How Not to Screw up a Mix

I learn a lot through trial and error. But that also means a get frustrated often. Another way of putting it is that I learn what not to do by doing it, sometimes over and over until my brain finally catches on that "doing x,yz will not give you the results you want"!

Here are a couple of the biggest lessons I've had to learn:

1. recording everything hot will give you a "cooked, smeared, un-detailed" sound, 
2. gain stage your plugins. Clipping one plugin can sound bad. Multiply that by a channel with 5 plugins and compressors, and you'll have a real problem! The compressor (not to mention compression and limiting during mastering) will make the clipped sounds nice and loud. 
3. Follow an established protocol for your work flow.  I have created my own, and you should too. Maybe I'll post mine up if there's any interest. 
4. Regarding #3, don't just have a protocol or work flow that you don't ever look at. Study it, know it.
5. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Sometimes you don't realize you've done this until it's too late ... and that's OK. But do your work in chunks and take regular breaks. this will help your brain, your ears, your eyes and your relationships.
6. Follow through on your promises/release dates etc. I had been working on an album for 8 years. That's insane. I set a release date for August 2016. I stuck to it and I'm glad I did! now I have 6 more songs percolating. 
7. Always reference your mix to a *good* pro mix in the *same style* as your music.
8. Always loudness match the reference tracks to your track. This means turning down the reference do it has the same RMS loudness as your song. This is incredibly important.
9. Always reference each mix on a variety of playback systems,  but especially in a vehicle. Vehicle sound systems have an uncanny way of exposing mix issues. I recently listened to a remix/remaster of Pearl Jam's first album. It sounded fine enough on headphones, but the whole album totally fell apart in the vehicle. I much prefer the original mixes, despite all the reverb (it was the 90s). The remixes are tinny, way overcooked and terribly honky.
10. Use an AB plugin like TB Pro Audio's AB_LM (freee) or Ian Shepard's Perception plugin ($149) to loudness match before and after your FX chain.

Microphone Hack - Make it Sound Like a Neumann!

This is one of my favorite hacks of all time. I have some decent condenser mics, but what I've really wanted was a Neumann u87. It's almost $4000US, and I can't afford to spend that kind of money on a microphone. 

Well, I found and impulse model that completely negated my desire for that mic! I attached the model so you can use it, too!  You will need either SIR or Reaverb to load the impulse model into your DAW.

I like Reaverb myself. Here's a video on how to use it!

Here's what to do

1. Record yourself using a large diaphram condenser or sm58. Stand 15cm/5in away from the grill. To tame sibilance, rotate the face of mic to the left or right slightly. 
2. Load up the Neumann U87 impulse on your take using sir or reaverb
3. Be amazed! The sound is awesome. It's not perfect, but it's really good!
4. Hack #2: if you are using an sm58, load up the impulse with -sm58 in the title. This negates the sound of the 58 and adds the character of the u87. Fantastic!!

Click here to download the Neumann u87 impulses

Mixing Hacks Roundup #1 - EQ

I love "best of the best" roundups.

What I'm about to show you here is a round up of the best videos I've come across for how to use EQ in mixing. I'll come back with another one for mastering.

First - here's a great hack called "The Sweep". The trick to this hack is to listen for what you don't like, find it by boosting until you hear what you didn't like clearly, then do a cut. In this video, Joe cuts some thump out of an acoustic guitar. The reason this is what he doesn't like is that it will interfere with the kick drum and bass guitar in the mix. There are other far more offensive frequencies that he boosts, but he explains why he leaves them alone. If It were me, I would have treated one of them. But it's not me, so ... enjoy!

And you've got to love the internet. Here's a different take on the Sweep. This is more of a mastering level video, but the principal is transferable to individual tracks.

And here is a couple of Hacks in action.

Now I will say that before you even get to EQ, you should have a rough balance done of your mix. Do this in MONO. Then use subtractive EQ on each track in the context of the other tracks to fix problems like muddiness, or notch our honkiness and squeakiness etc.

What is Subtractive EQ? Glad you asked

Something you need to know about is Resonant Frequencies. Removing those will really clean up your mixes!

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