7 Pro Mixing Tips

Most of the time the simplest answer is best. Need more midrange? Grab an EQ, boost the midrange. Need to control the source more? Volume automation or compression. Easy. But sometimes we face strange challenges - like how to get more bass in the kick without running out of headroom, or how to make something sound bright that doesn't have anything above 7k except hiss. Well, where there's a will there's a way.

Sometimes the way is just a little less predictable. So with that said, here are 7 counter intuitive mixing techniques pros regularly use to solve unconventional problems.

Low Passing A Sound To Make It Brighter

What? How can using a low pass filter make something brighter? Well, let's say you have a distorted guitar. It's power goes up to about 5-6Khz, but after that it's just noise. A treble boost will bring that noise out, clog up your mix, make the guitar harsh. Instead, use a low-pass filter with a very steep slope. This does two things - first it cuts out the noise and distortion. Second, it actually accentuates the tone at the corner frequency - so while you might be attenuating everything above say 6k (for example), you're actually boosting the 6k region. This happens because the EQ generates resonance right at the corner of the pass band - and it's actually pretty clean and clear!

Adding Mid Range To Get More Bass

When we want to hear more bass in a bass, or kick drum, or other low endy element, the obvious solution is to gain the low end up. However, sometimes what we really want to do is just draw more attention to the bass element. We can do this by adding midrange in - pulling up the thud of a kick or the gnarly overtones in a bass. This pulls our ear to the element, telling us that there's more of it there in it's entirety - even if it's only just more midrange. This can be very valuable when you don't have much headroom, or there's something else competing for attention in the low end.

Using Compression To Make Something More Dynamic

But wait, doesn't a compressor restrict dynamic range? No, it doesn't. It attenuates a signal that exceeds an amplitude threshold. In most cases that will restrict the dynamic range. However, if the attack is long enough, and the threshold is low enough, a compressor can actually exaggerate the attack. This happens because the compressor allows the front of the signal to pass almost unaltered, but still pulls down the sustain of the signal, making the attack more prominent relative to the sustain. This can be very useful when trying to bring life to an already over compressed signal (over compressed... compress it some more!) - or for getting some serious snap into a dull drum sound.

Sharpening Transients Before A Limiter On The Master Buss

If you are using a brick wall limiter on your master buss, chances are you are doing so to make something loud. And to do that you want the maximum amount of headroom available. So why on earth would you use a transient designer in front of a limiter. Wouldn't exaggerating the attacks run out your headroom faster? Well, yes and no. Technically yes, but remember that these things aren't perfectly mathematical. Sharpening the transients can do two things - first you can legitimately get more transient through the limiter and still retain loudness just because a transient designer is a boosting in a different way than the limiter is cutting. Second, the limiter is pulling down everythingin the mix. That means while your kick hits harder for that 10ms, your bass gets attenuated for that 10ms as well. The attacks will poke out clearer in the mix, thus exaggerating the dynamic perception. Warning: sometimes this sounds like crap, so use it when it works, don't use it when it doesn't.

Using Distortion To Make Something Sound Cleaner

Now that really doesn't make sense. In what way could distortion possibly make something sound "cleaner"? If we define clean by clarity of tone rather than by purity of the original sound, we can use harmonic distortion to make something sound more "polished." Light amounts of harmonic distortion will exaggerate the overtones in a source. Our brain uses these harmonics to tell us what exactly we are hearing. It's kind of like saying we are going to make this clarinet more "clarinet-y" by emphasizing its partials.

Using Reverb To Make Something Sound Closer

Remember that reverb is used to create a sense of space. Without reverb, it's hard to define the front to back relationship of elements in a mix. Contrasting elements that are wet with room sound to elements that are almost entirely dry can actually create a more "in your face effect" than simply leaving a sound 100% dry. The key to doing this is to keep your forward elements sent to a reverb that is 1) Primarily Early Reflections and (2) Has a high pre-delay. The other effect of using this kind of an "ambiance" reverb is that it reinforces the tone of the dry signal a little, which often makes it pop a bit forward as well.

