Oh, That Perfect Mix!!

The art of mixing has always been something of an enigma to most home based musicians. It is very much like a puzzle, which comes with a set of clever and definitive clues but no easy steps as to how it's done.

If you struggle on endlessly attempting to achieve a perfect mix of your track and never finding it, it is often hard to establish how and where you're going wrong!

How many resolute computer musicians find themselves in a similar scenario to the following?

It's Friday evening and your track has been coming together in a highly pleasing fashion for the last three hours.
You're pumped!
Really feeling the vibe, and anticipating this particular baby to hit the upload button anytime soon.
A few beers and sprints round the room prove your endurance and determination is strong and you're tweaking the track with the precision of a major heart surgeon; going over each part of your song again.... and again.... and again.....
At some point you look at your watch and holy cow! It's 6.30 am Saturday morning, and your still riding wildly high on the tweak-train.
But who cares?
You're stoked up because the track is sounding absolutely wicked!
At some nebulous point you crash into your bed fully-clothed, feeling like your brains have been through a 'full wash and spin dry' cycle ten times over.
Roll on to Sunday afternoon...
You're awake and reminded of last night's victorious bonding with Cubase!
Oh the joy!
You fall out of bed and helter-skelter down the stairs to listen to the masterpiece you've created, on your way practically blasting the cat through the wall as he circles around your legs in reference to food!
But the most important thing is that this track has been sitting patiently in your hard drive waiting to blow your mind, and you just wanna hit that....U. P. L. O. A. D .. B. U. T. T. O. N.... and unleash it to the unsuspecting world.
The moment arrives and your song loads up in a flash, despite you drowning it in every single effect plugin that was ever heard of.
And it begins.
The song bar begins to sail over each note and you feel the sore remainders of last night's adrenalin begin to kick in.
But hang on!
What's this...?
It doesn't sound ANYTHING like it did last night!
In fact, it sound's SO bad you hit the stop button and play it again.
Perhaps the plugins didn't load up properly?
Nooooooooooooooo!
The truth of the matter suddenly dawns on you and you begin to wonder how you managed to concoct such a steaming pile of manure, which you wouldn't even play at the 'Hard of Hearing Society Annual Dance'. It sounded so GOOD last night.

And this is what you get, after so much painstaking work!!
So do you stick the song into your bulging folder of uncelebrated 101 'unfinished' tracks? Or start mixing it all over again. Maybe you'll just dump it into the recycle bin!

Anything sound familiar there?
So what went wrong and where.

1. The biggest problem in this scenario is that your ears will tire alot quicker than you may notice. Small breaks and fresh air will help you gain a more accurate perspective on what you're hearing. Eight or ten hours of non-stop mixing is damaging to the ear-drum, your health, and in all likelihood your song too. No matter how exciting it is getting, stop regularly and do something totally different. Something that is not overpowering the one sense.

2. Most musicians generally prefer to work late into the night; therefore coffee is something of a pre-requisite. Although caffeine gives you a buzz and works a treat in allowing you to go on for far longer than normal, it may also drastically alter your perception. The high you feel can make your own perception of the track sound 'better' than it actually is, (hence the drastic morning-after listening effect). As caffeine is such a potent drug, bear this in mind and perhaps try limiting your mixing sessions to small and short bursts throughout the day.

3. Whether or not to mix on headphones versus speakers is another terrible dilemma. A track can sound somewhat wrong through headphones or vice versa. Generally it is never a good idea to mix your track through headphones, as you won't be receiving the most accurate reflection of your song. Base your judgement through proper monitors that will give you a true representation of your mix, however if you insist on using them or your cirumstances demand it, get the best pair possible. Headphones are okay for getting your rough ideas across, whilst allowing the rest of your family some late night peace and quiet!

4. Some of the most common mistakes made by engineers and musicians is the amount of reverb applied. It is a fact that after extensive listening, reverb simply can no longer be heard or judged accurately. Basically the more and more you listen the less 'reverby' your song begins to sound, hence the desire to keep upping the effect to compensate. We all know that reverb adds a nice deep echoing effect, but it also pushes your sound way back in the mix. However, too much reverb on your instruments will turn your song into a muddy mush.

5. The old age adage 'less is more' applies to nearly everything in life; including mixing. If your track doesn't need it, DON'T USE IT. If an effect or filter isn't prominently important in the track, discard it. Over Equalising tracks is a common problem. Gently cutting out frequencies that clash together is a far more reliable method than excessively boosting them. Think of your song inside a box and each sound occupying its own space inside that box. Whichever sound you would like to be the most prominently heard is the one that should be dead centre in the spectrum and the rest neatly panned around it. Experiment with volume levels. The general rule is to keep a main vocal and drums in the middle, but again there are many instances when even this rule has been broken effectively. Overall, if every instrument is fighting to be heard, and there is too much going on, the track begins to get muddy and the listener will tire quickly.

6. Listen to your song on many different systems as you can, keeping in mind how you want it to sound. Burn your track to CD in-between a few commercial ones similar in style, and play them successively. It's a good way to highlight what your track might be missing.

7. Get as many listeners as you can, though expect that everyone will have a different opinion on your song. If someone says it sounds 'bad', ask them to be more specific; what is bad in their opinion? (It could just be that their not into that genre). If they think the song is great, find out why they think so. It's important to know that most non-musicians will never hear the ten million tweaks you made on your song. They are more likely to just listen and either like it or not overall. Period. Another musician may be more subjective and be able to give you some pointers.

8. Tweaking your song endlessly shows your ability to be precise and patient with your work, but you can easily damage it with one small adjustment and hardly realise it. If you are tweaking your track for hours and still not happy with it, you may find that your simply trying to fix something 'unfixable' that is laid down either in the recording/arrangement stage. Save back up copies of the track so you can revert to an earlier stage of your work if all else fails.

9. A song is only as 'finished', as you want it to be. At some point you'll have to hit the red light and say, 'That is it'. Give yourself a time period of say, two days, and if the track still isn't to your liking, move on! Nothing puts off engineers more than endless listening and working on one song. By the time they have finished with it they never want to hear it again.

10. As time goes on practice may not make things perfect but you can get darn near close to producing a professional mix. If you are always in doubt hand over one of your mixes to a professional for his or her opinion; or send one in to a music magazine for their tip. The advice you gain could be invaluable.

This article is simply to give you some guidelines on how to avoid that nasty situation mentioned at the beginning, however it in no way reflects a majority rule. You may find an engineer boast about how he produces his wonderful mixes at five am, whilst high on twenty cups of coffee.

It just depends on what works for you!

There simply is no wrong or right way, but there are certain guidelines you can follow. Continuous practice and reading up as much as you can on the subject is a vital step towards your goal. Good Luck!

 

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