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Learning how to mix recordings

#21
we recorded our entire album in my basement. a few things that i found important:

1. it was a well-treated room - as above, i used lots of acoustical foam and even a egg-carton mattress topper for the ceiling. the key is no right angles.
2. we made a scratch-track that was just guitar, vocals and me on a cow bell instead of a click track. we then recorded each track
3. we used a audio technica 4033CL with a groove tubes brick going into zoom 24-channel recorder - not the best but, we were also on a shoe-string budget - still came out pretty clean.
4. we used wavepad and mix pad programs because of budget as well. pretty cheap and worked well without a college course in protools and other plug-ins to get it done.

when you listen to it, we can tell it wasn't made by a professional studio but the average person who bought it gave us compliments on the quality. now, it's off in the mail to apply for a local music award.....wish us luck!
 
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#22
Timi said:
That makes no sense, you avoid standing waves by absorbing frequencies rather than letting them reflect back into the room. Standing waves are also most noticeable in the lows and low mids, if you look at some absorption coefficient tests for egg cartons you will see they are doing practically nothing in these ranges.
Click to expand...
Avoiding directly oposing surfaces works too. Absorption is good, but not the only way to get there-depending on ones budget.
 
#23
It is mostly experience, after reading the right resources. There's a fantastic free PDF I can send you if you want (PM me) and tons of stuff on youtube etc... some opinions vary and tastes obviously do too, so just get to it. A few tips/tricks I've learned over the years:

- Try to resist EQ'ing something unless you must.
- Cutting is better than boosting, again... if you must. Boosting anything also boosts noise in that same frequency range. I will cut all highs from the kick drum track - I don't see that as an "EQ" so much because I'm not affecting the sound of the kick, just sucking out the "noise" of other instruments like guitar or cymbals that may have bled onto that track (i.e. the kick mic picked them up unintentionally).
- When the drums are too low in the mix, the whole song can sound a little muddy. Work with track volumes before EQ!
- Pan everything to different "places" on the "sound stage". Give instruments their own breathing room - makes for a clearer mix. Generally the song base or focus will be centered, whether drums, drums+bass, vocals, guitar solo... up to you, and everything else gets panned around a bit.

... and so much more. I could probably type all day on the subject...
 
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#25
To the OP, do yourself a favour, study the matter. The matter itself is too vaste to rely on tips and tricks reported in an internet forum.

The advices can be correct but they MUST be applied as a part of a METHOD. Someone else's one or yours.

If you don't have a method, rules and procedures, you will get lost.

Yes, recording and putting together some sounds can be done by many in contemporary days, but if you want your mixes to sound as a professional recording you have to go deep into the rabbit hole and do your path. Just a few are able to convey such passion and energy to build up valuable pro grade skills.

Do yourself a favour, begin to study, starting from physics of sound and enjoy the long ride.

One day, you will be rewarded. Even if you do not become famousas a sound guy, you music will sound good, and this is what matters the most
 
#27
Just do it and experiment. You won't get a stellar mix the first time, you need to make a lot to gain knowledge and tricks. You will be surprised of what you can achieve with so called "cheap" interfaces and microphones. You can do a lot without spending tons of cash. Don't compare your work to multi millionnaire sound studios.

For quick and clean demos of you and/or your band, USB interface with a couple of microphones and a good computer is going to do the trick. Add to that a pair of nearfield monitors.

Me, I don't even use microphones anymore for intruments, I go with plugins: faster, re-amping option and super clean.

You're starting to mix, establish a reasonnable budget cuz the numbers will go high quickly.

You'll have a lot of fun!
 
#29
This was the biggest learning curve for me when I was into the whole home studio DAW.
I burned about 50 CDs trying to sort it out -- and that's because you really want to listen to the outcome on a lot of different systems -- from a little Boom box to your high end audio system.
And I know with a 'live' band as opposed to virtual software instruments you can get into a lot of learning about room treatments and microphones and microphone placement. It's easier with direct, but drums -- the drummers I know who are into this are the most fanatic about microphones and placement methods.
But one of the best sound guys I knew worked with two mics separated by about 9 inches with a piece of cardboard between then and suspended about 8 feet high to record any live band.
With a computer DAW I can highly recommend mastering plugins from Voxengo. There are some brilliant sound guys doing software in the world and this guy is one of them

oh and people will tell you, that you can't mix under headphones you need studio grade monitors and a treated room. It's not true, it can be done, but you have to train your ears to do it (and don't allow ear fatigue to set in -- that's the biggest hindrance imho) and high quality reference headphones -- but you can start with affordable Grados and be on your way. The better the headphone the less ear fatigue and you can listen at lower volumes with great detail and your ears won't get tired.
 
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#34
crust_cheese said:
Incredible website, thanks.

