The mix is the set of operations that make coexistence a group of sounds generated by a series of instruments played in the execution of a song. The instruments are usually played individually delayed or groups, or all together. The pre-Mix is the recording of sounds or shooting (Recording). Without dwelling too long on the resumption of the sounds we can briefly summarize that the recovery usually occurs either through condenser microphones, dynamic or ribbon, or it may occur through the direct acquisition of an electrical signal (cable). In recent years it has spread more and more the technology of virtual instrument that allows us to have, through the use of software, the chance to play "virtually" through the instruments of the MIDI controller and do it with sounds obtained by pre-recording of the sounds of its instruments. The technology of Virtual Instruments has revolutionized the production, raising many times the quality of sound output and reducing production costs. On what contributed MIDI technology and that of Virtual Instrument and even before that of the artificial synthesis of the sounds, the qualitative growth of the musical product, now there is a very rich debate, as many argue that often the technology has not done a service the interpretative power of the musician, indeed at times he sacrificed. I have a fairly clear position on this topic. A new technology can never go to impoverish what has been done by man until now, if used with common sense and awareness. Common sense can not be separated by a deep understanding of the machines and the potential they have to enrich our expressive luggage. So well is the new technology if supported by your knowledge of music and its rules, sounds and their rules.
The Mixing discipline has established together with the record growth of industry and the technologies that supported indirectly. The turning point for the whole birth of these operations is determined by the technological evolution which made it possible to record the performance of musicians in deferred, that is, at a later time than the execution of another musician. The reason is easy to imagine, until now the recordings were made miking the set of tools, including singer, were recordings that caught the gesture of musicians and magically made him unique. Of course the provision of one of the musicians was linked to that of the other and to the quality of the entire recording, so it was high voltage and the preparation to these locations was meticulous. you could not go wrong, rather it had to give his best and had few Canches to do it.
The ability then to physically separate the records of more sounds and store them on magnetic tapes divided into more "tracks" gave much more freedom of maneuver on the one hand but forced the engineer to design a strategy to put together all these sounds once you register and give the impression to the listener execution of simultaneity and its coordinated allocation. In simple words, the goal of the mix since the existence of separate tracks is to give the impression to the listener in a pleasant sense of a group of musicians playing in front of him and in a particular place.
We speak of "place" and who is playing. If we imagine sounds a rock band, we imagine it on a stage in a club, on the stage of a stage, the stage of a gym (oh my god), in a cellar, in your room !!! If we imagine a string quartet, we imagine it in a theater, in a large hall, etc. First then we must put in our sounds and our performances and study the site. Of the place we are interested in, its size and its degree of sound refraction, which varies depending on the materials it is made of and its size. A drums played in a gym is perceived in a way, played in a cellar in another. Then we have to decide where to place the listener, how far away from the sound source.
We come to the organization of sounds. Once captured the sounds are "willing." The goal is to achieve a pleasant and coherent listening so that all sounds have the role that the arranger thought it should have. So you have to hear everything on a scale of importance values, the instruments that express the melody to those that produce harmony and rhythm parts. This provision can not ignore two fundamental elements: the degree of reverberation that the environment we want to have the content and tone of each sound in terms of frequency. However we must take account of the fact that we are placing a virtual sound source within a psycho-acoustic space that can have real dimensions. Through the knob panpot of each track we can move right or left our sound, with the volume knob of the channel we are actually approaching or receding from us the sound. In such an environment these coordinates allow us to "move" the sounds at will. Subsequently, through the application of a reverberation effect we will get a placement a type of environment rather than in another.
