Mixing Song Parts Tips

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Mixing A Song

This Is A Lengthy Article On Mixing.

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Article Topics Include:

  • Mixing Intro

  • Live Sound Mixing

  • Mixing A Recorded Session

  • Vocal & Instrument Mixing

  • Final Mix & Mastering

  • Monitoring The Mix

It's All In The Mix!

That's A Good Saying And Very True When It Comes To Music. Whether It Is Mixing Live Sound Or, Mixing After A Recording Session, The Techniques Are Similar But With Subtle Changes.

For A Live Band or Musician Without A Mixing Desk The Overall Mix Controls Are Limited To:

  • Volume

  • Tone or EQ

  • Overall Effects Such As Reverb

Band Members May Be Using Various Effects In Creating Their Sound But Bringing That Together As A Unified Sound Is About Getting The Overall Mix Right, In The Setting of The Venue.

Some Venues Can Be Very Bright With High Reflections Versus Others, Particularly Open Space Venues, That Seem To Gobble Up The Sound!

A One Person Band May Have A Few More Options With Some Form of Mixing Arrangement Be It A Mixer or, The Way The Signal Chain Has Been Setup And The Components Use. Also, The One Person Band Often Has Various Sound Sources, No Different To The Band, Such As:

  • A Guitar or Keyboard

  • Drum Pad

  • Percussive Instruments

  • A Looper of Some Description or Some Form of Backing Music & Vocals

The Principles of Mixing Still Apply.

Does The Overall Sound Meet Your Expectations? What Is Your Objective?

A One Person Band Can Readily Record Their Performance By Feeding Signals Direct To A Digital Recorder. This Means That Post Editing & Mixing Can Be Done At Leisure. But Still, Good Recording & Understanding Mixing Techniques Is A Must, To Gain The Sound Quality You Seek.

Mixing A Recording Session These Days Usually Means You Have Lots of Options.

Unlike Yesteryear, Using A Small Four Track Tape Machine Where You Had To Get Everything Right At The Recording Stage , The Modern Digital Audio Work Station or DAW, or A Digital Recorder, Provides Great Flexibility At The Mix Down Stage. This Doesn't Mean That You Don't Have To Get The Recording Right - That's A Given, But You Can Create Added Interest With Various Plugins or VST's, Effects Such As Reverb, Saturation, EQ, Panning etc.

The Following Are A Few Lessons I Have Learn't Along The Way.

Audio Examples Are Included At The Bottom of This Page

The Objective of The Final Mix Was A Clean Acoustic Sounding Blues With A Happy, Rather Than Mellow Feel. I Arranged This In The Key of A Major To Give That Vibe. I Also Wanted A Natural Clean Lead That Pops In The Mix Without Using Any Trickery So Anyone Can Play Along With It. This Tune Is Available In Store As The Blues in A.

Live Sound Mixing

  1. Check The Acoustics of The Venue. Medium Size Venues With Plain Walls & Lots of Reflective Surfaces Such As Glass, Require Different EQ, Reverb & Volume Settings Compared To Say A Small Cosy Room With Sound Absorbing Fixtures Such As Wood Walls, Wall Hangings, Lounges etc. That You May Find In A Small Bar or Cafe. Ever Heard A Band Playing In A Garage, Ok, You Get The Idea. Thinking About The Acoustics of The Venue At Least Gets The Mind Ticking Over On What Changes Need To be Made.

  2. As A General Guide

  • Try To Use EQ Reduction Techniques. That Is, Reduce EQ of Some Frequencies Rather Than Increase EQ of Those Frequencies That May Need A Boost. This Will Give More Control And A More Defined Overall Sound. Some Boosting May Be Required In The Context of The Final Mix.

  • Open Space Venues Need Scooped EQ, That Is, Slight Reduction In The Mid Range, To Give More Presence To The Bottom & Top End. Due To The Lack of Sound Reflection The Bottom & Top May Need A Slight Boost As Well. Also, Reverb Will Need To Be Increased To Compensate For The Lack of Reflection & Increased Overall Volume. A Noisy Shopping Mall or Street Has Particular Challenges For The One Person Band or Busker!