Mixing Quietly To Get A Louder Record

Not that I feel loudness is absolutely paramount to a successful mix, but in todays climate of iPods, noise ridden listening environments, and DJ controlled play lists, it's important that the record lives within the same general vicinity of apparent loudness. Or to say it another way, the record shouldn't sound out of place amongst the other records being played shoulder to shoulder with it. Getting a mix to sound loud without losing tone, dimension, or punch can be very daunting - especially when the references of todays mixes are as loud as they are. So I'll say two things - first - trends are showing that the loudness wars are easing off in pretty much every genre except EDM - so aim to make your mix maybe a little quieter than your references. You'll have a much easier time getting the mix to hang together. Second, mix your record at low monitoring levels. The reason this works is because it forces you to create energy and excitement when loudness is not an option. This will force you to be more selective about EQ and compression settings, as well as general levels and imaging. When all said is done you'll find that a record that creates the impression of a big sound at low levels will sound absolutely huge when it's cranked.

Now it's your turn! Drop a couple of your own unexpected / counter intuitive mixing techniques in the comments.

http://www.looperman.com/blog/detail/52/7-pro-mixing-tips-you-would-never-think-to-use

Kick and Bass EQ (Mixing)

4 Kick and Bass EQ tips for tighter mixes...

The 4 kick and bass EQ tips you'll find below will help you to get the low-end just right when you mix down.

Low-end is one of the hardest things to get right in a mix, for a multitude of reasons, but the most common is that many studios have poor low-end response which prevents you from really knowing what is going on in the bass and sub-bass regions of the spectrum.

It's very important to still consider what is happening in the lower frequency range even when you cannot necessarily hear it. You can avoid many possible frequency conflicts when you follow a simple rule...

Allow only one melodic instrument to go down to the very low frequencies at any one time.

This instrument is usually the bass guitar in a conventional band setup, but of course there are exceptions. With many heavy-metal songs you may want that filthy distorted rhythm guitar to carry the sub energy and not the bass guitar.

The kick, or bass drum, is the only other instrument that wants to mingle in the bass/sub region and here's were it starts to gets tricky...

Bass and kick relationship is a common area where even otherwise great mixes can and do fall short and this often makes for the biggest challenges when mastering a record.

Now, as you probably know by now, music comes in many styles and genres and there isn’t an absolute right or wrong way to treat kick and bass EQ. Still, lets consider a few things that should apply in most cases...

1. A good technique is to use high-pass filters on all your mix channels fairly high, at say 80-100Hz or even slightly higher, except on the bass instrument and the kick. This ensures you have no unwanted low-end artifacts from other instrument channels interfering with your kick and bass relationship.
   Take care to however not thin your other instruments out too much as this may result in tinny mixes. You want to listen carefully when you cut so you keep enough of the body of the non-bass instruments in your mix.
2. Decide which of the two instruments, bass or kick, you want to carry the really low sub energy, and apply a high pass filter fairly low, at +- 50Hz, to the other. You want in most cases for the bass instrument to carry the really low sub energy but there are instances where it's the other way around and the kick is used for the subs.
   There may be some cases where you want them both your kick and bass to carry sub energy, but remember that doing that can be very tricky, especially if you’ve tracked live instruments. Using both will mainly work if the bass and kick are playing on different beats like in a lot of break-beat, hip-hop and reggae music.
3. Use an EQ to determine where the main energy or the sweet-spot of the kick lays. You'll find this differs greatly from kick to kick. A good place to start your hunt is usually at around around 80-100Hz, which is where you'll find the sweet spot for most common 22-inch bass drums.
   This specific kick frequency is vital information, as any clutter from other instruments at this frequency will interact with the kick, so beware. You may also choose to boost slightly at this frequency, but is by no means essential.
4. Knowledge of the kick’s sweet spot frequency allows you to apply an EQ to the bass, to make sure that the kick has the space it needs to assert itself in the mix. So, apply a cut, with a very narrow Q, at the said frequency. The depth of the cut will vary from case to case and can be adjusted to affect the balance between kick and bass, but the key is to make the Q or bandwidth as tight as possible.

You are sure to quickly get to grips with understanding Kick and Bass EQ when you practice the above techniques. Remember that when you EQ one instrument you should always listen to how your adjustments affect the other instruments. The same goes for setting levels in the mix.

