I am looking for a primer. With MOXF and Cubase there are so many tools - it's overwhelming...So one basic place to start.

I need basic concepts - not detailed esoteric theory - I'm good at making things way too complicated. Think of me in Kindergarten and Preschool - I don't know nothin' - and what I think I know is messing me up.

If you "don't know nothin'", how can you know what you need. That esoteric theory is vitally important because all the abstract mixing tips in the world will do you no good without that "esoteric theory" stuff... Even at the Kindergarten level. If you don't understand busing and transfer of signal, the concepts of getting a good mix will simply be lost.

Let's start with mono and stereo within your stereo mixdown. Listen to your favorite engineered recording but instead of listening to the surface focus your attention on each instrument listed. Pick one instrument... Find it within the mix and follow it throughout the recording. Analyze where it is placed within the stereo field. One by one follow each instrument throughout.

One of the biggest tips (and this can change your thinking about your own mixes) is that if you 'center' all the instruments in a mix... I'm talking panorama - the stereo field. When you close your eyes you can picture all the musicians standing on top of each other. Assuming you are sitting in the "sweet spot" - in an equilateral triangle with your accurate Yamaha monitor speakers - listen for stereo in the mix. Most engineers have a mix template they use to place (position) instruments in the stereo field. There is nothing worse than all instruments stacked in the middle.

Bass instruments have traditionally been placed in the middle. In the old days, this was not a subjective choice... When mixes were routinely finalized to vinyl you had to place the Bass in the middle, pan-wise, because vinyl records have a groove in which the diamond stylus must sit. If you panned the bass to one side this would make one groove wall taller than the other and the stylus would either slide toward the center or fall back toward the outer edge... Literally the needle wouldn't track the groove. So there was a reason to position low end in the center... Besides items positioned in the center of the mix are heard equally loud in both speakers.

Many records "sound" like a band standing on stage. Some sound like there is no band and there is just sound. What you enjoy and what you envision as how music should sound is totally subjective. I'm just asking you to explore in detail what's done on some of your favorite recordings. It varies. When you hear a beautifully mixed album, the type of music is almost secondary. (I've learned to like a good mix without having to like the music being played... Cause I've been doing this a long time) 🙂

The kick drum is also often centered for the same reason. Vinyl is virtually gone, so rules about centering low frequency sounds are obsolete, however, you still find low end stuff centered because they want it throughout the room. Listen closely enough to your favorite recordings so that you can tell if the engineer likes to think like a drummer or think like a member of the audience.

What do I mean? Is the hihat to the left side or the right side. Where is the ride cymbal? Where is the crash cymbal? Where is the High Tom versus the Floor Tom? Where is the percussion? (If you don't have a good pair of Studio Monitors, use headphones making sure the left phone is on your left ear... Most 'civilians' don't know there is a difference...).

Look (listen) for items panned left versus right. Listen for items that balance one side of the mix from the other. Listen to the piano... There are recordings where the piano is featured, there are recordings where the piano is buried (more or less). Listen through the entire song following just one instrument. Is there reverb on that instrument. For this you may have to listen very closely, where is the reverb coming from.

You'll discover mix engineers like to play with bouncing sound around. The rhythm chords of a guitar might be panned somewhat left yet the reverberation seems to bouncing off the opposite wall. Listen for delays and repeats, listen for doubling effects. You can study your favorite recording and discover you've never really noticed much about many things. In general a good mix is balanced... For each item panned left there is some item panned opposite to create equilibrium. A Rhythm Guitar is often balanced against a Clavinet or other Rhythm Chordal instrument. If both Strings and Brass are used study where they are placed.

You must remember that it is human nature to listen and think "what am I not hearing enough of" anyone can think like that. It takes a trained ear, great restraint, and some wisdom to listen to music and think "what am I getting too much of". Learn to work backwards. Instruments in the same Frequency range tend to mask (hide) other instruments in that range. Your first thought should not be adjusting volume... Wisdom will teach you that moving one of those instruments slightly left or right can unhide it! Wisdom will teach you that you can "unhide" something with EQ, and/or with artful use of Effects... And that these are far better than simply raising the volume. Close your eyes while you listen because it helps your "mind's eye" to envision the musicians standing in front of you. It gives you dimension, perspective.

Obviously this does not work on all types of music. I've mixed everything from classical, to jazz, to hip hop, to EDM, to disco, to Broadway... Not all music attempts to mimic real world... In fact, some actual benefit from overturning every rule. But I found having a set of rules is better than not having any. If you have a normal, then it's much easier and more organized when you want move away from the normal.

By studying mixes done by some of the master mix engineers, if you know how to study them, can lead you to try out things you never thought to do. Stereo is no joke, your ear and brain are amazing tools when it comes to localizing sound. I used to do an experiment in the studio with my students using a quarter, and a completely dark room. Without telling the person, I dropped the quarter 20 feet behind them, slightly to their left. And asked them what they heard... Inevitably they would identify the object as not only money but a quarter, dropped, not thrown, on a wood floor about 20 feet away to the left.

Long story short, amazing. Identify the type of object, it's value, whether or not it was a threat (thrown) or casually dropped, distance and placement within feet of being accurate... All in the dark. The fact that you turn left and not right is your ability to recognize the sound hit your left ear slightly (ever so slightly) before it hit your right. Sound travels at 1100 feet per second... The distance between your ears is tiny in comparison... How subtle is the tuning of your ear/brain!!!

Respect panning, respect reverberation, respect panning of reverberation. Listen for it. Good mix engineers "place" items in the mix. The fact that it goes mostly unnoticed is that like the person in the dark room with the dropped quarter, the listener is basically unaware of how they analyze sound, they just do it. And they decide if they like or not without any deep analysis, but as the mix engineer its your responsibility to balance, place, position, and blend all the sounds in your mix.

So many (mistakenly) spend too much time and effort trying to make their mix LOUD. Shame, yes we hear better LOUD, it does not mean anything. If you don't like a song, as a listener, you will turn it down. If you like it, you will turn it up. There are few things that are intuitive in life... The VOLUME knob is one that makes a very short list of intuitive audio devices! It is less important to have the loudest mix, it is most important to have the best balanced mix!

USB Recording Tips: Getting Good Record Levels

A similar approach to EQ. As a musician you should have an advantage over the average non-musician (I call them "civilians"). Start to relate EQ frequencies to your instrument. Start to analyze sound in your head. You don't realize that you already know frequencies. When I taught Audio Engineering, I would quiz the class by playing a recording - told them nothing about it, just played it. Then when it was over I asked them to write down every instrument they heard... Musician were the first to write anything (this observation taught me a lot about how and what people listen to). Again work backwards with EQ. Listen and ask "what frequency am I getting too much of" - remove problem areas. Most will simply boosts what they are not hearing enough of... They wind up hiding other things, rather than taking the "less is more" approach.

Want to make the kick drum phat, don't boost the lows (any one could do that) you accomplish the same without increasing overall level by removing 800Hz. By creating a valley at 800Hz, you make the low end more prominent, and the snap of the mallet more prominent at 1.2kHz. 800Hz on a kick drum sounds like a cardboard box... Removing it is better than drowning it out! Try it! It tightens up the kick drum.

Always EQ with the entire mix in mind. An instrument that sounds perfect alone very rarely blends well in an ensemble. Repeat this over and over until you know it is true! 🙂

I found having a set of rules is better than not having any. If you have a normal, then it's much easier and more organized when you want move away from the normal.

Wow! Yes Master Yoda! Seriously - thanks for that.

OK - a lot more to reread and rethink!

Gumby