  • Medium Size, Highly Reflective Venues, Need Judicious Use of EQ At Both The Top & Bottom End, Cut & Listen Is The Key. The Venue Is Bright So Balance The EQ. As The Sound Is Reflected More Easily, Then Reducing Reverb Is Called For. Similarly, The Sound Will Be Louder Due To Reflections So Drop The Volume. Watch For Acoustic Feedback That May Occur At Specific Frequencies And Sound Like Tingly Jangles or The Screeching Feedback of Microphones.

  • Small Cosy Venues, With Lots of Sound Absorbing Materials, Need Increase In Top End EQ & Subtle Adjustment of The Bottom End. Careful With Volume As The Smaller Size Can Be Deceptive Requiring A Reduction. Reverb Can Be Increased To Offset The Lack of Natural Reverb But Not Too Much. Be Aware of Feedback Signals As Well.

  • For Individual Instruments EQ Them In The Overall Context of The Sound, Including The Above Tips. Don't Have Each Instrument Filling The Entire Sound Spectrum But Rather, Having Its Own Spot Within The Spectrum. Read The Below Tips On Vocal & Instrument Mixing.

  • For The One Person Band It's Not A Bad Ideal To Layer Your Sound On A Looper Then Stand Back And Assess What The Overall Sound Is Like To The Audience, Then Make Adjustments. Experience Is The Key, Even Make Some Notes For Future Reference.

  • Don't Be Afraid To Use Compressors On Instruments. They Do A Good Job of Controlling The Peaks & Troughs of Volume, Reducing Those Harsh Sounding Dynamics In The Signal. Set Ratios In The 2-5:1 Range & Threshold So That The Compressor Is Just Working.

  • Think About Panning Your Instruments. Everything Doesn't Need To Be Down The Centre! A Band Is Naturally Panned, With Drummer On One Side or Centre, Bassist To Left Or Right, Rhythm Guitar Opposite Bassist, Vocalist Slightly To One Side And So On. The One Person Band Can Do The Same, And To The Audience, The Sound Will Have More Breadth And Appeal. Even If You Use Backing Tracks or A Looper, Pan The Signal 5-15% To One Side & Your Live Sound 5-15% To The Opposite Side, Then Set The Vocals In The Middle.

  • All Of The Above Applies Whether You Have A Sound Desk, A Mixer, A Looper or Just Individual Amps.

  • These Are Just My Tips, Train Your Ears To Listen To The Overall Sound, As Well As Individual Instruments, And Experiment With Sound Sculpturing.

Mixing A Recorded Session

  1. To A Certain Extent, Mixing A Recorded Session Is Somewhat Easier Than A Live Situation. At Least You Can Sit Back And Listen To The Overall Sound More Objectively Compared To Doing It While Playing An Instrument And Juggling Tone, Reverb & Volume Controls. On The Other Hand, The Multitude of Plugin Choices Can Send You Down So Many Rabbit Holes That You Lose Sight of The Sound You're Trying To Achieve :)

Whether You're Mixing Tracks To Make Your Own Backing Tracks or, Mixing Tracks For A Song, Basic Mixing Principles Apply.

The Following Are Just a Few Tips Based On Experience.

  1. As A General Guide

  • Use EQ Reduction Techniques Where Possible.

  • Compare Your Mix To The Typical Sounds & Tone of Your Music Genre.

  • Leave Space In The Frequency Spectrum For Each Instrument And The Vocals. See Below.

  • Initially Get The EQ & Volume of Each Part Sounding Right On Its Own, This Will Change, In The Context of The Overall Mix But, Provides A Starting Point.