For example, if you feel you want the kick to be louder, try first to turn down the bass whilst listening to the kick's relative level in the mix. This is why we refer to it as a relationship because it literally is. Anything you do to one affects your perception of the other in the mix.

You should never underestimate the importance of kick and bass EQ when it comes to mixing your own music. It's definitely worth your careful attention because this can make the difference between a mediocre and excellent mix.

http://www.clickmastering.com/kick-and-bass-eq.html

Digital Vs. analogue Mixing

Using analog mixing toys while working in the digital domain...

Lets face it, we engineers and producers all love analog mixing toys! We want those big chunky knobs that offer resistance when you try to turn them. We also lust after the unique, rich, warm characteristics good analog equipment can give. How much does our music benefit when we pass our various tracks through analog circuitry while mixing in digital?

The question should be more like this...

How much do we lose when we send digital signals through analog circuits?

We already know by now what we gain with analog: warmth and character. That’s absolutely fine. Our source signals are digital however. So, in order to to feed a signal through anything analog from our DAW, we need A/D and D/A converters. Here's where it gets a little more complicated.

Digital signals are flawed to begin with, especially at lower resolutions. The way the information gets encoded means the final waveform is an approximation of the original analog sound. In addition to that, any A/D D/A converter needs a clock to accurately record the value of thousands of samples every second. If this clock is of poor quality and less accurate, the end result is a signal that’s even less like the original sound.

But what about my amazing toys? Surely all their wonder can only improve my production? It depends on the quality of your converters. With a cheaper firewire type audio interface with multiple analog inputs and outputs,the A/D and D/A converters are most likely not very good. The same would probably go for the clock.

In the above scenario, you do so much damage to your signal going out and back in to your DAW that the negative effects would most often outweigh the benefits. It's bit like taking a picture of a printed image just so that you could benefit from the grain of an old fashioned photo camera. The end result wouldn't benefit from the camera’s grain, and would also be less pleasing on the eye than the original image.

That said, achieving the right sound for a song is paramount, and if that means running a track through cheap converters into a cheap piece of gear to get it to sound just right for that particular song, then I say do it. After all, there are some number one singles that were recorded on cassette tape four track machines. So, of course anything goes, but in most cases quality is king.

In conclusion I would say that using analog mixing toys whilst working in the digital domain is a grey area. You want to ask yourself...

... how much does the song benefit from the use of analog circuits? and...

... how much quality do you compromise in order to add character?

Ask yourself these two questions and you're well on your way to getting the best out of your analog mixing gear!

http://www.clickmastering.com/analog-mixing.html

Reverb Techniques in Mixing

http://www.clickmastering.com/reverb-techniques.html

Reverb techniques for a great stereo image...

Good reverb techniques can really make or break a stereo image. It's one of the key elements for creating a good sense of space in a mix.

With reverb it’s very much a case of less is more, and by less I mean less different types of reverb rather then less reverb level in the mix or less reverb decay. Too often I’ve seen engineers use a different reverb for each instrument. This is particularly true when dealing with synths and virtual instruments as these plug-ins often add reverb to the sound it outputs.

Too many reverbs in the mix make it difficult to establish one coherent space. When you combine reverbs you effectively superimpose different spaces, and as much as that can work beautifully, it can also create havoc. Not for the faint hearted!

Most modern reverb algorithms are extremely complex, this is thanks to leaps and bounds in the world of computer processing. In today's world most reverbs are truly stereo, which means they not only output in stereo, something which reverbs have been doing for decades, but they also take stereo inputs. So, if you want the best out of your reverb you should feed it a stereo signal.

Not so long ago, in my mind anyway, it was very common for mixing desks, whether virtual or real, to have a limited number of auxiliary busses. This meant you often had no choice but to feed a reverb unit in mono, because you simply didn’t have enough auxes to go around. In today’s world that goes right out the window. Most DAWs have unlimited or near unlimited number of auxiliary busses available to us. So, if you want the best result in accurate spacial positioning, always use your reverbs fed from a stereo bus.

Reverb techniques when panning...

