A good general guide to mixing?

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (DeeS)

Wed, 05 May 2010 12:39:57 GMT

FrostySnake,

Here is a link I found to David Gibson's DVD.
The style of the videos is very outdated (I think anyway) but the information mirrors what he teaches in his book.

David-Gibson-The-Art-of-Mixing-DVD-Tutorial

Dee

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (Paul Russell)

Wed, 05 May 2010 11:25:19 GMT

" /> the guitar morphed into a taylor by uttering the magic words 'here is a a load of money' to the guitar salesman.

I aim to do some more of these, but they're quite labour intensive and I'm in intermediate camera tech mode at the moment. However here are a couple that every noob should watch.

Building a Bus Structure

Gainstaging

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (RichardHK)

Wed, 05 May 2010 04:49:00 GMT

>> Paul Russell: Watch me mix in Sonar 8.5.3 x64 <<

Ref Paul's signature above, and given the topic of this thread, do be sure to check out Paul's fabulous video 'Mixing The World' where he gives a fast-paced and very full and informative session on mixing with Sonar. Most valuable. And watch his Enigmatic Smile video too. Great stuff and very well-produced videos indeed. I'm gonna try the Gliss EQ too, and that Psp OldTimer compressor.

Note that Paul still has that charming expression in his avatar, although he has upgraded the guitar it seems. Unless he still uses the plastic one for special effects? " />

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (Paul Russell)

Wed, 05 May 2010 04:10:05 GMT

Voxengo Gliss allows you to compare waveforms between tracks which makes EQ carving very easy.

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (john5959)

Wed, 05 May 2010 00:11:16 GMT

michaelpath

Just to throw one more hat into the conversation, I've gotten a fair amount of mileage out of "Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies" by Jeff Strong.

-Michael

+1 really useful book!

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (ChuckC)

Tue, 04 May 2010 23:14:06 GMT

Edited: NM found my own answer

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (RichardHK)

Tue, 04 May 2010 21:32:02 GMT

kgarello

Check out Reamix -
http://www.lulu.com/content/2539885

Well worth the 12.50

Ken

Thanks for that Ken,

An excellent refreshing read on mixing, even for us Sonar guys. Writing style, layout, and above all content, are excellent. Have it printed out and bound. Really like the way book gives and compares several methods for fixing problems in, or enhancing mix.

Need to install Reaper to get even more out of book, as many hands-on examples are given in rpp format - but no sweat to 'convert' practically to Sonar.

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (michaelpath)

Tue, 04 May 2010 20:49:52 GMT

Just to throw one more hat into the conversation, I've gotten a fair amount of mileage out of "Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies" by Jeff Strong.

-Michael

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (Bob Oister)

Tue, 04 May 2010 19:06:04 GMT

quote: madfloyd: "Somewhat related, I've been wondering if there's a plugin in existence that would point out the dominant frequencies of a track - sort of like a spectrum analyzer.

I could imagine that with such info, it wouldn't be hard to decide how to EQ tracks so that they don't conflict.

Does such a thing exist? "

Yep, Voxengo Span is free and fantastic for this purpose.

Hope this helps!
Bob

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (ChuckC)

Tue, 04 May 2010 19:05:39 GMT

I am sure there is probably a tool designed for that specifically though in the meantime.... If you open up a multiband compressor on the track you can see what the frequencies are doing that way.

I bought a book called "Home Studio Clinic" in a local book store on sunday, It did help me alot so far. I remixed a song I've been struggling with & it's much better. I am going to set upa soundclick account so I can post it up for somefeed back from you guys.
I will check out your suggestions too though.

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (madfloyd)

Tue, 04 May 2010 17:37:42 GMT

Somewhat related, I've been wondering if there's a plugin in existence that would point out the dominant frequencies of a track - sort of like a spectrum analyzer.

I could imagine that with such info, it wouldn't be hard to decide how to EQ tracks so that they don't conflict.

Does such a thing exist?

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (SF_Green)

Tue, 04 May 2010 16:51:14 GMT

montezuma

The Why Do Your Recordings Sound Like Ass? thread on the Reaper forums is quite handy

ROTFLMFAO!!!!

