Good Music Mixing Tips
Let’s assume for a second that you decide that you’re going to have someone else mix your songs, either because a record label is demanding it, or because you just think it’s a good idea to employ someone with skills better than yours (you should be applauded if you think this way).
In the days of analog consoles, we used to figure that a mix would take anywhere from a day to a day and a half per song, especially if you used an A-list mixing engineer. The first day was used to get the mix pretty much 95% of the way, and the 2nd half-day was to eek out as much of those extra five percent as you could with a fresh set of ears.
While you might get lucky on the first mix that took a day and a half, it was not uncommon to continue remixing from there until everyone was happy, which for a big budget legacy act could take six or eight weeks on the same song.For example, legendary engineer Bruce Swedien states that there were 91 mixes of Michael Jackson’sBilly Jeanand they wound up choosing number 2. And it took U2 six full weeks to find the perfect mix for I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. Don’t let that amount of time alarm you; there were more songs mixed in the day and a half time frame than there ever were in 6 weeks.
While mixing, keep a close eye (and ear) on all those plug-ins. Each one of them will distort if the output signal exceeds the acceptable threshold level. Because the output meters are out of sight when the plug-ins are closed, it is fairly easy to be unaware of the distortion, all of which can absolutely ruin your mixes.
Make use of the high-pass filter found on many equalizers to cut off the low frequencies on tracks that do not need the presence of low frequencies (e.g. frequencies below 100Hz) in order to sound right in the mix. These include vocals, hi-hats, keyboards, etc. Of course, all this depends on the song itself. For example, if you are mixing a song that is just piano or guitar and voice you might run a high-pass filter much lower down, around 40Hz or so, in order to maintain some of the bottom end in the mix. However, even the bass and kick drum can be improved by rolling off frequencies below 20Hz. Most project studio mixes sound terrible because there are too many sounds competing for space in the lower frequencies. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can use a low-pass filter on instruments like bass and kick drum that do not need the presence of high frequencies.
Try using compression to even out volume variations and control the attack of a sound. Using a FAST attack will accentuate the body of a sound, while using a SLOW attack will increase the definition. Bass, kick drums and vocals tend to benefit most from compression, although you should listen to all your tracks with and without compression to see what works best. Keep an eye on the other settings on the compressor (Input, Release, Threshold, Ratio, Output Gain) since these can dramatically affect the results you are trying to achieve. It’s also important to remember that compression can raise the level of background noise in your mix as well as accentuate sibilance (esssssss’s) in the vocals. It may help to place a de-esser after the compressor to take care of excessive sibilance.
Listen for tracks that can be cleaned up by scooping out (reducing) the frequencies between 150 – 300 Hz. This is generally where the ‘mud’ tends to be in most tracks. Be careful when you do this however, since this can also be where the meat or warmth resides on some tracks. Listen for the track(s) that can benefit most from this action, and do not scoop out too much of the track or else your mixes will start to sound thin.
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