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20 Tips On Mixing

10. Don't over EQ sounds as they're likely to sound unnatural, especially when boosting. As a rule, good external
equalisers will sound better than your console channel EQ when you're trying to make significant tonal
changes. If you can confine your EQ to gentle shelving cut or boost rather than using heavy sweep mid, you're
less likely to end up with nasal, harsh or phasey sounds.

20 Tips On Mixing

9. Try not to have too many instruments competing for the same part of the audio spectrum. The midrange is particularly vulnerable, so try to choose the best sounds at source. You can improve the separation when mixing by using EQ to narrow the spectrum of the sound you're working with. Try rolling off some low end and occasionally taking out any excessive top end. This is sometimes known as spectral mixing, where each sound or instrument is given its own space in the audio spectrum. A good example of this is the acoustic guitar which,
in a rock mix, can muddle the low mid. If you roll off the low end, you still get plenty of definition, but the mix will seem far cleaner. Sidechain filters on noise gates (set to Key Listen mode) are often very good tools for
trimming the high and low ends of sounds without unduly changing the section you want to keep.

20 Tips On Mixing

8. Leave any final EQ and effect adjustments until the full mix is playing. If you work on any single instrument in
isolation, it's likely to sound different when everything else is added. If you can avoid using any heavy EQ, the
result is more likely to sound more natural.

20 Tips On Mixing

7. Don't pan bass sounds such as kick drums or bass instruments to the sides of the stereo soundstage, as
these high energy sounds need to be shared equally between the two stereo speakers for best results. As a
rule, very bassy sounds contain little or no directional information anyway, although bass sounds that also
contain a lot of harmonics can sound more directional.

The number of speaker enclosures used in a performance.

The number of speaker enclosures used in a performance varies a great deal, but the following list gives a rough idea of how many cabinets are used in a typical venue:

"Small Vocal" system - Two full range speakers mounted on tripod stands.

"Large Vocal" system - Four full-range speakers for wide-area coverage.

"Small Club" system - Two subwoofers and two mid/high speakers.

"Large Club" system - Four subwoofers and four mid/high speakers.

"Small Stadium" system - Four subwoofers, four mid-bass speakers, and four mid/high speakers.

Monitor loudspeakers

20 Tips On Mixing

 6.Don't overdo the effects, especially reverb, as this can clutter your recording and take away the contrast that is needed to give your mix punch. As a rule, the drier the sound, the more up-front it will sound, while heavily reverbed sounds tend to move into the background. If you need strong reverb on lead vocals, try to add some pre-delay to the reverb effect and adjust both the vocal level and reverb level so that the vocal sits comfortably over the backing.

20 Tips On Mixing

 5.Don't assume that your ears always tell you the truth. Rest them before mixing and constantly refer to commercial recordings played over your monitor system, so that you have some form of reference to aim for. This is particularly important if you use harmonic enhancers, as your ears can grow used to the effects of over-enhancement very quickly.

20 Tips On Mixing

 4. Where level adjustments need to be made, mark the fader settings with a chinagraph wax pencil and, if necessary, take note of the tape counter or timecode locations at which the level changes occur. This way you can solicit help from other musicians in the studio if the mix gets too busy. If you're lucky and are using mix automation, listen to the whole mix through without watching the levels, so that you can concentrate on the balance of the instruments.

20 Tips On Mixing

3. Subgroup logical sections of your mix, such as the drum kit or the backing vocals, so that you can control the overall level of the subgrouped elements from a single fader or stereo pair of faders. This allows you to control the mix using fewer faders, and fewer fingers! Be aware that any channels subgrouped this way must also have their effects routed to the same groups(s), otherwise the effects level won't change as you adjust the group fader.

20 Tips On Mixing

 2. Optimise the gain settings not only for the multitrack returns, but also for all effects sends and returns and for your external effect units. Also ensure that your master recorder is being driven as hard as possible, without overloading on signal peaks. These simple measures can significantly improve the clarity of your mix. If your recording is going to be digitally edited, leave any fade-outs until the edit stage, and don't try to chop off the noise that precedes or follows the mix -- you may need this when setting up a digital denoiser that requires a bare noise 'fingerprint' for calibration purposes.

