I Forgot What A B**ch It Is Mixing Songs
I'm finally back in the recording studio after like a 5 year absence and I forgot
what a bitch it is mixing songs.
My latest (6th song I've done this week) consisted of the following:
1 clavinet track
2 drum tracks (stereo)
1 Bass track
2 synth strings tracks
2 lead synth tracks
2 rhythm guitar tracks
2 lead guitar tracks
1 lead vocal track'
2 background vocals tracks
That's 15 tracks of music. Well, when I started to mix it, I noticed that
the lead vocal track was too bassy. Adding high EQ to it didn't do the
trick and it was still too buried in the mix because of the way it was
recorded. Amping it up distorted it. So I ended up having to redo the lead
vocals with more high EQ. That took care of that problem.
The one lead synth didn't have enough bite to it and was getting buried
in the mix, so I had to lower the levels of everything else. That meant
lowering ALL the levels. That ended up burying the kick drum. So I had to
do a final "dance mix" in order to get the kick to come out.
I won't get into the bitch of a time I had with the guitars because that
was just sheer hell. What helped was having each rhythm guitar panned
one quarter left and right as well as the two lead guitars. Everything was
actually recorded in stereo, including the clavinet, so that made things a
little easier. I don't know how the hell anybody did mono recordings back
in the 60s and got anything to sound right.
The simpler the songs, the easier this is, which is why I normally like to
just do simple songs like guitar, bass, drums, one keyboard track and one lead track. They mix very well. But these freaking productions are a bitch.
And this one isn't even that bad. I've done songs with over 30 tracks with
all kinds of special sound effects and crap that would make an engineer
pull his hair out of his head.
And in case anybody is wondering, I didn't go to school to learn this stuff.
It's all self taught through a lot of trial and error.
Anyway, just thought I'd share this little bit of worthless knowledge.
what a bitch it is mixing songs.
My latest (6th song I've done this week) consisted of the following:
1 clavinet track
2 drum tracks (stereo)
1 Bass track
2 synth strings tracks
2 lead synth tracks
2 rhythm guitar tracks
2 lead guitar tracks
1 lead vocal track'
2 background vocals tracks
That's 15 tracks of music. Well, when I started to mix it, I noticed that
the lead vocal track was too bassy. Adding high EQ to it didn't do the
trick and it was still too buried in the mix because of the way it was
recorded. Amping it up distorted it. So I ended up having to redo the lead
vocals with more high EQ. That took care of that problem.
The one lead synth didn't have enough bite to it and was getting buried
in the mix, so I had to lower the levels of everything else. That meant
lowering ALL the levels. That ended up burying the kick drum. So I had to
do a final "dance mix" in order to get the kick to come out.
I won't get into the bitch of a time I had with the guitars because that
was just sheer hell. What helped was having each rhythm guitar panned
one quarter left and right as well as the two lead guitars. Everything was
actually recorded in stereo, including the clavinet, so that made things a
little easier. I don't know how the hell anybody did mono recordings back
in the 60s and got anything to sound right.
The simpler the songs, the easier this is, which is why I normally like to
just do simple songs like guitar, bass, drums, one keyboard track and one lead track. They mix very well. But these freaking productions are a bitch.
And this one isn't even that bad. I've done songs with over 30 tracks with
all kinds of special sound effects and crap that would make an engineer
pull his hair out of his head.
And in case anybody is wondering, I didn't go to school to learn this stuff.
It's all self taught through a lot of trial and error.
Anyway, just thought I'd share this little bit of worthless knowledge.