A DAW should usually take the pan position of a channel and apply the same panning or balance to the aux bus’ output. If it doesn’t and requires a manual pan position applied to a stereo aux send, then you should make sure that you set the aux’s pan position exactly the same as the channels pan position in the mix.

Reverb techniques when equalising...

Now, let’s consider the use of EQ on our reverb. Most reverb units, whether of the plug-in or hardware type, will have some degree of EQ available to the user, and that’s all great. Most reverb algorithm developers focus on reverb development. Leave the EQ work to a piece of software or hardware made for the purpose. Use a dedicated EQ!

I always EQ the reverb’s output at the desk and bypass any EQ in the reverb unit. I find that working this way allows for much more accurate EQ moulding of my reverb. The mind is a funny thing and often you won’t approach an EQ the same way in a reverb unit as you would on your usual day to day EQ. This is true on a sub-conscious level, the mind associates the reverb unit with a different set of listening parameters than that of an EQ. So, I find I can be a lot more objective when I EQ a reverb on my usual EQ device.

Multiple reverb techniques...

Most songs will need more than one reverb of course, usually a minimum set-up is one short reverb, one longer reverb and a delay. Combining reverb can be tricky as I mentioned earlier because you essentially try to superimpose multiple virtual spaces. That is one of the reasons why having the same type of EQ type on all the FX returns is of huge benefit when trying to get the reverbs to work together in a coherent way.

If you decide, for example, to apply a soft boost at particular mid-range frequency on one reverb’s return, you know that you can apply a matching cut on the other reverb’s return, confident that it will be a perfect match in bell shape and other EQ characteristics.

Built-in instrument reverbs...

This brings us to instruments with built in reverbs, such as keys or guitar pedals, which come into your mix with reverb attached! Much like the quality the EQ on a reverb unit, the reverb on an instrument is usually not very good when compared with the real thing. Besides, you also face a heap of disadvantages when you work that way...

• Any EQ you want to apply to that instrument you also apply to the reverb.
• Any EQ you want to apply to the reverb you also apply to the instrument.
• (... there’s a pattern here!)
• Any panning you want to apply the instrument you also apply the whole reverb space.
• Often you will feed the instrument into the mix in mono, this results in mono reverb, which can be very one dimensional.

You see the point though, anything you do to one you do to the other, and on top of that you are very likely to struggle to make all these different lower quality reverbs work well as one intelligible image. So, remove the internal reverb on the instruments and use your mix reverbs instead.

I hope you've found some useful tips in this article!

Here is a summary of the reverb techniques covered...

1. Don’t use too many different reverbs, try to stick to 2 or 3.
2. Use reverbs in true stereo for more accurate positioning.
3. EQ you reverbs on the mix return rather than in the reverbs unit.
4. Don’t use instrument reverbs but your mix reverbs instead.

Panning Techniques in Mixing

http://www.clickmastering.com/panning-technique.html

Panning technique when mixing in stereo...

Panning technique is a crucial part of shaping a good stereo image, and it’s something that’s too often not given enough attention. It's important to give a lot of thought to where you want the various elements to sit in the stereo field.

A method I find quite useful is to start the mix process with every channel panned centre with the exception of any stereo instruments such as keys, which you leave stereo. If you are dealing with a live recording, you might also want to pan any microphone pairs, such as drum overheads or stereo room mics.

Once you’ve set your rough mix levels, only then proceed to pan the various instruments. This way you’ll have had time to take in the rough mix, and you will be more aware of any conflicts that might be happening between tracks. This kind of information might be vital for making good panning decisions.

Now, try to avoid two tracks having the same pan value, even if two instruments are only 2 or 3 degrees apart, you will get better separation than when they were at exactly the same value.

There are however two exceptions to this. The first is when you deal with stereo pairs such as keys or stereo microphone pairs which can all be hard panned. The other is when dealing with a single instrument recorded with multiple microphones such as an acoustic guitar with one mic on its body and one on the 12th fret.

In this scenario you do want the two mics to share the same pan position as they are both the same instrument. The guitar would lose it’s precise position and become loose and undefined if the two mics where panned differently.

So, panning technique, summed up...

