Basics of Mixing Audio

Mixing Music is like making a dish in the kitchen. You have all the ingredients available to you but you need have an understanding of the combination and the amount that will make up a good dish. Similarly, while mixing music you have all the tools but you need to make decisions on what, when and how should use it. Mixing takes years of hardwork and practice. It is both technical as well as a creative process that makes a song interesting to the listener.

let us now understand the basics of mixing audio -

1. Level

Level/volume should be the foundation of a mix. It is the first but most important step of the mixing process. It determines the relationship between tracks. An ideal way is to usually start with the kick and then slowly blend in the other elements of the drums for a balanced mix. Then, add bass and make its relation with the kick as Smooth as possible because the low end tend to get clouded if not balanced/mixed properly. Then bring the lead or the vocals of your song.

Levelling is the foundation but it doesn't mean that you have to stop doing your thing. You will likely need volume automation or automations in general throughout the arrangement to make it sound new and not boring to the ear.

2. Panning

To give an instrument its distinct place in the mix, you have to use panning or auto panning plugins to place these instruments throughout the stereo field. However, if you are recording drums make sure to record the overheads in stereo so the post production work is minimised.

Panning is also used creatively to make a certain element big or wide in the mix. For example, if you are making trance music and you want to make them pads sound big and wide all you have to do is make sure they're not stacked on top of each other. Panning the layers left or right in the stereo field can make that main layer or melody big and wide.

3. Dynamic Processing

Every sound that we ever listen to has a volume envelope. It means that it will have the soft parts and the loud ones. Sometimes, if this difference between these parts called the dynamic range is too much it is annoying to the ear. Therefore, a compressor is used to control the volume envelope of this sound. However, there are other dynamic processors such as limiters, noise gates, de-essers, etc that can help shape a sound and also smooth out the peaks of the incoming signal.

After you're done with level and panning, it is ideal to then use dynamic processing. Moreover, there is one particular kind of dynamic processor that you're most likely to use throughout your mix which is the compressor and understanding how it works and sounds is very essential. It can help in achieving an average loudness level by reducing the dynamic range of the whole mix bus.

4. Equalisation

EQ is one of the best tool an engineer can have. It helps in adding or cutting frequencies that the engineer wants. Therefore, giving the engineer the full control over a sound.

General rule of thumb while EQuing:

1. If the mix sounds muddy, cut somewhere between 250 Hz.

2. If it sounds honky, try cutting somewhere at 500 Hz( +1 Octave)

3. To make an element sound better, cut undesirable frequencies from it.

4. To make an element sound different, boost frequencies.

5. Do not try to boost a certain frequency that doesn't exist in a sound

5. Time Based Effects

This is one of those steps where you can use your creativity to its maximum level.

Reverbs and Delays are probably the most common time based effects. Using these two effects can add excitement to a song, can add depth and dimension and can be used to push a sound further away in the mix or the stereo field.

These effects can make a sound big and impactful. You can try automating certain parameters of the Reverb and Delay plugins to achieve a sense of tension and release for more excitement.

Moreover, it is ideal to use these effect on an Auxiliary track to minimise CPU usage and loosing the dry sound.

References

McAllister M.(2018). How to Mix Music Using 5 Simple Elements. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://producelikeapro.com/blog/mix-music-5-simple-elements/