Top 5 Tips For a Better Final Mix

How To Not Destroy Good Recording Takes In The Mixing

Stage

In my opinion, tracking music in an

audio recording studio is the easy part. Assuming the setup is desirable, the session is considered a success as long as the musicians perform as intended.

Tracking

Mixing can be much more laborious than

tracking. All the separately recorded tracks have to be mixed together into one stereo track. Finding the ideal spot for each track to sit in the mix can be a huge challenge. It takes an extreme amount of skill and patience.

Here are 5 things that can help you achieve a successful final mix.

Mixing

Accurate monitors need a good sounding room to accurately capture.

Build-up of bass rumble in corners can create a muddy low-end response. Build-up of high frequencies can create a very harsh sound.

Reflection points need to be treated to prevent cancellation of sound waves. This can result in sudden peaks and dips in the frequency spectrum.

Measure the room with a good condenser mic and room measurement software. Treat the room with bass traps and broadband absorbers. The recording space will be much improved.

Acoustic Treatment

This goes along with the acoustic

treatment process. You need the monitors placed correctly to avoid reflection problems that can cause peaks and dips in the frequency range.

Monitor Placement

Ear fatigue can set in quickly when

obsessing over a mix. Take frequent breaks to rest your ears. Otherwise, you will end up over-compensating for certain frequencies. And when you return to your mix the next day, after a night of rest, you will hear a completely different mix than you thought you had achieved.

Rest

Nothing kills an audio recording mix faster

than too much of one thing. Compression and EQ sit at the top of my list of things that need to be watched closely. Both need to be used very sparingly, only as needed. Nothing sounds worse than an audio recording that sounds squashed and thin due to overly used compression and EQ. There are no ways around this. Do not learn the hard way like I did.

Less Is More

Rarely do I apply compression to a track

without having the original dry track along with it. Being able to control the balance of compressed and dry signal is key for me. I’m not guaranteeing it will work for everyone, but it has made my mixes sound much larger, without a squashed sound.

Parallel Compression

Try these 5 things in the mixing stage.

They will save you many trips back and forth to your car when testing your final audio recording mix.

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