Audio Mixing Bootcamp

pinksoir

I have been wrestling with mixing for a long time. I can write songs, play instruments and get ideas down in my DAW, but I'd been really struggling when it came to mixing. To begin with, I'd been building up my ability really slowly over a long time, but I never really understood what I was doing, and I'd pretty much been winging it. I could get mixes that I liked when I played them REALLY LOUD, but when I listened to them at conversation level they sounded like crap. Mud city.

I didn't understand what compressors did (they compress the sound, right?) or how they worked. I'd generally grab a preset and twiddle the knobs a bit, hoping for the best. I knew what EQ did but had no idea how to use it properly. I could use reverb and delay (who can't), but tended to overuse them to try and compensate for the overall crappy sound of the mix.

It got to the point where I was getting totally bummed out by the whole thing, to the point of not really wanting to try and record stuff cos it would never get to where I wanted it to be.

A couple of days ago I posted a mix in the Rate My Mix sub forum. Listening back to it, it sucks ass big time. There's no definition to any instrument, the vocals (which are only guide vocals but nonetheless) just don't sit right, there's no balance to the sound. When I was mixing it, it was super frustrating because I'd adjust the level of, say, the snare, only to have to adjust something else to compensate, which eventually turned into having to adjust everything to compensate for something. Then I'd have to start over. I could get stuff to sound really good on its own, but it'd be totally lost when other stuff came in.

The problem was I had no idea how to go about mixing. Right down to the simplest thing of preparing the mix after tracking. I'd try to mix as I was tracking, adding compressors and EQing along the way. The most fundamental basics of mixing I just didn't get.

So what's the point of this post? I presume I'm not the only person in this situation. I'd considered doing a course in sound engineering but a) I don't have the money, and b) I don't really want to be a sound engineer, I just want to know how to mix my own stuff to a reasonable standard. So i scoured the internet for video tutorials about how to mix. There's a good bit of stuff on youtube, but nothing really comprehensive.

Then I came across Lynda.com. There's a video course on the website called Audio Mixing Bootcamp. Turns out that you have to be a member to watch all the videos in the course, which is actually just under 9 hours of video. The thing is it's only $25 for a month's subscription. I am so happy that I got it. Seriously. Over the last couple of days I've been working my way through the tutorials and am nearly done. I've been working on a new mix for the song I posted before in tandem with watching the tutorials which really opened my eyes. I can practically apply the stuff I'm learning as I go. And the mix already sounds livelier, punchier, clearer, more balanced...

I've read a bunch of mixing tutorials on t'internet before, but putting the theory into practice without visual or audio aids was unbelievably difficult, nigh on impossible in my case. I had a sort of vague sense of what I should be doing, but it was almost like the little bit of info I had made it even more daunting. The Lynda.com tutorials are really easy to understand and follow, totally demystify all the elements of mixing, are logical, and, as far as I'm concerned, fairly exhaustive. They go from the very basics of separating your tracking from your mixing, to laying out and building your mix, to panning, to using compression, to EQ, to effects, to balancing the final mix. Plus, the dude is working on a track as he goes through it so there are the visual and audio aids.

So yeah, if anyone is in the same situation as I was, definitely give it a look. I've done real world courses before. I did one on web design and it was awful. Really slow and full of morons who couldn't get their head around really simple stuff, or just wanted to hear their own voice. With this I could go at my own pace and even listen back if I missed something. Plus, as I said, being able to apply the stuff practically to the mix I'm working on is amazing. Feels good, bro. And it's only, like, €20. Alright, it's not free but how much is a fecking real world course? And, for me anyway, the value of it is far far far above what it cost. Finally understanding mixing, something I've been battling with forever, is the greatest feeling in the world.

Just to say, the dude in the videos is working with Protools, but the stuff he's doing applies to any DAW. Also, I'm not affiliated at all with the website , just really, really satisfied with my experience.

TroutMask

I took a 'mix bootcamp': it was called CBGBs - we mixed 8 bands every night. You got good fast :pac:

Seziertisch

TroutMask wrote: »

I took a 'mix bootcamp': it was called CBGBs - we mixed 8 bands every night. You got good fast :pac:

Tell us more, TroutMask?

krd

TroutMask wrote: »

I took a 'mix bootcamp': it was called CBGBs - we mixed 8 bands every night. You got good fast :pac:

I've read from nearly all the bands who played there, that the way they had so many slots, gave them a chance to learn how to play.

There's nothing like live performances for forcing acts to get their act together.

TroutMask

Seziertisch wrote: »

Tell us more, TroutMask?

Not much to tell really - mixed there for 8 years or so. Unless there was a headliner like Living Color or Rollins Band, there would be 8 bands booked. 5 soundchecks and 3 done on line check. Soundchecks started after lunch ....you got home about 3-4AM. Sometimes they would do a live 16-track as well on the 2" 16-track that lived beside the desk - for this you would 'double patch' the show so that gates and compressors went to FOH but not to tape. All this, and console & outboard reset (off charts!) had to go down in a 15 min changeover period. You had to be fast. Many of the bands had industry there so good mixes, otherwise you heard all about it. I mixed 4 or so of these 8-band nights per week, plus I was the systems tech and repaired all of the electronics in the PA.

pinksoir

Wow. You're for real. I thought you were ripping the piss! That sounds really cool.

