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Post by tonycamphd on Mar 26, 2015 10:26:35 GMT -6
that you haven't shared, and have felt guilty about keeping from your buds! You KNOW who you are, and you have at least one! This thread is your opportunity for redemption in the eyes of all of us, not to mention the invisible man in the sky who's disappointedly watching you impede the progress of your fellow mixing brethren!! here is my offering, yes I know there are some who do this already, but many do not, my competitive side has made me slightly reluctant to say it outloud in the past because it makes such an obvious and large improvement in the end result. Rid your mixes of slice and zing by,... D-essing into your effects! 99 times out of 100, NOT doing this is a detriment to your mix IMO. Man that was difficult!! 8)
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Post by drbill on Mar 26, 2015 12:46:13 GMT -6
I'll share the BEST secret I have......
.....because it's one that can't be duplicated with any degree of accuracy.
EXPERIENCE. There ya have it. There are no secrets. The longer you do it, the more you realize it. Experience develops both ears and your personal technique, and those are the two most valuable tools you have.
So, when you have yours, you can share it with me, and I won't be able to duplicate yours either. :-)
The best thing you can do is start mixing. After a couple hundred pieces, you'll be much better and develop what works for YOU. After a couple thousand, you'll be instinctual and just KNOW what to do before ever touching a fader. I've had the pleasure of watching a lot of the top guys mix. If I tried what they do, it would sound like crap. That "translation" doesn't work for me. I don't have their ears, and I don't have their experience. There are a few things I've picked up from others, but the vast majority of why people call me to mix is because of my own personal ears and experience. Neither of which is duplicatable. (you guys are lucky there.... heh heh) So have at it.
Get hooked up with a composer or a guy who writes for music libraries who turns out TONS of music. It's the best way to gain experience. Mix, mix, mix....
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Post by drbill on Mar 26, 2015 12:48:31 GMT -6
Also, of note - if you only mix your OWN music, the chances of developing rapidly and well are significantly diminished. Working on other peoples music is one of the best ways to "grow" that I know of. Especially if they are physically at the mix.
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Post by mdmitch2 on Mar 26, 2015 12:59:02 GMT -6
Rid your mixes of slice and zing by,... D-essing into your effects! Good tip! Reminds me of those old Ginsu knife infomercials.
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Post by odyssey76 on Mar 26, 2015 14:03:30 GMT -6
that you haven't shared, and have felt guilty about keeping from your buds! You KNOW who you are, and you have at least one! This thread is your opportunity for redemption in the eyes of all of us, not to mention the invisible man in the sky who's disappointedly watching you impede the progress of your fellow mixing brethren!! here is my offering, yes I know there are some who do this already, but many do not, my competitive side has made me slightly reluctant to say it outloud in the past because it makes such an obvious and large improvement in the end result. Rid your mixes of slice and zing by,... D-essing into your effects! 99 times out of 100, NOT doing this is a detriment to your mix IMO. Man that was difficult!! 8) Never heard this. Are you talking just vocal effects or all your effects for a particular mix? Do you set up an aux and simply place the d-esser before the effect? Thanks for the info T!
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Post by Ward on Mar 26, 2015 14:13:48 GMT -6
Here's one of the first rules you should know about mixing, whether it's in the box or on a console:
Never have a fader above zero. If you feel the need to raise even one thing above 'zero', bring the other faders down instead.
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Post by tonycamphd on Mar 26, 2015 14:45:45 GMT -6
that you haven't shared, and have felt guilty about keeping from your buds! You KNOW who you are, and you have at least one! This thread is your opportunity for redemption in the eyes of all of us, not to mention the invisible man in the sky who's disappointedly watching you impede the progress of your fellow mixing brethren!! here is my offering, yes I know there are some who do this already, but many do not, my competitive side has made me slightly reluctant to say it outloud in the past because it makes such an obvious and large improvement in the end result. Rid your mixes of slice and zing by,... D-essing into your effects! 99 times out of 100, NOT doing this is a detriment to your mix IMO. Man that was difficult!! 8) Never heard this. Are you talking just vocal effects or all your effects for a particular mix? Do you set up an aux and simply place the d-esser before the effect? Thanks for the info T! HI J, I'm talking about any effect that doesn't take precedent. On the rare occasion that something IS in effect as a forward/intimate element, then you may not want to do this, but generally the vast majority of effects are secondary to the focused forward element. In real life when sounds are located with distance they don't posses the weaker sibilant/higher frequencies, because those frequencies do not have the energy to sustain over distance. If they do posses those freq's, then they can no longer be set in the distance. In a mix image, at best the image becomes confused at lower levels because it defies the laws of real world physics and the psycho acoustic laws that are instinctually set in our brains. These instinctual laws dictate our interpretation of imaging in a mix whether we like it or not, and if it doesn't jive with that instinct, it sounds wrong or uneasy to us. I hope that makes sense lol T
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Post by wiz on Mar 26, 2015 15:59:45 GMT -6
if you are on a mac
start playing your mix
then hit
CTRL SHIFT EJECT
do this a couple of times every hour or so...
cheers
Wiz
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Post by mrholmes on Mar 26, 2015 16:08:11 GMT -6
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Post by drbill on Mar 26, 2015 17:00:22 GMT -6
I like Tony's tip. I might add to to it - putting EQ, Compression or other FX on the aux return in FRONT of your verb (or even following) can be a cool thing. Especially if you're looking for some off-the-wall cool effect.
