Archive for 'August, 2010'

The reality of this recording revolution we are living through is that many of us write, record, edit, AND mix our own music. The debate still exists as to whether this is a good thing for music or not, but regardless of where you stand on the issue one thing is for sure: if you are mixing your own work, you need feedback from outsiders!

The great thing about mixing your own music is that you know the songs inside and out.  You know each part that was recorded and why it is there. You know what to listen for. This is also the WORSE thing about mixing your own music. You are biased. You can’t 100% hear things clearly as it were. What you need is a second (or third) pair of ears to listen through the mixes and give you honest feedback about what they hear. Let me break it down into the most important elements.

Do Your Mix

When the tracks are all recorded and cleaned up through editing, you just need to get in there and mix it yourself. Don’t bring in other people (or even the rest of your band) at this point. Just sit down, listen to your sessions, and begin mixing (hopefully keeping things simple!). The idea is that it is your music and you are the home studio guy, so you know what you want it to sound like. So go for it!

Keeping in the back of your mind that you will be able to make tweaks later, don’t over think things and just get a good mix out of your recordings. Listen to it on multiple speaker systems (computer, iPod, car, etc) and adjust to taste, and then commit to a MIX 1 of each song. Now it’s time to bring in the outside “ears.”

Get An Unbiased Listener

The next crucial step is to ask someone who has not been a part of the recording or mixing stage of these songs to come in, sit down, and simply listen to each song. You will then ask for their immediate feedback. Here are some parameters for this stage of the game:

• Make them listen to each song the whole way through with no interruptions. They need to hear it as an entire piece and simply listen before any feedback is given.
• Ask them for immediate feedback on a per song basis. Don’t wait until they have heard all the songs to give suggestions. Let them hear a song, give criticism, and then move on.
• Do not be defensive to their feedback. Assume that you are wrong and their opinion is correct. Hear them out and see if you can integrate that idea into the mix.

Now this person may not be a recording engineer themselves (probably a good idea actually) so their terminology and suggestions may not seem helpful in some ways, but the key is to really pay attention to the first few things they mention. Usually they will hear that something is too loud or to soft. People tend to voice their suggestions on what I would call “balance” issues. Getting the tracks to sit well with each other (usually in a volume related way). So here are some hypothetical comments to listen for and take seriously:

• “This guitar part seems too loud in that section…”
• “The vocals seem to have a lot of echo on them…”
• “I want to hear more that drum sound. Make it crack more…”
• “It sounds kind of muffled, like it’s in a box…”
• “The song hurts my ears, like it’s piercing or something…”

The big idea here is that someone who isn’t “close” to the mix or recording will come in and do exactly what your eventual audience or listeners will do, simply listen to the song and critique it. This is invaluable information to get while you still have a chance to process and consider it as a tweak to your mix.

Let Go Of Your Pride

There is no shame in doing this. In fact, if you are too prideful to ask a friend, spouse, or roommate to listen to your mixes for an hour or so then you actually are more concerned with your pride than you are with the final outcome of your songs. Please hear me on this, don’t skip this vital step in the mixing process. It will really give you a fresh perspective on your opus and allow you to come back to your mixes with new ideas and play around with them. In the end, if you don’t even implement the suggestions at least you will know what the “average” listener thinks of your songs. And isn’t that worth something?

Mixing is a lot of fun. It is that magical stage in the recording process where all your great tracks come together and create a unified and cohesive song. It is also the most dangerous area of music making today.

Because today’s computers and DAWs offer seemingly unlimited tracks and plugin effects (mixed with powerful automation), many people feel the need to use it all. These countless options can actually lead to longer than necessary mixing sessions. And on top of that, the mixes don’t even sound that great! What’s the point of using all your plugins and spending all that time if at the end of the day you don’t get a great mix?

Let’s Do The Time Warp, Again

If you go back 20 or 30 years ago, the typical album was mixed on an analog console with a fixed number of available tracks, usually 24 or 32. Effects were achieved through the use of outboard gear, that you would “plugin” to the mixer as an insert. If you had one vintage Fairchild compresser for example, then you could only use it on one track. The same went for your reverbs and delays, etc. You had a series of constant limits to how much you could do.

But did that hinder the engineer’s ability to mix a great album? Heck no! Some of music’s best mixes came out of that “limited” analog era and will stand the test of time! So why could great songs be mixed with only 24 tracks and a handful of outboard compressors and EQs and yet people today complain that 48 tracks and “unlimited” uses of their SSL Mix Bus plugin is not enough? We have gotten lazy.