20 Tips On Mixing

 1.Put the mixer into neutral (EQ flat, aux sends down, routing to Left/Right only and so on), before you start work and pull down the faders on any channels not in use. Make sure all unused aux sends are set to zero and that unused mixer channels are unrouted as well as muted, as this will further reduce the level of background noise. If you don't do this, you may find effects on tracks that don't need effects, or unwanted tracks creeping into a bounce due to a routing button being left down. You should also have a track sheet for your recording from which you can label the mixer channels. The time-honoured way to do this is to use masking tape and felt pen, so that you can peel the whole lot off when the job is finished.

Sound reinforcement systems

speakers selections

speaker management

connections

MIC SPLITTER

A device which divides the output from a microphone in order to
supply two signals, for example; FOH console and recording mixer
or monitor console.

GATE

A user-adjustable electronic device that switches off the signal path
when the signal falls below a certain predetermined level or
threshold.
Typically used to ensure silence between pauses in the signal during
vocal passages or to prevent ‘spill’ between the close-proximity,
multiple mics on a drum kit.

GRAPHIC EQUALISER

Device incorporating multiple narrow-band circuits allowing boost
and cut of predetermined frequencies. Vertical fader controls are
used which provide a ‘graphic’ representation of the adjustments
across the frequency range.

Bass Drum

The kick or bass drum is easy to record since it is usually played (in pop music) at the same volume throughout the song. Producers and engineers look for a "marriage" of the bass drum with the bass instrument because they both occupy and make up the important bottom end of the record shows my usual starting place for the bass drum mic. The Beta 52 in the picture is placed half in and half out of the hole in the front head. This distance is variable and I try to keep the mic pointed exactly at the spot on the rear head where the beater hits shows an old '70s' trick where the microphone goes right inside the drum. This produces a very present and dry sound that was great for disco music before the Linn drum machine. You should put a weight (sand bags are good) to hold the mic in place inside the drum.

Hi-Hat

The all important hi-hat should be miked even though it usually cuts through all the other microphones. Use a condenser for this bright sound that can handle good, hot levels. I try to get a mic close enough to be almost in the drummer's way and aim it right where he is striking the cymbals. I record this mic on a separate track and I sometime roll out low frequencies so that the snare drum's (right next door) low end is not exaggerated.

Tom-Toms

The floor and rack toms are miked from the top only. I have miked the top and bottom of toms and I don't think it is worth it except for some strange and very tonal sounds. There is a point at which too many microphones around the kit will cause a loss rather than a gain. Furthermore, I find myself obsessing on too many internal drum balances and not focusing on just making a good drum recording. The principal question for tom mics is whether to use dynamics or condensers; both have advantages and disadvantages. Dynamics give you a "dry" and immediately present sound. You'll have better isolation from the rest of the kit making balancing easier. Dynamics are also better for loud drummers who hit hard. Condensers give you a fuller sound and are able to capture more of a drummer's subtleties. Condensers are great for light to medium drum volumes. Disadvantages include: more leakage, more expense and the risk of damage from being hit, larger and prone to distort more at louder levels.

Snare Drum

I experiment often when recording snare drums. If you want to EQ the snare drum mic, use a very clean equalizer that can handle very high peak levels without distorting. Since a lot of the snare drum is heard in the overhead mics, I take the time to make sure the drummer is using the right snare drum for the song. Thinking that you will just re-trigger a snare sample replacement later, because the snare drum and the sound you're getting sucks, is the wrong attitude! Tuning is super important to me and almost like a guitar, the snare drum must be tightened after each take. You must start with a good (new?) head and make sure, like all drums, the lugs are all equally tensioned shows the typical snare drum mic position. I was lucky with this drummer; he had a space between the two toms enabling me to sneak in a brand new Shure SM57. The only other place to get a mic in is from the hi-hat side... not ideal because the drummer will probably hit it.

Perspective

I find that recording drums has very much to do with your monitor mixing as well as the actual sound you are getting on both the individual drums and the total drum kit. Sure, if I place the drum mix well above the rest of the backing tracks, I can hype the listener into thinking the drum sound is big and muscular. Tilted monitor mixes can make you think you have a great kick drum sound merely because it is very loud. Pulling the drum mix back into a more realistic mix perspective reveals the true size of the drum recording as it blends with the rest of the instruments and vocals. When placed in mix perspective, I can assess the relative tonality and balance of the individual drums and judge the overall kit-ambience quality. Low and high frequencies as well as dynamic range are also better judged at this level. Like a good foundation of a house, if the drum kit sounds good while in relative balance, then any alternative mixing ideas like loud snare and kick drum mixes will work well.