Mixing Music

MIXING

Most good mixers these days can start there mix process at any desired point because of their years of experience and their relationship to their monitors. When starting out as a mixer you do not have this experience and need to start at a reference point that will produce desired results for your mix. I have designed this mixing segment for those with little experience or are new to the mixing process.

Before starting a mix you need to have a vision of how you want your mix to sound. Refer to Cds that examples of what you are trying to achieve, for creative and tactical purposes this will give you guidance on where you would like to take your mix sonically and musically.

NEAR FIELD MONITORS

Good near field monitors play an essential in consistent reference. The monitors should be capable of reproducing frequencies from 60hz to 17Khz and be able to handle high SPL, and set up in a triangular fashion 3-4feet apart. Make sure the monitors are not too close to the plane of the console so to minimize high frequency reflections that will corrupt proper imaging. If your using monitors that are not true in frequency response equalize the monitors in the monitor stage (post fade) to allow for discrepancies. This will alleviate you from incorrectly Eqing your mix to compensate for inaccurate monitors. Also the distance from your ears to the monitors should be set up so the room acoustics to not play a significant role in the sound of your mix. For example, the monitors are too far away and the room is reflective your mix will sound too dry.

OUTBOARD GEAR

I like to start off my mixing sessions with at least three different reverbs, three ddl's a stereo chorus effect and two extra stereo effects processors with many assorted stereo effects like phasing, flanging, etc. as well as enough analog compressors and limiters for processing acoustic audio. One good stereo EQ and stereo compressor are necessary for mastering my final mix. Two audio storage mediums for my final mix, such as a hard drive, DAT machine, analog 2 Track etc. Storing audio to digital should be done in the best sounding formats e.g. 24Bit/96Khz.

SETTING UP THE CONSOLE

1) Grouping - repatch all tracks of similar instruments close to each other. For instance put all drum and percussion instruments side by side. All guitars side by side etc. Mark all different instruments with different colours. This will make it easy to recognize and locate certain instruments easily. Try to group all hard drive returns to the centre part of console. Things like solos, and lead vocals that require a lot of fader moves should be placed in the centre of the console for optimum monitoring purposes. Patch all outboard gear to the outside channels e.g. 1-8 and 29-36 for they only need to be set to one optimum level. If you have the time, and will be mixing for more than a couple of days insert 1Khz @ 0VU into each input strip placing the fader at 0VU position to check line cleanliness and continuity.

2) Setting up Line Amps - First bring up all channels to a basic rough balance with the priority music tracks such as lead vocal to a position where the lead vocal sounds cleanly audible with another 10dB of fader headroom now fine tune all line level amps (-5dB to -20dB) so all faders are in maximum working range. It is very hard to make detailed level changes when the fader is close to the bottom. Allow 10dB of head room on all faders.

3) With a priority track such as a lead vocal bring the lead vocal up on one channel and buss it to another input. This will allow you to control the level of the vocal before any processing. In the first vocal channel you can roll off low frequencies such as rumble (60hz), proximity effect, etc. In the second vocal channel insert limiting, equalization and compression and any de-essing if necessary. If a vocal needs to be compressed whereby the choruses are recorded significantly then the verses, what will happen is that the vocal in the verses will not be compressed at all. Or if you set compression on the verse vocal the chorus vocal will be overly compressed and very thin sounding. Remember the more you compress the signal's quality tends to be reduced. If all verses are similar in level and all choruses similar in level but a lot louder designate one channel for verse and other channel for choruses. This same approach can be used for solo instruments or anything that will be a priority in the mix.

STARTING THE MIX

At this stage you should have a basic idea of where the focus of the mix resides. If it's Nora Jones it will be the lead vocal and the piano, for HipHop it will be the groove, the bass and vocal, for Rock it will be guitars and vocal. Whatever the focus is should get the best treatment such as good analog equalization and compression. I have yet to hear any digital equalization and compression that sounds as good as analog. If dealing with someone like Nora Jones listen to similar sounding albums in that genre of music. Try to approximate the equalization, compression and reverb of the sound that you desire. Remember that you will most likely be processing it further the object here is not to emulate totally but to start you in the right direction. Next you would bring in the piano, respecting the fact that the vocal will take precedence in the high frequency range (presence). The piano should sound clear but not override the high frequency of the vocal. A good way to test this is to listen to the piano without the lead vocal and if you feel it is a little dull you are on the right track. As soon as you start to make the piano sound like the focus you will have to EQ more high frequencies into the lead vocal. This will obviously make the vocal sound too bright and thin where your actually separating the sonic qualities from the musical qualities of the vocal. From there you can then turn the lead vocal off and build the sound of your rhythm section.

