TOP 10 MIXING TIPS

So You've Recorded Your Tracks. How Do You Make Them Sound Good Together?

by Craig Anderton

We all want a good mix where the instruments stick together like glue, with drama and clarity. Toward that end, it would be great to be able to say "add this amount of compression, this type of EQ on these instruments, and you're done!" But if it were that easy, every recording would sound great. Instead, we'll have to be more general.

It's also important to remember that tips are not rules. For example, most producers say that mixes should have space, and I agree. But then there's the Stones' Exile on Main Street, whose cluttered, chaotic mixes are a thing of beauty. Which brings us to tip #1:

1. Let the music tell you what it wants. This is something engineer Bruce Swedien (Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, too many others to list!) emphasizes in his master classes. The music will tell you what it wants, but you have to listen. Rather than sound like something else, bring out what's unique in what you have.

2. Pay attention to the details. Listen to every track, in isolation, before you start mixing. With hard disk recording/editing, you can massage each track to eliminate any little pops, clicks, hisses, etc. This can make a big difference in the overall sound.

In this screen shot from Sonar 8, the drums (left fader) has 4.3dB of boost, with a fairly sharp Q, added at 153Hz to bring out the lower mid sound of the kick. The bass (right fader) has a low-Q boost of abour 5.6dB at 79Hz. This lets the bass take over the low end, but the kick drum is still very present.

3. Always consider the context. A common mistake among newbie recordists is to solo a track and add EQ and effects to make it sound fantastic. Then they solo the next track and do the same thing. But there's only so much bandwidth and dynamic range: Mixing all these "rich" sounds together can result in a mess. Each track is a piece of the puzzle, and needs to fit with the other tracks.

4. Differentiate instruments with EQ, not just panning. I always start mixing with all tracks panned to center, then use EQ to carve out frequencies that step on each other.

For example, in a dance mix where the kick should hit hard, I'll shave some low end off the bass while emphasizing its pick or filter attack. But with something that's more old school R&B, I'll keep the bass full, and instead accent the kick drum's mid and beater. Once you can clearly differentiate all the instruments in mono, then bring on the panning.

5. Be brutal when you edit. I'm ruthless about cutting out whole sections of songs if they don't work. Keep the pace moving, while of course respecting the dynamic flow. Recommended listening: "Shhh/Peaceful" from In a Silent Way, by Miles Davis. It was edited down from far more material to create a beautiful, concise listening experience.

6. Automatable EQ is your friend. Drop some of the piano midrange during the vocals so they don't compete with the piano. Increase the upper mids a bit on the guitar solo so it "cuts" through the mix, then drop it back when the part reverts to rhythm guitar.

Even changes of one or two dB affect the overall sound, and most hosts allow EQ automation.

Here's how to automate EQ in Sony Acid Pro 7. This Bass track has EQ inserted; using the effect drop-down menu brings up the option to choose FX automation. Here, EQ Band 1 Frequency and Band 1 Gain have been chosen for automation. This creates envelopes you can draw and shape for the desired curve; toward the right, you can see the automation envelope for Track EQ, Band 1 Gain.

7. Remember dynamics - ride the faders. When recording, there's a tendency to use the maximum available headroom. You can restore a sense of dynamics by playing the faders as you mix - subtle changes in dynamics can make a mix "breathe."

And while mixing with a mouse is great for editing and touching up, it's lousy for performing. Spring the bucks for a hardware controller to add some human feel.

Euphonix's MC Mix is a cost-effective, ergonomic, and extremely slick fader box for when you want to add real-time control to a mix.

8. Always be in "record automation" mode. As soon as you start mixing, enable automation recording. Sometimes your gut hears music better than your head, and your emotional, initial reaction toward a song might be what the music wants.

9. Don't try to master while you mix. A lot of people will slap a multiband compressor across the final output bus and go "okay, it's mastered now!" Wrong. A good mastering engineer can make a good mix sound great, and a great mix sound transcendent. Although I'll switch in some compression on occasion to get a rough idea of how mastering will influence the sound, when it's time for the final rendering to stereo or surround, compression is outta there. To me, mastering is a different discipline than mixing.

10. Optimize your room acoustics. This is the foundation of a good mix: Mixing great music in a room with poor acoustics is like trying to make a great dinner in a cockroach-infested kitchen. If your mixes sound great in your studio and not-so-great everywhere else, you definitely need an acoustics makeover.