can someone give me some mixing tips?

[mr hanky]

yo, i record a lot of music on my computer but i can never seem to get a mix that im happy with at the end? anyone got any decent tips?

cheers. :thumb:

[Seafroggys]

Yes......

[Akira]

Remember I like food processors for a really good mix, but if you need to you can use a blender.
I don't usually use my computer. It leaves a pretty bad taste on the tracks.

[The Chemist]

Mix in mono, then pan to stereo.

[poeticdrums]

Yeah by mixing in mono you can pay more attention to the phase of the recording so that there is no phase cancellation. Also the way a lot of engineers approach their mixing is to start with the rhythm section (drums, bass, keys, etc.) and make a good mix between those, and then add guitar and other lead parts so that way you already have a good mix without the lead parts and a little bit of tweaking is all that will be needed.

Remember, a particular instrument may sound like absolute crap if it is played by itself in your recording, but as long as it sounds good within the mix then you've done your job well. Also, a good thing is to try and make "movement" in your mix by panning, dynamics, etc. If you can get movement going on in the mix, it'll be more interesting to listen to.

[mr hanky]

thanks... i should have mentioned its mainly left and right panning of the tracks i have trouble with... wheres th best place to put stuff :confused:

btw sarcastic replys and remarks arent appreciated

[Seafroggys]

btw sarcastic replys and remarks arent appreciated

well, when all you say is "how do I make my mix better?" there's no way to respond but with sarcastic remarks.

[siva_chair]

thanks... i should have mentioned its mainly left and right panning of the tracks i have trouble with... wheres th best place to put stuff :confused:

Well, that depends on lots of factors. What kind of music are you mixing and what instruments are you using?

[mr hanky]

Well, that depends on lots of factors. What kind of music are you mixing and what instruments are you using?

kinda experimenting with industrial/rock at the moment.... so on the average song i got 1 guitar, 1 bass, 1elec drumkit (or loop), 2 or 3 tracks for synth and 1 for vocals.... hope thta helps clear things up a bit :confused:

[The Chemist]

As I said, mix in mono, then pan out into stereo.

A guide to my terminology:

9~ - Hard Left
10~ - Hard/Mid Left
11~ - Mid/Center Left
12~ - Center
1~ - Mid/Center Right
2~ - Hard/Center Right
3~ - Hard Right
all points inbetween are refered to as the half-hour, so 11:30~ and 12:30~ are riding the sides of 12~

Electric Guitars: if you have 2 or more, send them out about to 10~ and 2~. You'll get the stereo depth, but keep the low-end punch.

Bass: 12~

Drums:
1) Drummer's perspective: Hats 10~ Left, Hat Ovehead 9~, Highest Tom 10~ Left, Lowest Tom 2~, fill in the rest as you see fit. Ride Overhead 3~, Snare at 12~

Vocals: Depends. Clean vocals sound best at 12~, but screamed are good when you double them, delay one by about 1-3 ms, and pan them out to 11:30~ and 12:30~.

Pianos: Pan the lower notes to 10:30~ and the higher notes to 1:30~.

[mr hanky]

As I said, mix in mono, then pan out into stereo.

A guide to my terminology:

9~ - Hard Left
10~ - Hard/Mid Left
11~ - Mid/Center Left
12~ - Center
1~ - Mid/Center Right
2~ - Hard/Center Right
3~ - Hard Right
all points inbetween are refered to as the half-hour, so 11:30~ and 12:30~ are riding the sides of 12~

Electric Guitars: if you have 2 or more, send them out about to 10~ and 2~. You'll get the stereo depth, but keep the low-end punch.

Bass: 12~

Drums:
1) Drummer's perspective: Hats 10~ Left, Hat Ovehead 9~, Highest Tom 10~ Left, Lowest Tom 2~, fill in the rest as you see fit. Ride Overhead 3~, Snare at 12~

Vocals: Depends. Clean vocals sound best at 12~, but screamed are good when you double them, delay one by about 1-3 ms, and pan them out to 11:30~ and 12:30~.

Pianos: Pan the lower notes to 10:30~ and the higher notes to 1:30~.

thanks, i shall test this out.... tho i only use one track for guitar usualy and cos its an electric drunkit thats all gonna be on 1 track

also a note on the vocals..... they arent recorded yet but most of them are gonna have kinda robot effects on or heavy distortion... still not sure how they are gonna come out.

[mr hanky]

one other problem i have quite a lot is when i finish a mix it quite often sounds crap when i play it on other stereos, my car stereo for example.

does anyone know an easy way to sort this out without having to make tons of mixes and playing them all in different stereos? someone told me the best way to get a good all round mix is to use headphones is this true? :confused:

[Akira]

well, when all you say is "how do I make my mix better?" there's no way to respond but with sarcastic remarks.

Basically: ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.

[cjizzle]

yo, i record a lot of music on my computer but i can never seem to get a mix that im happy with at the end? anyone got any decent tips?

cheers. :thumb:

My first mixing tip to my self is always "Start with the source!"

Make sure instruments sound as good as they possibly can on their own.
If it doesn't sound good just standing there listening to it, it probably won't sound all that great in the box. Spending the extra time here has saved me hours in post.


What genre of music are you working on?

[Tiger]

Make sure instruments sound as good as they possibly can on their own.
If it doesn't sound good just standing there listening to it, it probably won't sound all that great in the box. Spending the extra time here has saved me hours in post.



Thats actually really bad advice.

Spend time micing/cleaning your signal, yes, but you cant make each instrument sound good on its own then combine them. It will sound awful.

Stereotypical example: Guitarist is in a guitar store and plugs in. He turns up the gain and bass to give his guitar a nice, full sound.

Except...that nice full sound sounds like **** when its put into a full band mix with a bass player/kick drum, because the guitar is not a low end instrument. Shelve your guitars starting at about 180hz if you want them to have any clarity (Even you extended range 7/8/9 string players: Shelve your lows)

[The Chemist]

180? are you crazy. Closer to 120.

[Moseph]

Thats actually really bad advice.

Spend time micing/cleaning your signal, yes, but you cant make each instrument sound good on its own then combine them. It will sound awful.

Stereotypical example: Guitarist is in a guitar store and plugs in. He turns up the gain and bass to give his guitar a nice, full sound.

Except...that nice full sound sounds like **** when its put into a full band mix with a bass player/kick drum, because the guitar is not a low end instrument. Shelve your guitars starting at about 180hz if you want them to have any clarity (Even you extended range 7/8/9 string players: Shelve your lows)

The other philosophy has a few merits that you're ignoring:

1) Making each instrument sound great before applying the mics is intuitively a good idea. The more problems you have to hash out in post harder it will be to get the sounds you want.

2) Getting the instrument to sound good on its own maximizes the potential of that instrument. If you remove frequencies from everything before you have the context of the other instruments in the mix you are providing a handicap before you even start. If the frequencies aren't there when being recorded, there's no way you're going to get them back later.

3) There's a psychological advantage for the musician being recorded if you let him put together the tone that he thinks sounds best (regardless of what you might want to change about it). He can feel comfortable and confident that what is going onto tape is his sound, and you're not calling the shots about he should play his music. This is, by the way, a major benefit to the producer/engineer since they won't have to put up with any malarky from the musicians about how they weren't allowed to play the music their way.


180? are you crazy. Closer to 120.
I'd call both of those figures estimates at best, and that is assuming you're talking about the same style and tone of the guitar in the first place.

[panthersfan16]

Moseph they really should pay you to post here.