DRUMS

You need to decide where the drums should fit into your mix. Should the bass drum be tight with the bass in this case you might want the bass drum to introduce the rhythmic or attack part of the bottom end. This will allow the bass guitar to be warm and full in the bottom end that tends to work for a lot of pop tracks. A common mistake is to EQ too much low end on the bass drum and not enough on the bass guitar. This will give you the illusion that your mix is bottom light for what you are doing is shortening the duration of the low frequency performance in your mix. Also the bass drum tends to be more transitory than the bass guitar, giving you the idea that the low frequency content of your mix is inconsistent. Should the bass drum need more resonance and depth to it, adding in ambient mics or short reverb programs will suffice. One thing to make sure in your mix is "do you want the bass drum to be felt or heard"? Eqing in the 30-60hz range will produce a "feel" bass drum but will sound very thin on smaller speakers. If you EQ the bass drum between 60-120hz it will allow the bass drum to be heard on smaller speakers. With Rock Bass Drum, you need to get a lot of "feel" low end and a lot of 3khz and also dipping between 300-600hz. With almost all Rock drum sounds a lot of hard comp/limit is used and it is mixed to sound tight and in your face. If the track has enough space in it, you can factor in a tight verb or a tight ambient room for you will be able to hear it. If the track doesn't permit a room sound on the Bass Drum don't bother to try and create one for it will just take up space and clutter the bottom end of the track.

What sound should the snare drum have? Should the snare have a lot of reverb to make the backbeat sound longer in duration or short and percussive? Do you want to mix in a lot of room ambience that is triggered by the snare to make the snare drum sound bigger? (Please see Gating) Do you want to compress the snare drum to get more sustain? If you desire this effect you will need to bring up the snare on 2 tracks, one for the attack sound and another channel to first gate the snare and then compress the snare with a fast attack and fast release time. Do you want to gate the snare because of too much high hat leakage? Do you want to compress overhead mics (keyed by the snare) to remove snare leakage from the overheads without making the high hat sound too ambient? Do you want to gate the toms for cymbal leakage? Do you want to gate the snare reverb send to minimize the high hat from washing out the reverb? Do you need to buss comp/limit the drums to control transient excursions or minimize the dynamics in the performance to maintain a consistent level from the drums? Do you want to add rhythmic delays on the snare to make the groove more interesting?

