Welcome back to the Recording Tips blog! This is John from www.youraudioengineer.com. Okay so I will admit that I intended to give way more content in my last post but I accidentally published it when I meant to save the content. Having said that, I wanted to immediately remedy the situation so here is a part 2 of sorts!
EQ:
EQ is an essential part of the mixing process. In this step I start carving out the signature sound of each individual track. I usually start with some
subtractive eq as the goal here is to get rid of the unwanted frequencies or the frequencies that aren't pleasant. I know that this is subjective and there are multiple schools of thought on whether to
EQ or
compress first, but I do this to control how the
compressor will respond. I don't want those unpleasantries brought up when I volume match on the makeup gain. If you've read my EQ and Compression (Vocals Part 2?) post then you are
familiar with what an
EQ and a
compressor are (and how they work) as
well as what each knob does (and what they mean).
I start by adding a
HPF and dialing in the track by eliminating low frequency content that isn't needed. Obviously this doesn't apply to a kick drum or bass track but for most other tracks this is how I approach them. The goal here is to make room for the kick and other low-freq content to shine through. Next I will use a notch filter and boost about 12dB to find the problem area of the track, once I've found that problem area, I then will apply a gentle cut to that frequency to get it out of the way. Now my next step is dependent upon the feel of the song. Sometimes I will add some boosts to highlight and accent some freqs and sometimes I will just move directly to
compression.
Compression:
Compression is critical to a mix as it can differentiate between an amateur or a pro sounding mix! I treat compression as a way to glue the song together. I know people say that
reverb does that and they are right but compression can do that as well. There are several schools of thought on how to use
compression but I like to use it at it's basic form/function and that is to give me a consistency over the overall performance. Now that doesn't mean that on some songs you won't use
compression as an effect of sorts but the song and personal preference will dictate that.
In this step I start off by selecting the desired
ratio. I then dial in the
threshold (I like to see between -3 to -6 dB of gain reduction) depending on what type of track it is. Now please understand that there are no absolutes here. A songs style, genre, tempo, etc. can dictate things like
attack/
release times as well. My recommendation is to pick a preset that matches your track and start adjusting to taste and preference. Lastly you want to match the volume of the track before you applied the
compression (makeup gain) and make sure that it still sits well within the mix. I'm not trying to make compression sound simple by any means, that's not my intent, but I also don't want you to over-think it. Like anything else practice makes perfect and my ultimate suggestion would be for you to practice, practice, practice and get familiar with how a
compressor sounds and what your personal taste is. Again, if I didn't boost with my initial EQ-ing phase then I would go back and apply a second
EQ here and do my boosts now. If I'm liking how things are going then I would move to adding some
reverb and
delay.
Reverb and Delay:
In this step of the mix I usually start applying some time-based processing. I generally start with
delay but again this is dependent on the style/genre of the song. There are different ways to address delay but I like to offset the left side from the right creating a ping pong style effect where it bounces from side to side. I tend to be subtle with my d
elay so it doesn't stick out so much but the song will dictate this to me. Sometimes I will use
delay purely as an effect and highlight it in ways such as a slapback or a spin. Once I have my desired
delay set, I move to
reverb. Yes,
reverb is commonly known as the glue of the mix! It's often called that because you can have multiple tracks that are recorded in different rooms and environments and with
reverb you can tie them all together and make them sound as if they're in the same space. Different tracks can get different
reverb styles! Again my advice here would be to pick a preset (a plate, hall, room, etc.) and tailor it to your liking. I generally rout my time-based processing to an
AUX track rather then put them on individual tracks. This helps free up system resources and allows me to choose what tracks I want this processing to affect.
Sweetening:
By this step I have a real good idea of what this mix is going to sound like. Everything has it's own place in the frequency spectrum and every instrument has its voice and it is being represented. Now I will touch up on
panning decisions and finish it off with some
sweetening. What I call
sweetening consists of adding a
vocal exciter, cool effects to enhance certain phrases (such as a telephone effect, or maybe a phaser sound, etc.), and
automation.So the
vocal exciter will add that "pop" to the song and enhance that top-end presence. Every engineer will end a mix with writing some
fader rides to enhance the feel and accentuate the phrasing and dynamics of the song.
As always, please feel free to
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comment. Also, visit my website: www.youraudioengineer.com. I would be
more than happy to help you with any of your audio needs or questions
that you might have. God Bless and see you next post!
About Me:
I am a certified Audio Engineer and owner/operator of a website called
www.youraudioengineer.com.
I received my education in Audio Recording and Production from The
Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Tempe Arizona. I have
worked for Sweetwater Sounds in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as a Sales Engineer
after interning in their recording studios. If you'd like to know more
about me or would like my help with your projects, please visit my
website and contact me.
