This Thread is about the ART OF MIXING.

[TurbulentMonk]

when it comes to mixing i'm very clueless. i don't know where i'm going exactly. It feels as if i'm searching very hard for something turning every rock upside down and i'm not even sure what i'm looking for.


I'd like people to share some good strategies/theories on mixing.

what are we trying to accomplish exactly and what are some fundamental mixing principles?

[NippleTits]

i think i should post the PDF of that book

[NippleTits]

but as far as personal techniques..


Think of sound like plumbing...Each pipe has its own Origins......Sink, Toilet, Showers, Garbage Disposal ETC...Each Sound/Track has its own origins; Samples, VST, Instrument.

Its up to the person mixing to keep the tracks on their own path so they don't collide with one another and eventually clogging "the pipes"..having frequencies clash...Same with the Plumber, he has to make sure their is enough space for the waste to travel through the pipes and eventually co-exist on the way out(2 track Stereo Mix)


So do things like panning..... I like to Keep the kick and snare centered...so there is an even spread on the stereo.....Pan samples..some left..some right.......some far right......some far left...theres no one way to pan but it can definetly help make your sound appear bigger and gives you the ability to distinguish sounds......because they are spread out in the waveform...


Maximizer ....Ive been learning this tool for a little while now....If used with caution this can really brighten and extend your tracks...Adding alot more noise and character to your mixes..I dont want to say to much on it....The best way is to practice...


EQ..Ideally, when a song is mixed...Most instruments will be eq'd to survive on distinct frequencies so you can hear everything clearly....IF you ****, piss, and shower in the same HOLE, ****, piss and soap with travel down the same hole....Is that clear? :smoker:

Compress Kick Drum...Play around with it...It can smooth out your kick and make it more in pocket..


listen to your favourite mixes and try to figure out what it is they're doing..I love to listen to Jay Z - BluePrint, Chronic 2001, Rich Boy, Amy Winehouse - Back to Black/Frank for inspiration...

Even though it takes a lifetime to become good at mixing..it doesn't hurt to practice, practice, practice

[TurbulentMonk]

damn, nice break down. i admit it's not completely clear in my mind yet but it sure helps. still feels sorta abstract though. i guess it's the type of stuff you have to do in order to understand.

[KaJeTheEmcee]

think of it like a shelf, with different shelves going up


the bottom shelf starts at lets say 80 hz, real low not the bottom but low enough, then each shelf goes up by frequencies say 10 shelves all the way to 14khz

now you only have 10 spaces of frequencies here, each sound in your beat is gonna fall within range of one of these shelfs, its your job to make sure no shelf is over cluttered and they they are all even, and that's if there is something even on the shelf in particular


hopefully that didn't make it even harder lol:huh:

[MACADO]

damn. I am goin to study these words homie cause thats my only issue "THE MIX" I think cause i'm such a sample head i like the grimy sound and I settle, but when i do tracks with no samples I need to NOT settle.

[TurbulentMonk]

damn. I am goin to study these words homie cause thats my only issue "THE MIX" I think cause i'm such a sample head i like the grimy sound and I settle, but when i do tracks with no samples I need to NOT settle.
yeah, i'm taking notes as well.

[Felonious Monk]

Like the guy said. PANNING.

It makes all the diiferance in the overall mix..

turn a track down, pan it to the left or right...see what happens..

[Choc City]

mixing can be summed up as simple as this. Give each piece its own spot in the mix. This is done by panning and EQing. Your are trying to make sure frequencies dont cancel each other out by EQing (boosting a freq. range and/or removing a freq range on one track and doing the same on others with diff frequencies) and trying to make diff sounds hit the listeners ears at a diff time (by panning and adding delay) panning and delay are the easiest to start with. from there you start to EQ. EQing is where mixing can get tricky. A master engineer can listen to a tone and tell you exactly what frequency it is just by ear.