Mixing music well is not an easy task, but it is necessary. A well-mixed composition sounds the same both on the built-in laptop speakers and on professional audio equipment. A few practical tips will allow a beginner to get comfortable with this lesson and competently mix the recorded tracks.
It is necessary
Make your workplace comfortable. A computer (better than a Mac), a sound card (at least an inexpensive M-Audio), monitors (at worst, speakers) and the process has begun. Professional software for mixing: Pro Tools, Logic, Cubace. They also need a bunch of plugins: compressors, equalizers, echoes and delays. Put them up
Instructions
Step 1
It is important to understand what kind of sound you want to achieve in the end. Downmixing depends on the “format” of the recorded music. Rock has its own specifics, dance music has its own. For music unlike anything else, you will have to come up with an original sound. There are two concepts in mixing: premastering and mastering. The first stage is mixing. The second stage, no less necessary, is the “mastering” of the mixed composition.
Step 2
Create a session in the program. Open the recorded tracks in it. And above all, figure out the required volume balance of the instruments. Also check the overall dynamics of the composition. Make sure there are no "flaws" in the recording - clicks, "clips". If they are present, it is necessary to either cut them out or extinguish them with compressors.
Step 3
An important point is frequency equalization. To keep the instruments and the voice from interfering with each other, you need to work with the equalizer. The parties should not interrupt each other in frequency. Therefore, it is worth cutting out unnecessary frequencies from the instruments, leaving them with those that are necessary. Those. to make room for the bass, it is worth cutting the lower frequencies in other tracks. Sometimes, in order for the vocals to be read, it is necessary to cut the low frequencies in it, to make it narrower in frequency response, but more capacious and bright for the ears. The equalizer also removes unnecessary noise from the tracks.
Step 4
If there are drums, start working with them. And then move on to other tools.
Use the compressors to both amplify the signal and make parts sound smoother, more even without sudden changes in volume.
Step 5
Working with space is not an easy task. Do not be wise. Ideal: hang a single space for all tracks. Typically, reverbs are not hung on the track itself, but on the aux, and mixed with a mixer to the main signal. Be careful with the panorama handle as well. Make sure to maintain balance in your ears. The drums are perhaps best left in the center, and with the guitar there may be different options. Several vocal tracks can be panned: one can be put into the right ear, the other into the left.
Step 6
Achieve consistency across all instruments. Do not "smear" the useful signal in vain. On the contrary, identify it and use it.
It is better to listen to the mixed version on different speakers, on an old tape recorder. If it sounds equally good everywhere, then you have achieved an excellent result.
