Secrets of Mixing

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Rule #1. There are no rules. Be creative. Create a major "Wow!" factor. Create something unique with a twist. Ask yourself, "What is different about our music?" Imagine the unimaginable and bring it into being.

Organize all your files, plug-ins, folders, track groups, audio files, mix sessions, etc. Never break this rule!

Schedule a pre-mix clean up session. Take time to come in to erase all the throat-clearing, the guitar clicks, the out-take solos, etc. You'll feel fresher at mix time, because you can concentrate on the creativity, not the housekeeping.

But don't go banana's with this.... you don't have to erase every speck of sound that isn't the exact part of each individual track. Take leakage for example (the bleed-through of a different instrument into any given track - like rhythm guitar leaking into drum overhead tracks). Leakage on different tracks can add dimension and fullness in some cases. In fact, some leakage gave a sense of acoustic space to many vintage recordings. However, if the leakage on one track is making other tracks sound tubby or blurring an image that you want more precise, then clean the track as needed - or reduce the level of the areas of "space" where the instrument isn't playing - this is a form of manual gating.

Allow for more time than you think you need to mix. There's nothing worse than thinking it will take 3 hours to mix a song, and it ends up taking 5. You're under pressure, the engineer's under pressure, and the studio's next client is pacing back and forth in the waiting room. Have extra money (if you're paying the studio) on hand, so that if you go over budget (always the case) you aren't sweating bullets.

Be conservative with stereo buss compression. If you use it, bypass it from time-to-time - match the volume with-and-without to be sure it's helping the whole sound. I recommend making master mix versions both with and without limiting/compression added level. I don't recommend using compression just for the purposes of getting your mixes louder on pre-mastered CDRs! Mastering is the best place to get more level. Overly compressed mixes box the mastering engineer into a corner, reduce the openness of the mix, and lower the number of enhancement options.

Be conservative with a "mastering processor" like a Finalizer or stereo "mastering" plug-ins. They can seem too good to be true. In fact, they can make your mix seem a little easier, but in the long run, lack vitality. Focus on getting the mix you want by using good processing on the individual tracks, even if you have to work a little harder to get it all nailed. Usually the extra energy pays off - just don't burn out from over-doing plug-in addiction!

Quick tip: Always record in the highest sampling rate possible in your DAW (allowing for realistic hard drive space - most projects don't go over 96k). Be sure that your stereo mix does not ever go into clipping (digital overs) when it is set at Unity Gain -0-  Once you know you're not making any digital overs, remove your master fader - your mix will sound better!

A-B your mix with great sounding commercial CDs - Level-match and compare your mix to the other CDs and adjust according to what you hear over your monitor system! For every four hours of mixing, spend one hour within that time listening to your "competition." I know, it can be a stretch to listen to the best recordings in the world up next to yours. So what! Stretching makes us better engineers! A better sounding mix than yours is not an insult - it's an opportunity to improve your skills. Every reference CD you hear is another opportunity. Be sure to include older, more conservatively mastered CDs in your reference selection so you have a sense of more musically-based dynamics vs. the super-squashed levels of some newer albums.

The A-B technique helps you get your sonic "bearing" around balance, frequency spread, panning, vocal placement and more. Since commercial CDs have such different volume levels, you'll want to compare your mixes without it just being a volume contest. The NEMO DMC-8 monitor controller makes it easy to do precise level-matched A-B comparisons.

If your mix doesn't impress you as much when you first A-B to a big-name album, don't rag on the engineer! Mixing is a process, and being diplomatic will save you time and increase the creative flow. Just say, "I like a lot of what we have now, and I'd like to get a little more of [fill in the blank]. I'd like to listen to these to get some ideas." Be sure to check out my page on commercial CD references, and see Studio Monitor Madness for more info about the actual speaker system and it's effects on mixing.

Quick Tip: Get a pair of Grado SR80 headphones (about $100) but special-order the foam muff that comes with the SR60. This is important because the open-foam of the SR80 makes it sound too edgy and brittle, but the full-covered foam of the SR60 is just right. You can use a single hole-puncher for paper and punch one small hole in the center of the SR60 muff if you want a tiny bit more high end to come though. I use these cans every day in the mastering studio and for the small price you'll get big insights into your mix. I recommend these headphones for gaining an additional perspective, but not for fully mixing all the time. They also reveal distortion very nicely.