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (razor)

Tue, 04 May 2010 16:34:27 GMT

Frostysnake

Hello all,
Simple question....can anyone recommend a good comprehensive and thorough, yet tailored guide to mixing for those who do not have an audio engineering degree? However,something that is not so general such as mixing for dummies...just something that spells out things plainly. I realize its all in the ears, but I do know that there are lots of do's and don'ts as well....please fire away any books, DVD's, etc....thanks as always!

David

I read two separate gold record mastering engineers diametrically opposed positions on things like compression, etc. and learned over the years of reading articles from the greats of their day that mixing and mastering is an art not a science. Having said that, once someone understands the fundamentals, it's all about doing it...and doing it and doing it.....and redoing it -- you get the idea. Like playing an instrument.

Keep your masters handy. I've found that after a typical recording session, with all the mixing etc, that my ears get fatigued--not physically, but I start to become emotionally fatigued with hearing the exact same track over and over. I have found that after I master something, I may leave it and go onto another project and then come back to the 'finished' project later on and think eeeuuu and remix it all over again. If you ever saw some of my tracks, you would know which ones those were by the (remix) in the title!

Lastly, make sure you have fun and feel the groove, or what's the point (besides maybe money)?

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (bunnyfluffer)

Tue, 04 May 2010 01:25:47 GMT

there's a Q&A w/ Alan Parsons going on over at Gearslutz...
http://www.gearslutz.com/...r-artist-alan-parsons/

and there's this too...
http://www.artandscienceofsound.com/

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (RichardHK)

Tue, 04 May 2010 00:25:22 GMT

bitflipper

This is the book you want... Mixing Audio by Roey Izhaki http://digifreq.com/?IzhakiMixing

+1 The best of the lot, IMO. Badly edited but jampacked with useful information.

+1000 on Roey Izhaki's Mixing Audio book! I have a copy which gets constant attention. The included DVD of thousands of samples is worth tons for ear training and understanding the book. He has four full song mix histories on the disk too.

But please note that the 'badly edited' comment only refers to first printing edition. (Keep hearing this comment.) The text has been proofed, edited, and reprinted. Now on fourth printing. Problems with the text originally were due to Roey's non-native Israeli English which no doubt didn't translate well enough for a technical book. Now reads perfectly well.

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (Bob Oister)

Mon, 03 May 2010 22:10:06 GMT

quote: "Thanks Bob!
Ya know, I fly right into Scranton once or twice a year... Most of my relatives have moved out of NY city & many now reside in Honesdale.
Small world. "

Hey, Chuck, small world is right! Up until last year, my cover band played a few times a month in Honesdale, Beach Lake and Narrowsburg.

Best wishes, have a good one!
Bob

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (FastBikerBoy)

Mon, 03 May 2010 13:52:33 GMT

If YEP wrote a book, I'd buy it in a heartbeat

+1 and I'm pretty sure that's who wrote the article I mentioned above.

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (dmbaer)

Mon, 03 May 2010 13:44:48 GMT

montezuma

Sticky on this Reaper page:

http://forum.cockos.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29

It's a great read.

Written by a bloke called 'yep' from these forums. You could do worse than to do a search here for all his posts.

+1 on the YEP thread. It's got an amazing amount of good information packed into it. If YEP wrote a book, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

But even better is the Izhaki "Mixing Audio" book. I just finished a second pass through it and got even more out of it than I did on the first reading.

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (FastBikerBoy)

Mon, 03 May 2010 12:06:05 GMT

I am just looking for a little help & guidance. A starting point, suggested EQ curves for individual instruments etc.

I always used to struggle on where to start with EQ and then read an article somewhere (can't remember where - sorry) which has proved very useful to me.

Basically on a soloed track I set one band of an EQ with a high Q, max gain and then sweep slowly through the frequency range until I hit a particularly sweet spot or indeed mush. I then turn that band off, zero the gain and reduce the Q and leave the frequency at the spot I've found. I then repeat with the remaining bands starting at the frequency where the last band is parked. So on a typical 4 band EQ I may end up with 2 or 3 sweet spots and 1 or 2 'mushy' spots.

Once I've identified those areas I un-solo the track and then boost the sweet spots and cut the mushy spots until that particular instrument sounds right in the mix. Once you've done that a few times on each instrument you get to know roughly where the sweet and mushy spots are. Of course you can always save them as presets so you have a starting point.