1. Set a rough mix level before you make any panning descisions.
2. Never let two tracks share the same pan position (except for mono instruments with multiple tracks).
3. Pan precise and accurate.

Mixing Techniques 5

http://www.clickmastering.com/audio-mixing.html

20 audio mixing techniques you can experiment with to improve your mixes...

So, I asked Henri Latham-Koenig, our chief engineer, for some audio mixing techniques or strategies audio professionals can use to improve their own work in the studio, and he delivered! Try out the techniques or strategies below in your studio and let us know what you think.

Now, obviously due to the amount of techniques we cannot go into each in too much depth on this one page. No worries! We have a lot more in-depth content in the pipeline for the clickmastering.com community.

We think these 20 points should keep you busy for a while though. Try them right now...

1. Reference, reference, reference...

Reference your mixes on as many different systems as possible. One can never stress enough how important it is to reference your mixes on a wide variety of playback systems. Yes, you come to know your regular studio and monitors very well, so you learn to trust them. Every time you reference your mix somewhere else however, you’re likely to learn something new about it.

2. Watch those levels...

Don’t monitor too loud during the audio mixing process! You shouldn’t really need to monitor at more than 90dBA because at about this level your ears are at their optimum listening capability. Go any louder and you start to tire your ears sooner and could even cause long term damage. What’s more, monitoring at levels of 100dBA and beyond will tend to give you a false sense that the mix sounds good because of the loudness!

3. Keep it quiet...

Listen to your mix at very low levels as often as possible. This tactic helps you identify general mix level problems and forces your brain to heighten your attentiveness. Get your mix to sound good at very low levels, and it'll probably sound good at higher levels. The opposite certainly can’t be said!

4. Close your eyes, open your ears...

Try to monitor with as little visual distraction as possible at least once or twice during your audio mixing process. So, turn your computer monitor off, turn the lights off, close your eyes and just listen.

You’ll be amazed at how much objectivity this can bring to the table. We tend to attach a lot of conscious importance to what we see, so when we take the visual stimulation away we allow our conscious mind to focus more on what we hear.

5. Mono check, still...

Mono reference your mix, always. There are of course fewer and fewer instances of mono playback in the world today. Mono is however still a reality, so at least make sure important aspects of your mix, like vocals, don’t get affected in unwanted ways when you sum your left/right channels. A mono check might at the very least help you spot a phase problem in your mix which could otherwise have slipped by unnoticed.

6. Stay in context...

Avoid working on an instrument in solo for too long. Whether you want to adjust EQ or compression, stay away from doing it in solo. Remember that the audio mixing process is about making many different instruments work together as one. Adjust one instrument, and you have an impact on the whole mix and the mix is after all what you want to pay attention to.

7. Step away from the L2...

Don't keep a brick-wall limiter such as the L2 on your master bus during the audio mixing process. You don’t gain anything when you limit your mix bus during the mixing process. The limiter makes it difficult to know if and when any peaks in your mix exceed digital 0dB.

A master bus compressor is fine and if it’s something you haven’t tried, I recommend you experiment with it. Master bus compression, when used right, can really help bring a mix together well.

8. Keep an ear on compression...

Avoid the overuse of compression. Too much compression on various tracks can quickly add up to a flat, lifeless and one-dimensional mix. Too much compression may also result in unwanted distortion to the final bus.

9. Group dynamics...

Try to compress instruments as groups rather then as individual seperate tracks. This can often help you achieve more natural and coherent results. There are cases of course where you want to add compression to individual tracks. I find you can often create more organic-sounding mixes when you compress instruments as groups.

10. Compress for dynamic range...

You can use a compressor to increase dynamic range of an instrument. A compressor with a slower attack time could help bring a dull instrument which lacks dynamics, back to life.

11. Think relationships...

It feels natural to turn something you want to hear more of up in the mix. This tactic may not always serve you well though. First try to work out what you should turn down in the audio mix in order to achieve the same result. This way, you keep better control of the overall levels and you also develop a more objective listening approach.

12. Pan apart...

Never have two instruments at exactly the same pan position. It becomes a lot harder to achieve good separation between two or more instruments if they are at exactly the same pan position.

