MIX / MIXING

 

 

PRINCIPLE Originally, the principle of mixing was very simple : to litterally mix different tracks playing together. Gradually, the mix has become something quite sophisticated. Mixing has become a creative process, often supervised by the producer.

 

MIX VS MUSIC In fact, at least as far as some music styles are concerned, it's very hard to separate the mix from the music itself. It seems in particular that mix and arrangement are two sides of the same thing. Actually, instrumental arrangement, mixing, producing... it's more or less the same process, at least different aspects of the same process, which was called "orchestration" in romantic music. Ideally, the mix would be done by the same guys that made the music.   Mixing : the old expensive tools, the new cheap tools.

 

TRADITIONAL RULES In this field, mixing, there are a lot of rules, most of them are a bit surprising. As usual, rules are made to be broken, but let's examine some of them. 1. lead vocals have to be in the middle 2. bass drum, bass guitar part have to be in the middle 3. the whole mix must be balanced left / right in terms of level 4. the whole mix must be balanced in terms of spectrum 5. there must not be too much effects on the lead vocals   Those rules are very much questionable. 1. Very difficult to understand, this one. The Beatles often put the lead vocals on the left or right... but nobody dares doing that anymore. 2. That makes more sense. Low frequencies require more physical level to have the same perceptive level - see physical vs perceptive level for the whole explanation. This means that panning for example a kick drum at 100R is dangerous : you don't have much physical room for anything else on the right speaker when the kick comes, and then the mix will be unbalanced : more perceptive level on the left. Furthermore, when the mix is mastered, the overall perceptive level on the right speaker will be even lower when there is the kick playing. 3. This must be linked to some notion of comfort I guess. When you listen to the mix with headphones, it must not be too nice to have one ear louder than the other. But otherwise, there is no real reason... 4. This one is a bit funny. It means "if you can do it, then it's required that you do it". The human hearing goes from 20Hz to ~16kHz, then use all the available spectrum. There is a recent title from Madonna though, the song with the ABBA theme, that includes a good 20seconds with nothing above probably 200 or 300Hz. It is considered as bold, at least in 2006. Well. 5. That's really funny. It's a question of ego, and of marketing. The lead vocalist is the Star, One Must Recognize His Voice At Once ! If you mess up a bit too much even with your own voice, then you're outlawed : "the sound ? aaahhh, not so good..." :-/

 

A BIT OF ADVICE   There is no "good" or "bad" way of mixing, and nobody knows everything about it - there is only common sense, and what you want to do. Don't do any mixes unless you've got the license to mess up with everything. Mix your own music, or mix music from people who appreciate what you do. In short, don't try to be a professional mixer, unless you really need money.   Before starting to mix : - the question you should ask yourself is not "what should I do ?", but it's "what do I feel like doing ?". - imagine a concept for the mix : what colors, what grain. Visualize the combined elements in their own space before doing anything. - think the elements for their function. If the element is useless, remove it or minimize it. - think the elements grouped - sort the tracks, group them, dont consider them individually   When mixing : - use iterative design - dont hesitate to go forward ; make esthetic decisions, and follow the decisions until they amount to something tangible ; dont hesitate to bounce tracks with effects - similarly, dont hesitate to bounce groups together ; keeping the possibility to go backwards easily will restrain you from being creative - you can go back only if the decision, once really followed, doesn't give any interesting result - dont hesitate to to overdo things ; you're concentrating on details, so those details appear magnified to you ; this is not the case with people that'll listen afterwards

 

As a general rule, DON'T LISTEN TO PROFESSIONALS. At least dont take what they say for granted. Most professional mixers and, generally speaking, audio guys, follow the current "do and don't" without thinking about them. Except from a few gifted people, they're generally wrong.   Back to main index