Mix Aggressively!

[Light Years]

DISCLAIMER: NOTHING IS BINDING AND THESE ARE NOT RULES BUT SUGGESTIONS. IF YOU WANT TO CRITICIZE THEM IN ANY WAY, PLEASE READ ALL POSTS IN THE THREAD. THESE ARE NOT RULES, NOR WILL THEY WORK FOR EVERYTHING OR MAKE YOUR MIX BETTER. THEY ARE SUGGESTIONS. THANK YOU.

I see a lot in this forum about people being unsure about mixing and afraid that their compression and EQ are not "right". When mixing, you are maximizing the emotional impact of a song through putting things in and filling up the sonic space with dynamics, LRC (left, right, center, in relation to panning), and frequency range (low note to high notes, 0 hz to 20khz). I have some tips that will get you mixing aggressively, I was trained at the helm on analog consoles so aggressive mixing is now all I do:
1. No .1 or .2 dB changes. Such small changes in balances in relation to volume or EQ bands is more a of a placebo effect and can repeatedly compound into an bad EQ or too soft/loud sound that won't fit in the mix. If you are going to fine tune with fractions of dBs go in .5 dB intervals at the very least
2. Don't be afraid to use the EQ to high pass or low pass something with frequencies you want to eliminate. On a bass guitar, for the DI and signal that goes through the amp and mic, I use a low pass filter on both tracks. For the DI I have it cut off at 500hz, and for the amp/mic signal I cut it off at 10 khz. This technique isn't exclusive to bass amping and DIing, use it for high pass also, like removing low frequency issues from a hi hat or guitar part. The HP/LP EQ set up can make your mixing not only better and more aggressive, it also expedites the process.
3. Trust your ears. If you really need help at knowing where to cut frequencies in an EQ use a plug in like Fruity Parametric EQ with a meter that shows output frequencies bands levels. This will help you find the important and prominent EQ info of a sound and cut frequencies for the mix.
4. NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS COMPRESSION! I put this in caps because it seems people are hooked on the dirty drug that is compression. I will post about proper compression and settings in a later post. You don't always need to compress every track. I see people talking about using compression to "glue everything together". I am not saying this is bad or good, but if things in a mix don't seem to form a cohesive mix, then it's definitely an EQ or volume issue that should be addressed and not just slapped over the head with a compressor.
5. Pan hard or don't pan at all. In the real world, very few people (maybe 3) will appreciate the subtle 10° panning automation you applied to harmony synth part C or the 30° LR sweep you have going on with the back vocals. Pan the channel hard left or right, and if you want subtle, don't pan it at all. That being said a 45° pan is great also, but if the mix is already mid or low heavy avoid it and just hard pan it.

These are 5 tips you should at least consider when mixing. Learned on a console, and applied to a DAW, they are very effective and have kept me competitive in the studio mixing gig and free lance mixing market. Mix aggressively!

Also, TURN YOUR TRACKS DOWN! This is more specific to DAW use. Dynamics are a good thing, and red lining and hard limiting is a bad thing. Keep your mixed cool and just turn things down.

[Eraserhead]

Thanks! will try this out.

[Pete]

Good tips, man!

[Perfect Human]

Light Years wrote:Pan the channel hard left or ...

[Light Years]

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[Axe2760]

Dude, thanks for this.

[Light Years]

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