| |
Mixing
seems to be one of the least understood
of studio tricks. Technine sheds
some light on the subject by sharing
his own method of stereo mixing
as well as a few simple rules to
follow for achieving a tight mix. |
Generally
I've noticed that few people have mastered
the art of mixing. Mixing is the process
by which the individual sounds of a
recording are blended together to create
a balanced stereo master. Ideally a
good mix should highlight the performance
while creating an interesting, spacious
sound. However, all too often most mixes
seem to degenerate into a morass of
audio muck as multiple instruments fight
for the listener's attention. Over the
years I've created my own method for
mixing that I would like to share.
One of the first things to understand
about mixing is that your end result
should be to produce a BALANCED
and SPACIOUS mix. In layman's
terms this means that the volume levels
of the instruments should be blended
together and highlight the important
parts of the song—also, parts should
not jump unexpectedly out of a mix at
the listener; a spacious mix means that
the recording takes full advantage of
the stereo spectrum, without becoming
distracting or too gimmicky. To better
serve these end goals I have designed
a system and a series of rules that
help me keep my focus on achieving a
good mix.
My
first piece of advice for mixing is
this: SAVE REVERB FOR LAST. Only
after you have set relative location
and volume levels should you reach for
the reverb controls. Avoid this temptation.
Try to create the biggest and fattest
mix you can dry and without reverb.
The last step in my personal mixing
process is adding reverb. When we get
further into the "Meeker Method"
you'll see why reverb is saved for the
last element of mixing.
When
I mix I don't think in terms of volume
or panning, instead I think about DISTANCE
and LOCATION from the listener.
By visualizing where and how far
an instrument is located to the audience
I build a mental picture of how the
mix should be. To assist myself in mixing
I have created a handy diagram that
details the audience's perception:
Think
of this diagram as a representation
of the stereo space you are going to
occupy. Horizontally the diagram represents
stereo location, while the vertical
axis is the distance away from
the listener. Imagine the blue dot in
the center is your listener and the
white area around him to be "in
his face"; the lighter section
around the audience is a proximity
zone that is very close to them.
The middle line represents the absolute
center of your mix, the white lines
branching from the center line represent
50% panning levels to the right
or left, and the sides represents the
far right or left of your mix.
The
general stereo visualization
breaks out as follows:
The
purpose of this diagram is to organize
your mix by placing the different tracks
and instruments in your mix in relation
to how they are positioned to your audience.
More important instruments should be
placed closer to the listener, background
tracks should be made more distant;
likewise, you can place tracks either
to the right or left of the listener
as you see fit.
Another
way to look at this diagram is by the
amount of distance from the audience.
Generally the further away from the
blue dot, the further away the sound
source is from the listener. Distance
is detailed on the diagram below:
In
developing my method I came up with
a number of rules that better help to
achieve a balanced mix. While these
rules are good guidelines they don't
hold true in ALL circumstance... just
most. If you break any of these rules
when mixing make sure that you are consciously
doing so as they normally apply in ordinary
situations. These
rules are:
Rule
1.) 75% OF MIX WITHIN 50/50 BOUNDRIES
The first rule is that 75% of your mix
should remain within the 50% percent
left/right boundries for stereo panning.
The best mixes usually don't involve
large amounts of instruments panned
hard left or right—generally professional
sounding mixes gently utilize the stereo
space and reserve only a few distinct
sounds to emerge from the extreme stereo
spectrum. To keep your mix sounding
tight limit the amount of excessive
panning.
Likewise,
it is extremely dull to listen to a
recording that is almost monophonic
in sound; while 75% of your mix should
fall within the 50/50 boundry only about
half of your sounds within that boundry
should be directly in the center. In
fact, only the main vocal, bass, kick
drum and snare should be in the absolute
center of your mix. Avoid placing too
many instruments in the center. Stereo
pan them but keep them mainly within
the 50/50 borders of the mix.
Don't
forget: when you give a track the center
you are giving it the CENTER OF THE
LISTENER'S ATTENTION. Only place
dominant and highlight instruments and
sounds in this region. Everything else
should be slightly off-center to some
degree.
Rule
2.) 50% OF MIX UP CLOSE
When mixing a track keep
in mind the dominant or important aspects
of the song and keep them within the
proximity zone of the listener. Generally
I find that about 50% of your tracks
should be someplace within the proximity
zone of the audience, including the
far left and right proximity zones.
Make
sure that the instruments within the
proximity zone are the important parts
of the song such as the main vocal,
lead instruments, kick and snare drums,
and any other feature that you want
to be very prominent in the mix.
Another
helpful idea to keep in mind is that
no two tracks in the proximity zone
should be at the same relative volume.
Try to create a list of most important
to least important instruments within
the proximity zone and scale the loudness
on them so that none are fighting in
level; in other words, don't have two
tracks at the same volume level. There
should be an order from loudest (most
important) to softest (least important)
tracks within the proximity zone and
they should be mixed accordingly.
A
final note on the proximity zone: there
is a space very, very close to the audience
that I like to refer to as being "in
their face." Instruments that are
"in the face" are the most
dominant features of the track; generally
a track should not have more than a
single "in your face" element
active at any time. Generally this will
be the vocal, but in some musical styles
a dominant melody or instrument solo
will temporarily take this position.
