Mixing

Site Updated: 03/11/10

Introduction

Mixing is one of the most important parts when it comes to the final production of a song. If the mix isn’t right, then that means that the song has lost its life and that you will not capture the feelings and emotions the way that you had intended. In this chapter we will try to explain our mixing process. We by no means claim to know it all but, we feel that we know enough to share with new comers to get them started. This information should only be used as a guideline. Take from it what you want and create your own process.

We always try to explain things in such a way that the reader can visualize what we mean. When working with music, you should always try to look at a song in layers. Meaning, focus on each instrument in the mix individually. Break the song down similar to this:

Drum Kit: Which includes the kick drums, snares, hi hats, shakers, congas, percussion, etc…

Bass: This includes any type of bass guitar or synthesized bass sounds.

Instruments: This includes all the rest of the instruments in your mix. Such as: guitars, sting instruments, brass instruments, vinyl record samples, sound effects, etc…

Vocals: This includes any type of vocalists (singers or emcees). Vocal samples can also be included here as well.

The Mixing Process

Now that we have the basic break down of a mix for pretty much any genre of music, we can move on and explain our mixing process:

It’s best to start off a mix from the foundation of your song. If you don’t know what the foundation is, it’s the drive of the song, the heart! The foundation would be the kick drum, the snare drum, your hi-hats, and your bass line. We recommend starting at this point because this is the part that breathes life into the song.

NOTE:

It’s always a good idea to give yourself some headroom to work to allow the mix space to grow. The first thing you should do to your mix is to set all the volume levels somewhere around –3dB (a few notches below 0dB). To ensure that none of your audio tracks are clipping (distorting).

Solo and Isolate Your Tracks

So with that in mind, start off by soloing the kick drum and the bass guitar. Make sure that your volume levels are not clipping (distorting). The idea here is to mix the volume levels of the kick drum and the bass guitar so that they vibe off of each other. Make sure that one isn’t clashing or taking away from the other. This is where visualizing your mix comes in handy.

Set the level of the kick drum just under 0dB, avoiding clipping (distortion). Now that you have the kick drum mixed nice you want to visualize the kick drum and bass guitar hitting you somewhere in your lower chest area. Make sure that there are no frequencies clashing with each other, which could muddy up your mix. The EQ Chapter will cover this in more detail.

Once you have the kick drum and the bass guitar the way that you want it, you can add the snare drum and hi-hats to the mix. You should now only have the kick drum, snare drum, hi hats, and bass guitar on solo. Mix the snare and the hi-hats in with the kick drum and bass guitar. A good thing to keep in mind is that highs in a mix always seem to be harsher on the ears than you had hoped. A good trick here is to lower your master volume fader really low (a low enough volume to have a conversation), and focus on the hi-hats in the mix. Make sure they aren’t poking out of the mix drastically at the low volume. If they are, you want to even out the volume on the hi-hats so they blend in well with the rest of the drum mix. This can be a bit tricky at times because the hi-hats may sound too low in volume but once you play the final mix they usually end up being to harsh on the ears. So always keep that in mind.

Moving On

At this point you can add the rest of your drum kit into the mix. So the only tracks that are soloed now should be your drum kit and your bass guitar. You can now mix the rest of the drum kit in until you are satisfied. Spend time here because this is the life of the song. The rhythm, the overall feel and drive live here. The trick we mentioned above about lowering the overall volume usually works best with the high-end frequencies (hi-hats, shakers, hi percussion, cymbals, vocals, etc.) in a mix but can also be useful for mixing your low end frequencies.

Adding Your Instruments

Now that you have the foundation mixed down the way you want, it’s time to start adding the rest of the instruments into the mix one-by-one. Mix the instruments keeping in mind that your high-end frequencies are usually always too high at the end of a mix.

NOTE:

You really have to train your ears to understand how to perceive your monitor speakers. The best thing to help train your ears is to listen to your final mixes on several different stereo systems. Try it on your home entertainment system, in the car, on low quality speakers, in headphones, and even on you iPod.

Take Notes

Take notes when listening to your mixing on instruments that grasp your attention. Is it too low in the mix? Is it to high in the mix? Is it panned to hard? Did I use the right effects? This will help train your brain to know what is wrong with the mixes so when you go back to the mixing board to remix your song, you know where the flaws are in the audio levels.

Creating the Stereo Field

The next step, to finalize the mixing process is panning. This is the part of the mix that many people fail to pay attention to. Panning is very important because it creates the stereo field of your song. It gives the song realism and depth. This is also the point in the mixing process where visualizing your instruments comes in handy.

Panning Guidelines

 It’s important to visualize a band playing on a stage at a concert or live venue. Where do you see the drummer? The guitar player? The bass player? The keyboard player? What do you notice? They all have their own personal place on the stage, just as the instruments should in your mix. If you keep things realistic and simple it will definitely show through in the final mix.

Kick Drum: It’s best to keep the kick drum centered because it is the foundation of the song.

Snare Drum: It’s usually best to keep the snares centered as well but there are times where you can pan. Don’t pan drastically here. Try panning the snare drum 2% to the left or counter clockwise.

Hi-Hats: We recommend panning your hi-hats anywhere from 15% to 35% to the left or counter clockwise.

Percussion: Usually percussion is what helps widen a songs stereo-field. Pan your shakers either way (always pan things evenly) anywhere from 65% and up. If you have a hi-hat panned to the left, panning the shakers to the right will help and balance out the mix and the stereo field.

Instruments: When panning instruments, it is best to pan things evenly. Meaning, if you pan an instrument to the left side of your mix you should pan an instrument to the right side of the mix, to balance things out. When you’re at a concert the musicians don’t all pile up on the left side of the stage do they? No! So, then neither should your instruments! And if you leave them all centered down the middle of your mix, things can sound really thin. Panning alone can bring all new life into your mix. Take care when panning and remember. Be realistic!!!

Vocals: Vocals are a different process for each song. No two songs are alike; so neither would the process for vocals. It is important to make the vocal of the song stand out over the entire mix. We recommend that you try lower the master volume of the mix (a low enough volume to have a conversation) and mix the vocal so it sits evenly with the mix. What you want to look for at this low volume is that vocal doesn’t drastically jump out over the mix but, rather finds it place evenly in the mix. When you raise your volume level back up to mixing levels (which shouldn’t be too loud) you will see the vocal still stands out over the mix.

Listening Versions

At this point before considering your mix “complete,” I would create a few different mixes with different settings. If you feel the bass might be too loud, bring it down a few dB and make sure you save the file and label it accordingly. Try a few different level adjustments on the vocals as well. Once you have these different versions, listen to them on all the different sound systems you can and take notes like we suggested. The goal here is to get a feel for how your system sounds across different audio systems. You will never get it to sound great on all systems but you can at least learn your system and get it as close as possible. Use your notes to make your final adjustments to the mix and consider it done. Come back in a week and take a final listen and make any final leveling and panning adjustments.

Conclusion

The next step in the mixing process is equalizing. Equalizing will actually help give each instrument its own place in the mix by molding the frequencies of instruments so they do not clash with one another. We hope that our explanation of our mixing process has given you some ideas and cleared things up for others. If you have any questions or comments, or suggestions please feel free to contact me. Thanks for reading.

Chapter: Equalizing