Mixing tips and tricks

Some really useful tips for mixdown. I can’t say that I came up with this knowledge entirely by myself, but I want to spread the words. Be aware: This post is a blend of highly professional tips mentioned by seasoned sound engineers and studio veterans, and my own humble “trial-and-error” amateur  thoughts..

1. Less is more. Don’t over process your tracks with tons of effects.
2. Use panning to balance tracks and instruments. They can’t all fit into the center.
3. Speakers or headphones? Some say you should never do mixing with headphones. I agree and disagree – speakers allow for more dynamics, but if your hunting for small things and precise adjustments, headphones might be better. And don’t forget, people will (hopefully) listen to your music using headphones.
4. Calibrate. Listen to some professionally produced music (mp3′s, Spotify, iTunes..) in your studio with your studio monitors. This will give you a hint what a perfect mix will sound like in your studio, and you can compare with your own recordings.
5. EQ and frequencies. Don’t let all instruments fight over the same frequency space. To separate two instruments and let them work together, you may adjust EQ and let one reside on the bassy side and one on the treble side.
6. Use reverb only where it’s needed. Bass usually can live without reverb. On drums, it’s best to spread out the kit over several channels and use reverb only on toms and snare (that’s my opinion). Vocals and guitar should have reverb, synths and strings usually not.
7. Use buses and setup one track with only a reverb FX (100% wet). Route other channels to the reverb track to add reverb. All tracks will have the same reverb type (no reverb mess!) and you save a lot (I mean a lot!) on CPU.
8. Delay can be a perfect substitute for reverb, especially on guitar lead stuff.
9. Rest your ears, and the rest of you as well. Take a break and do something else. Your ears and brain can go numb after a few hours of mixing, and you get stuck with details that don’t matter.
10. Save mixing samples (mp3, wav, to tape..whatever) and listen at work, at school, on the bus…etc. Listen, think, and make notes. Start each mixing session with reading your notes. www.evernote.com provides a great tool for managing notes.
11. Don’t overdo compression. It might give a professional sound and even out the sound, but it’s easy to overdo and kill all dynamics and end up with a totally flat sound. If you are afraid of sudden increases in dB and only want a maximum headroom, use a…
12. ..Brick wall limiter. Be careful to not overdo. Keep an eye on how often you reach volume peaks, and how much the limiter holds back the volume.

And please remember my two rules:

1. There are no rules.
2. If you find a rule, break it. There’s a good chance you’ll end up with stuff like “wisdom” and “progress”..