Professional Mixing For Your Recording
There is something about a professional recording engineer
grabbing the faders of his console and going to work that just
seams to blow away what the average home recording guy can do.
Why can't you get the same sound in the your home studio mixes?
Let's see why.
I get emails from bands all the time who attempted to record
their band on a Roland recorder. Sometimes the sound quality of
their home tracking isn't all that bad. Some bands need to take
more time to get the performances they are looking for. If each
member of the band sounds good, the tracking should go pretty
smoothly. This is why I always recommend that a professional
mixes any project that means anything to the artist. Mixing is a
tough thing to master. It takes years and years and years to
even get started. It takes even more years to become great at
it. There are a number factors that separate that average band
recording their own record with the a real mixer.
A professional mixer has a total understanding of equalization.
He/she knows that to expect when he reaches for a parametric eq.
He'll come pretty close to finding the exact frequency just by
listening. He/she has used his parametric eq so many times that
he knows exactly what it will sound like when you grabs that eq.
I know 90% of the time that if I'm mixing a metal band, I'll
need to cut out 300 Hz out of the kick drum. I'll listen for
about 2 seconds just to make sure, but I immediately know that
the kick drums typically found in metal music have a certain
sound that requires eq. This is normal. I've heard many home
recordings where it was obvious that the amateur mixing person
simply didn't know this.
A professional mixer has used a compressor for years. Most home
recording beginners barely know what a compressor is. I've been
fighting with compressors for the past 4 years day in and day
out. I would say that I'm finally to the point where the
compressor isn't laughing at me. It certainly took a while. The
more I learn about compressors, the more I realize that they are
the most powerful mixing tool (with exception to the volume
fader). There are probably 50 tricks you can do with a
compressor. If you aren't familiar with a compressor, you are
lost. You will not be able to mix a great sounding record that
translates onto many stereo systems. At least not in the rock,
pop genre. If you think you can, I want to hear it.
Compressors can be used to make drums hit harder with more
attack or softer with less attack. When mixing, compressors can
actually make drums sound closer or far away. Using parallel
compression, you can easily bring more live and aggression into
your drum sounds. By compressing a room mic, you can control how
much reverb is on the cymbals vs the snare drum. Compression can
often reduce or even eliminate the need for eq in certain
instances.
Most importantly, a professional mixer has tremendous ears,
tremendous studio monitors, and a tremendous room. If you are
luckily, you have just one of the three. Most people have none.
You have to remember that a pro may have mixed 1000 songs or
more on his current studio rig. He knows how a kick drum is
going to translate to the outside world. He knows what his
studio monitors are telling him. I've never seen an amateur
mixing session ever translate even close when taken out to other
speaker systems. The ability to create great sounding mixes
comes from experience. If you don't have experience, impressive
tools, impressive ears, and an impressive room you may want to
consider hiring a professional mixer for your important project.