BASS

Once you have finished the drums you can add in the bass. For Pop music it is best to have the bass drum provide the percussive nature of the bottom while the bass fills out the sustain and musical parts. With the bass you will want to find a balance between the amp and the direct sound. The amp sound will give you an edgier quality where the direct sound will give you a fuller sound. With Eqing the bass for low end should be between 80-120hz for you will want to hear the bass on smaller monitors. Remember to check phasing between the DI and the AMP signal. Compression is a good idea with the ratio of 2:1 - 4:1 with a medium attack time and medium-slow release. With a medium attack time you will allow the percussive nature of the bass to be heard. With the slow release time you will have the low end sustain. The release time should be long enough to avoid half cycle distortion. Half cycle occurs when the compressor starts to release before the full wavelength is complete. If you need the bass to sound more musical you will need to EQ in the 400-800hz range for getting an edgier sound EQing from 2-3Khz should suffice. Remember to EQ before you compress. With HipHop music the bass tends to be a feel bass with a lot of information in the 30-60hz range. With minimalizing sonic information in the musical range and the mid range. You tend to not want to hear the actual music notation or the attack of the bass. Synth bass if very popular because you can create an even balance between 30-60hz and elongate the duration of the note to create the illusion that you have more bottom end. On some of the better HipHop records they will raise the low frequency target area slightly higher to the 70-100hz range and elongate the duration to create the illusion that there is a lot of bass information that can be heard on smaller monitors. Be careful not to over EQ the bottom end so it will sound good in clubs or in cars with huge bass drivers. These kind of audio systems already hype the feel frequency range of the bottom end. In compressing HipHop bass do not be afraid to use a lot with even higher ratios. The goal is to have the bass loud and as even as possible. If your track needs a lot of bass instead of EQing a lot of low end try elongating the duration of the individual bass notes. This will create the illusion on smaller monitors that your track has a lot of bottom end. With Rock bass the idea is to create an aggressive in your face bass sound. For this you will focus mainly on the amp sound. Trying to mix in the DI sound with the AMP sound might cause phasing problems in the mid range that will be detrimental to what you want for your bass sound. With your sound you need to get a consistent bottom end and a lot of mid range. Boost anywhere between 50-100hz for the bottom end dip between 400-800hz (this will allow the guitars and vocal to have more room to speak musically) and boost between 1.5-2.5Khz for mid range. Be aware if the bass player is using a pick instead of his fingers for a pick sound can create uncontrollable audio information in the mid range. With compression you need to use a lot (4:1 - 8:1). If the player is using a pick you might need to limit the transients before you compress. The attack release times will have to be fast (listen for half cycle distortion) in limiting and medium to slow for compression. Sometimes it's a good idea to put in multi band compressor over the bass to target specific frequency areas. If you also recorded the bass direct and you needed a more aggressive sound for you mix try sending the direct signal out to an amplifier in the studio that can be mic'd. This will allow you to modify on the spot your bass guitar sound to your needs.

PIANO

In a situation like Nora Jones the piano will be second in priority behind the lead vocal. The piano will be spread fully across the stereo image. When getting the piano to be present you will need to EQ the mid range and high end. When starting the mix you will have already ball parked the lead vocal EQ and have approximately EQ'd the piano in relation to the lead vocal. So when you add in the piano to the bass and drums if it sounds dull EQ the piano slightly brighter and you will most likely be okay, as when you started out you allowed yourself a certain amount of head room in the mid and high frequency range of the lead vocal. If you find that the piano needs a lot of high frequencies you have obviously over EQ'd the bass and drums in the mid range and high frequency. If this has occurred pull back the boosts in mid range and high frequencies on the bass and drums. The problem will most likely be with the overheads and snare. One solution is to compress the overheads and snare to elongate the duration of the signal giving you the illusion that the drums are brighter because their signals are lasting longer. Remember in dealing with the snare your dealing with a lot of high frequency information over a short time duration. So instead of adding more high end EQ over the snare's transient, try this type of compression which will allow you to elongate the high frequency content of the snare drum's duration and create the illusion that it is brighter. Another solution, if the snare is sounding the way you would like in the high end and you do not want to reduce the high end try compressing the snare with a medium attack time. This will shorten the duration of the snare, but will not sacrifice the rhythmic transient of the snare drum that is integral to the overall drum performance. This gives the illusion that the performance has not been sacrificed rhythmically or musically in the mix but the snare drum still sounds bright.

