In an earlier post I mentioned how important it is to have such type of sound source separation that the brain does not have to jump back and forth and between the sides because there is constantly so much information for the brain to process. The hallmark of emotion is peace, and the type of separation that I'm mentioned is eating on that peace. A peaceful listening experience is important for the mood of the mix.
High quality sound sources rich in detail, help to separate them in the mix, they also create frequencies that sum into a detailed, rich and beautiful sounding mix. This happens in the sub conscious mind. When you focus on a mix that has great type of separation, you will want to listen to that mix again soon even when that mix might not be in perfect balance, the mix is sinking into the sub conscious mind. That's the kind of separation one should try to achieve in my opinion.
How do you achieve this? As I pointed out earlier, it's key that every sound source in the mix goes through its own discrete signal chain. Just because you've found a warm sounding effect, it does not mean one should apply that on everything and with the same settings. Instead, the key is to find different types of warm sounds/effects and blend those in the mix on various sound sources. From a recording perspective this means for instance try to find various room characteristics for each sound source in the mix, it's smart to record various sound sources in various studios/control rooms. For instance the lead vocals need very well separated and well balanced high frequencies.
The pitch shifter effect is a very important effect in mixing, not only does it help to harmonize the mix, but it also helps to separate elements in the mix. Octaves can work great within the 'background' group, tuning can work great within the 'noise' group. When you add pitch shifters to sound sources in the 'background'/'emotion'/'music' group, add the pitch shifters themselves to the 'noise' group, because they will add a little noise to the mix too and you want to balance that.
Also groups of tracks should be treated with their own signal chains and processing. That's the ultimate separation when you have various elements like all vocals sitting in its overall sound field (with various sub sound fields for the various vocals), the low end in its sound field and so on. You can and should add various reverbs to the various elements, just be sure that it is the sound source that becomes most noisy by the reverb on the group, that dictates the wetness. And in the low frequencies (such as kick and bass) you should raise the monitoring volume significantly when you add the reverb.
Be careful about the 'glue' that so many engineers talk about, it's very overrated. Pay close attention to your focus when you play the mix and when the focus goes to all kinds of issues in the mix it means you have bad separation and balance. 'Glue' is not the solution to that. Better separation and balance is the solution.
Finally I want to mention that it is your work with the separation, that makes you creative and it's your creativity that makes your mix stand out from the rest. Embrace such engineering practices that force and expand your creativity. Because a great mix requires a dynamic mixing approach and it is your creativity that keeps you in that kind of mode. Mixing is not about fixing issues, that's just a minor part of it. The critical part is that your creative energy shines through the mix, that is what makes it exciting. A clean loud clear balanced mix without any creative energy is not going to create a lot of listens. That's also why you hire great session players, because it's their creative energy you want access to.
High quality sound sources rich in detail, help to separate them in the mix, they also create frequencies that sum into a detailed, rich and beautiful sounding mix. This happens in the sub conscious mind. When you focus on a mix that has great type of separation, you will want to listen to that mix again soon even when that mix might not be in perfect balance, the mix is sinking into the sub conscious mind. That's the kind of separation one should try to achieve in my opinion.
How do you achieve this? As I pointed out earlier, it's key that every sound source in the mix goes through its own discrete signal chain. Just because you've found a warm sounding effect, it does not mean one should apply that on everything and with the same settings. Instead, the key is to find different types of warm sounds/effects and blend those in the mix on various sound sources. From a recording perspective this means for instance try to find various room characteristics for each sound source in the mix, it's smart to record various sound sources in various studios/control rooms. For instance the lead vocals need very well separated and well balanced high frequencies.
The pitch shifter effect is a very important effect in mixing, not only does it help to harmonize the mix, but it also helps to separate elements in the mix. Octaves can work great within the 'background' group, tuning can work great within the 'noise' group. When you add pitch shifters to sound sources in the 'background'/'emotion'/'music' group, add the pitch shifters themselves to the 'noise' group, because they will add a little noise to the mix too and you want to balance that.
Also groups of tracks should be treated with their own signal chains and processing. That's the ultimate separation when you have various elements like all vocals sitting in its overall sound field (with various sub sound fields for the various vocals), the low end in its sound field and so on. You can and should add various reverbs to the various elements, just be sure that it is the sound source that becomes most noisy by the reverb on the group, that dictates the wetness. And in the low frequencies (such as kick and bass) you should raise the monitoring volume significantly when you add the reverb.
Be careful about the 'glue' that so many engineers talk about, it's very overrated. Pay close attention to your focus when you play the mix and when the focus goes to all kinds of issues in the mix it means you have bad separation and balance. 'Glue' is not the solution to that. Better separation and balance is the solution.
Finally I want to mention that it is your work with the separation, that makes you creative and it's your creativity that makes your mix stand out from the rest. Embrace such engineering practices that force and expand your creativity. Because a great mix requires a dynamic mixing approach and it is your creativity that keeps you in that kind of mode. Mixing is not about fixing issues, that's just a minor part of it. The critical part is that your creative energy shines through the mix, that is what makes it exciting. A clean loud clear balanced mix without any creative energy is not going to create a lot of listens. That's also why you hire great session players, because it's their creative energy you want access to.
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