13. Stereo reverbs...

Feed your reverbs from stereo sends. You’ll be surprised how much better a modern stereo reverb will work when fed this way. It can also help you achieve much more accurate placement of instruments in the stereo field.

14. Restrict the reverb...

Don’t use too many different types of reverb and effects in the same mix. Try to limit yourself to only 2 or 3 different reverbs. This way you will keep a better handle on the stereo image and spacial clarity of your mix.

15. Reverb returns EQ...

Equalize reverb returns on the mixer rather than in the reverb unit. Your mixer’s channel EQ will most often be of better quality than a reverb unit’s version. You may often also listen in a different way when you adjust EQ parameters on a reverb unit compared to when you adjust a mixer strip EQ.

16. EQ bandwidth...

Use wider bandwidths for boosts and tighter bandwidths with cuts. In general if you equalize along this guideline principle you'll tend to achieve more musical results.

17. Cut over boost...

It’s better to take out what you don’t want rather than boost what you do want with an EQ. This helps minimize distortion risks and also accomplishes more discreet and musical results.

18. High pass filter...

Apply a high pass filter to all your non-bass related instruments. This can help clean up your low end, especially with live recordings. Low pass filters are pretty much essential should you want to create a sharp, crisp and precise low-end in your mix.

19. Phase reverse it...

Don’t be frightened of the phase reverse button! Phase inversion on a particular instrument can at times improve the way the instrument interacts with the rest of the mix. This is very true for live drum mixes. Try to always listen to the effects of phase inversion on the relationship between different drum microphones in your mix.

20. Resolution...

Work at higher resolution wherever you can, as this will improve the quality and definition of the end result. You want to of course set this at the recording stage of the game, as increasing a session’s resolution after recording by converting all recorded media tends to waste time and processing better spent on other aspects of your audio mixing job.

We hope you found these audio mixing techniques useful! Please share them on Facebook and Twitter with the buttons below should you think some of your friends or colleagues can benefit from these tips.

Mixing Techniques 4

http://www.digido.com/articles-and-demos12/13-bob-katz/19-mixing-tips-and-tricks.html

The First Tip: Read all the articles on this web site!

Here's one of the secrets of the mixing engineers
To avoid squashing, if it doesn't sound loud enough to your ears, turn up the monitor! If you find that you've been forced to apply limiting or compression just to keep the meters from overloading, then you've been going about this backwards. Instead, turn down your individual mix levels several dB, then get rid of any compression you were using to "protect" the 2-mix. Now your mix is at a lowered meter level, so turn up your monitor gain to arrive at the same loudness--only this time it won't sound squashed. Leave the monitor at that position as you continue to mix (mark it so you can get back to it).

In 24-bit recording you can make a perfectly good mix that peaks between -3 and -10 dBFS with no loss of quality, in fact, with improved quality. So if the mix gets too loud by your ears, then turn down the elements that are too hot in the mix instead of turning down the monitor again, with no fear of mixing "too low". In other words, a high monitor gain gives you less temptation to overcompress. High monitor gain does not necessarily mean high monitor output from the speakers--it means that the mix level had to be lower. For example, visit the CD Honor Roll and check out the great-sounding Lyle Lovett selection, which is close to the dynamics of a raw mix. Notice that in order to listen to it, you have to turn up your monitor gain. That's approximately where your monitor control for a dynamic raw mix should be sitting (within 4-6 dB) before mastering. Obviously, a lot of today's hypercompressed masters would require turning down the monitor, but we're trying to show you how not to ruin the record in the mix stage (and hopefully not in the mastering, either!).

Know thy monitors
But even when you do, never be fooled. Take your mixes around and listen to them on several other systems that you know; then go back into the control room and if they do not translate, try to adjust your mixes in the areas where they do not translate. HOWEVER, be aware of the extremes. If it sounds reasonably good in a car, for example, don't be tempted to turn up the highs for the car or it will screech (horribly) EVERYWHERE else. First of all, in the mastering we have much more experience in knowing how far to go and make sure that a recording is not made bass-shy just because it sounds boomy in a naturally-boomy car, for example.