  • It's Up To You Whether You Include Reverb With Each Track or Overall. There Are Pro's & Cons. I Use A Half Way Approach, Using Track Reverb To Get The Instrument Sounding Right And A Very Minor (4%) Reverb At The Mastering Stage. One Reason For This Is That I Produce Loop Tracks of Each Instrument As Well As The Full Band. I Do Want Those Instruments To Sound Right On There Own.

  • I Always Start With The Rhythm Section. First Up Is Getting A Balance Between Hi Hats, Snare & Kick. This May Change At Later Stages But Is A Good Start. I EQ Based On The Tone I Want. For Example, Mellow Tone For Blues. I Also Group Them So I Can Control The Overall Volume Of The Drum Kit. Second, Is The Bass Guitar, Balanced To Support The Drum Beat But Not Overwhelm It. Usually I EQ Taper Below 70Hz, Gives Space To The Kick, & Above 600Hz. Third, Is The Rhythm Guitar. The Tone of The Sound And Whether Acoustic or Electric Guitar Determines The EQ. As An Example, Acoustic EQ May Have A Slight Boost Around 100Hz For Body, A Slight Cut At 300Hz To Reduce Boom, Slight Increase Around 1000Hz For Clarity & A Roll Off Around 5000HZ To Reduce Jangle. These Are Just Starting Suggestions.

  • Other Instruments Are Then EQ'd And Brought Into The Mix.

  • I Also Like To Add Some Saturation To Each Track If Appropriate.

  • Balance The Volume of Each Track To Get What You Are After, Keeping The Overall Volume In The -12dB to -6 dB Range. A Limiter Is Useful Set To -2 dB As A Guide.

  • At The Mastering Stage Some Subtle EQ Adjustment May Be Needed With A Taper Below 50Hz, A Slight Cut At 250Hz To Reduce Muddiness & A Slight Boost Around 3000Hz To Accentuate The Hi's Especially Hi Hats, Snares & Cymbals.

  • Using Some Compression On Each Track Controls The Dynamics of The Instrument And Makes The Overall Sound More Tasteful To The Ears!

  • Other Effects Can Be Added Along The Way But, Use Sparingly. I Like A More Natural Sound And Many Of My Tracks Use The Acoustic Guitar For Rhythm & Lead. I Use The Boss AD-10 Preamp That Adds Back Some of The Acoustic Guitar Resonance Sound Lost At Recording And Some EQ, Delay & Reverb. For A More Bluesy Lead A Bit of Blues Overdrive Comes In Handy!

Vocal & Instrument Mixing

It's One Thing To Mix Instruments But Adding Vocals Requires Some Additional Techniques. It's Easy For The Vocals To Get Lost In The Overall Mix or Stand Out Too Much.

The Following Are A Few Additional Tips.

Allow Space

Mentioned Above Is The Technique of Giving Instruments There Own Space In The Frequency Spectrum But, What Does That Mean?

Every Instrument Has Its Own Dominant Frequencies And Harmonics of Those Frequencies. This Gives The Instrument Its Unique Sound. We Want Those Sounds To Be Clear And Not Cluttered By Other Sounds. This Means Identifying The Typical Range of Frequencies For Each Instrument And Giving It A Spot In The Mix.

This Doesn't Mean Excluding Other Instruments In That Range But, Being Aware That We Need To Balance Those Instruments For The Sound We Are Seeking.

We Use dB or Decibel, As A Means of Comparing Sound Levels. It's A Logarithmic Ratio of Two Sound Levels. Thus, The Ear Perceives +3dB Increase In Volume As Twice As Loud Than 0dB. I'll Use dB In Explaining EQ Frequency Ranges.

Let's Look Briefly At Some Instruments. Peak Values Shown Are For The Mix of The Song, The Blues in A. Each Mix Will Have Different Values Depending On What Levels Are Set In The Mix, For The Sound You Are Striving For And The Level of The Master Volume. I Usually Have The Master Volume Set For -14dB LUFS & Peak of -2dB.