GUITAR

In a situation like Nora jones the guitar performance on the bed track was tailored to support the piano and vocal in a musical and rhythmic fashion. Just bringign the guitar track up to balance it in the track should be easy to do. For the guitar player has designed his performance rhythmically and harmonically around the vocal and piano phrasing. The only potential problems that might occur are if the guitar is not present enough and/or loud enough throughout the performance. A solution is to add presence in the 3-5khz area factoring in the fact that you do not want to have a build in the this frequency range between the guitar and the piano. If you notice the guitar is getting lost in places, try compressing in the 2:1-4:1 range with a medium attack and release times. This will allow the rhythmic transients to go through unobstructed while raising the sustain resonance of the guitar louder. If the guitar is soloing in an expressive manner you might require a bit of limiting first. Also add in processing to create depth perception of the guitar remembering that the piano should be forefront to the guitar. A quick solution is to add a stereo delay with setting of 40ms hard left and 60ms hard right. Remember to roll off some of the high frequency content on your delay returns. This will create the illusion that the guitar will be sitting further back in the mix than the piano without creating level discrepancies between the piano and the guitar. With rock guitars the idea is to have them big and in your face =D. This is accomplished by first limiting the transients out of the signal especially if it has been recorded to a hard drive. Recording to analog tape solves this problem through tape compression. Try limiting with ratios 10:1 or higher and use a lot. Be careful to make sure that the sustain parts of the signal return to unity gain. Next EQ the guitar in the 3-5khz range for presence, for the low end 80-120hz. With EQing the low end listen for out of control bass levels of the guitar, which are caused by turning up the bass control on the amp to 11. When this happens certain low frequencies jump out at loud levels while others remain unaffected. If you notice this occurring you need to roll off the bottom end first before any other processing, which will allow you to manage the dynamics of the guitar. If you do not do this before compression you will most likely corrupt the harmonic content of the guitars performance. If the guitar player goes from a G6 (an open E on top) chord to an open E chord the low end might increase due to the fact that you are playing open low E string. When striking the open low E chord you are also playing an open E and an open B remember that when you played the G6 chord you also had an open B and an open D that were harmonically balanced against the low G. Due to the fact that the low open E is much louder than the low G the compression will bring down the open E and the open B. So what is occurring is that even though there is an even balance change between the G and E low notes the open E and open B notes of the chords are much different in levels. Rock guitars tend to not required a lot of perspective processing if any processing is involved it will be for effects. These days some of the actual distortion processing found in FX boxes sound pretty decent. Mixing in this type of processing with an amp sound on a performance can produce huge guitar sounds. What the processing can bring is that "in your face" component to the sound with the amp bringing in the resonance of the sound. A major problem with this is phasing. The return of the processed signal and the amp sound are not exactly in phase over the entire frequency spectrum. A solution for this is to double track your guitars have the processing tracks panned hard left and hard right, while the amps sounds reversed in panning. This will allow the processed sound of the performance to be panned to one side and the amp sound from the performance to be panned to the other side, ultimately removing any phase discrepancies. This is great if you are working at home recording processed guitar sounds and taking a direct signal at the same time allowing you to record your performance through various amps while mixing. With leads you might need to limit the transients first. With processing subtle stereo chorus, rhythmic delays and reverbs (with predelays) will enhance the sound significantly.

MIXING THE BED TRACK

(Nora Jones) Once you have EQ'd the drums, bass and guitar and have placed them in their proper perspective get a balance on the drums, bass, piano, guitar and lead vocal. Start factoring in processing such as reverbs to create depth perception in your mix, meanwhile, allowing yourself a little more head room for further enhancement. Remember mixing is a building process that requires constant sonic evaluation throughout the process. It is important that you incorporate mutes or level changes at this stage though automation. Once finished this basic mix of all bed track components with the lead vocal you should have a mix that should be able to stand out on its own for these are the basic elements of the song. If you have not achieved a satisfactory product by then keep working on it and do not expect that adding in any additional musical elements will make it better, it won't! All you will do is create a confusing and unprofessional mix. A good idea is to refer back to the monitor mix you did on the date you recorded for in a lot of cases there are certain things about the monitor mix which will sound better then where you are at now with your mix. You will easily discover if you have over EQ'd or over processed any elements that might separate the sonic components from the musical components of the song. Remember that you might need to start over again by referencing your lead vocal sound against other outstanding albums. Then prioritize what is important to the lead vocal. In a case like John Mayer it will be the guitar and the vocal. In HipHop music it will be the drums, bass and vocal. If you maintain this philosophy mixing will always have a creative rather than a redundant approach. One critical component of creative mixing is remaining in a create head space. If you get your bed track balance with your vocal automate it to sound like a final mix. This will remove repetitive redundant moves that the brain should not be focusing on. It is hard to be creative when you are preoccupied with making level changes that you know could be automated; the strategy here and until the end of the mix is to keep the creative process alive.

