Revisiting: Building a Mix
by Phil Gates



How do I approach a mix?

There are many ways to think about how you're going to mix your song. Let's start with a conversation about where things go in a mix. Let's say that we're selling the vocals, along with good amounts of guitars and band.

What are Frequency Holes?

These are much like the name implies. You create a "Hole" in the conflicting frequencies, so that what you want to hear can come right on through. Example: You have a vocal track and two rhythm guitar parts going at the same time. 4.5kHz, is pretty much the edge of intelligibility on vocals. Therefore, that's a pretty pivotal mix frequency. Let's assume there's a problem with the vocals not being heard over the guitars. Yeah, I know, BIG SURPRISE! Look at that part of the mix and think: "The guitars are there to support the vocal during the verse, not fight them." I've got a couple of choices. 1) bring the guitars down in volume some, 2) cut (turn down) 4.5kHz a couple of dB on the guitars, and let the intelligibility of the vocal come through, 3) boost (turn up) 4.5kHz in the vocal track a couple of dB to help them cut through the guitars some. Or a combination of 1, 2, 3, or all of the above. Try each of these and see what happens.

How does panning help my mix?

Let's go back to the example before. The vocals and guitars seem to be at the right volumes, but again, clarity of the vocal is the problem. What happens if you try this: Put one guitar pan knob at about the 10 o' clock position (a little to the left), and the other guitar's pan knob at the 2 o'clock position (a little to the right), and the vocal still dead center (12 o'clock position). See how the vocal comes through better now that the guitars are out of the way?

These two panning positions are not the only way to do this. Try one guitar track panned hard left, the other guitar track panned hard right. Then move the pan knobs around the vocal until it feels right.

There are some typical panning settings that are often followed, but are by no means are the rule. Feel free to experiment as much as you like with panning placement. I've heard songs where the drums were panned all the way to the left side with bass and guitars on the right and vocals spread around the mix. That was a song by a small (yeah, right) band called The Beatles. Jimi Hendrix also had a few tunes in this manner. With that disclaimer stated, I'll give you some typical panning suggestions: These are from the band point of view. You can also mix where the listener is facing the band. More like they were at a concert.

Drums:

Kick-Center
Snare-Left of Center
Tom 1, 2, and 3-Spread from Left to Right 10-2 o'clock positions
Hi-Hat -A little more left of the Snare
Cymbals-A nice stereo spread like the Tom-Toms

Bass-Center
Guitar-If there's two or more spread them, but try everything!
Keys-Many times opposite of the guitars
Back-Up Vocals-Spread in stereo, or just either side of the Lead Vocal
Lead Vocal-Center

Can arrangements help the song?

The arrangement of the different musical pieces can help make things easier to mix as well. If I have the guitar chords playing in the same octave as the lead vocal, then it'll probably be harder to hear the lead vocal over the guitars. Try this: play the guitar chords either in a different octave, or at least with a different inversion of the chord. This should not only give you a cleaner mix, it should also give you greater tonal variations and colors to your mix. If the voice is softer, or the melody is higher, play lower inversions, or octaves of chords. If the voice is lower, or the melody line is lower, try lighter triads on the G, B, and E strings.

The idea is to be flexible in your song construction. This may even involve re-recording some parts to make things work, or at the time of recording, making some extra takes of tracks with different octave or inversion choices to offer a range of mixing possibilities later.

How does volume help my mix?

It would seem simple to consider volume an obvious choice to make a mix happen, but it always gets difficult when we're trying to get a good mix happening. Many times, we'll focus on the band first, getting a good mix there, THEN trying to bring the vocals over the top of the band. If that works, then fine. However, if that method brings you headaches, try this: Bring down all of the faders except the Master fader. Bring up the lead vocal so that it is big, bright, and clear. Then start bringing up the other faders of the rhythm section to bring the in the "supporting cast": drums and bass, rhythm guitars, keys then strings. You will hear when things start crowding the lead vocal. Back them down in volume some.

The mentality of this process is "Look, I know I had the vocal clear in the beginning," So if things start getting cloudy, now you can look at these things that we've talked about so far. The frequency holes, the panning, the arrangement, and the volume to see what's going to be necessary to get the best mix possible. This may come pretty quickly, within hours, or evolve over days, or sometimes weeks. It's no crime to make a rough mix, drop it to CD, and live with it for a couple of days to see what you like or hate about it. Then mix again. The more mixing techniques you try, the more you'll establish what works for you and what doesn't, which will streamline your mixing process.

Take your test song and try using these different methods for getting a good mix going. I think you'll find some real success in a few techniques.

Have fun,

Phil Gates

http://www.philgates.com
www.myspace.com/philgatesmusic