Obviously there's no substitute to real hands on experience, but the reason I posted this is for people in the same boat as myself. That is, people who want to record their own demos to a reasonable standard without having to pay for studio time to do so. I had picked up a ton of bad habits from learning as I went without any direction. My mixes weren't mixes so much as just a mush of all the recorded sounds. Now I better understand the fundamentals, in hindsight I can see why it was so frustrating for me.

I dunno. Obviously mixing is an art, but as with painting or anything else, there's a huge advantage to understanding the fundamentals before you develop your own thing. Like, Picasso was a technically amazing artist (Blue and Rose period) before he started Cubism.

But anyway, I'm sure this forum is mostly populated by dudes who know what they're doing with regards to mixing. There's posts about pro gear or recording projects for example. But there's also a ton of posts by people wanting to know what interface to buy etc etc. There's a massive gap in between those two positions. I'm sure, like myself, there are loads of people who are just winging it when it comes to mixing. They either don't have the money for a course, or the time, or else think they can learn it by themselves through trial and error and without direction. Maybe a handful can. But I'll bet most can't.

I've been recording stuff since I've been a kid. From overdubbing on a dual tape machine, to Dance Ejay (anyone remember that?), to Octamed, to DAWs. That's a long time to not know what you're doing. My mixes obviously got better over that time, but the mix I posted in the Rate My Mix is literally the best mix I had ever done. And it's awful. Over the last few days I feel like the veil has been lifted and I finally understand what I'm doing. Might mean little to most folks here but to other people in the same boat as myself it will help a lot. It's a great feeling.

TroutMask

Took me a long time to be able to put up a mix that I could be proud of. The system designer for CBs used to say to me "You have to know what good sound sounds like". By this I think he meant that I had to educate myself - go to good studios & clubs - listen to great sounding consoles; know the difference between awesome and mediocre mixes; and know equipment (and it's not all about money).

DAWs are a big part of the mix problem because, while they offer much, they basically suck in a lot of ways. A few minutes on a good console will nail the mix many times, while on the DAW you will be hacking away at EQs & tweaking comps trying to get a sound and going nowhere. When you are stuck like this, a sidecar DAW front end can be so useful. I'll probably never buy another console (unless I start a studio - unlikely!) but if I was going to, it would be one of those reissue APIs.

All this may sound opinionated, but it's the way I grew up - on phat consoles. I learned on a Soundcraft Series 2 (arguably a Neve contender, in those days). The sound was wicked, transformer balanced in, out; and interstage on the subgroups. The harder you hit the groups, the better it sounded. I only captured that sound again when I got my Neve (it's just an 8 channel). Neve, API, this is the sound I like, and judging by the way the industry has rushed to reissue the classics again, it looks like I was right to stick to my guns.

trackmixstudio

It is very hard to learn to mix to a pro level in isolation.
You would not believe how thin some instruments (such as guitars) sound in isolation yet sound fantastic in a full mix.
Instead of turning levels up, create space for everything.
For example solo the guitars and snare and sweep a medium band eq cut from low to high on the guitars and you should find the point where the snare cuts through. Repeat this for every instrument.
In a pro mix, when you mute any instrument, you should hear the hole in the sound where that instrument sat.

I have done several "boards sessions" where a few lads from the music production board came out to the studio and we tracked and mixed a song but I don't have time for that these days.
You are welcome to PM me if you want to come to the studio and sit in on a session to see the whole process.

I am also putting together a 2 day recording/mixing workshop in either my own studio or Windmill Lane (where I teach for Pulse Recording College) that might interest you.
I can't give further details on this yet but final details should be sorted out by next week.

Michael

pinksoir

@ TroutMask

Yah, a sidecar console is out of the question for me. I have been using URS Pro Strip though, which I find to be very good. A lot of Slutz seem to have wet themselves over it when it came out a few years ago. I think the thing I like about it most is that there's no Eq graph slope, just knobs, so I'm forced to do everything by ear. Which actually makes it a LOT easier. I guess with DAWs you're using your eyes along with your ears which can be distracting. It's audio after all.

@trackmixstudio

Thanks for the offer, very kind.

eire1

Check out http://www.YouTube.com/recordingrevolution

pinksoir

In case anyone's interested in this, there's a free 7 day trial at Lynda.com now.

http://www.lynda.com/promo/trial/Default.aspx?lpk35=1854

Denalihighway

watched the start of this already. will deffo give it a shot

pinksoir

You can thank me later!

Anorak Basement

eire1 wrote: »

Check out http://www.YouTube.com/recordingrevolution

+1 for the Recording Revolution.

Its full of great advice.

Try these...

http://therecordingrevolution.com/5minutes/