BACK UP VOCALS

Recording back up vocals is fairly easy if the vocalist understands their objective how to work with the lead vocal performance. In the case of the lead vocalist adding a double track in unison, you should record with the identical set up that was used for the lead vocal. Be careful to watch for consonants at the end of vocal lines, for example that if the s's are not together erase the s on the double track. When adding in the double track mix it at a level below the lead vocal and be prepared to not make it as present as the lead vocal. The goal here is to add more musical body to the vocal performance. If both vocals have the same presence it might confuse the listener to which vocal is the lead. When adding in the vocal double you will lose presence to the lead vocal but will achieve a vocal performance that will be more forgiving in accurate pitch.

If the lead vocalist (Freddy Mercury) is adding a harmony to their lead vocal melody it will usually be the 3rd and or the 5th and sometimes the 7th. Record the vocalist with the same set up used for recording the lead vocal. When adding in the harmony it will always be at a slightly lower level to the lead vocal.

With two or more singers singing harmony to the lead vocal they can perform in two ways. One is for the backup singers to sing the same harmony part at one time. The other method is for the singers to split the harmonies amongst themselves at the same time. Double or even triple tracking harmony parts is very popular and can best be heard by groups like The BeeGees and The Eagles. If the backup vocals are singing counter point to the lead vocal you will want to have them as present as the lead vocal. When recording three or more tracks of backup vocals it is best to submix the parts to a stereo bus and bring up the stereo bus into two additional channels. This will allow you to put exactly the right amount of processing on all backup vocal parts rather than guessing at send and EQ levels on each individual track. Remember to clean your backup vocal tracks before mixing for backup vocalists like to sing a pitch reference before they sing their part.

SOLOS

When an instrumentalist is soloing they should have the same perspective as the lead vocalist. In otherwords when they are performing their solo they should stand forefront in the mix. The only exception to this is when you want the soloist to sound like they are soloing in a band performance. This usually happens when their bed track performance is replaced by soloing. This can be heard in punk and rock music. If the soloist is a lead guitar, saxaphone or another instrument make sure all parts of their performance can be heard. This usually requires a bit of limiting, EQ and compression. For FX I usually will use delays, reverbs with pre delays and other forms of processing. If the soloist is performing in a call and answer style you will need to make sure that they are slightly less present than the lead vocalist but more present than the rest of the instruments.

ADDING IN ADDITIONAL INSTRUMENTS

Before embarking on the next step, review the status of your mix and make sure it sounds finished. If for example you have made the decision that the vocal performance in second verse needs to be louder and you don't make that level adjustment then how will you know what levels to set for any additional instruments coming in at the beginning of the second verse. For example if you added congas in at the second verse and you had not made the lead vocal level change you will most likely mix the congas in at a level relating to the drums and the lead vocal. When you start automating the mix and increase the vocal level in the second verse what happens is that the congas will be lower in level than where they should be and in most cases you wont notice this. By the end of the mix the conga performance will be at a level where they are just taking up space instead of lifting the rhythm at the second verse. Automate all moves and mutes if needed. This will make it easier to place additional instruments in the proper perspective.

When adding in strings be careful not to put too much reverb on them. This will prevent their performance from creating harmonic confusion and keep them articulate sounding. If you need to recess the perspective of the strings use a short reverb or even a DDL. You will most likely need to ride the level of the strings especially with the violas and cellos due to their harmonic placement in lower registers. If you need to compress use 2:1 to 3:1 ratio with slow attack and release times.

If you're adding in horn sections be careful to watch for transients especially from trumpets. Due to the complex frequencies of horns it is best as with all additional instruments to try and ride the levels before using any dynamic processing. In the case of horns where transients are very fast you will often have to use fast limiting. If adding reverb use short reverbs (1-2 seconds) that are bright sounding.

With percussion the idea is to make sure that the attack part of their performance comes through cleanly and relatively even. With parts like congas percussionists will perform with a dynamic range that often cannot be translated in a mix. If the performance is 16th note in nature and perform on 2 or more congas you will most likely have level discrepancies between the congas. If you solo the congas on their own they will sound fine but hearing them in the mix you will not hear an even performance. To solve this use compression with fast attack and fast release times to even out the dynamics.

