays are what provide chorus, flanging and phasing.Short:These are generally used to strengthen a sound by doubling the original signal and can sound like a small room.Medium:A medium delay would include a slapback echo, a John Lennon type vocal sound and a rock and roll style effect.
Long:Long delays are used for space creation, groove creation, repeat echoes and special effects.Pitch Shifting:Harmonisers can be used on any instrument but are particularly useful on lead vocals. They give vocals more colour and can compensate a little for tuning problems. Wider harmoniser settings can be used for strange harmony effects. A very well known use of harmoniser effects can be heard on any old Phil Collins record. Here, a dual setting of 1.06% and 0.96% is used to give that classic electronic sound.
Reverbs:
Here's a paradox. It seems the more digital reverbs that get produced the less they seem to get used on records. Contemporary dance music uses very few reverbs on vocals and those that they do use are normally very short, room-type reverbs. There is good reason for this. Longer reverbs give the sense of smoothing out sounds by polishing the edges. Obviously in a pumping dance track you would want to keep all those dynamic edges, so having a vocal sound wafting around in loads of reverb probably isn't what you want unless it's an ambient trance track.
Typically, the lead vocal on many pop records sounds virtually dry. However, if you were present in the studio when it was mixed you would probably find there was maybe a short delay, a short spacious reverb and maybe some pitch shifting going on. The overall impression though is that the vocal is very present and in your face.Don't be fooled by the preset names on effects units. Just because the effect is called 'Keyboard Wash' doesn't mean that it wouldn't sound good on a guitar. For instance, on the George Michael song "Jesus to a child" the vocal reverb on the Lexicon 480 had the preset name 'Snare Plate'!
Note:Vocals:If there is one instrument that is likely to cause you grief getting it to sound right in a mix it is the lead vocal. Since this is often the focal point of your song, it generally deserves the most attention. Unfortunately there is not enough space in this one article to cover the topic.
Riding the Levels Moulding the Shape
It's unlikely that the dynamics of the instruments you have on tape will be exactly as you want them as the song plays through. In fact, even if a band records all their parts for a song at the same time, the levels will normally still need riding in places. All this means is that you adjust the levels appropriately throughout the song. Generally, you shouldn't expect to be able to leave your faders at the same level from beginning to end. Some instruments, especially in the drum department, you can pretty much set and forget. A couple of snare fills may need a helping hand but the rest will take care of itself.
The transition between the various sections of your song (ie, between a verse and chorus) is something that will give flow to your mix. This is achieved with things like drum fills, instrument swells, tempo changes and what the vocalist is doing. It's also done by you as the mixer riding things up in various sections creating a dynamic that wasn't there before. One major hint here: Are you finding that you are have to ride the levels of an instrument up severely in a section of the song to be heard? It could actually be one or a combination of instruments that are too loud and need to be turned down.
Computer Vs Manual Mixing
Fortunately most of you will have some form of automation on your system whether it be in the computer with the sequencer or hard disk package or mixing desk or both so I would recommend you learn to use it if you don't know already. Whilst I have done manual mixing with 5 members of a band & their managers dog all taking command of a number of faders, I have to say give me a computer any day! Adjustments in levels can be done as they are thought of, written in & then forgotten about, leaving you free to concentrate on other things. However, never underestimate a quick manual mix. It can often contain elements of spontaneity and an energy that sometimes gets lost once the 'mix hat' goes on.
Finishing Off.
Mixing is a cyclical process in that as you proceed you may have to go back to something you did earlier to get it working with the last thing you did. At some point however, you are hopefully going to reach point where things sound good to you and you're ready to finish it off.
Knowing When to StopOne of the big dilemmas of mixing is knowing when the mix is finished. This actually took me several years to learn and is really only achieved by practice. The tendency is to think that there's always more that can be done to the sounds or the levels within the mix and this can lead to endless tweaking.
This can make you lose perspective and miss what is important about the song itself. Having the luxury of being able to sleep on a mix, assuming you can get the song out of your head, is very advantageous. If I have a whole album project to mix and have a day per song to mix it, I'll get it to a point where I am happy with it on day one. When I come in the following morning, I check it with fresh ears and do any last minute rides before committing it as a final master.Playing it to someone who has never heard it before can be useful, as for some strange reason it can trigger 'gut feelings' in you. The simple act of having someone else listen to it will normally allow you to hear it in a new way. I have no idea why this works but try it.
Finally..Do an idiot check
Often in the process of adjusting levels the actual meat and potatoes of the song can get left behind. Quite often you may find for instance that the snare drum or main loop just needs a little tweak up in level to give it back the punch. Do a quick scan through the sounds. Is there enough bass? Are the drums kicking enough? Is the vocal loud enough? And so on. It's a good idea, if you have the option, to flick between a couple of sets of speakers and check that your mix is working on different systems.
Record a 'mix in progress' onto a cassette and go listen to it in your car or on your ghetto blaster. In fact, try it on any other system you know. If it's sounding good on everything you've got then it's more likely to work everywhere you play it. Check that you have muted any parts that really aren't necessary and finally make sure that you haven't forgotten anything. On more than one occasion I have been sent tapes to mix without any guidance and overlooked a part that wasn't written on the track sheet.
Putting it down
When you feel you are totally happy with all the elements of the mix, stick it onto a DAT or back onto your hard drive or anything else you use to master. One tip: Always do a mix with the vocal louder and maybe even a quieter one as well. Why?:
1. Listening to a song over and over again can sometimes trick you into a false judgement. The vocal may have been too quiet all along but you just hadn't noticed when you were concentrating on all the other things.
2. It is very common for record companies to want the lead vocal louder and if you can't provide that you'll probably have to mix the track again. 3. Even if you never use this mix, you may wish to edit a line or two back into the master that needs a bit of help