Drums

  • Kick Drum. For This Song, The Kick Is Mixed With A Peak of -11dB. On The Graphic Equalizer The Kick Frequency Range Is 25 - 100Hz @ -3dB. At 25Hz The Kick Is Sounding Half As Loud Than At 0dB. Again, In This Mix, The Loudest The Kick Gets Is At 50Hz, Tapering Away Rapidly At 100Hz And Rising Again At 10Khz. So, The Home of The Kick Drum In The Frequency Spectrum Is 25 - 100Hz. Any Signals Coming Into This Range Will Compete With The Kick For Presence.

  • Snare Drum. Again, In This Mix, The Snare Has A Peak of -8dB. The Frequency Range Is Dominant at 120Hz, Dropping Sharply Then Rising Rapidly Again At 1200Hz And Peaking At 6000Hz.

  • Hi Hat. Mixed With A Peak Around -27dB, The Range is 1200Hz to 13000Hz.

  • Ride Cymbal. Mixed With A Peak Around -28dB, The Range is 1200Hz to 16000Hz.

  • Crash Cymbal. Mixed With A Peak Around -27dB, The Range is 400Hz to 12000Hz.

  • The Drums Cover A Broad Frequency Spectrum And We Need To Keep That In Mind When We Mix.

  • As A Guide, With Snares, You Get More Punch Between 500 - 1200Hz, More Body Between 170 - 520Hz & Bring Out The Snares Between 4.2 - 7.5KHz. With The Kick Drum, You Get More Boom Between 40 - 100Hz, More Body Sound Between 90 - 220Hz And A More Pronounced Kick Between 1000 - 2000Hz. Cymbals Will Give More Splash Between 1.8 - 8KHz And A Warmer Tone Between 250 - 800Hz.

  • The Audio Example Below Demonstrates How Subtle EQ & Level Adjustments Can Balance The Drum Kit. Some of The Boomy Sound of The Kick Has Been Reduced By Boosting At 60Hz, Cutting At 40Hz & 80Hz. The Snare EQ Rolls Off Quickly At 220Hz And There Is A Slight Boost At 5000Hz To Bring Out The Snares. Although Dominant At 120Hz, I Chose To Cut That So As Not To Clutter The Low End. Hi Hats Are Boosted Slightly Between 1000Hz & 10000Hz But Roll Off Rapidly Either Side. Also Some Reverb Was Added Because Without It The Kit Sounded Far Too Dry In The Mix, Although It Does Sound Good Without It, On Its Own.

Bass Guitar

  • Using The Same Principles, The Bass Guitar Range Is Roughly 70 - 600Hz @ -3dB.

  • From Experience There Are Some Great Harmonic Sounds Around 100Hz Giving The Bass Character But Below 70Hz Giving A Lot of Boom & Mud!

  • The Kick Drum, From Above, Has Most of Its Body Between 25 - 100Hz, So It Makes Sense To Roll Off The Bass Guitar Between 70 - 100Hz.

  • Now We Have Left Space For The Kick & Have The Character of The Bass Guitar In Our Mix. Not Only That, The Bottom End Is No Longer Cluttered And Will Sound Clear, With Punch Without Raising Overall Volumes. Balance The Drums And Bass Volume To Taste.

  • In The Audio Example Below You Can Hear & Get A Feel of The Kick Because The Bass Has Been Rolled Off Rapidly At 80Hz.

Rhythm Guitar

  • With An Acoustic Guitar The Range is Roughly 40 - 8000Hz. An Electric Guitar, The Range is Roughly 20Hz - 20000Hz!

  • As A Guide, 70 - 120Hz Adds Body or Weight. 200 - 350 Hz Is Boom! Clarity From 1000Hz - 1700Hz And 2000 - 5000Hz Is Like Speaking Down A Tube While 5000 - 10000Hz Is Jingle Jangly Territory.

