Posts Tagged ‘Mixing’

Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear? As I’m certainly not singing the ole traditional Christmas song… it is evident the image above has some sound issues. The white area = the song track as the blue peeking thru is just a smear of this poor track trying to breathe. This is an actual finished mix of a song that was recently brought in the studio for me to listen to, and as you can see – it’s clipped out! I’m going to also assume and hope that this is not the mastered version of this track.

As my ears are trained to first hear this song was distorted… watching it almost stand still on the meters of my mixer clearly revealed how beat up it was. It sustained a ride around 4db during full playback from the CD. When you hard limit a track this much and peak well above 0db, you get the sweet sound of ‘ugly.’

Let’s analyze this track. The dynamics are gone. There’s no definition to the movement of the track. The kicks, snares, and vocals are buried under that brick-layered destruction.

Understanding the basic procedure of a mix-down as well as training to hear what you are listening for are key ingredients to perfecting your overall sound balance. Since brick-walling is a normal procedure these days to increase the appearance of volume… you should definitely stay out of the peak range when doing so.

I call this type of mixing cold. It’s clammy and harsh and omits depth and definition. As you may feel your mix-down has to be loud; I challenge you to simply use your fader. Give it a shot! Of course compression and some limiting may be necessary for key elements within the mix; however, it’s always okay to let the track breathe. I personally believe this creates longevity in the listening pleasure of your music. Old school tunes come to mind! Notice how no matter how much you listen to them, your ears don’t tire after a couple plays?!

And for the sake of anything ‘noizey’, please don’t master your music or allow your music to be mastered to this extent!

Your studio depends on your ears to hear correctly. Your studio also need a good pair of studio monitors to assist your ears to hear what they should. Reference monitors, studio speakers, close-field, near-field, or field monitors all share commonality. You need them in your studio environment!!! Period.

Your monitors should speak truths to you and if not the whole truth, then pretty close to it. Many will argue your best monitoring will fall in a higher price range.  As there are tons of home studios these days; most want the best monitors at the best price to handle the job well.

While there are many types of studio monitors; each set fits specific situations. Smaller rooms depending on how they are built, require certain monitors and proper placement to perform at best… and the same goes for larger rooms. Most home studios house close-field or near-field monitors, as the big studios have different sources of monitoring, and depend on them all.

You want to stay away from monitoring with speakers with color, and I don’t mean the speaker casing. I’m talking about speaker enhancement. The kind that’s on your hi-fi stereo speaker system. It makes your music sound good because that’s what it is designed to do. This is excellent for playback and listening pleasure while you’re lounging, but definitely not the route you want to take for monitoring your priceless studio recordings.

The difference is… if you are recording and mixing through an enhanced speaker, then how do you know what your mix really sounds like? And when you go to playback… you hear different results between sources. Your ears will even seem as if they are deceiving you… when in fact you’re deceiving your mixes. Note that when you mix through flat studio monitors, your mix should sound similar on various sources… and that’s what you want! No surprises, right?!

Enhanced sound is added to any sound device created for your leisure such as your iPod, computer, stereo system, mobile phone, car system, and television.

For the kicker: Several studio monitors have subtle color or added enhancement. I clearly remember a pair of Alesis RA-100’s I once owned for a very short while. The highs were super crispy and annoying. I had a friend who had a pair and I heard the same thing.

Whatever monitoring system you choose, the key is getting to know your speakers. Understand why they behave the way they do, and work with them accordingly.

Stop in at your local professional studio audio gear dealer and listen and compare based on your budget. You’ll be amazed at what you hear.

Best Reference Monitors