If you're not sure about me giving you this A-B advice, listen to Tom-Lord Alge who says, "...it can help to put up records that you like, compare them whilst you're working and try to copy the sound. I've done that." Still not convinced? How about when I interviewed Stephen Marcussen in EQ Magazine/Pro Sound News and he said, "...just put in a commercial CD, see what it is you like about the CD and go for it." See the complete interview here. The best level matching monitor controller on the market is the NEMO DMC-8. Check the Nautilus Master Technology web site article on effective ways to A-B.

Now, if you want the most sonic potential for the least hassle, make Separations. Without a doubt, this cutting edge format is revolutionizing the way engineers approach the final mixing stages, as well as the end result coming out of the mastering room. You mix like you normally mix, and then you record separate groups of instruments. Similar in concept to color separations, these sub-mixes are similar to stems, but set up in a different way, and specifically meant for stereo mastering. Check out  Separation Mastering to practically transform the sound of your CD master!

Levels of improvement to DAW sound 1. Separations 15% & up 2. High-precision clock 10% 3. Higher sampling rate 10% 4. Excellent analog & digital cables 10% 5. Loop-back file vs. internal bounce 7% 6. Cool analog gear vs. plug ins 7% 7. Remove master fader 3% 8. Don't over-do digital processing Varies

What about really slamming levels? Slamming at the mix stage can give you a closer idea of how the instruments and vocals interact - but it can be an area where distortion can show up. Be careful how much slamming you do at the mixing stage - a Waves L2 limiter plug-in over the stereo buss is a useful tool - or limiting/gain increase using a Masterlink's DSP. Observe how the mix changes with more limiting/more level. 

Hot levels tend to flatten out the peaks, thereby adding some sustain to things like kick drum and bass, so be sure you account for added sustain when you pick your sounds. You also may want to do a slammin' mix, and then back down the stereo output for an alternate mix, because you may find that this opens up the sound. Less slamming opens up more options at the mastering stage too. High-end mastering can definitely raise the volume level as much or more as you can, and retain a more dynamic sound.

There's more....
Make sure your equipment is grounded correctly (no hums or buzzes) and you are using excellent cable everywhere possible and to the greatest degree that is appropriate for your budget - digital cables - musical instrument cables - mic cables - even power cables. Buy the best monitors and power amps you can responsibly afford - the resolution of your monitoring system is the "lens" you are looking through.

Know your market. What radio station would play your music? What are the CDs they play often? Which music sounds good over the air? Who's drum sound do you like? Who's vocal, guitar, string, piano sound do you like? Your idea of a big sound may be different from your engineer's, so if you bring in a CD, hand it to him/her, and say, "Check out cut 5 for the vocal sound." he/she knows exactly what you like. "Put in this other CD and listen to the guitars." You get the idea.

There are only so many one's and zeroes on a CD. There are no "bonus" +1dB +2dB or +3dBs available like on analog. So when the peaks (like kick drums, snare drums, etc.) hit the top of that digital ceiling, that's IT. There are no more numbers. In order to make the CD appear louder, the only thing left to bring up is the quieter non-peaky stuff.

Now we're perfectly happy cutting a loud CD for you. Just know that the problem is that all the transients take on a different shape and sound when we do this. For instance, many musicians like punch. Well, think about it. The punch you feel from the bottom or mid-bottom comes from the speaker excursion. The cone moves forward a certain amount and then moves back, and so forth. When we limit/compress the peaks, we are able to bring up the body of the music (the non-peak stuff) higher. That's what gives you that louder, RMS level on a cd. BUT THE RELATIVE DISTANCE THAT THE SPEAKER MOVES IS LESS. That means that the over-all sound is louder, but since the speaker doesn't push the sound wave forward as far, there is less impact from the movement of the air. (Unless you turn it up to glass-shattering levels, in which case the sheer intensity creates the impact.)

Ah, the old school... Competing for level is an old trick that dates back to vinyl, but with vinyl, there was a different reason for cutting a hotter lacquer. Since vinyl inherently had surface noise to it, the hotter the sound (and therefore the wider and deeper the grooves), the less you'd hear the surface noise. Also, if the song come on strong, level-wise, it seems more exciting right out of the gate. (You never get a second chance to make a first impression, right?) Vinyl is an analog medium, and it is a flexible medium, in that there is an acceptable range where the signal can be increased depending on the dynamics of the music.

In the analog world, we watched levels to reduce or eliminate tape hiss, keeping our eyes on how much headroom we had above zero VU to avoid distortion. With CDs, it's different. We set the high peaks right at "0" and bring up the rest of the program material (as desired by the client) to make the product hot, but still maintain some degree of dynamics.

