Shaping Your Sound with Mixers & Mixing

8/7/2019 Shaping Your Sound with Mixers & Mixing

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Jim Honeycutt and Mike Zito Spring 2006Staples High School Westport Schools

Shaping Your Sound withMixers & MixingIntroductionThink of the mixing console as the centralmixing station. It can take inputs frommicrophones, musical instruments, taperecorders and submixers. It can route signalsback out to reverbs and taperecorders. It cansend signals to tape records and speakers. Thedesign of the console will affect how you canand will work on it. We will begin by looking at

the mixer as a switching device and take a lookat connections and pathways.

Reading the Road MapLike a reading a map, you can must be able tothink of the mixing board in the same way thatyou think about a map. It is your way tovisualize the signal path of the mixer.

Common Symbols for Bock Diagrams.

Ground Symbol

Fader or Linear Transformer

Rotary Control for volume, EQ, pan

Amplifier w trim/volume control

XLR connector

Mono Phone Jack

Stereo Phone Jack

Insert Break Phone Jack

RCA Jack

Peak Meter

Switch for Input Signal

Switch for Output Path

Modules

Bus


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Mute temporarily turn off a muted channel butdo not change the fader settings. The advantageof this is that it does not disturb the position offader . It allows you to examine the mix minusthe muted channels.

Solo turns off everything but the channels inwhich the solo button has been pushed.

Direct Out: Our mixer has direct outs. Thereis one in each channel. They allow a signal to by

pass one of the buses, avoid at least oneamplifier, and get a somewhat cleaner soundfrom that channel.

Using the below diagram, you see that you arerecording through multiple channels (4) onto arecord (A). Then during mixdown, the mixer isset to receive those multiple tracks (4) from amixer (A) and then send mix them down usuallyto two tracks (B). (See below.)

4inputshere...

Monitor and Cue MixersThe mixing board will likely have two othermixers built into it: the monitor mixer and cuemixer.

The monitor mixer is used to listen to what hasand is being recorded. So when you recordyour first tracks, it is the monitor mixer whichyou listen to. When you overdub additional

tracks, it is the monitor mixer which allows youto listen to both what has been recorded andwhat is being currently recorded. So themonitor mix is both post fader and postprocessing.

The cue mix is what the musician hears in theheadphones. You want the musician to hear bothplayback and what the musician is currentlyrecording. So the signal is taken from the tapereturns.

Meters and PeakSome peak indicators are mechanical VUmeters. You will notice that the main left andright mix on our Mackie board is displayedthrough mechanical VU meters. These metersare still popular since they are smooth and evenin their responses. Now this could be a problemsince they are slow to respond. This is

especially true when dealing with sharptransients. A cymbal strick might actually bemissed by a mechanical VU meter. Some peakindicators which are mechanical do have peaklights to help you avoid overloads. Traditionallyengineers like their mechanical meters. The newboards are increasingly using florecent or light-based meters. We use the LED displays on eachchannel.


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Now it is important to consider where a peakmeter is located. If you place the peak indicatorright after the preamp, you will be able to tell ifthe preamp is over driven before being fed intothe EQ. If you place the peak indicator after theEQ, then you will be able to tell if you haveboosted one or more frequencies too much and

are approaching distortion. It is not a good ideato have a peak indicator after the fader since itwould be very easy to lower the fader and maskan over driven preamp signal. So know whereyour meters are on the block diagram.

Some peak meters are made with LED andfluorescent meters are much more accurate thanVU meters.

Up to a point must trust your peak meters eitherVU or LED. But above all let your ears be thefinal judge.

Oscillators and Talk BackMany mixer boards have an oscillator and talkback components. The oscillator produces a test

tone from which you can adjust your equipment.The talk back section of your board allowsindividuals in the control room to talk to artistsand personnel in the recording studio.

Effects

or

Aux Bus

EQ

Side Chain Devices:

Reverb/Effects

In-line Devices:

Compressor/Limiter

Pre Pos t

LeftLeft 1

Left 2

Right 1

Right 2

Left

Right

Right


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Structure of Love AttractionThe song was recorded onto 16 tracks. Somecomponents of this recording are obsolete, butthe first fourteen tracks are still recorded in thisway.

