In this post I am going to share some of the ideas behind how to create a mix with a lot of impact.
As you know, a mix constists of lows, mids and highs. Among the sound sources you have in the mix and depending on their playing, some of the sound sources are more active towards the lows (A) and extend to the mids and some of the sound sources are active towards the highs (B) and extend to the mids. Because the impact of a mix is primarily centered around the mid frequencies, it becomes key in which order you mix in the (A) and (B) sound sources. When you do not mute the (A) sound sources when you mix the tracks, what happens is that now the other sound sources that are active in the mids and highs must compete with the (A) sound sources in the mid range when you set the balance. This messes with the balancing of the mid range.
In order to get a nicely balanced mid range and hence a nice mix impact, you can first mute the (A) sound sources - those that are active in the low frequencies and extend towards the mid frequencies. These are commonly the kick drum and the bass guitar. Then what you can do is to create a wall of sound in the mid frequencies that extends across the whole stereo spectrum. So typically you could mute all sound sources except lead vocals and background vocals, then balance those two (B.1) against each other in the stereo field so that they create a wall of mid range extending across the whole stereo spectrum. Then you mute those and do the same with the other sound sources (except the (A) ones) (B.2), so that they create a wall of mid range extending across the whole stereo spectrum. Then when you have balanced these, you balance both of these against each other so that you end up with a wall of mid frequencies extending across the whole stereo spectrum but that excludes the (A) sound sources (e.g., kick and bass). B.1 can be side chained with the B.2, B.1 ducking B.2. (I typically separate the drum tracks, because those I want to side chain with the rest to make them most dominant in the mix, especially the cymbals) When all of these sound sources are creating a certain balance in the mid range among themselves and when they are achieving certain RMS levels in the mix and when you are paying attention to the height dimension, then you have a mix with impact. Now mute these and balance the kick and bass against each other. When those are in balance against each other, now unmute the rest of the tracks and tuck the low end underneath of the rest of the tracks from very low volume, by increasing their gain just much enough until they are heard in the mix and fill out the low end just enough but with the mids still having the right impact and just enough not to move the mix down in height too much.
When you balance the (B) sound sources, keep the monitoring volume rather low (to broaden the peak intensity and force RMS increase). When you balance the (A) sound sources keep the monitoring volume rather high (to lower peak intensity). When you balance A and B, keep the monitoring volume at the average playback level, checking also when cranked and when at low volume.
Sounds like this:
As you know, a mix constists of lows, mids and highs. Among the sound sources you have in the mix and depending on their playing, some of the sound sources are more active towards the lows (A) and extend to the mids and some of the sound sources are active towards the highs (B) and extend to the mids. Because the impact of a mix is primarily centered around the mid frequencies, it becomes key in which order you mix in the (A) and (B) sound sources. When you do not mute the (A) sound sources when you mix the tracks, what happens is that now the other sound sources that are active in the mids and highs must compete with the (A) sound sources in the mid range when you set the balance. This messes with the balancing of the mid range.
In order to get a nicely balanced mid range and hence a nice mix impact, you can first mute the (A) sound sources - those that are active in the low frequencies and extend towards the mid frequencies. These are commonly the kick drum and the bass guitar. Then what you can do is to create a wall of sound in the mid frequencies that extends across the whole stereo spectrum. So typically you could mute all sound sources except lead vocals and background vocals, then balance those two (B.1) against each other in the stereo field so that they create a wall of mid range extending across the whole stereo spectrum. Then you mute those and do the same with the other sound sources (except the (A) ones) (B.2), so that they create a wall of mid range extending across the whole stereo spectrum. Then when you have balanced these, you balance both of these against each other so that you end up with a wall of mid frequencies extending across the whole stereo spectrum but that excludes the (A) sound sources (e.g., kick and bass). B.1 can be side chained with the B.2, B.1 ducking B.2. (I typically separate the drum tracks, because those I want to side chain with the rest to make them most dominant in the mix, especially the cymbals) When all of these sound sources are creating a certain balance in the mid range among themselves and when they are achieving certain RMS levels in the mix and when you are paying attention to the height dimension, then you have a mix with impact. Now mute these and balance the kick and bass against each other. When those are in balance against each other, now unmute the rest of the tracks and tuck the low end underneath of the rest of the tracks from very low volume, by increasing their gain just much enough until they are heard in the mix and fill out the low end just enough but with the mids still having the right impact and just enough not to move the mix down in height too much.
When you balance the (B) sound sources, keep the monitoring volume rather low (to broaden the peak intensity and force RMS increase). When you balance the (A) sound sources keep the monitoring volume rather high (to lower peak intensity). When you balance A and B, keep the monitoring volume at the average playback level, checking also when cranked and when at low volume.
Sounds like this:
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