Quick tip: Keep any paper labels off your master CDRs - they inhibit the rotational balance and can cause the player's error correction to work harder. Only write on the top of CDRs with a soft felt-tip pen (preferably alcohol-free) prior to burning the CDR, not after. The top is more fragile than the bottom!

HEY...MIX TO ANALOG TAPE on an excellently maintained machine! The vast majority of projects do not need the hiss-less format of digital, and the bottom is so much better on analog! There is just a "hole" that is hard to describe in digital audio. For some reason, the extra thump that analog has (or holds onto) is great and the top end has a silky sound that's hard to beat.

Plus people sometimes don't realize that those good old analog machines were loaded with high-grade electronic circuits that your favorite DAT machine or even Masterlink doesn't come with. Typical stereo digital machines are low-priced because the emphasis is on a semi-pro buyer, not the ultra-high end recording studio.

Analog tape recording has a "sound shape" almost like a processor. When you put in a square wave test signal into an analog recorder, the output looks different - the "hard" edges are smoothed out - they are less square, which accounts for the silkier sound, the wetter edge and woodier sound to acoustic instruments. Ideally, record on both analog and digital mediums, because it's a great way to have more options with just a bit more involved in the set-up.

Given that Quantegy may or may not still be available, and rumor has it that Emtec (formerly BASF tape) will be making tape, it's a little up in the air about whether you can even get analog tape. When several brands were available, I felt that Quantegy 456 was somewhat cloudy sounding,. While 499 is better sounding than 456, I would probably go with GP9, which is an old formulation of 3M tape. The old BASF 469 was my favorite and 468 was good too. Emtec's 900 series may be the way to go... check around.

I don't recommend elevating your level above +6dB. Why? Marketing hype has made the overload capabilities of modern tapes overrated. There's a lot to consider about the plus' and minus' of tape saturation vs. signal-to-noise vs. print-through, etc. Take print-through for instance: Tape machine heads pick up magnetic signal, and the stronger the signal (louder you've elevated the tape) the easier it is for the adjacent tracks to pick up what's recorded. Result: more crosstalk, especially from 500 hz down. That means that all the low end will bleed slightly from track to track to track. At +9, track 5 "hears" more of track 4 & 6 than if you elevate to +5. All that low bleed makes for mush in your mix. You'll have no hiss, but the bottom will be tubby and slow sounding.

Trick: If you don't mind breaking the rules, align your machine so that you set 1K at -2 (using an NAB 250 nW/M alignment tape) and 10K at -3. That way you have to elevate the high end more. The tape can handle the extra high end level, and it doesn't mush up the bottom. It's not enough to saturate the highs, and it's not dangerous enough that if the tape goes to another studio people will faint. Think of this trick as a broad-range, simple form of noise reduction (which is the whole goal of tape elevation, anyway!) Now you get the hiss reduction of a +6 master with the clean bottom of a +5 master! Voila! (Or just use IEC (CCIR) equalization instead of NAB. It's a standard, and it's reproducible and accomplishes the same noise reduction effect.)

Ok, so you don't want to use analog.... the next best thing is a great A-D converter like Apogee going into a Masterlink HARD DRIVE (Masterlink's make jittery CDR file copies) at 96k or 88.2k 24 bit. If you are bouncing into a computer, make a 24 bit AIFF (WAV is ok too) file - the higher the sampling rate the better (and remember to stay a couple dB under clipping). Some listening tests show that recording your stereo mix looped back into the DAW (via recording) sound better than an internal bounce. See chart on the rates page for another look.... and when you're ready to see how 30 different digital systems stack up sonically next to each other, read this!

Meanwhile, give yourself some slack at first. Group "C" may have had a $50,000.00 budget for their mix alone. Mix so that when you push the cd-player-button, they sound great, and when you push the stereo buss button, YOU sound great too, in the context of your music and the tools you have to work with.

And remember - have fun! Stay fresh, take breaks, go look at girls (or guys ...ya know, whatever).... take vitamins... © Copyright 1998 - 2008 John Vestman Created 10/22/98 * Modified 03/09/06 More on Mixing - updated! Solutions for how to avoid mix problems! EQ suggestions for either tracking or mixing More about compression Info on cutting a hot CD and (gasp!) beware of Hot CD Disease Info about miking, drum sounds and vocal sound DAW tips for mastering Rates and Policies Thank you.

Erik Zobler, mix engineer for Dianne Reeves, George Duke, Natalie Cole, Anita Baker -- George Duke's 2005 Grammy nominated CD was mastered right here!

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