  • It Makes Sense To Roll Off The Guitar At 100Hz Leaving Space For Kick & Bass But, Some Good Harmonics Live Here, So You May Boost Slightly To Add Body To The Guitar Sound And The Overall Mix. A Slight Cut At 300Hz Will Reduce Boom And That Boxy Sound While A Slight Increase Around 1100Hz Will Give Clarity To That Strumming. A Roll Off Around 5000HZ Will Take Away The Jangle. I Have Found Excess Pick Noise And Clicks, With My Poor Strumming Technique, Requires A Notch Filter Around 1800Hz.

  • Bring In The Rhythm Guitar With The Drums & Bass Mix And Adjust To The Sound You Want. If You Want A More Pronounced Beat, Raise The Snare & Bass Volume. Now Is The Time To Sit Back And Listen To Your Creation, Adjusting EQ's Only To Bring Out Some Character In An Instrument, Not To Make It Louder!

  • In The Audio Example Below The Guitars Sound A Mess. There Are Three Tracks of Rhythm Guitars, As Recorded. The Fill Guitar Is Almost Lost Entirely And The Rhythm Guitars Are Fighting Each Other. I Wanted A Slightly Overdriven Rhythm Guitar Sound To Be Complemented By A Clean Fill Guitar In The Final Mix. I Also Aimed To Have The Clean Rhythm Guitar Sit Behind The Overdriven Rhythm Guitar. Again EQ & Level Adjustment, Panning, Adding Reverb & Panning The Reverb Plus Some Saturation Cleans It All Up And, They Sit Well In The Mix. The EQ Is Reasonably Flat, Rolling Off At 5000Hz To Cut Jangle, A Very Slight Cut At 800Hz And A Slight Boost At 120Hz To Give The Guitars Some Body & Then, Rapid Roll Off So As Not To Clutter The Low End. The Fill Guitar Is Treated Differently Because I Wanted That To Cut Through The Mix And Sit Along Side of The Overdriven Guitar. So, EQ Is Set Flat Between 150 - 10000Hz Cutting Rapidly Either Side & With A Good Boost of 6dB At 300Hz & 8000Hz.

Lead Guitar

  • The Above Applies To Lead Guitar But Where The Lead Guitar Is Different Is That You Want To Accentuate Its Presence And Add Uniqueness To It. This Is Often Done With Pedals Such As Overdrives, Delays & Distortion. What These Pedals Do Is To Colour The Signal With Harmonics of That Signal. Therein Lies Why There Are So Many Choices In Pedals. Each Colour The Signal In Different Ways But They All Start With The Same Input Signal! Some Clip The Signal Then Boost Certain Harmonics While Others Do That, Then Filter Out Some Harmonics or Accentuate Others, Before Recombining It To The Original Signal In Varying Proportions. It's All To Taste.

  • What All This Means Is That the Colouration Is Creating Other & Higher Frequencies Giving Those Tones, So You Want To EQ So As Not To Lose Them. Raise or Lower Mid to Upper Frequency EQ To Get The Finished Tone Before Adjusting The Volume In The Mix.

  • I Find It Best To EQ The Lead Guitar On Its Own, To Get The Sound I'm After, Then Add To the Mix Then Re-assess The EQ Again.

  • Notice In The Audio Example Below of The Final Mix, The Lead Guitar Pops Out A Bit Using EQ & Level Adjustment With Some Delay To Fatten The Signal & Small Amount of Room Reverb. A Reasonable Amount of Saturation Added Gives The Overall Lead A Creamy Feel. The EQ Is Flat, Boosted At 120Hz For Tone And 1300Hz To Give Clarity But Rolling Off Quickly At 3000Hz. Note That A Small Amount of Delay Was Used At The Time of Recording, Using The Boss AD-10 Preamp But, No Other Pedals Were Used. Capturing The Tone of The Acoustic Guitar Was The Objective, Not Capturing Harmonics From Pedals.

Keyboards

  • I Have Found That Two Approaches Work Well For Mixing Keyboards Depending On Whether They Perform A Backing Role or A Key Role In The Arrangement.

