A Basic Guide:
Mixing an audio recording is just as much an art as the writing of the song itself. Mixing consists of all things beautiful and twisted you hear in your favorite songs. It includes reverb, delaying guitars, ping pong effects, doubled vocals and so on. Shifting EQ can make a voice sound old fashioned or very rich. Knowing the basic functions will allow your imagination to break free with how deep, how long, how compressed you want your piece to be.
Mixing includes more than just effects. It includes leveling of volumes and positioning on the stereo field where your instruments will come from. Lead vocals should be in the center. Often times you can give the voice a louder appeal by doubling the track and panning each one to the far side. A better practice of doubling vocals instead of making a louder sound, is to give it a sound of more than one instrument/ voice. Pan the stereo tracks out to the sides in different amounts. Listen till your hears are happy.
Volume balancing is quite tough. Not all tracks can be equal. Some parts will drown out others while additional tracks may yet drown those out. Skillful editing will allow you to "automate" the volume. During different sections you can write the volume, or move the faders down during playback automation enabled, and really change things up a bit. Again, mixing is an art itself and depends on the desired sound you have in mind. There are no rules here, just quality listening to be achieved.
The first and easiest effect is reverb. When you sing in the bathroom, when you shout in a church, this is commonly mistaken for echo. In fact, this is called reverb. Play around with the wet/ dry setting as well as the others until it sounds the way you hear it or would like it. Reverb makes a plain vocal sound bright and vibrant. It can bring back the tone of the 1960's psychedelic rock guitar. Vocals are all up in the air on how much reverb you can add before it gets too crazy, while percussion should use as little as possible as it will sound like marbles bouncing on a desk.
Pitch shifting is common if a certain piece doesn't sound just right. It can be used to appropriately shift a melody. When a singer is having a stressful vocal night or is sick on tour, live mixing can shift the bands key and allow for a lower key less stressful on the voice. Pitch shifting can be used for vocals in programs such as Melodyne to perfect the consistency of the vocal pitch. It is better that the singer have a good sense of tuning as only minor areas of a song can be fixed without losing too much authenticity. It would suck to sing a song live that was doctored in the studio. Imagine how grateful you would be for buying those $5 earplugs at a show!
Compression is as easy or as hard as it looks. It can compress your audio to even out the peaks. It can adjust louder guitar parts with softer ones to have a smooth flow. However, too much compression can give a "tin can" sound. Natural vocals should use a ratio 1.5:1 to 3:1. Of course that's not the rule, but is a good foundation to begin making adjustments. Percussion may need to be compressed WHILE recording just to avoid hitting the red as well as dynamic vocals. More compression can be added later during mixing.
Each hardware and software setup is generally the same set up. All-in-one-workstations are an excellent piece of equipment to invest in. Pro Tools for a home work station is a great software used in many studios to record, mix, edit, and manipulate with. The program is expandable with additional plug-ins. It's compatible with PCs and Macs. Guitar Center will carry most anything you need for either software or hardware setups, or both combined. If it's not in store, chances are they can order it for you.
Good luck and happy mixing!
Mixing an audio recording is just as much an art as the writing of the song itself. Mixing consists of all things beautiful and twisted you hear in your favorite songs. It includes reverb, delaying guitars, ping pong effects, doubled vocals and so on. Shifting EQ can make a voice sound old fashioned or very rich. Knowing the basic functions will allow your imagination to break free with how deep, how long, how compressed you want your piece to be.
Mixing includes more than just effects. It includes leveling of volumes and positioning on the stereo field where your instruments will come from. Lead vocals should be in the center. Often times you can give the voice a louder appeal by doubling the track and panning each one to the far side. A better practice of doubling vocals instead of making a louder sound, is to give it a sound of more than one instrument/ voice. Pan the stereo tracks out to the sides in different amounts. Listen till your hears are happy.
Volume balancing is quite tough. Not all tracks can be equal. Some parts will drown out others while additional tracks may yet drown those out. Skillful editing will allow you to "automate" the volume. During different sections you can write the volume, or move the faders down during playback automation enabled, and really change things up a bit. Again, mixing is an art itself and depends on the desired sound you have in mind. There are no rules here, just quality listening to be achieved.
The first and easiest effect is reverb. When you sing in the bathroom, when you shout in a church, this is commonly mistaken for echo. In fact, this is called reverb. Play around with the wet/ dry setting as well as the others until it sounds the way you hear it or would like it. Reverb makes a plain vocal sound bright and vibrant. It can bring back the tone of the 1960's psychedelic rock guitar. Vocals are all up in the air on how much reverb you can add before it gets too crazy, while percussion should use as little as possible as it will sound like marbles bouncing on a desk.
Pitch shifting is common if a certain piece doesn't sound just right. It can be used to appropriately shift a melody. When a singer is having a stressful vocal night or is sick on tour, live mixing can shift the bands key and allow for a lower key less stressful on the voice. Pitch shifting can be used for vocals in programs such as Melodyne to perfect the consistency of the vocal pitch. It is better that the singer have a good sense of tuning as only minor areas of a song can be fixed without losing too much authenticity. It would suck to sing a song live that was doctored in the studio. Imagine how grateful you would be for buying those $5 earplugs at a show!
Compression is as easy or as hard as it looks. It can compress your audio to even out the peaks. It can adjust louder guitar parts with softer ones to have a smooth flow. However, too much compression can give a "tin can" sound. Natural vocals should use a ratio 1.5:1 to 3:1. Of course that's not the rule, but is a good foundation to begin making adjustments. Percussion may need to be compressed WHILE recording just to avoid hitting the red as well as dynamic vocals. More compression can be added later during mixing.
Each hardware and software setup is generally the same set up. All-in-one-workstations are an excellent piece of equipment to invest in. Pro Tools for a home work station is a great software used in many studios to record, mix, edit, and manipulate with. The program is expandable with additional plug-ins. It's compatible with PCs and Macs. Guitar Center will carry most anything you need for either software or hardware setups, or both combined. If it's not in store, chances are they can order it for you.
Good luck and happy mixing!
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