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Post by tonycamphd on Mar 26, 2015 17:51:49 GMT -6
if you are on a mac start playing your mix then hit CTRL SHIFT EJECT do this a couple of times every hour or so... cheers Wiz ?
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Post by wiz on Mar 26, 2015 18:29:10 GMT -6
if you are on a mac start playing your mix then hit CTRL SHIFT EJECT do this a couple of times every hour or so... cheers Wiz ? 8) give it a try and see cheers Wiz
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Post by jcoutu1 on Mar 26, 2015 18:33:49 GMT -6
Puts the computer to sleep.
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Post by Ward on Mar 26, 2015 18:36:25 GMT -6
Or... on a PC, hit any key during a bounce and watch the computer crash! Often times a lot of your work goes down the drain at the same time.
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Post by drbill on Mar 26, 2015 23:47:48 GMT -6
Puts the computer to sleep. Monitors to sleep??? I don't think the computer is sleeping while on the job. :-)
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Post by gouge on Mar 27, 2015 2:28:19 GMT -6
best mix advice I've concluded is to not fuck up the tracking.
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Post by kevinnyc on Mar 27, 2015 5:41:36 GMT -6
That's a good life strategy too......don't fuck up.
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Post by henge on Mar 27, 2015 5:43:52 GMT -6
Try to hear the sound of the mix before even stepping in your room. At least it gives me a direction of where to go instead of blindly trying things....
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Post by Ward on Mar 27, 2015 7:55:10 GMT -6
best mix advice I've concluded is to not fuck up the tracking. Worst attitude/thing ever said: "We'll just fix it in the mix".
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Mar 27, 2015 9:07:04 GMT -6
Listening from the next room can be very revealing!
A good way to check balance is to turn the monitors down to a whisper and then slowly advance the volume to hear if the balance hangs together. My mentor Cal Harris probably learned that trick at United Western or Gold Star. Our ears compress everything above 500 Hz. so you'll hear that band come up first and ultimately be overwhelmed by the low, uncompressed band below 500. Mixing or mastering at a fixed volume is a really really bad idea unless you are doing a theatrical movie mix where the sound level in the theater is defined.
Avoiding panning other than left, right or center is an immense help to translation. If you want stereo, record real stereo and pan it hard left and right!
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Mar 27, 2015 9:09:04 GMT -6
best mix advice I've concluded is to not fuck up the tracking. Indeed, it's all downhill from the mouth and fingers. Too many people don't respect that.
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Post by svart on Mar 27, 2015 9:20:52 GMT -6
Listening from the next room can be very revealing! A good way to check balance is to turn the monitors down to a whisper and then slowly advance the volume to hear if the balance hangs together. My mentor Cal Harris probably learned that trick at United Western or Gold Star. Our ears compress everything above 500 Hz. so you'll hear that band come up first and ultimately be overwhelmed by the low, uncompressed band below 500. Mixing or mastering at a fixed volume is a really really bad idea unless you are doing a theatrical movie mix where the sound level in the theater is defined. Avoiding panning other than left, right or center is an immense help to translation. If you want stereo, record real stereo and pan it hard left and right! You know, this works for me too. I'll play a mix and go into the other room and do things like cleaning up or working on equipment. It adds a very different perspective to a mix and sometimes you can hear things like this that you can't hear otherwise. I find it good for bass level checking too.
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Post by svart on Mar 27, 2015 9:27:42 GMT -6
There are probably a couple dozen tricks that I use that i don't even realize it, and I'm at a loss for remembering them too.
I think one thing that isn't really a trick, but is a good tip, is to learn if pre or post compression works better with EQ on certain sources. EQ before compression if you want to keep a relatively similar feel to the track but need to fix a couple frequencies. Compress before EQ if you want to go wild on the EQ.
Sometimes using both pre and post EQ with compression on certain things, like vocals works better than either one alone. If there are nasal frequencies that pop up I'll cut using EQ and then compress, then use wide EQ to mold the vocals to the mix. This keeps the cuts from sounding too harsh.
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
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Post by ericn on Mar 27, 2015 20:24:12 GMT -6
I like Tony's tip. I might add to to it - putting EQ, Compression or other FX on the aux return in FRONT of your verb (or even following) can be a cool thing. Especially if you're looking for some off-the-wall cool effect. I have said this before but worth repeating Use Channels for efx returns, the ability to EQ and layer via the aux matrix is a huge advantage, plus you can group and pan on the board. Efx 100% wet unless the sound of the device's summing is part of the sound ! Mix on the console not the EFX!
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
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Post by ericn on Mar 27, 2015 20:26:59 GMT -6
Here's one of the first rules you should know about mixing, whether it's in the box or on a console: Never have a fader above zero. If you feel the need to raise even one thing above 'zero', bring the other faders down instead.[/ The first thing I learned mixing stage wedges for both tours and one nighters applies to all mixing " bring it up " really means bring everything else down!
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