Establishing Your Mix

Now that you've spent hours and days and weeks and months recording your musical masterpieces (and you've also read my article "Tips for a Great Recording Session"), you have arrived at my favorite time in the studio; The Mixdown.

But don't think your job is done yet! The mixdown is just as important as recording. As an artist, you have to approach the mixdown from an artist's point of view and stay on the 'creative' side of the fence where it's still possible to shape and mold your songs throughout the mixdown process.

Remember the old "Yin-Yang" principle which states, "whenever you turn something up, something else disappears. Furthermore; whenever you turn something down, something else gets louder". This applies to EQ, levels and almost anywhere you have two or more tracks.

The Beginning Of The End

STOP!! Don't even think about starting your mixdown on the same day you finish tracking. Take a day off, have a break and then come back refreshed with a new perspective.

Now back to business...

First of all, let's "zero the board". This is simply the action of bringing all the faders to the bottom (-∞) and centering all the pan knobs and effects sends.

I know what you're thinking, you're thinking "but our mix sounded good when we were tracking!".

OK, but did the mix actually sound good or were you just accustomed to hearing it that way? That's why zero-ing the board is important. It flushes your memory and allows you to start from scratch. It might even be better to mix a song that you finished recording a while back.

1. Get Kicked.

This is where I prefer to start. Other people like to start with the vocals and build around them. But I'm more rhythm based and prefer to start with the kick drum.

One tricky part of any mix is getting a good gain-stage structure where you don't clip the master faders at the end of your mixing session when all your instrument faders are raised. We must be careful to keep watching the master bus clipping lights to make sure they never get into the red. Here is why the kick is a good place to start.

Play your songs and watch the master bus VU meters. This is probably the only time you will "mix with your eyes". As you're watching the master VU meter, slowly raise the kick fader until the master meter reads about -7dB. If you are a four piece band, then you can leave the kick there and move on. But if you have a really dense tune, then you may have to lower the kick to -8dB or so (to leave room for all the other instruments as they come up).

Now you are set to mix. The kick should be the only channel that you set levels by watching. Every other channel mixed into the song will be with your ears relative to the kick.

2. Moving On

From now on, it's pretty much a free-for-all. Some people like to move on to the bass next, in order to find the balance for the low-end of the song. Other people like to keep working on the drum kit "as a whole" before moving to other instruments. I prefer to move onto the drum kit over-head mics.

They say that a great drum kit sound can be captured using only two over-head mics, and a kick mic. And it's true. Some of my tunes only use three mics on the final mixed versions, even though we had used up to ten mics for the recording of the kit.

If you placed your over-head mics properly (i.e.: so the snare sounds centered in the stereo image, and not skewed to the left or right speaker) then you will have a better stereo image of the drum kit when the mix is finished. Otherwise you might have to do some fancy panning or EQ to get a balanced image with the drum kit.

You can now bring in the rest of the kit underneath the over heads to fill out the sound. I prefer to leave EQ and effects to the very end of the mix, after all of the instruments are playing. Try to place your toms in the same panning position as the overhead mics recorded them. If your floor tom in the overheads is to the right at 3 o'clock then pan your individual floor tom fader to the same position.

And don't forget to check your phase between your mics pointing down and your mics pointing up.

3. Big Bottom

Now I like to add in the bass. Nothing too important here if you have good source audio. I'm also a huge side-chaining fan. I LOVE to side-chain the bass with the kick so the low end frequencies wouldn't fight for space in the mix. It just makes things sound "tighter". Sometimes you may have to eq the lowest of the lows out of the kick in order to make a little more room for the bass to sit in the mix.

4. Pads and More

Here is where I add the "pad" type of sounds. These are sounds that usually have longer sustains and hold the chords of the song. Sounds like strings, sustained electric guitar chords, synth pads, and maybe even some rhythm acoustic guitars are great foundation instruments.

I like to lay these instruments on top of the drums and bass tracks we have already mixed. You can get very creative with the panning of these sounds and create a wide stereo field. This will help make your mix interesting by allowing your lead instruments and vocals sit in the center of your stereo image, attracting attention to themselves.

5. The Vox

Let's finally add the vocals. I usually start off with the lead vocal, and then place all the harmony and background vocals underneath the lead. Sometimes, you can end up putting the vocal a little too high in the mix, and a great way to check this is to turn your monitors way down and listen to the mix at an almost inaudible level. This way of listening to your mix will surprise you, but you have to be confident and trust your ears. If something sounds disproportionately loud at this quiet level, then it is too loud. If you must, then you can compress the vocals too, but that really depends on the song's style. Maybe a few fader rides are a better choice then some static compression.

