Comments on: 10 Rules For Achieving Outstanding Music Mixes

By: scott

scott — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:31:20 +0000

Great post. I like the fact that you say the best that you can afford or get you hands on. There are a ton of guys with great gear at home that don’t know how to use it. Prep and playing account for more than whether you mic it with a vintage Nueman or an Sm57.

By: Ian Shepherd

Ian Shepherd — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:58:24 +0000

Glad you liked the article ! You’re right, this isn’t really a “getting” started site. The trouble with all of this is, it’s such a huge subject.

Here’s an (in-progress) post from AudioGeekZine that covers some useful points:

http://www.audiogeekzine.com/getting-started-a-guide-to-home-recording/

But my best suggestion though is to check out Sound On Sound – have a search in the archives and you’ll find plenty of stuff on microphone techniques etc.

Ian

By: Estabanos!?

Estabanos!? — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:23:29 +0000

Great topic for an article. I am new, to both recording and subsequently all literature on it. I was wondering if there is somewhere I am suppose to start. A bible of sorts. Everyone here sounds up to date, happy with their jargon and more than capable, and I would like to be as well.

Any help would be an asset. Perhaps a primer on home recording practices. Such as microphone placement, types and leveling methods. USB audio interfaces, codecs, software tutorials, etc.

Basically, I am plugging in directly from an amp to an audio device that records directly to my computer via usb(firewire) and would like to switch to mic because it sounds like ass, and many people claim placing a mic near your amp is the better method, as opposed to directly plugging in.

Tube amp, semi-hollow body guitar, piano and acoustic guitars are what will be recorded.

Thank you.

By: Ian Shepherd

Ian Shepherd — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:12:22 +0000

Hi Mark,

Glad you liked the post !

Subwoofers can work fine provided they’re set up right. The downside is that this can be quite tricky – hm, maybe I should do a post on that…

The question is, are the extra lows you hear actually part of your mix, or because the playback system’s sub isn’t set up right ? Lots of “home cinema” setups come with a sub, and people just turn it up till the doors rattle on their favourite blockbusters – this doesn’t work so well for music !

The solution is either to set up a calibrated sub and then work on the treatment ’till the room can handle the extra bass (I have a post on acoustic treatment in the works, too!) – or, get it checked out by a friendly mastering engineer [grin].

Ian

PS. Thanks for reminding me about John’s forum, it’s a fantastic resource – I need to add it it to the links section here !

By: Mark Marshall

Mark Marshall — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:03:22 +0000

Great post (as always!)

I’ve been wrestling with the room sound / monitor issue as of late. (Funny – ’cause when I saw Immi Heap in NYC, she talked about having to to a remix on a few tracks from her latest, because the low end in her room was off, and she didn’t know until she got to the mastering room. )

Two things – what about using a subwoofer when mixing? I’ve always been disturbed by the extra lows that resonate in a track of mine when I hear it with a subwoofer system.

Second – the room itself. I’m in the process now of getting my room at least a little tuned, so I get an accurate representation when mixing. This site comes VERY much in handy there:

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

Again – thanks for the great post! I’m printing it out and taking it into the studio with me!

By: J.Salazar Allelos music

J.Salazar Allelos music — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:19:49 +0000

Rokit 8s, cant get enough of the darn things. Nice flat response, clearly tells me when things are wrong. Heres one: after going with the rokits i spun up some older Reason cuts that i felt were pretty good for the midi giant. Whoa, lets just say i spent some time remixing a few cuts i really liked. I checked this by stomping out a CD and listening to the old and new hard copies on the home theater system. Monitors are crucial. I do agree that most will listen on standard PC speakers, i also will say that the MP3 is just as damaging as poor monitoring is. Ive taken to mixing for mp3s in some cases, as its just more true to mix inferior copies than to have them automatically trashed by generation loss. Id love to see a FLAC player hit the market.

By: admin

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:03:10 +0000

I certainly agree about the importance of treating your room – in fact, I have an article planned on exactly that subject. I’m not sure about “almost any decent bookshelf speaker” – all speakers are not made alike. Certainly there ARE hi-fi speakers which are extremely accurate, but there others which are hopeless. The EQ preset is an interesting idea, and one which can work quite well if the adjustments are small – only a few dBs here and there, for example. There’s no substitute for learning your own room, though.

By: Pete Matthews

Pete Matthews — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:31:34 +0000

I find that most people’s unwillingness to address the acoustics of their home studio is the root of the greatest frustration in mixing. This is a shame because simply by reducing first reflections and adding some sort of diffuser on the rear wall you can eliminate a large percentage of inaccuracies in harmonic balance. Bass traps are easily built as well. In my opinion any decent bookshelf speaker with a decent amplifier will work as long as you scope your room. Most digital audio programs have a spectrum analyzer and some sort of graphic eq built into the program. You can use these two items in concert with some pink noise to ensure that what you are hearing is the truth. You only have to do it once and then save the Eq settings as a preset which you apply to the master channels. Your mixes will translate much better when played back elsewhere, on any stereo system, ipod whatever.

By: david

david — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:57:52 +0000

the only thing i disagree with is on the acoustic treatment.

there is NO point in great monitors if you don’t have a room that won’t alter the freq response you hear. most people will have little choice in rooms to set up their gear in, a ‘great sounding space’ sometimes must be made!

most rooms will totally mess up the freq response, esp of the bass. telling people not to worry about acoustic treatment is a mistake unless you spell out that they *may* need it badly.

you can build your own bass traps if you are skint, if you buy them it is still much better than throwing money at high end speakers you won’t benefit from.

GREAT SITE, keep up the excellent work

By: angel gorostiaga

angel gorostiaga — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:38:29 +0000

I agree: the best investment in a home studio are the monitors.

It was for me – the big difference -

It´s not about sound quality but levels accuracy.
Too much bass is equal to mud and lower overall level. Too much high is the opposite

You must play your dream cds through it and enjoy