More mixing today. Having completed a mix of a band that we recorded last week, I’m going to look at some material that was actually recorded some time ago, with me on drums and two friends playing guitar and bass. The raw material is, let’s say, unpromising, so let’s see what we can make of it…
As a rough outline, I’m going to start the process with some ‘pink noise’ mixing to get a decent balance of the different instruments. This is a procedure whereby. you set the levels of each track so that you can just about hear them over a background of a consistent pink noise signal. I like it as a starting point because it takes a lot of the subjectivity out of the process, and allows you to start from a good but fairly neutral balanced mix. It’s particularly useful when I’m playing on the track, as it helps to deflect any criticism from my bandmates that I’m mixing the drums to loudly!
I’ll then go on to EQ each track, add compression where required and usually a bit of reverb to lively up the recording. I will be thinking about what effects I might add, and in this instance, since the recording was only ever supposed to be a jam, whether the performance merits continuing with the process. If there are just too many mistakes, or, for example, timing issues, then it may not be worth spending any more time on it, because these are things that just can’t be fixed by mixing alone. We’ll see…I’ve got a good feeling about this one…
Phil Wakely Audio 