  • For A Backing Role The Range Is Nearly Flat From 150 - 18000Hz With A Slight Boost At 500Hz, 2200Hz & 10000Hz. Space Has been Left By The Guitars At 500Hz & 10000Hz And To Probably Lesser Extent, At 2200Hz, So The Backing Keys Should Not Clutter And Muddy The Mix.

  • For Lead Keys, They Take The Place of The Lead Guitar Often Sharing Those Frequencies. So, A Boost At Around 1400Hz & 10000Hz Will Give Clarity & Sparkle But, A Scoop Around 500Hz And Flat Down To 200Hz Then Roll Off Works Well. Of Course, This All Depends On What Patch You're Using But, For Organ Type Sounds, It Works.

  • In The Audio Example Below, The Synth Has Been Added To Complement The Overall Sound And At A Level To Supplement For The Lead Guitar When It Has Finished. No Reverb or EQ Required.

Vocals

  • Bringing Vocals Into The Mix Adds Another Dimension. A Lot Depends On Whether They Are Live or Recorded Vocals And If Recorded, What Was Done At That Stage.

  • Compression, I Always Use A Compressor Either Live or Recorded, Just To Tame The Dynamics. Just A Small Amount With Ratios Up To 5:1 And Threshold of -20dB or Just Enough To See The Compressor Working.

  • Delay, Use Some Slap Back Delay to Bring The Vocals Forward In The Mix. Some Starting Settings Are 1/8 Note, Feedback 0 or 1, Level 17% or Just So You Can Hear It.

  • Reverb, Use A Plate Reverb And Just Enough That You Notice When It's Gone. For A More Pronounced Rock Vocal, A Room Reverb May Be More Appropriate But, Watch Clarity. Reverb Tends To Send Vocals Back In The Mix So Just Enough Is Just Right!

  • EQ , Cut Below 50 - 60Hz To Get Rid of The Rumble. Roll Off At 250Hz With A Slight Cut, A Slight Cut At 500Hz Adds Clarity Otherwise, It Can Sound Like There Is Something Between You & The Mic. Cut A Little At 1800 - 2000Hz To Reduce The Nasal Sound. Also A Slight Cut At 4400Hz To Cut Sibilance.

  • Saturation, I Suggest Adding Some Saturation As A Final Effect Just To Colour The Sound Nicely.

  • For Recorded Vocals The Above Applies If The Vocals Are Recorded With No Effects. This Allows For These Effects To Be Added At The Mixing Stage. Additional Effects May Also Be Added Including Pitch Correction, Harmonies, Vibrato etc.

The Final Mix & Mastering

Now That Each Track or Instrument Is Sitting Reasonably Well In The Mix, To Achieve The Desired Sound You Want, The Next Step Is To Make Fine Adjustments To EQ's & Levels.

Here Are My Brief Observations,

  • As You Bring Various Instruments Into The Mix You Will Hear Subtle Changes Take Place. What Seemed Like A Good Bass Guitar Level Is Now Lost In The Mix or That Snare That Popped Out Is No Longer Apparent. Slight Adjustments Will Be Necessary As You Proceed.

  • It Is An Iterative Process, That Is, As Various Instruments Are Added You Will Go Back & Forth Making Little Adjustments.

  • EQ May Also Need Adjusting Such As Hi Hat or Ride Cymbal Needing Some Extra Sparkle In The Final Mix. Contemplate Using EQ Instead of Just Boosting Levels If An Instrument Is Getting Lost In The Mix.

  • Keep In Mind The Typical Sound of The Music Genre As A Guide.

  • Use Panning As A Tool To Widen The Mix. As An Example, A Solo Lead May Be Panned To The Right Slightly, Complemented By A Rhythm, Either Guitar or Synth Panned To The Left. If The Rhythm Is Panned To The Left During A Verse, Maybe Consider Panning More To The Centre During The Solo. Just Give Some Variety.