That one technique alone has probably helped me more than any other I've tried. Ultimately it comes down to practice and experience, I've still a long way to go on both counts. " />

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (stratman70)

Mon, 03 May 2010 11:54:22 GMT

dmbaer

I'm pretty certain a lot of folks here will concur with this opinion that "Mixing Audio: Concepts, Practices and Tools" by Izhaki is the best book available on the subject. It's quite readable, even for a novice, but at the same time it's extremely comprehensive and authoritative.

Great, great book!!!!!

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (bitflipper)

Mon, 03 May 2010 11:41:11 GMT

This is the book you want... Mixing Audio by Roey Izhaki http://digifreq.com/?IzhakiMixing

+1 The best of the lot, IMO. Badly edited but jampacked with useful information.

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (pollux)

Mon, 03 May 2010 08:48:28 GMT

+1 on Mixing with your mind
+1 on ReaMix
+1 on the WDYRSLA thread

and also "The Art of Mixing: A Visual Guide to Recording, Engineering, and Production" is very good:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Mixing-Mix-Pro-Audio/dp/0918371171

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (montezuma)

Mon, 03 May 2010 08:34:37 GMT

Sticky on this Reaper page:

http://forum.cockos.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29

It's a great read.

Written by a bloke called 'yep' from these forums. You could do worse than to do a search here for all his posts.

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (ChuckC)

Mon, 03 May 2010 07:48:14 GMT

What is the thread on the Reaper Forums?   Which thread?
    I guess they don't sound that bad, but they don't sound that good either. I just lack the experiance to know how exactly to eq each instrument to make the mix more cohesive.   I have never played much with compression (trying to dial in bass guitar), Cleaning up a muddy mix & give each instrument it's place in the EQ & sterio field.
I understand the concepts & I have jumped in head 1st like I do with everything in life. I am just looking for a little help & guidance. A starting point, suggested EQ curves for individual instruments etc.
Thanks everybody, your help is appreciated as always!

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (montezuma)

Mon, 03 May 2010 07:26:52 GMT

The Why Do Your Recordings Sound Like Ass? thread on the Reaper forums is quite handy

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (garrigus)

Mon, 03 May 2010 06:58:23 GMT

This is the book you want...

Mixing Audio by Roey Izhaki http://digifreq.com/?IzhakiMixing

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/ - http://www.musictechshop.com/ - http://www.cooltechshop.com/

Publisher of DigiFreq - free music technology newsletter. Win a free SoundTech Vocal Trainer Package, go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

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Re:A good general guide to mixing? (ChuckC)

Sun, 02 May 2010 23:20:04 GMT

Thanks Bob!
Ya know, I fly right into Scranton once or twice a year... Most of my relatives have moved out of NY city & many now reside in Honesdale.
Small world.

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (Bob Oister)

Sun, 02 May 2010 23:03:36 GMT

"Mixing With Your Mind" by Michael Stavrou. Expensive, but tons of really great information put into plain, easy to understand language.

Also, +1 to Wicked's suggestions, "Mix it Like a Record" by Charles Dye, and "Production Mixing and Mastering With Waves.

Have a good one!
Bob

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (ChuckC)

Sun, 02 May 2010 22:26:15 GMT

Are there new books that are better updated at this point or are these still valid suggestions?
I've been playing & recording mostly 4-8 track all in one machines for 2 decades... I always felt my ear was good, & when my options were a 2-3 band eq & pan, to mix with.... it is. Now with som many powerful tools at my disposal I find I know the sound I want but lack the knowledge to get it there. In other words.... my gear is great,
I suck. I am suddenly the weakest link in the chain. I need to read up on mixing & then tackle mastering which I've not tried yet.

Re:A good general guide to mixing? (Jon Con)

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:32:47 GMT

Bobby Owsinski's "The Mixing Engineers Handbook" has been a really useful book for me and would recommend it to anyone interested. It has a lot of interviews from the likes of Bruce Swedien, John X, George Massenburg and Joe Chiccarelli amongst others. Chapter 8 isn't the best chapter but I've found the Delay Chart at the back and also the quick EQ reference points a good starting point for certain instruments. There are some really cool techniques in here worth trying out when you have the time