The EM Poll

Electronic Euphoria

Feb 1, 1999 12:00 AM, By Jeff Casey

           

Building a powerhouse mix with electronic instruments.

This article originally appeared in the February 1999 issue of Electronic Musician.

The evolution of electronic musical instruments is undoubtedly the most important advance in music-technology in the past 30 years. The computer revolution has certainly been groundbreaking, but the rise of synthesizers in fact helped initiate the early use of computers in the personal studio. When synths hit the streets, the industry was introduced not only to a new kind of instrument but to an entirely new process of creating sounds.

We were no longer limited to the acoustic and electric instruments we and our friends could play; with practice, we could emulate a wide range of instruments using synths and samplers controlled with our favorite keyboard (and later, a variety of MIDI controllers). Our dependence on hired guns, although not eliminated, was reduced. Best of all, we could even create sounds that didn’t exist in the natural world. It took a while for mainstream studios to get the idea, but eventually synths and samplers became essential tools for many types of music production.

Working with electronic sounds has become an art form all its own. Combining synths and samplers to create a mix can be quite different from mixing acoustic instruments, and it can be just as tricky. Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to create a successful mix of electronic musical instruments.

Some Remain the Same

Whether you’re working with acoustic or electronic tracks (or a combination of both), some principles of mixing apply across the board. There are six essential rules that I adhere to in any mixing situation. No matter how great a mixmaster you think you are, if you ignore these basic principles, your end product will suffer. So, let’s run them down quickly.

FIG. 1: By conceptualizing the mix as a three-dimensional stage where the vertical axis represents frequency response, you can graph the soundstage from the front or above and see the frequency/ pan position or volume/pan position, respectively. Make sure no two components are in the exact same place in either axis.

1. Be mentally prepared to tackle the mix. Get yourself in the right frame of mind. Make sure that you’re properly rested. This also means taking breaks from the mix periodically; I’ve found that a breather every two to three hours is sufficient. Avoid interruptions: mixing requires just as much concentration from the engineer as laying down a solo does from the musician. So turn off the phone. Finally, make sure the mood is right. Get a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and fire up the lava lamp. (Okay, the lava lamp is optional.)

2. Know your client. What kind of music are you working on? If it’s a band project, has the band previously released a record that you can listen to? What are the producer’s goals? You can completely alter the sound of a record in the mix, so you need to know what direction to go before you start working.

3. Be familiar with the monitors. If you’re not working in your own studio, or if the producer brings unfamiliar speakers, give yourself a crash course in monitoring on the equipment. Pop in a CD that you are thoroughly familiar with; listen for exaggerated or muffled frequencies, paying particular attention to the low- and high-end content. Make mental (or even written) notes. Once you feel that you know the speakers’ response, start working on the mix immediately.

4. Monitor at low levels. There are three reasons for keeping the monitors low while you mix. First of all, you’ll avoid a case of listening fatigue (not to mention other health-related problems associated with loud music). Secondly, just about any mix sounds good when it’s cranked up; the stellar mixes are the ones that sound good both loud and soft. Third, with the speakers at loud volumes you won’t catch level problems. I was mixing a radio promo recently and thought I had a great mix going, but I was completely crushed when I lowered the monitors to a normal level—I couldn’t even hear the announcer’s voice.

5. Reference your mix to similar commercial mixes. Listen to mixes that are similar in style to what you’re working on. Again, if the band has other material you can use, great. If your console has a 2-track input for a CD player, use it. This way you can A/B between your own mix and the one you’re striving to emulate. This step obviously isn’t appropriate for those projects you have no intention of patterning after someone else’s work, but it’s often useful when producing commercial music, especially when you have to please a record label executive.

6. Reference the mix on a variety of systems. This is the most important point to remember: a well-balanced mix will sound good on poor monitors and great on good monitors. Check what you’re mixing through several systems of varying size and quality. Before I complete a mix, I’ve listened to it on my studio monitors, a pair of headphones, a boom box, and my car stereo. If I really want to go crazy, I’ll burn a CD and check it out on whatever system I can find. (I’ve actually done referencing in the electronics department at Sears.)

If you keep these six points in mind while you work, your mixes will improve 100 percent—I guarantee it. (For more information on basic mix principles, particularly with acoustic instruments, refer to “In Your Face Mixing” in the May 1998 EM.)

Rough and Ready

If you’re mixing on a computer, you have the advantage of building your mix during the recording process so that when it finally comes time to print to 2-track, only minor adjustments will be needed. I once produced a project when we didn’t even have a dedicated mix day; instead, I took an hour to automate the vocal track and then printed the song to DAT.

Even if you’re not working with a computer-based system, start getting some ideas together as you record. One of the best bits of advice I can impart is to periodically record rough mixes during tracking. All too often, after listening to the same song for weeks or months, we lose the fresh perspective that we had at the beginning of a project. Rough mixes are the perfect way to recall that lost perspective. Check in with them often to find out what your ideas were weeks ago.