Keep in mind that only a single track
should be this close to the listener
at any time! Also, be careful when putting
tracks in the audience's face at extreme
left or right pannings... as they can
sound unnatural; normally restrict these
to about 75% maximum panning either
left or right.
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Rule
3.) STEREO BALANCE NO MORE THAN 60/40
RATIO
Another aspect of a good
mix is to achieve stereo balance, which
means that neither the left or right
side "outweighs" the other.
As a general rule no one side should
occupy more than 60% of the audible
tracks at any given moment unless you
are deliberately attempting to create
an unnatural effect.
When
placing instruments keep in mind that
the distance to the listener
will affect how heavily a side is weighted.
Thus if instruments are equally distributed
among the left and right sides, but
the levels on the right side are dramatically
more the mix will sound off-balance.
Either adjust your levels or move some
of the elements closer to the center
to balance out the mix.
Rules
4 & 5.) LEVELS EQUAL DISTANCE
As a rule of thumb the louder
a track is in your mix the closer it
will appear to your listener; likewise,
the softer a track is the further away
from the listener it will sound. Generally
tracks should be assigned a distance
to or from the audience based on how
important the instruments or sounds
are, or their direct spatial distance
from the listener.
By
carefully controlling the apparent distance
to the listener your mix will achieve
not only a stereo ambience but depth.
When mixing always think in three dimensional
terms—not just left and right.
Rule
6.) DISTANCE DETERMINES REVERB AMOUNT
Okay, if you've been listening
to me you will have saved putting on
your reverberation for last. This rule
is heavily related to rule number five
and deals with creating depth in your
mix, and is rooted in how the human
ear percieves sound and judges distance.
Generally
you want to put MORE REVERB on
tracks that are further away from your
audience as this is how we percieve
our environment. Similarly, you will
want to put less or no reverb on
elements that are close to the audience.
At first this may seem contrary to most
people's mixing habits but there is
a good reason for approaching your mix
this way.
Imagine
if I were yelling directly in your ear
(i.e. I was "in your face");
would you hear any reverb? No, you probably
wouldn't hear any reverb at all. Now
if I were yelling at you from twenty
or thirty feet away you would hear reverb.
Hence the rule:
DISTANCE
DETERMINES REVERB AMOUNT
The
closer a track is the less reverb it
gets. Elements within the proximity
zone should only recieve no more than
a 7% wet mix. Keep your important tracks
and instruments as dry as possible—especially
if they are "in the audience's
face."
"Now
wait a minute!" you say, "won't
my mix sound flat and boring without
tons of reverb on the lead vocals or
dominant instrument?" Sure
they would, if you didn't add reverb
to your OTHER INSTRUMENTS AND TRACKS.
Remember: a mix does not just consist
of your lead vocal or instrument but
a collection of many different tracks
and sounds blended together. Add the
reverb to your more distant (quieter)
tracks and you will begin to build a
deep, wide foundation that your lead
vocal can sit on top of. Your mix will
sound spacious and the lead vocal will
stay focused (because it isn't reverberated
to hell and back).
Remember
your backing tracks are there to support
the dominant instruments. They are the
foundation for your main tracks that
will grab your audience's attention.
Reverb softens things and diffuses them...
why would you want to do this to your
feature tracks or vocal?
I'm
not saying run your vocal or lead instruments
totally dry, you can add some
reverb to them, but generally I would
keep it under 7%... just enough that
the edge is slightly taken off and the
voice will blend with the more reverberated
background music.
Keep
in mind the rule: tracks further from
the listener get more reverb;
tracks closer to the audience get less
reverb.
Rule
7.) PANNED SOUNDS LOSE VOLUME
The final rule deals with
the fact that the further you pan a
sound from the center the less volume
it will have in your overall mix. Extreme
stereo panning either hard right or
left can reduce the apparent loudness
by as much as 3 decibels. Keep this
in mind when you are mixing that occasionally
elements at extreme panning ranges may
have to be increased in volume a notch
to become better audible.
Do
not automatically boost the volume on
extremely panned tracks. Only boost
if they become too inaudible to be heard.
The loss of volume for extreme right
or left tracks is natural sounding and
should be expected!
Okay
now that we have my boring rules out
of the way let's move on to the application
of these ideas by looking at a sample
mix. All of the instruments and tracks
have been color-coded and placed in
relation to the audience by location
and distance.
Notice
how approximately half of the mix occurs
within the proximity zone of
the listener? These elements, the vocal,
kick drum, snare drum and bass, are
deemed the most important elements of
the song and thus occupy both the center
of the stereo spectrum as well as are
within the proximity zone. Notice how
the closest track is the vocals, located
'in the audience's face' as it normally
does.
Take
note of the stereo spread of
the mix; approximately 75% of the mix
falls within the 50/50 panning zones
like they should. Only a few toms and
crash cymbals are placed in the far
audio regions.
Later
when adding reverb it will be a cinch
to determine which sounds will get more
reverberation than others. The final
result will be an organized, balanced,
spacious and effective mix.
The
above example shows how using the "Meeker
Mixing Diagram" can allow you to
quickly balance out your mix, rate the
tracks for their importance, and allow
you to keep your priorities straight
when mixing a song.
Until
next time.
James Meeker