Track 1: bassTrack 2: kick

Track 3: snareTrack 4: drums leftTrack 5: drums rightTrack 6: rhythm guitar - acousticTrack 7: rhythm guitar - electricTrack 8: power guitarTrack 9: lead guitarTrack 10: hornsTrack 11: strings - leftTrack 12: strings - rightTrack 13: saxTrack 14: lead vocalTrack 15: guard track (obsolete on digitalrecorders)Track 16: timecode (obsolete on digitalrecorders)

Rough MixA rough mix is done to all the tracks to get anidea of what you have. The panning looks likethis:

kickbass

crash & toms hihat & tomssnare

rhythm guitar rhythm guitarhornspower guitar

strings stringslead guitar

vocal

Test different mixes if you have time. Heres thepanning of a second mix we heard:

kickbass

crash & toms hihat & tomssnare

rhythm guitarhorns

power guitarstrings strings

saxvocal

It is good to get away from a recording to letyou get fresh ears. At the end of a session whenyou are done, you should normal or zero theboard. for the next session.

Set Up: The Track SheetWhen you are going to do a mix, you need thetrack sheet to tell you what instruments arefound where on the multitracf. You use a strip ofmasking tape to mark on the board what isrecorded on each track. But you do record thisinformation onto a track sheet. (I have included

a typical track sheet on the last page.)

Every recordist places instruments in a differentlocations on the recording tracks. Lubin groupssimilar instruments - all guitars, all vocals,rhythm instruments, pads, leads, etc.

Set all input channels to tape. Erase all garbagefrom the tape in places where unneeded soundshave been recorded. An example here might thetimes when a loud, electric guitar is not playingbut is humming or buzzing.

Begin with the low end. Kick and bass go first.

Followed by basic rhythm, secondaryinstruments, pads, background vocals, leadinstruments and lead vocal.

Sometimes Lubin states that he likes to beginhis mix on far field monitors to avoid theproblem of overcompensating later. He reasonsif you start loud you cant get much louder.Today we mix on near-field monitors which areaccurate at lower volumes.

Mixing the Rhythm Section:When mixing the drum machine kick, Lubin has

boosted the sound at 100k to compensate for agate which he will use later on. He patched thegate after the EQ which means that the EQsettings will affect the performance of the gate,which is what he wants.

Once the kick is done, then the bass is broughtup and set to a level that work with the kick.Then the kick is muted while the bass isengineered. Periodically, it is wise to turn thekick back on to be sure that the bass and kickwork together.

Keep the bass mono. Lubin has boosted the

bass at 200Hz and at 1500Hz (midrange) androlled off below 50Hz to get rid of rumble.

Next we bring up the snare, match again bassand kick and then solo it. EQ is then added todeal with the overly bright drum machine sound.Lubin boosted the midrange and rolled off thehighs to fatten it. He also added a gate to stop itfrom ringing into the next snare strike.

Left and right drums are added next. Crash &


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Toms are left. Hihat & Toms are right. The EQrolls off 5db above 8kHz, boosted the mids by5db at 15kHz, boosted the tom at 3ooHz,boosted it at 60 Hz and rolled off everythingabout 50Hz.

Heres what is looks like so far:kick

basscrash & toms hihat & toms

snare

Reverb is not added until the basic dry mix isdone which includes levels, EQ and panning.

Structure of the song Love AttractionIntroVerse 1ChorusIntroVerse 2ChorusIntroVerse 3ChorusOutro - Vamp

The guitars are in the left and right channels.The left is electric guitar and the right isacoustic.

After the intro, the electric guitar is panned to themiddle. The two guitars reappear at the end ofthe song.

Now you would bring in any secondaryinstruments which in this case would includedthe pads of horns and stirngs.

Adding Secondary Sustain Instruments orPadsWe begin the synth horns. In the chorus, thehorns sound more like an old organ. EQ isadded a 6db boost at 6kHz. The horns are a padand should be only present in the background.Many young mixers make the last thing thatthey bring in the loudest.