Always mix to the highest possible wordlength
Even if the source tracks are 16-bit! Do not sample rate convert. When you're ready to bounce or prepare files, please see our guidelines page for suggestions on making file names and file types.

Track important instruments in stereo
In the days of 8 track you had to be very careful about allocating tracks. But those days are gone. You have enough tracks to splurge now! So there's no reason to conserve on tracks during the tracking stage. The stereo image and depth of your final product will be determined by your skill in mixdown at using delays, reverberation, effects, and your skills in tracking, how you tracked your instruments. Try to make a plan beforehand of how your soundstage might look, where the instruments might be placed. Realize that it probably will not hurt, and probably will help to record your important instruments in stereo.

For example, even a pair of bongos that are destined to be on the right side of the soundstage will sound better if one bongo mike is panned full right and the other somewhat right of center. This is because the ear decodes the natural space and delays picked up by those microphones, actually enhancing their definition in the mix (if the room acoustics are good).

Another example: Electric guitar. Capture the direct to one track. Capture the output of the loudspeaker with a close mike to another track. Capture the medium distant sound of the speaker bouncing from the walls of the room with another mike. Listen to the combination of these sources panned to different places, and also listen in mono to make sure you have not created phase cancellations. By using stereo miking and natural room acoustics in the tracking, and possibly artificial delays and good stereophonic reverberation in the mixing, your mix will sound richer and deeper. Not everything should be tracked in stereo, but don't skimp on elements that will increase the depth and space of your recording. Of course you will need a foreground, middleground, and background in the mix, but it's a lot harder to create a location and space for an instrument if you had only recorded it in mono.

In the mixing, use artificial reverberators that enhance depth and space and do not sound flat, plastic or "cheesy." Use artificial delays to locate instruments in space, not just simple panners.

Levels
Try to not exceed -3 dBFS peak on a peak meter on the highest peak of the mix. Low levels are perfectly acceptable in a 24 bit system. Once you see that the highest peak is in the range of, say, -10 dBFS to -3 dBFS, then from that point on, if you can hear it, the low level passages are ok. Preserve dynamic range! Assume that if anyone is going to ruin the master, let it be me (the mastering engineer). If the mix sounds good, then soft passages automatically are NOT too soft. Of course, if you think a soft passage sounds too soft in the mixing, then of course try to fix that during the mixing. But these can easily be dealt with and often more efficiently in mastering, as we have the context of the album in mind.

If you have a VU meter, use it. With a sine wave, adjust it so 1 kHz, 0 VU is equal to -20 dBFS on the peak meter. Use the VU, ignore the peak, and you'll start making better mixes.

Original sources, please
If at all possible, deliver a generation that is as close to the original as possible. If it's on CD ROM, then cut a CDR directly from your hard disc files. Speed of cutting? Try to use Taiyo Yuden or other reputable blanks, and cut at 4X to 8X speed. These will PROBABLY produce the best results. Murphy's Law: Allow for Murphy. Do not ASSUME that all the files will transfer successfully over here and that the CD-ROMs you have cut are perfect. Allow for the possibility that on the very last minute of the very last hour of the very last day, we may have to go to a backup CD-ROM, or you may have to cut another, because of some error or other problem in the transfer. Do not paint yourself into a corner. Make backups. Do not destroy or erase any source hard disc at the origination studio until the mastering has been completed.

Vocal Up/Down or (Even Better) Gang of Four

A) Make a lead vocal up (1/2 or 1 dB, you be the best judge) version. Do it NOW before you forget. It's a lot easier to do it NOW than to discover in the mastering that you should have. Occasionally do a vocal down (1/2 or 1 dB) version if you think it may be useful; then again, it only takes 3 minutes to do a vocal alt version when you're in the heat of mixing, but it takes forever to try to fix it in the mastering if you forgot.

or

B) Gang of Four - Stems or Splits

Professional mixing engineers never get caught with their pants down when they produce the Gang of Four. This is even better than Vocal Up/Vocal Down and is not any more work.

Here's the key: You produce up to four synced stems. In a time pinch, you can produce only the first two or three.