Redefine and Simplify

The lack of limits conditions us to move without thinking; to aimilessly throw plugins around and automate levels. We “feel” that we are mixing, but in reality we are just doing busy work. Real mixing starts with a plan. Listening to the recorded and edited tracks and knowing the destination; where you want the song to arrive. At that point, you try and find a way to get it there.

Here are some simple suggestions:

Start by creating a false boundary of 24 to 32 tracks. If you need more than that, then bounce down to free up a track. In a program like Pro Tools you can always “keep” the original track, but just hide it and make it inactive. Having a finite number of tracks to mix with will help keep you focused and will make you analyze why you want to do what you want to with each move.

Choose one or two compressors and EQs and use them exclusively. Grabbing a different compressor or EQ for different tracks may seem sexy and professional, but it’s not helping you mix. What you need is to just pick one as your go-to plug and stick with it. It will help you learn that plugin (how it works and sounds) and you will get better results each time. Trust me on this. When you are mixing for major label talent and you are getting bored, then feel free to use different EQs on everything. But for now, keep it simple.

Limit yourself to a set number of hours to mix a song. Depending on how new to this you are your time may vary, but decide what you think is reasonable for the type of song you’re mixing and time yourself. Setting a “deadline” will force you to keep thinking big picture when you mix. I guarantee you’ll find yourself dissecting some small minute part of the song that really in the end most people won’t notice. Looking up at the clock will pull you back to reality and push you to just get the song sounding sweet as a whole.

Actually Listen To Your Mix

Do you take the time to sit back, close your eyes, and actually listen to your mix? I mean, not just look at the mix on your screen, but hear what’s going on in your song. Many times we tend to somehow skip that part. We “see” what needs to be fixed and changed: the meters don’t seem to be peaking at the right spot, that compressor seems to be slamming hard, that EQ curve seems to be too steep, etc.

In my humble opinion, when it comes to mixing, limiting your options might just be the very best thing you could do. Too many options keep you zeroed in, looking to fix the song. When you are “limited” you can be free to think more about how the song is sounding. It seems obvious, but many of us forget it.

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This article is taken from a section of The #1 Rule of Home Recording, a free eBook covering the most important element of producing music in the home studio, the mental approach. To download the rest of the eBook click here.

If you work in Pro Tools a lot you might as well take advantage of its I/O labeling feature and rename your regularly used inputs and outputs. For instance if you always tend to keep your vocal mic plugged in to Input 1 of your audio interface, then why not rename that input to “Vocal Mic” or “B2-Pro”? Same goes for your outputs (main outs, headphone outs, etc). Taking this one simple step to relabel some of your I/O can save you time and confusion so you can get on with making music.

Start With Your Output(s)

The best place to see and edit your inputs and outputs is in the I/O window. Simply click on Settings and then I/O. This will open up a window with a matrix of inputs and outputs that is only as big as your audio interface’s connections dictates.
A great place to start is by clicking the Output tab at the top and then renaming outputs 1 and 2. Simply double click on the name of the stereo output pair and type in something more memorable like “Main Outs”. While you’re at it you might as well relabel a second pair of outputs (if you have them) as headphone mix outputs if you tend to plug in your headphone amp to this output pair.

Rename Your Inputs

Another super helpful thing is to rename the inputs. And as a session becomes more complex with multiple inputs and instruments being recorded, the more inputs you can name specifically the easier it will be to assign them to the right tracks in Pro Tools. You do this the same way as the outputs: simply click on the Input tab and then you can either rename the stereo pairs of inputs or click the drop down arrow next to the pairs to rename the mono input channels.
When all is finished, simply click OK at the bottom of the window and your new names will be saved. Now when you’re working in the Edit or Mix windows you will see those relabeled inputs/outputs reflected in your choices in the channel strips.

The Quick Fix

Here’s just a quick reminder. If you ever need or want to rename your I/O on the fly without going to through your settings, simply right click on an selected input, output, or send and choose “Rename” from the little menu that pops up. Type something new in the field and click enter on your keyboard. Voila! You will just have relabeled all the tracks with that input or output!

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For the ultimate in Pro Tools tutorials, download your copy of REthink Pro Tools and start becoming a Pro Tools power user by this weekend! www.REthinkProTools.com