Archive for 'Tips'

I have to be straight with you guys. If you are hoping to take your recordings and mixes to the next level, don’t look for that one “magic bullet” of a technique, tip, or piece of gear to take you there. It’s just not going to happen.

The Cumulative Effect

Really good recordings and mixes are the result of a series of smart decisions that add up in a big way. It’s a cumulative effect that almost sneaks up on you. A little mic placement change here, a little high pass filter there, a bit of bus compression over there, and eventually you can get one stellar mix.

Was it the result of one or two of those decisions? No. In context you could probably have skipped a few of those moves and the mix would still be pretty good. In fact, not any one of your recording or mixing decisions (especially the gear you use) will be what gets you the final mix you want. Rather it’s the many seemingly minuscule moves you make along the way that create something bigger than the sum of their parts.
Read More →

We’re at the end of round 2 of 5 Minutes To A Better Mix! If you’ve hung around all month then I’d like to say “Thank You” for your time. I hope you’ve found these videos helpful, insightful, fun, and motivating. Now let’s get to the final tip of the month!

Print Multiple Versions

You just never know what can happen with computers. Your plugins might not open, your DAW might change, audio files might go missing. It’s a good move to print multiple variations or versions of your mixes when you do the initial mixdown. I’ll show you a couple of examples.

Depending on your musical background, you may or may not be using pads in your recordings. If you’re like me (a vocalist and guitarist) then you tend to focus on the “band” instruments. You get it all recorded and then sit back to mix.

The Missing Ingredient

But what I’ve noticed over the years is just how much my mixes can usually benefit from a pad or string patch of some kind at an epic part of the song. It’s typically a subtle part, but it becomes that missing ingredient that opens up a song and breathes life into my mix.

You’d be surprised at just how many famous songs throughout the years have percussion tracks all over them. I’m talking about classic tracks as well as modern chart topping tunes today. You may not notice them, but they are there.

Instant Energy In Your Mix

Percussion (like tambourine, shakers, hand drums) may not sound genre appropriate for your mix, but believe me it will likely work. There’s something about the energy and frequency response a good percussion layer can bring (even a loop) in the chorus or hook of your song.

There’s a reason why great mixes pop when they hit the chorus. Because the chorus sounds more interesting than the verse! It’s a mini payoff that just keeps coming back for more.

Think Backwards

One great way to make your chorus more interesting than the verse is to think backwards. Don’t just make the chorus busier and full of pointless tracks. Instead, head to the verses and strip them down.

The more you mix, the more you’ll discover how important the arrangement is. And as a mixer you’ll want to do everything in your power to tweak the arrangement in order to help make the mix pop.

Create Instant Contrast

One super simple way to create a huge sound is to create contrast. If you want the chorus of the song to pop for instance, then pan it as wide as possible, but keep the verses as narrow (or mono) as possible. It sounds easy because it is. But it works in a big way.

As a mixer you want to draw the listener’s attention in at specific moments of a song. You can do this in a variety of ways of course, but one that I find super helpful is to play with octaves of guitar parts.

Pitch That Sucker Down

A quick way to emphasize a guitar part is to select part of it, copy it, and pitch it down an octave. Sure it won’t sound natural, but if you bury it just under the original it can thicken up your guitar work very nicely.

Doubles are one of the most effective ways to fill out a mix. They give you a natural chorus effect as well as more panning options. But what can you do if you never actually recorded any doubles? Simply copying a part won’t do it. We need something else.

A Little Trickeration

What makes a double sound so good, is the slight variance in performance. You never play it exactly the same way twice. So in order to recreate this in your DAW you need to fudge some parts around as if you they were a second performance. It’s all an illusion.

Do you ever second guess your volume levels near the end of a mix? Yeah, I tend to lose my mind on this when mixing. You think you have a track at the best volume level possible, but you aren’t sure. It can be maddening.

Finding The Sweet Spot

One simple and effective way to find that volume sweet spot of a track is to implement the 4db “rule”. It’s not so much a rule as it is a helpful framework for fine tuning your mix.

When you get to the end of a mix, things can get tricky. One part of a track might seem just a hair too loud, but turning it down just makes it impossible to hear. And if you make a volume change on one track, it can affect how another track is perceived.

We Only Need The Attack

When I was first introduced to the concept that by simply hearing the initial attack of a note, the human mind can fill in the rest so to speak, I was blown away. This simple principle can really open things up for you in the mixing realm.