Stem #1. TV (that’s instrumental plus chorus or background vocals).
Stem #2. Lead Vocal(s) (plus its reverb of course ---basically muting everything else).
Stem #3. Full Mix (that’s what I will use unless there is a problem, and it's also a reference to prove that #1 and #2 were made correctly).
Stem #4. Instrumental (by adding this to #1 we can reduce the chorus level. By subtracting this from #1 we can increase the chorus level. By subtracting this from #3 we can increase lead and chorus. And so on!

Synchronized stems are produced by running a separate mix pass from the same starting sample each time without changing any gains. You mute the tracks that you don't want to hear. That way any reverbs or other processing which were applied on the full mix remain on the stems. Don't be afraid if the vocal-only version has 1 minute of blank at the head, that's part of the design!

In mastering, the sum of Stem #1 and Stem #2 at unity gain = Full mix. If we want lead vocal down, we just take the level of Stem #2 down a hair. And through other combinations we can control instruments or all vocals. In mastering, if a vocal is sibilant, we can apply a de-esser just to the vocal track, which is less of a compromise than de-essing the full mix. If a bass instrument needs to come up, we can equalize the instruments without making the vocal any bassier. And so on.

Many mix engineers argue (correctly) that if they are using bus compression the stems will not reflect the same sound they got on the full mix. This is true, if you are doing strong bus compression, the interaction between the peaks of the mix and the individual elements will not be the same when using stems. In that case, a legitimate gang of four cannot be produced!

The gang of four protects you and your clients in many ways. It gives you archive options and alternative options. It gives you the TV mix the client forgot to ask for but requests six months later! It allows cleaning up dirty words without dropping the music out. Develop the discipline to do the gang of four. You won't be sorry!

When, Why, and How to Make Stems
I've definitely reached the conclusion that the less compromise you can make in the mastering process, the better the result. Mixing is mixing and mastering is mastering, and you should make the very best, finished mix that you can before sending it to mastering. Stems in mastering are not meant to be a substitute for a bad mix, nor a "mix fixer", but they can be used in the mastering process to polish or aid a very good mix with less compromise than a full mix. The case of vocal up/down is a clear one where the mix is otherwise preserved, but the mastering engineer can tweak the lead vocal if the mastering processing seems to affect the vocal/instrument relationship, or the producer thinks twice about the vocal level, or some word somewhere needed to be punched but someone forgot. The mastering engineer is not a closet or frustrated mix engineer, we treat the stems as safeties or convenient means to an end, not as infinite "remix opportunitites".

In more severe cases, you may have produced an otherwise great mix, but you had a little trouble with your monitoring and produced too little bass instrument, too much kick, and the lower midrange is a little bit muddy. This is a potentially bad (not lethal) combination for mastering and if the client has time, I recommend a remix. But in situations when time is tight, I have asked the client for stems, and the results have ALWAYS been better than if I had mastered from the combined two-track.

In mastering, the question comes whether I should first remix the stems in a remix session, then master-----or remix and master in one step. The more stems, the more it becomes a true remix, and the more inclined I would be to put on my mixing hat and mix first, then master. But with only 3 to 6 stereo stems, I find that I can get excellent results mastering with "supplementary mixing" going on. I'm mostly concentrating on mastering, using the stems to aid in the goals of mastering without compromise, such as using the vocal stem when de-essing is needed instead of de-essing and compromising the entire mix. Or equalizing the bass instrument instead of using overall bass frequency eq on a full mix, which has less compromise on the vocal, keyboards, etc. Of course, this kind of precision is usually not needed, and I master from the full mix more than 90% of the time. For example, the mastering processing is going to affect the clarity of the midrange and through "slop" will probably leak down into the bass region, hopefully for the better. But in the case of this lopsided mix I just cited, the mastering processing could easily make one range better while making the other worse.

Is this idea of mastering from stems heresy? It's certainly a dangerous technique if placed in the wrong hands. You can end up with a less than ideal mix or less than ideal master if the mastering engineer does not think holistically. But if placed in the hands of an experienced mastering engineer, I think mastering from stems can produce a subtly better product or do it more efficiently. Producing stems the first time in the mix session reduces the number of calls for a costly and inconvenient remix! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.