6. The Rest

You can start adding effects and other fancy shmancy things to your tune. Get funky with automating some pan knobs, fade-in some pads etc.. Here is a good time to get creative.

It's also a very good time to actively listen and re-adjust your mix. Is the kick too loud? Should I put some higher frequencies on the bass? Should I compress the backing vocals more? Is the coffee finally ready?

When you feel you have a good mix, burn it to CD and listen to it EVERYWHERE! In the car, in the bath, at home, on the TV set, at your friend's place etc., and make a lot of notes. And at the end, if all your notes cancel out, then you are finished!

©2005 Richard Dolmat (Digital Sound Magic)

===========================================================

About The Author

Richard Dolmat is owner, engineer and producer for the Vancouver based recording studio Digital Sound Magic. Visit his site at: http://www.digitalsoundmagic.com

---

How To Make Money On A Music Website Through Pay-Per-Click?

Interested in making money while you're asleep, or making money... Read More

Piano Playing For Adults: More Fun Than Sex And Not Nearly As Dangerous!

OK, so I lied about the fun part.Maybe piano playing... Read More

What is Guitar Tablature and Can I Find It Online?

The guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments... Read More

Copyright Basics for Songwriters

Should you copyright your song? If you're a songwriter, sooner... Read More

Jazz Yatra

Jazz is arguably the most argumentative form of music (even... Read More

Piano Lessons Can be Fun!

There are essentially two ways to learn piano - note... Read More

MP3 Music Subscription Services. A Good Deal?

There's a reason Apple Computer dominates the legal 99-cents-a-download digital... Read More

Origin of Erik Saties Gnossiennes

The 'trois Gnossiennes' (1890) is a set of dance-like pieces... Read More

Guitar Tuning Tips

Most new guitar players and even some experienced ones have... Read More

Learn to Fiddle the Orange Blossom Special, the Most Popular Fiddle Tune in the World

Learning to fiddle the Orange Blossom Special is not easy,... Read More

Throat Singing In Inuit Culture

Originally, Inuit throat singing was a form of entertainment among... Read More

Your First Guitar

Congratulations, you just bought you first guitar! Now that you've... Read More

10 Music Download Legal Points

Everybody's doing it: downloading music and sharing files. People who... Read More

Reasons to Ditch Your Guitar Pick

Lately, I haven't been using my guitar pick all that... Read More

Playing The Piano Using Chord Symbols Instead of Being Tied To The Written Sheet Music

Piano improvising and arranging is an art but definitely not... Read More

Learn To Play The Piano Better By Learning To Arrange Chords & Chord Progressions

Piano arranging is the process by which you take a... Read More

History of the Clarinet From the 19th Century

While composers had already begun to write music for the... Read More

Building Your Digital Music Collection

The previous two Tech Tips took a look at eight... Read More

How to Play What you Feel

Many students think that being able to play what you... Read More

A Guitar Lesson to Help You Develop Your Vision

Have you ever done any of the following?1. Made excuses... Read More

The Time Machine Exist!

We call it music, ever noticed how vividly music triggers... Read More

Recording Vocals at Home

Anyone who has recorded vocals to tape knows there is... Read More

How Piano Lessons Benefit Young Children

Piano lessons provide a wide range of benefits to young... Read More

Tips for a Great Recording Session

You know your songs are great (and so does your... Read More

The Art of Music

Music is the art of arranging sounds in periodic time... Read More

Learn Piano the Easy Way!

There are essentially two ways to learn piano - note... Read More

Top Rap Song

After months of email and posts, we've finally compiled and... Read More

Music Making as Spiritual Experience

If you've been playing piano for some time, you may... Read More

Mp3s ? The Future of Music?

Mp3 music is audio that has been digitally encoded and... Read More

A Guitar Lesson To Help You Test Your Note Knowledge

In this guitar lesson we look at a great way... Read More

Spectral Muses Revisited: The Channeled Melodies of Rosemary Brown

Rosemary Brown (1916-2001) was a middle-aged South London widow, making... Read More

Do you really need college to learn to play music?

Music courses are a great way to learn about virtually... Read More

Creating Stark Atmospheres

One of the things New Age pianist George Winston is... Read More