Monitoring for Success

Dec 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Charles Dye

           

One of the ironies of mixing is that the more successful your work, the lousier the speakers on which it will be listened to. As a mix engineer, you have absolutely no control over that. But the one thing you do know is that your mixes will be heard on a wide spectrum of systems, including some of the worst. And knowing this allows you to wrest back control over your sound.

FIG. 1: Charles Dye at Supersonic Studios in Miami, with three sets of monitors set up for mixing: Genelec 8050s, Yamaha NS-10Ms, and Sony SRS-88s. He doesn’t like to use large, soffit-mounted studio monitors, such as those in the background.

When I mix a song, my goal is to create a great-sounding mix: a big sound with expansive width; lots of depth and separation; full, rich lows; well-defined mids; and clear, open highs. But because I know my mix won't always be heard on the best of speakers, I work hard to ensure that all of the recording's key elements — the rhythm, harmony, and melody — retain a consistent musical balance no matter the speaker.

Many techniques with EQ, compression, and effects can be used to accomplish these goals, but processing is not the only tool. Shaping the mix actually begins with how it's listened to. And there are a number of monitoring techniques you can use to achieve a big, powerful mix that will sound great on any speaker, regardless of frequency response.

Getting out of the Woods

Have you ever noticed how when you listen to a mix in the morning, you're able to hear things you hadn't noticed the night before? It's an empowering moment, because all of a sudden you have a fresh perspective. Problems become clear in an instant and you can correct them with just a few changes. It's both relieving and frustrating. Why couldn't you do that last night?

This is the forest-for-the-trees effect. When you get to the studio in the morning, you're able to hear the big picture, and the problems are suddenly obvious: the vocals are hideously drenched in reverb, or the snare is just way too loud. So, how was it possible to be so amazingly deaf to those deficiencies during the previous night's session, yet so attuned to them the next day?

The answer is that you're listening with a clear head and your ears are no longer prejudiced from hearing the same thing over and over. But wouldn't it be great if you could re-create this eureka moment many times a day while mixing? Well, you can, and it can really speed up the process.

A Forced Perspective

During a mix session, your goal is to keep your perspective the whole time and to come up with a mix that sounds good on all speakers. That might seem like it's asking a lot, but both those things are possible. How? By emulating how others will hear the mix, and forcing yourself to listen in as many ways as you can: on different speakers, at different volumes, and from different locations in the room. This will make it possible to create a mix that will translate well to many speakers, while also continually giving you a fresh perspective — waking up your ears to problems you couldn't hear minutes before.

Certainly, it's important to have high-quality monitors and an acoustically well-treated control room. If you can't accurately hear what's going on, decision making will be difficult. And this is especially true while recording. But accuracy in mixing is a very relative thing, because nearly everyone will hear your mix anywhere but in a studio.

I have at least three different sets of close-field monitors that I switch between when working on a mix (see Fig. 1):

• High-end, self-powered studio monitors with extended lows
• Consumer-grade bookshelf monitors
• Real-world lo-fi speakers

Although I frequently work in studios that have large, soffit-mounted monitors, I don't usually find them as useful as close-fields when mixing.

• Switch between different types of monitors to get a variety of perspectives. Don't spend all your time listening to your expensive monitors.

• Set up one pair of monitors off to the side of your mix position. You'll get different room interaction than you do with your mix-position monitors, and you can listen mainly through one ear when facing forward for a pseudo mono effect, or swivel and hear them full on.

• Don't mix with your monitors at loud volumes except for when you need to judge low end.

• Vary the levels at which you listen, and spend a lot of time with the volume turned low.

• Occasionally walk away from the mix position and listen from another part of the room or from right outside the door.

• Take short breaks to regain your perspective.