A great mix is like eating rich vanilla ice cream added to a warm triple fudge brownie. It’s the perfect combination of elements and textures, almost everybody loves it and it delivers incredible taste. A great mix can turn a great vocal performance into a “star vocal performance” and pull you right as you listen into a song with impact and emotion. What it can’t do is save a bad song or bad performance.
Most people won’t know why but a powerful mix will bring a recording alive. It’s where the real “magic” takes place. Good mixing requires carving off a little fat here, adding some flavor there, maybe some salt or pepper, similar to the way a master chef takes the ingredients on the table and whips up a masterpiece. Put simply, good mixing is all about making your song work and turning your “static” tracks into a vision.
But it’s not a science although there are methods to the madness. Throughout my career I have identified six common mistakes that an inexperienced artist or producer can make when setting out to mix their work.
1. THEY LOSE THE “BIG PICTURE”
Sure it’s fun to play with the latest plug-in and now that many mixes happen from one’s laptop, time in the saddle and cost are no longer a factor. But great mixing is more than tweaking compressors, equalizers, effects, and hosts of other plug-ins to make cool sounds. It takes vision. It’s like setting a stage. You have to have the props, the lighting, and the sound, which you need to combine in an optimal manner at just the right moment, in order for the performances of the actors on the stage to come to life. Stay focused on the end run…the “big picture”. Don’t get lost in the process.
2. THEY WORK BACKWARDS FROM THE BOTTOM UP
One of the bug hurdles facing the inexperienced mixer is to understand exactly how to balance the track around the vocal and how to get it working optimally with the rest of the instruments. I am continually surprised by the fact that the vocal is the most important element of a record, yet many times it’s last thing added to the mix, making it have the feel of a “late guest” who arrives at the end of the night after the party’s just about over. This to me is working backwards. Rather than addressing the vocal at the end of the mix process, I think you should start with it. By building your mix from the vocal down instead of from the bottom up you will be shaping your production around your most important asset and at the end of the day, isn’t it what you’re selling…the artist?
3. THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND BALANCE – Although mixing seems quite easy, it’s not. It takes years to accomplish and music never reach the lofty heights of sonic. Nirvana. But remember, just like getting proper sounds is more than playing with plug-ins, mixing is also a lot more than merely pushing up faders.
Once you have the vocal right (eq and effects), the next step is to add in your basic track (drums, bass, guitar and or keys). At this point, the track and the vocal must work together in unity before anything else is added. In fact, if your basic track and vocal aren’t working together now, I don’t think anything else you can add can ever change the fact that your foundation is weak and could collapse at any moment. Fashioned correctly, you create what I refer to as a “shell” which becomes fixed within itself. Remember, your record may not have all of its final colors at this point, but it should play out by hearing only the vocal and basic track with nothing else needed to get your point across. Then and only then it becomes possible to drop and place your other instruments and vocals into that shell and know what their proper balance, EQ, stereo positioning, and optimal front wall to back wall effects should be. Hint: If you get a strong shell that moves properly within itself, the rest of the instrument placement and balance is like painting by numbers. It has to work within the confines of your shell or it’s out of the mix.
4. THEY DON’T HAVE A WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF EQ AND HOW IT CAN MAKE OR BREAK THE ELEMENTS OF THE MIX.
As well as balance and positioning, EQ is another important element which is many times is misunderstood and not fully maximized. Certain instruments by nature have similar problem frequencies that can compound quickly, tearing away at the clarity of your mix. Case in point could be an overly boomy bass and guitar track that build up similar frequencies in the low to mid bottom range and virtually “cover up“ many of other elements of the track. The temptation here is to merely turn up the volume on the tracks that are being compromised but that’s not the answer. Learning how to carve out the problem frequencies will allow everything to have it’s perfect place in the picture and will add greatly to the clarity of your mix, allowing for more detail and transparency. Remember, elements that are to bright can be annoying and hard to get to blend together and those that are to dull are hard to hear and feel in relation to other elements in the track.
5. THEY TEND TO “OVERUSE” COMPRESSION
Without question a great compressor is a wonderful tool but used incorrectly in the recording of a track or more importantly on a stereo mix buss can create massive destruction, which is virtually impossible to correct later. Here is where plug-ins do come in very handy. The fact is that as you continue to add instruments and vocals to your production, the demand for and kind of compression needed will change as add each element. So…always try and leave your options open. You should only monitor your compression and try and never commit to it until you have to. (the same is true with EQ). No doubt, using a compressor on your 2-track buss can add detail, transparency and dynamic excitement. But, if your lucky enough to have your record professionally mastered, resist the temptation of premastering yourself in the mix stage and leave it to the mastering engineer who will have much better and more sophisticated equipment to get the job done as well as a fresh perspective on how to use it. If you can swing the costs – let the “masters” do the “mastering”. It’s worth it.
6. THEY DON’T LISTEN ON ACCURATE MONITORING SYSTEMS
Many times, they depend on monitors that are not reflective of what the true sound is that is being captured. Even worse are “hyped” speakers, which can be really fun to listen to. Everyday as you listen on them they make your work sound brilliant but they can literally ruin your mix if you don’t take precautions. It’s critical that you are reproducing what you’re actually hearing in your stereo mix. Speakers don’t have to cost an arm and leg to be adequate. I’ve heard really expensive speakers sound horrible. Expensive or not, they all have their own idiosyncrasies anyway. The trick here is to know your monitors well and know what a good balanced mix should sound like on them. If your listening environment has a lot of reflection or bass buildup, you could be compounding your problem. In this case you would do well to purchase some simple room acoustic treatment which is readily available online and in stores. They come with simple instructions and a little goes a long way. It is extremely important to continually compare and “A” “B” your work to other great sounding records in your room and on your speakers. Be careful though, it’s easy to get fooled by level differences so make certain that you are comparing tracks at a similar level. Besides today most people will listen to your records on inexpensive iPod headphones or car stereos. Be sure that you check your work on those systems in order to see if it still stands up. One of the best ways to do this is to take two hit tracks that are similar in approach and style to yours and put them in an iTunes folder along with your mix. Then make a playlist that has your mix positioned in between those two songs. If it holds its own your good to go, if it falls on its face go back to the mixing board.