The power guitar is treated as though a horn. Itdoes not appear until the second chorus and isthere for the third.

The synth string part comes next. It sounds likean old Farfisa electric organ (listen to WooleyBooley) and has a harmonic, beating sound. SoLuban leaves it for now.There is a stereo bell part that appears on thesame tracks as the strings. Since both appear at

different times in the production, they can bothbe put onto the same track.

Setting Up ReverbLubin uses reverb for vocal, snare, and one ormore for the rest of the instruments. One shortgated reverb, one medium in length with adamped final decay, and a long reverb that is

rich and long in decay.

The snare drum is run through a SBX90 reverbthat is designed for the snare. It is a gated reverbwith fast decay.

The second AMS reverb set to small hall settingwith a fast, low frequency decay and slow highfrequency decay. This is a medium lengthreverb.

The third reverb is a EMT Plate reverb withbright, long sustain and high diffusion. Thisreverb is very good for the synth stringssection. Though it can be used for otherinstruments.

There are many ways to get the reverb back intothe board. Lubin mentions that you can use anempty channel on your mixer and this is exactlywhat we do here at Staples for the four digitaleffects devices that we possess.

Lots of effects sends and returns really helphere. But if you dont have them, you can use

spare channel, sub-ins and even a spare smallmixer.

On the snare and the kick, the gate reverb isused.

Drum overheads use the plate reverb.

Rhythm guitar use plate reverb for sustain andsmall hall reverb for warmth and earlyreflections.

The lead vocal is boosted at 3 or 4 db at 12kHz

to brighten it up . The midrange is boosted toadd body. And the signal is rolled off at 50Hz toloose the rumble. There is some 100millisecond delay through the MXR delay unit.

The sax is boosted at the high end and used acut filter at 400 Hz which removes most of thesignal below 400 Hz. There is some delay, plateand small hall reverb used as well.


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The strings need some attention. If he rolls offthe high end, the reverb may get muddy. SoLubin takes the signal to another channel, EQsit and sends only that EQed signal to the reverbto prevent the muddiness problem. The wet andthe dry signals are then blended together for thefinal mix.

Completing the MixNow we are ready to hear the whole thing. Onceyou are satisfied with levels, balance, EQs,effects, it is time to listen to with differentspeakers and at different levels. You might wantto mark the faders on an analog board if youthink you might want to change fader positionsduring the mix .

Also, it is good idea to finish an entire mix inone sitting. Dont plan on coming back unlessyou absolutely have to. If you must leave, you

need to fill out a channel diagram so that youcan set everything back to where it is supposedto be. But you may want to just start over.

Some parts need you to ride the faders in anddown. These faders should be marked at bothlocations so that you can remember the wherethey need to slide up and down to.0

You may also want to set up a cue sheet to noteall the places where you are must make these

changes. It is a good idea to set the cues by themusical passages and not by counter location.

Laying Down a Mix to TapeYou will find that it often takes many takes. Youwill find too that that there are times when youwant only part of a tape. As you go for the fadeto silence, the bass, the snare and the kick.

You should make a copy of your final mix andlisten to them on other speakers. If your mix onother speakers are to bright or too dull, then youwill need to make adjustments.


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PageMULTITRACK TAPE LOG

Album title: _____________________ Artist:________________

Recording date: __________________ Reel #________________

Song Title________________________________________________

Take # ____________ Start ____________ Stop ____________Take # ____________ Start ____________ Stop ____________Take # ____________ Start ____________ Stop ____________Take # ____________ Start ____________ Stop ____________Take # ____________ Start ____________ Stop ____________

Take # ____________ Start ____________ Stop ____________Trk/Pan/Instrument Mic Mix Level EQ Aux11_______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

2_______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

3_______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

4_______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

5_______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

6_______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

7_______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

8_______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

9_______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

10______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

11______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

12______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

13______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

14______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

15______________________|______|___________|_______|_____|

16_______________________|______|___________|_______|_____


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Shaping Your Sound with Mixers & Mixing