Cake Mix
Making a good audio mix down before mastering.
Mastering is the very last stage in the audio production industry, it can be the icing on the cake for a musical production. However many people seem to be confused to what mastering is and is not capable of doing so this text will offer clarification. Mixing is a very important stage in mastering, I am going to use the example of a rock band to give pointers on the important of a good mix down. I will also assume that the mix will be made inside a digital audio workstation (computer) and not a large scale analog console. So firstly I suggest taking one of the most peaky instruments such as the kick drum or snare. This percussive element will provide a reference that the mix can be balanced against. So first peak your kick drum to -14dBFS on the channel meter. Do not try and adjust this level during the course of the mixing. It is also important to make sure your software workstation is set to 24 bit operation. So now you can start to balance other elements of the audio mix so you will be bringing in the other drums such as tom toms, over head microphones, hi hat microphone, bass, guitar tracks and vocals. When you start to mix you may find that some of the drums are uneven in level and you might want to make them a little more punchy by adding some compression. Also consider the tone of each instrument, maybe adding some equalization to bring the snare out nice and punchy. The kick drum might sound a little muffled so you could equalize out some 300Hz or thereabouts. The guitar sounds have hopefully been recorded using a technique called “double tracking”, this means you can double up the guitars and pan them left and right to make a thicker and richer sound.
Mixing is All About balance, dynamics and keeping the power of the music when the song reaches any point of crescendo. This keeps the emotional swing in the music in place and will excite the listeners when they hear the record. When you mix always consider if any element is too loud or too quiet in the mix and use the faders on the mixer to bring more or less of that musical instrument into focus.
Mixing is great fun but it is also very hard work to get a perfect mix down, this is why in mastering I often hear mixes that have not been optimized. Many people think in mastering it is possible to correct issues such as, a vocal that is too quiet, a kick drum that is too quiet or a synthesizer that is too loud in the mix down. Very small changes can be made in mastering but one has to remember that mastering is like adding the final gloss of shiny paint to a factory fresh car. The mastering engineer is somewhat limited by a 2 track master as there is not the same level of flexibility as the multi track mix down. Mastering can certainly enhance the overall mix and add quality and value but it will not be able to improve big mix problems. Mixing is very important and there should not be an attitude of leaving aspects for the mastering as they can often be rectified with ease during the mix down. If you are unsure you can always send your mix to a mastering engineer who does a free mix appraisal. As long as the mastering is definitely proceeding this service is sometimes offered. Make sure your mix is as best as it possible can be before sending it for music mastering.
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