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For Musicians: Simple Audio Mixing Trick
7 years ago
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This is technical music studio stuff, so if you're not into that you may want to skip it. But, since there are a few other furry musicians out there, I figured I should share this audio mixing trick I came up with.
Well, I'm probably not the first to think of it, but I got there entirely on my own and I'm a bit smug about that. So here it is:
When mixing in the past, I often found myself being overwhelmed by routing numerous instruments to individual mixer channels, with FX applied to each channel, and then trying to manhandle all those volume and fx adjustments together into a final mix. Keeping track of everything was a challenge. Trying to find that one part of the mix that didn't sound right was a challenge, because there was this sea of controls to deal with.
Here's how I tamed it...
When professional recording studios would do their final mix, whether it was The Beatles or The Cars... they would mix down onto a four-track tape deck. Two reels of tape, holding four channels total.
So... that's what I've started doing. I designate the first four channels on the mixing board to be tape tracks 1-4. I then mix into those.
There are no effects on channels 1-4. They are there only to hold the mix. If I want to put an amp sim on a guitar, I route it to its own channel, say channel twelve. Apply the amp sim there, and then route that into one of the four tape tracks.
For example, at the moment, I'm working on a track where I have these set up:
1) Drums
2) Guitar
3) Synth / Bass
4) Sound FX & Vocals
Just to give you an idea how how this all works, here's a YouTube deconstruction of The Beatles SGT PEPPER letting you hear the individual mixer tracks The Beatles used:
Rather than just having John, Paul, George and Ringo on one channel each, you can see how they scattered parts across all four channels. If something was happening on one channel, they used the blank space on the next channel. Track four on this mix is basically just a sustained crowd noise, and nothing else (which is why they don't really play that track all the way through, solo)
But by studying individual tracks of a mix, it's helped me figure out how to break my own mixes down into individual tape tracks, and do the same thing.
In the past, I had the habit of adding so many parts playing all the the same time, that some of my older mixes got badly distorted and were somewhat muddy with overdubs fighting each other. But now, by doing it this way, I can see how all the pieces fit together, I can keep an eye on the levels for an individual section of the song, and if I find myself with more parts playing at once than can be fit onto four tracks like this, then I know I'm going a bit too far and I need to dial it back: thereby keeping everything clean and balanced.
For your further education, here are the four isolated mixer tracks for Duran Duran's Hungry Like The Wolf:
Drums: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0-LIVVUBPM&t=29s
Guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp47-TVng90
Bass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAdAPOR8MQc
Vocals & Synth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBHcWnVG_yc
Additionally, here are the isolated individual mixer tracks from Ray Parker Jr's GHOSTBUSTERS:
Drums: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7pvJ92ib1s
Bass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMopcwFS7eY
Synth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpdnpJmf9So
Guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siczIFBeJkA&list
Vocals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjjNi757K2g
As you can see, there are five tracks there, not four. So Four isn't a hard limit.
But this has helped me out a lot. It organizes things in such a way that it's easier to keep track of all the individual elements of a mix. I can also mute to individual tracks of my "tape" to check that each of those is balanced and mixed together cleanly.
Cheers, all. Go forth and make music!
EDIT: Added a visual example, here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28374975/
Well, I'm probably not the first to think of it, but I got there entirely on my own and I'm a bit smug about that. So here it is:
When mixing in the past, I often found myself being overwhelmed by routing numerous instruments to individual mixer channels, with FX applied to each channel, and then trying to manhandle all those volume and fx adjustments together into a final mix. Keeping track of everything was a challenge. Trying to find that one part of the mix that didn't sound right was a challenge, because there was this sea of controls to deal with.
Here's how I tamed it...
When professional recording studios would do their final mix, whether it was The Beatles or The Cars... they would mix down onto a four-track tape deck. Two reels of tape, holding four channels total.
So... that's what I've started doing. I designate the first four channels on the mixing board to be tape tracks 1-4. I then mix into those.
There are no effects on channels 1-4. They are there only to hold the mix. If I want to put an amp sim on a guitar, I route it to its own channel, say channel twelve. Apply the amp sim there, and then route that into one of the four tape tracks.
For example, at the moment, I'm working on a track where I have these set up:
1) Drums
2) Guitar
3) Synth / Bass
4) Sound FX & Vocals
Just to give you an idea how how this all works, here's a YouTube deconstruction of The Beatles SGT PEPPER letting you hear the individual mixer tracks The Beatles used:
Rather than just having John, Paul, George and Ringo on one channel each, you can see how they scattered parts across all four channels. If something was happening on one channel, they used the blank space on the next channel. Track four on this mix is basically just a sustained crowd noise, and nothing else (which is why they don't really play that track all the way through, solo)
But by studying individual tracks of a mix, it's helped me figure out how to break my own mixes down into individual tape tracks, and do the same thing.
In the past, I had the habit of adding so many parts playing all the the same time, that some of my older mixes got badly distorted and were somewhat muddy with overdubs fighting each other. But now, by doing it this way, I can see how all the pieces fit together, I can keep an eye on the levels for an individual section of the song, and if I find myself with more parts playing at once than can be fit onto four tracks like this, then I know I'm going a bit too far and I need to dial it back: thereby keeping everything clean and balanced.
For your further education, here are the four isolated mixer tracks for Duran Duran's Hungry Like The Wolf:
Drums: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0-LIVVUBPM&t=29s
Guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp47-TVng90
Bass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAdAPOR8MQc
Vocals & Synth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBHcWnVG_yc
Additionally, here are the isolated individual mixer tracks from Ray Parker Jr's GHOSTBUSTERS:
Drums: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7pvJ92ib1s
Bass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMopcwFS7eY
Synth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpdnpJmf9So
Guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siczIFBeJkA&list
Vocals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjjNi757K2g
As you can see, there are five tracks there, not four. So Four isn't a hard limit.
But this has helped me out a lot. It organizes things in such a way that it's easier to keep track of all the individual elements of a mix. I can also mute to individual tracks of my "tape" to check that each of those is balanced and mixed together cleanly.
Cheers, all. Go forth and make music!
EDIT: Added a visual example, here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28374975/
If it's an old trick, it seems not to be in common use.