Mixing and EQ

Post Reply New Topic

Anyone have any experience recording, mixing and EQ?

I've been writing my own electronic music for a while, but before I focused more the composing and writing side of things. I've gotten to a point where I'm pretty happy with what I've produced... but now I'm trying to tackle mixing and EQ and the more I guess ethereal side of music production.

It's so hard to find good information about this, because it's kind of specific to each individual piece. And my attitudes to what sounds good seems to change everyday. One day I like the drums right in front, then I what them behind the scenes. Sometimes I want bass that's right in my face... but then I go to listen and I find the bass too boomy when I really turn it up.

In order to hear clarity in each part of the mix I've tended to emphasize high frequencies... but then it seems I've lost the 'body' of the music. It sounds like a bunch of twinkly sounds, which come right through... but the foundation is missing. Which I guess makes sense... but I want some of that clarity too.

Anyone have a good chart/info of the frequencies to emphasize for certain types of sounds/role in the mix? I make instrumental/"video game" sounding music, with lots of little things going on... and I tend to use a lot of soft passages mixed with louder ones... which seems to make EQ for the whole song more difficult.

Have any adventures in EQing to tell? I'd like to hear em...

Two things you really need - good sequencing program, and just as if not more important - good reference monitors. For starter monitors, you could go with a smaller pair of KRK's, their a good budget purchase. That way, if you have flat enough speakers to mix your sounds down on you'll also have an end result that sounds very similar on every set of speakers rather than sounding great on the speakers you mixed it all down on and having cats scratching down the door when you play them on another system.

I have the KRK Rokit 5's and I'm using Logic Express 7 as my sequencing program.

I do a lot of my composing and writing away from home, with Sennheiser PX 100 headphones. I'm guessing these headphones color the sound a bit too much for proper mixing...

Do you treat the writing and mixing as one and the same or separate the two, and start mixing when you are good and satisfied with the overall piece you've made... just to give it that extra polish?

Truthfully you pay attention to both a bit at the same time. I know anytime I was working on a tune and trying to think of new sounds to add or new directions to go in I was always trying to figure out how I wanted it mixed, leveled, because that much of the process plays a lot with the mood that comes out as an end result. You could have a very major scale happy sounding tune that ends up sounding that way or ends up having sort of a seared/hardened undercurrent just by how you arrange the loudness of the sounds or EQing - that and tweeking the EQ and levels also leads you sometimes down different creative roads in what you decide you can get out of the loops your starting with. I like a lot of exotic concepts and emotions (I know, probably still needs some work) in my production and to get that it seems like its about figuring out what sort of tone I want to set and just expanding on it from there.

Hey Pugly,

It's very cool to run across someone doing similar stuff to me. I used to do video game music when I was younger, although nothing professional, it was more for practice plus it was and still is IMO an awesome medium for musical composition and production.

This chart here may help you:
[Sorry I can't post URLs because I'm a new account I'll PM them to you]

As far as mixing goes, I'm no expert, but I do remember my music mentor/teacher shared recommended that I listen to my mix in different locations than just my studio monitors. He recommended the car especially as a large portion of music listening by your average consumer is done in their car. I've also found out that headphones are a good idea too (since everyone seems to have an iPod these days).

As far as whether or not to treat the mixing and writing process as the same or separate processes, I think techstepgenr8tion made a very good point, as I think improving the mix before deciding on what part you want to add next can certainly be very helpful. I would also recommend though to listen to your heart/instinct and if you have a lot of creativity coming out all of the sudden (perhaps you hear a drum rhythm and the chord progression and melody all in your head and you want to get all of them down at the same time), it might behoove you to lay down all of the various instrumental parts first, before mixing and adding effects like EQ, compression, reverb, etc. Another thought that just came to mind are "rhythmic effects" like delay. Since delay can certain change the rhythmic feel of your song, that's another thing to be aware of when deciding whether or not to add delay before continuing the composition (and immediate recording thereof) process or not.

Lastly, in addition to having good studio monitors, make sure that they're producing the most accurate mix they can. My understanding is that if your monitors are close to a wall or corners, it will increase your perceived bass response, most monitors have ways to attenuate or boost frequencies, and really high end ones like those amazing JBLs even do it for you! You can also buy some acoustic foam designed to sit beneath monitors and stop them from rattling things around you (they cost $30-$50 in Guitar Center) and can help you make an accurate mix.

I hope that or some of that was helpful.

Take care,

I use a program called Adobe Audition to record and edit my music. It seems to be pretty advanced, but I am far from a expert on this subject.
I have a old version, here is there latest version,
http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/

Generally a good rule of thumb is that you should avoid using EQ boost and focus on using cut EQ. The idea is to have a mix that is flat and accurate as possible, IE, each source represented as accurately as possible.

If you're mic'ing, this means that all trim inputs should be set slightly under the point that the clip indicators flashes. Secondly, when mic'ing a source, pay attention to the pickup pattern(s) of your microphones, as well as the frequency response curve of the microphones that you use on your source. --In theory, the less corrective EQ that you use in tracking, the better, as the corrective EQ artifacts will show up later on in the form of phase cancellation and comb filtering across certain frequencies. --This will cause source material to sit badly in the mix. --If you need to use corrective EQ in tracking, again use cut EQ, with the stipulation that the less you have to use, the better off you will be.

Whn using EQ, pay attention to the inherant frequency range of each instrument, and generally EQ within the range of that particular instrument, focusing only on removing the frequencies that are unpleasant. Some instuments, like keyboards/synthesisers can be problematic because of the exceptionally wide frequency ranges that they produce, so it would be best to track/EQ differant voicings separately.

When Mixing down your tracks, EQ your subgroups instead of individual tracks. You can do some additive EQ here, but it's best to continue to use subtractive EQ, This will also keep further comb filtering and phase cancellation to a minimum, and allow you to assign spacial ambiance for groups of instruments when used in conjunction with reverberation.

Also, pay attention to the amount of compression and effects that are used. Compress only to limit signal clipping, or to add effect. I like to use a minimal amount of reverb on backline instruments and keep vocals dry. This will slightly blur the transient attack of drums, as well as add a sense of space/ambiance to other backline instruments like guitars, bass and keyboards. Very little reverb is needed to do this, and if your reverb signal is overly 'wet', then it is overused, and your mix will sound like bad 80's pop.

well, I cerntainly feel stooopid now...

I used to compose using actual instruments on a 4-channel (later 8-channel) tape machine. One trick I used was to make sure I had instruments for each range of the spectrum; from lows to highs. Having too many voices on the same part of the keyboard, etc., tends to get mushy.

That, and always do the drums (or a click track ) first...otherwwwiiisssseee iittt gettttssss ssssslllowww...

Hello, "Pugly".

I've mixed some stuff at college (McNally Smith College of Music in Saint Paul, MN). They have some nice analog/digital facilities. Otherwise I mix at home.

If you're concerned about any boosted frequencies in the EQ getting in the way, try patching a compressor in after the EQ. If you want to emphasize the attack of the compressor, but want some tracks to stand out more over others (i.e.: a vocal) try placing the EQ after the compressor.


(Will post more info shortly...)

Thanks,
-Bernard "Berns"