MIX LIKE A PRO
Jan 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Doug Eisengrein
Here's a typical scenario: You've been producing tracks for a while now. You've brewed the pots of coffee at midnight, you've put the hours in learning your gear, and you've experimented and found what works — and what doesn't. You've played your tracks for your friends and gotten some good feedback, and maybe you've had a few DJs play your tracks out. But no matter how much time you've racked up in the studio, you're still not satisfied with your mixes, especially when you play them up against some polished tracks by other artists. Does the exclamation, “Where does he get his kick drums?!” sound familiar? How can you get your mixes to sound that good? You know what I'm talking about — the kind with the bass that rumbles your lower abdomen, hi-hats that cut through with razor sharpness and a mix where every element is as clear as the sky on a cloudless day. How do you turn out mixes like that? Let's investigate.
COME ON, YOU SLAGS!
Regardless of genre or choice of sounds, getting your mixes to be spot on takes patience. For starters, EQ can be your best friend. And I'm not talking about tweaking an EQ on the final mix. I'm talking about bona fide channel EQs placed on many, if not all, of your tracks. For example, if your drums are mixed separately, that is, kick on one track, snare on another, etc., then the kick should have its own EQ, the snare its own, and so on. When the source material is really good, you might need to fuss a little bit less with this — but just a little.
Every major multitrack program out there from Pro Tools to Logic to Live to Reason has some form of EQ built in, if not a few to choose from. I personally prefer to work with a multi-band parametric. Although you can make any rough mix better with just about any EQ, I recommend using at least a basic parametric, particularly one with an adjustable Q setting. Why? Because as important as it is to make each track clear on its own, each will occupy a certain range of frequency real estate. Each sound needs to sit well next to the others as they compose the entire picture. If too many sounds occupy a given frequency range, then the entire mix can sound fuzzy, and at worst, certain elements may begin to disappear as the sounds jockey for sonic space. Therefore, as you apply EQ, you need to listen carefully to each sound and determine where it lives in the frequency band. Then, try to isolate and bring out the best-sounding frequencies, while you avoid accentuating the exact same frequencies of other elements sitting in the mix. Using a Q control, you can stretch out or narrow down the width of each sound across surrounding frequencies. You may not accentuate the exact frequencies you want in every case, so you have to determine which are most important to the overall picture and where you can compromise and still feel satisfied in the end.
COMPRESSION AND PAN POWER
An extension to this in terms of isolating elements — to make them stand out or just sit comfortably in the stereo (or surround) space — is panning. Some of the best examples of this can be found in studio jazz recordings. Often, you will find hi-hats panned hard left or right, snare panned partially in the same direction, bass holding down the center, electric guitar panned to the right or left, and so on. For excellent examples, listen to any of the Steely Dan records mixed by their genius engineer, Roger Nichols. By carefully panning elements, you not only breathe a live, three-dimensional feel into your music, but you can effectively avoid some of the frequency overlap traps. I love to go nuts experimenting with this, but in some ways, I can be a traditionalist, too. The most important elements, such as kick drum, bass and pads go right down the middle, while various accent elements take advantage of the pan pot.
Also similar to the EQ approach is compressing individual tracks. Here, I advise a more cautious approach; compression can be a great thing to fatten up certain elements, but remember that even if you don't use compression on your final mix, it will likely get used in the mastering process, and over-compressing things leaves mixes sounding flat and lifeless. This can be a matter of trial and error. In my productions, compression can end up anywhere but is typically found on the major elements — often, the same ones that are panned center. These include bass, kick drum, leads, hi-hat, snare and sometimes pads. If you have a multi-band compressor, I highly recommend using it, as you can compress just the frequencies that you want to bring out, leaving the rest of the sonic space open for other sounds.
EXTRA LARGE LAYERS
While all of the aforementioned might seem obvious, what may not be as obvious is the use of layered sounds. Listen to seasoned producers, and many will tell you that their kick drum is not just a kick drum. It is more likely kick drums, plural. Sure, 808 or 909 kicks are fat in their own right, but a sure way to a monster kick can be layering the two — along with three or four others! This can be done with many elements, including basses, synth lines or just about any drum sound. What is important, however, is how the individual samples are trimmed. If, for example, one kick drum has too much silent space in the beginning, it won't line up well with the others, resulting in sonic mud or a flam. Some microsurgery performed on your sample collection may be in order if you want to layer sounds, but the extra effort is definitely worth it.
Although there are many other approaches, these are some of the most fundamental and effective that I have found to produce good, clean, bold mixes. The best advice I have is to converse with your fellow producers as much as possible and see what else they do. Don't be shy; knowledge is power. Also, read interviews with successful acts, even ones whose music you dislike. If they are successful, they are doing something right, no matter how cheesy their music might seem.
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