Woodwinds such as flutes, oboes and clarinets are very warm sounding in nature. They often don't need any dynamic processing and if they do it is very subtle. When a flute plays in a high register you might need to compress. Piccolos on the other hand should be burned at first sighting. With perspective medium to long reverbs with pre delay work quite well in keeping woodwinds sounding warm and natural.

FINALIZING THE MIX

When you have finished your mix make copies of the mix and audition them on other monitoring systems like a ghetto blaster, a car stereo and home speakers. If you have the time give your ears a rest. I like to leave the mix set up over night and come in the next morning with fresh ears to do final adjustments which I tend to always do. Do not belabor your mix which means no endevours to seek perfection. Believe me you'll most likely be the only one to notice. Early in my career I would present a mix to the client for their comments which would often be "sounds great" and then inform them I only have a couple of minor adjustments to make. After spending four hours on the mix I would spend another eight hours making my minor adjustments and present the updated mix to the client who would comment " we can't tell the difference". Perfection, I have learned is the ability to present something in it's simplist form that can be appreciated to it's fullest extent. Listening to some of my favorite recordings I have noticed mistakes but who am I to remix Sgt. Pepper's. I might mix Sgt. Peppers perfectly but I know for certain it will sound nowhere near as good as the original mix.

Try to play your mix to normal people who buy CDs because they like the music which means avoid your techie friends who might steer you in a direction of technical merit that might not make any musical sense. If you are having problems with your mix by all means reach out for advice to your trusted peers for their subjective and constructive feedback. This is not the time to be a sensitive new age drama queen worrying about your feelings getting hurt. This is a time to be honest and open minded and welcome suggestions that you're willing to put into action.

ROCK MIXING

With rock mixing the goal is to get your song sounding big and powerful, by incorporating the full frequency range and limiting the dynamic range. To achieve this you will need to dynamically process each element on it's own. Try using the limit-EQ-compress process which will allow you to basically just set levels and keep them there. With drums sub group into 2 stereo pairs including all original and perspective elements. On one stereo sub group limit all the transients and do not be afraid to do a lot of limiting. You will need to incorporate a very fast attack time and a release time that will allow the signal to return to unity gain before the onset of the next transient. This process should sound as transparent as possible. On the other stereo sub group use massive limiting with a very fast attack time and very fast release time with the goal of elongating the duration of the drum sound. The goal here is to limit so you can master as much level on a CD and create a bigger drum sound by sustaining the sound of the drums that do not add any more level to the transient. When you're adding the sustain limiting to the transparent limiting, you will notice that the overall peak level of the drums does not get any higher but the drum sounds gets bigger.

With guitars and bass the limit-EQ-comp works quite effectively even with guitar sounds that sound very compressed from amps like Marshals. With solos you will tend to limit a lot due to their transient nature. If you stand infront of a Fender Twin Reverb while a guitar player is soloing on a Strat you will hear what I mean.

With lead vocals processing with the limit-EQ-comp works quite effectively when used plentifully especially if the singer has recorded with a dynamic mic. When rock singers sing out their throat tightens and when recorded with a dynamic mic it can produce transients between 1.2K and 2K. What might help here is to use a multi band dynamic processor. This will allow you to turn your mix up to a level that will rival a 747 without the vocal tearing your head off.

When processing for perspective in rock music, reverbs should be short if used at all. A common effect for lead vocal is a rhythmic digital delay that enhances the rhythm of the performance and adds depth to the vocal so it can sit further back in the mix. With bass and drums subtle use of DDL and short reverbs will aid in placing them in the right perspective. Be careful of over EQing the mid range and the high end especially if there is a lack of 3rds played on the guitars. At some point you will start to separate the sonic elements from the musical elements. A good example of this is to compare a song by Billy Talent, Tea Party, Green Day with a song from Led Zepplin, Tool and Mars Volta. When you're finished remember to compare your mix with successful mixes.

