Tag Archives: Audio mixing

Why Mix At Lower Volumes?

To quote mixing and recording guru, David Pensado: “if you can make it exciting at a low level, it’ll sound exciting at any level”. It’s all too easy to crank the volume up and produce and monitor at loud volumes. It’s fun, and it grants us an instant level of excitement. But does it help us achieve better mixdowns? Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding ‘no’. Mixing at really loud volumes comes with a .

Polish That Mix! How To Effectively Remove Mud & Clutter

Are you looking for a couple of quick tips to add that little extra bit of polish to your final mixdown? Are you finding that you’re struggling to get that mix crisp, clear and loud? Your track might be suffering from mix clutter syndrome. To help you restore your tune to good health, here’s a quick guide on minimising mixdown clutter. Cut the low-end An effective way to remove clutter or ‘mud’ in your .

Live Vocal Mixing Tips & Techniques: EQ

Have you ever attended a live gig to notice something about the sound was off? The guitars were rocking, the drums were grooving – but you just couldn’t get into the spirit of the gig… Chances are, there was something up with the vocals. It’s either that they were lacking shine, they were unclear, or they were just generally not cutting through as well as they should’ve. Fact is, it doesn’t matter whether you’re .

How To Pick The Right DJ Mixer

With so many different brands, models and price ranges available in the market, picking the right mixer might seem a little overwhelming. We’ve compiled a handy buyer’s guide that simplifies the process so you don’t make the mistake of buying the wrong mixer. How many turntables/CD players are you planning to mix on? A ‘channel’ allows you to mix from one source to the other, so two is the required minimum. The more channels .

The Hotseat: An Interview With FOH Engineer, Zac Ruokari (Part 1)

I had the pleasure of sitting down to have a chat with a veteran FOH engineer, live mixer and musician by the name of Zac Ruokari. We discussed everything from mixing tips, how he got to where he is today, gear-talk, and more. Take heed – this information is absolute gold! Q: For those who don’t know you, tell us a little bit about yourself and your live audio career thus far. I am .

All About FX – Reverb Tips & Tricks

Reverb is an effect that replicates and manipulates the acoustic or spacious properties of a sound. Put simply, it’s what gives a sound its space and atmosphere. But how does one use it to its full extent? Well with the way modern music has been headed, there are few rules to ‘correct’ usage of reverb. In fact, with these digital effects so readily available these days, it’s important to have a few unique effect .

A Quick Guide To Panning

Your job as a producer goes far beyond laying down bass and beats. You’ve also got to think about where each element should sit in the mix. Strategic choices pertaining to space must be made for tracks to sound sonically interesting, and panning does just that. Panning is the placement of sounds across the stereo field, i.e. from left to right. This guide covers a quick overview on some of the basic principles of .

3 Common Mixing Mistakes you’re Probably Making

It’s a fact of life that we all make mistakes. After all, we are human, right? With the widespread availability of cheap and even free plugins, we often get caught up in the frenzy of grabbing every VST we can possibly fit into our hard drives. While this isn’t inherently a bad thing, it can often lead to us forgetting about basic techniques and relying on presets and (god forbid) mastering to fix our .

4 Live Sound Mixing Tips That Separate the Rookies from the Pros

Preparation is key to success, and the live mixing world is no exception. As it never hurts to have a few tricks up your sleeve, we look at 5 quick but effective live sound mixing tips that separate the rookies from the pros. Be prepared for dropouts There’s nothing worse than having a piece of gear fail you at a critical moment, but you have to be prepared for it. Before every gig, assess .