Today you can do everything with the help of sequencers, software dedicated to the acquisition, handling, and the mix of sounds precisely. The mix "In The Box" is the most practiced mostly in home-made productions. Good organization of the tracks will surely help us to work better and quicker. Given that our editing we overcame brilliantly now we are ready to place our tracks. Group notes by category, started by the rhythm tracks and gradually towards those harmonic and melodic, usually starts from the instruments that produce more specific and cumbersome tones and frequencies. Before you start mixing is good to keep in mind certain established principles from the experience. If you're busy you acquisition of sounds and you have left out a few little things or are compromised on the quality of the equipment destined to the recovery, know that the best mix will not make a sound again badly in a good sound. You will struggle to put that sound into the mix, you will lose a lot of time in corrective EQ or compression miraculous. From this we infer that if it sounds good were taken or samples that you are using are of good quality, your mix will be ready in no time and bring him home brilliantly. If you have not you busy shooting, collect more information on possible microphones, preamps, compressors, equalizers used, if transistor, if valves, bearing in mind that often each machine corresponds to a timbre peculiarities. Finally do not underestimate the role that the quality of the A / DD / A of your sound card and the one that was responsible for acquiring the sounds, but this is a task for another occasion. We can start. After organizing the traces start with the rhythm part such as battery.
The mix of a battery analyzed and explained in detail would take a giant of our time space, here we just say that once you find a good dynamic balance and timbre between its elements to regroup on an auxiliary channel and we will ensure by having a dual control, one on the individual parts that compose it, through the individual channel faders, and one through the auxiliary channel that will allow us to have a control over the total volume of the whole battery. Make sure that the overall sound of the battery mode "just" do not get to the Master Fader with a sound pressure of greater peak -8 / -6 Dbu.
At this point, starting from silence begin to pull up down and stop only when you feel it's fine, trust your ears. The low frequencies for tone nature and does not require lateral location, at least when it comes to electric basses and we are in a pop soundscape. Do so with the other instruments, pull them out one at a time and stop when you hear that a role you wanted. not only you will use the volume faders but also panpots that will allow us to move the source in the lateral direction during the placement operation. This placement serves to find each sound determitata a position so that it is able to listen to all in a pleasant manner. Often the tools are many and the space available to dwindle and then to avoid the annoying masking due to frequency components similar to two different sounds (eg. Piano and acoustic guitar) we must proceed to manipulate these sounds through the equalizers for subtract or emphasize a frequency of an instrument for the benefit of another. This transaction will allow us to place the two instruments in contiguous areas and not "stepping on your feet" each other. After pulling on the volumes, progressively of each track, proceed with reverberation, imagine the environment, close your eyes, let your ears all the work of creativity. Know that the sum of reverberation alter the volumes and their perception, go back to double check balances, often you must also return to compressors and equalizers. Slowly you are getting the overall sound of your dough, remember that a very high sound is not synonymous with beautiful, do not worry about keeping everything to the limit of your headroom, there is always time to pull up ...
Of course some good tips for mastering also apply to the mixing. Use the references, listen to similar products, use different monitor, put headset, remove headset, use economic boxes 12 Euro, used Genelec monitors, Adam. Tannoy or the legendary Yamaha NS10 and so on and so forth, if you are fortunate to have a great equipment use your imagination and friends better equipped than you, maybe one day you'll be able to return the favor;) When you think It finished turn off everything and go to make a tour, if you read my article on mastering 'll know why. If you have not read you do it, if you can not in the short to know that your ears get tired and work more lose objectivity. Tornateci on the next day or half a day later and re-checked.
Haste is not a good counselor. If someone puts you quickly send him to hell. If someone asks you for delivery of your work in less time than what you think is right send him to hell, so that customer, whether to work in a hurry, you will lose the same. Another piece of advice, do not get from Penelope syndrome 15 years ago I happened to repeating 18 times the same mix because I was not happy, it is not worth it, if something does not work often depends on more ...
Subsequently I will address specific issues related to mixing such as' EQ and compression when mixing, which you can find on my blog .
I leave you with a very brief clip where LIVE quickly and synthetic face the problem of masking. Two tracks: Fender Rhodes and acoustic guitar. medium-low frequencies will stamp their feet, I choose to emphasize the top of the acoustic guitar which makes the strumming and then I'm interested in "iron" part of his sound. Consequently, a rise of its total volume, at this point I have to pull down to "put it back", the result is that I have subtracted the bottom frequency of the acoustic guitar leaving at low rhodes of the possibility of expressing at best. Because I have been emphasizing the high acoustic guitar and I did not hide the low? Simple it needed enrich ferrous harmonic sound of the acoustic guitar because of the part we point a lot, and it is the only way to enhance it without "disturbing" for the courts instruments. Good luck and see you soon!
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