HIPHOP MIXING

Hip-hop music is comprised basically of grooves, bass, vocals and little harmonic content. The goal in hip-hop is to get the rhythm to be the focus point, a good working relationship between the groove and the vocals. With the groove a lot of the EQ is spread over the entire frequency spectrum, from 30Hz to 17K. The bass and bass drum are designed more as feel than to be heard, with little presence on the bass drum and the bass. The duration of the bass drum is quite long in comparison to other genres of music creating the illusion that the track has a lot of bottom end. There is a lot of dynamic processing on the bass and the groove to keep it at one consistant level throughout the song. When starting a hip-hop mix begin with the bass, drums and vocal. You should achieve a balance between these elements that can make the mix stand out on it's own. Next mix in the harmonic elements of the song as in the case of Destiny's Child's new song "Lose My Breath" there is an orchestra pad that plays only two chords and is used periodically throughout the mix. I believe if you add in a lot of harmonic information it will require the vocalist to sing in tune. A lot of hip hop music these days is sung with one note in a rhythmic pattern based on the bpm of the song. It seems fortunate that any body with a sense of rhythm but tone deaf can be a hip-hop singer. With the vocalist there is no perspective processing and if any EQing is used it is in the mid range and high end. A lot of hip-hop singers like to hand hold dynamic mics while rapping which slots the sonic nature of their vocal in the mid range area because of the frequency response of a hand held dynamic mic. In the mastering of hip-hop a lot of dynamic processing and EQing is done. If you follow this basic formula you will not be surprised to discover that you can mix hip-hop as well as any body out there.

MASTERING

In these times mastering engineers are a dime a dozen. It seems anybody with a DAW can call themselves a mastering engineer. The good mastering engineers with excellent equipment are very expensive. Personally I know only one excellent mastering engineer in Canada and probably one of the best in the world who is Peter Moore of the E Room in Toronto. He is an excellent mastering engineer because he understands music. Mastering engineers like Bob Ludwig, Steve Marcussen and Bernie Grudmen will charge you -0,000 to master a CD. However if you follow a few simple rules you can closely approximate their value in the mastering process.

These days the goal of most mastering is to get as much signal on a CD as possible. If you look at the waveform of this type of mastering it looks like a square wave due to the hard/wall limiting. This type of limiting gives you the "in your face" type of sound. I find that most of this type of mastering sounds very thin, very squashed and just plain awful. There are better ways to achieve this effect that can be utilized in mixing.

If you want your mix to sound loud and good try to limit the individual source material rather than as a whole mix. For example, if you notice that the drums are the first instruments that are being limited consistently try to achieve this effect in the mixing process. If you don't what happens is that every time the limiter kicks in by being triggered by the drums everything else in the mix at that point goes down in level in relationship to the drums. If you bus limited the drums in the mix you will discover that your guitar sounds will be consistently even for they are not being consistently lower in mastering due to the limiting process of the drum's dynamics. Remember the more you comp/limit your mix the more you corrupt the fidelity.

If your mix is dynamically all over the place try re recording the mix as a new mix. I have heard mixes sound even up until the bridge/breakdown where instruments drop out and then when it gets to the chorus the chorus has been turned down so it doesn't sound as jarred to the ear when it comes in. A good way to avoid this is to spot check the levels of your mix throughout. In most situations the mix should gradually get louder from the beginning to the end. If the mix is even but still has dynamic problems with transients and overall levels, limit the mix first with a very fast attack and fast-medium release times. Watch out for half cycle distortion. If you are doing this while you are mixing the best way to spot this is to solo all instruments that are high in low frequency content. If you notice a grainy sound extend the release time to where you no longer notice this effect. If you have the luxury of a DAW try re drawing the transients of your mix so no limiting is necessary. This is a process that requires a certain amount of expertise that comes with a lot of practice.

After limiting make any EQ adjustments, you do not want to EQ before limiting for this require the limiter to work harder. When EQing make sure you reference your mix to your target audience. Be careful not to make it too bright for you will begin to separate the sonic nature from the musical nature of the mix. I feel it is unfortunate today that most music tends to sound too bright and in the years to come I feel the artist and producers will regret what they did in mastering. I believe there are still great sounding records out there like Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Ja Rule etc.. that are mastered with sonic quality in mind. After EQing insert any compression if neseccary. When compressing use medium-slow attack and release times for it will allow you to get level consistencies that will make your mix sound louder and transparent.

by Anonymous Student
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