I've been thinking that an Akai EIE Pro could be a good investment, since it has MIDI I/O and a bunch of mic/guitar ports, what is everyone thinking?
Click to expand...
I rock a Invalid Link Removed I picked up used for $400. I love this thing because each of the 8 inputs goes through the one USB connection to separate/individual tracks in the software - one take with the whole band and I have 8 tracks to work with! It also connects to my powered speakers to form the PA / monitors! Such a simple setup for all the functionality I was looking for.
 
#35
...and don't always mix at ear splitting volumes. ESPECIALLY in a poorly or un-treated room. The nasty effects of reflections and muddy bass build-up and comb-filtering are far reduced at lower volumes of course, so you're actually getting a much clearer picture at reasonable volumes.

Oh and use Reaper and join the Reaper forums. Especially good read:
Why do your recordings sound like ass? - Cockos Confederated Forums
 
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#36
Timi said:
Haha, tell that to James Brown's band. Or if you want a rock example, Evil Empire by Rage Against The Machine is pretty "tight".
Click to expand...


Well,

It's what happens to the tracks in the DAW that makes a click a requirement, not how tight the band is live.

Once you start changing anything in a wav file (and sometimes just dragging the files into the DAW to get started), or adding overdub tracks, there are minute changes to the timing of little things that need to be addressed.

Even using the same sample for different verses in a song can be problematic, because the live players had a particular groove going that might be unique to that one verse. So, each little part can have many little timing errors introduced through either computer processing speed, or human assumption and error.

Didn't mean that a band can't sound tight without a click. It's just that once the moment of recording has passed, you really need a click so you don't find yourself adrift in a swamp of inaccuracy.

Certainly, nice tight original tracks make for a much cleaner process, and less time-consuming.

All the best,

Shane
 
#37
I wish I could offer truly sage advice. I've been recording and mixing in the basement for years and still don't have it even close to perfected. The process remains fun though. I continue to learn new techniques all the time.
Here are some suggestions based on my previous successes and failures:
1. Take your time setting up the mics. Record some tests, listen back, and make sure you like the sounds you're getting before you begin recording. Don't just set mics in front of amps and/or drums according to some how-to diagram and hope for the best. Listen. Adjust.
2. Leave a good amount of headroom on your recorded drum tracks, at least 12-18 dB. This allows the cymbals to really shine.
3. Recording to a click track can come in handy if you need to fix mistakes by chopping and pasting later. You can still edit using non-clicked recordings but it can be more difficult, especially if there's bleed.
4. Recording bass via direct works well. If micing, I prefer to place it at least 3-4 feet away from the speaker. The frequencies that make up bass notes are "large", and need airspace to fully develop. Don't shortchange them by micing the speaker too close.
5. I would be careful cutting the high frequencies from a bass drum track. You'll want that high end snap/click of the beater in addition to the low end thump.
6. Mixing? Man, I don't know. How good are your ears? Experience certainly helps, along with a decent pair of headphones and monitors. Switch between stereo and mono when mixing. Listening back on a variety of systems like your car, home stereo etc. will let you know if your mix is universally acceptable.
Much the way many of us seem to be innately bass players, I believe that some people are simply more naturally gifted at mixing i.e. they "have a knack". I wish I did.
 
#38
It's a lot of fun, and you will learn what you need to over time if you keep at it. Try everything and don't worry about the mistakes you will make along the way. I started 33 years ago with a synthesizer, a four-track, two SM-57s and a line mixer. It's still a lot of fun.

Otto
 
#39
High-pass EVERYTHING. Even kick drums and bass guitars (somewhere down around 30-40hz) but especially stuff like guitars and vocals that you can high-pass at much higher frequencies. Cleans up your bottom end a LOT and that's where things seem to get the messiest (to me anyway).
 
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#40
Another vote for Reaper. It's a TON to learn for a new user, but there's a whole internet of help out there, the interface destroys Audacity, and it's the best DAW deal on Earth.

If you want to get good, be ready to spend the next several years searching and reading your @$$ off. Over time you'll start to get good at learning when forum randos have a clue, so you can be more selective about which sources to trust.

People will give you rules and guidelines, but the most important thing to do is Learn The Science of Digital Audio and some basic physics of sound. That's when the rules make sense and are easier to follow, or when you know enough, easier to break creatively. You can break rules anytime, but informed rule breakage is better.

I HIGHLY suggest reading this book BEFORE listening to randos on message boards. It's truly disturbing how much misinformation there is. That book will serve as an indispensable reference for years.

You CAN mix on 'phones. You CAN mix on less than perfect monitors in crappy rooms. But don't call a mix done until you listen on several other systems, hi-fi and lo-fi, and tweak as needed.

Funny thing is, the more you learn, the more you can do with less, but the nature of this rabbit hole is that learning takes time, and in that time you're likely to acquire more and better stuff if you're remotely serious about it.

I taught myself starting in the 90's with no audio schooling. I've had a few sound design jobs, and every once in a while my mixes get licensed for TV. So it's possible, but you REALLY have to dig deep.
 
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