  • When Vocals Are Added They May Also Need Some EQ & Some Instrument Levels May Need Adjusting Again, So As Not To Take Away From The Vocals.

  • Everything Should Be Taken Care of In The Final Mix. EQ's, Levels, Limiting etc.

  • Mastering Your Mix Is The Final Step & Is Another Art In Itself. Briefly, The Overall EQ of The Song May Need Some Minor Tweaks Such As Cutting 1 - 2dB Around 200 - 300Hz To Cut Mud, Maybe A Slight Boost of 1dB Around 100Hz To Boost Bass & Possibly 1 - 2dB Boost At 3000Hz And 7000Hz To Add Additional Sparkle. No Major EQ or Level Adjustments Should Be Necessary. If There Are Major Adjustments, Go Back To Your Final Mix And Do It There.

  • A Compressor Can Be Applied To The Final Mix With A 2 - 4:1 Ratio & Threshold So That The Compressor Is Just Working On The Peaks. Some Genres May Use A Lot of Compression To Achieve There Sound.

  • Some Overall Reverb Can Be Added Depending On What You Have Included In The Mix. Again, All To Taste. In The Example We Have Been Following, Some Reverb Was Added To Each Track With An Overall Reverb At The Mastering Stage of 4%.

  • The Final Step Is Adding A Loudness Analyser Set To Whatever Standard You Want, In My Case -14dB LUFS & Limiter To Ensure Peaks Are No More Than -1 to -2dB. This Ensures Your Mastered Songs Are At A Consistent Level With No Peaks To Cause Distortion & Acceptable To Various Music Platforms.

Monitoring The Mix

The Last Discussion Point Is How To Go About Monitoring The Mix. For A Live Sound Situation It May Just Be Your Ears! You Could Use Headphones If You Are Using A Mixer or, If You Have The Funds, In-Ear Monitors. For Post Recorded Sessions, Quality Speaker Monitors Would Be Great But, Are Expensive.

These Are My Experiences,

  • The Sound You Aim To Achieve Should Be Evident Using A Range of Mediums From Speakers Large & Small, PA Systems And Headphones. This Is a Tough Ask. Some of The Mediums Don't Have EQ's So There Is No Way To Boost The Bass or Cut The Treble. So it Becomes A Balancing Act.

  • Always Listen To the Final Mix Using Different Mediums or If Live, From Different Vantage Points.

  • It's Surprising How Well A Final Mix Will Sound Using Your PC Speakers Only To Find That Through A PA System or Even Headphones It Becomes Lacking.

  • I Use A Pair of dB Technologies Powered Speakers. There Specs Show A Reasonable Response of 100 - 19000Hz +/- 3dB. They Sound Clear But Lack That Bottom End. So Adding A Sub Woofer Would Help.

  • I Also Use A Pair of Audio-Technica ATH - M50x Studio Monitor Headphones. They Have A Frequency Response of 15 - 28000Hz. Yeah, Like I Probably Can't Hear Much Beyond 15,000Hz! They Sound Great, Very Clear, Particularly In The Higher Frequencies But, Because They Have A Flat Response, You Can Inadvertently Add Too Little Bass And Cut Too Much of The Highs. Knowing That, I Can Compensate In The Final Mix.

  • Getting A Balance Between The Two Gives A Reasonable Result On Different Mediums. Let Your Ears Guide You In Compensating For Whatever Monitoring Equipment You Use.

Raw Drums Recording

Raw Drums Recording.wav

Drums After Mixing

Drums After Mixing.wav

Drums & Raw Bass Recording

Drums Mixed Now Raw Bass.wav

Drums & Bass Mixed

Drums & Bass After Mixing.wav

Raw Guitars Recording

Raw Guitars Recording.wav

Guitars After Mixing

Guitars After Mixing.wav

Drums Bass & Guitars Mixed

Drums Bass & Guitars After Mixing.wav

Final Mix With Lead & Synths

Final MixWith Synths.wav

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