Mixing

Mixing has been always a hustle for me when it comes to coming up with a Mix where the vocals don’t clash with the other instruments. After a lot of researching, studying and watching other people mix, I found out that I’ll be using EQs incorrectly according to Parsons (Parsons, 2017). I used to EQ each instrument individual without considering the whole mix itself. Being a guitarist has given me a disadvantage toward other, being that I mainly try to make guitars standout quite individually by default. While I’ve been doing these makes, I have learned to think about where to place every instrument in the mix and to have a set plan rather than EQing each instrument by their own to make them sound good (Earnhart, 2015).

As I stated before, I’ve had problems with finding the right EQ way to avoid my vocals to get lost in the mix, resulting in me boosting the vocal levels to make it stand out, which resulted into having an unbalanced mix. As I watched videos from revolutionrecording, Graham suggests reducing the mid-high frequencies in other instruments such as the guitars and the synths to open up space for the vocals as vocal frequencies mainly stand out around those frequencies (Cochrane, 2017).

Another issue that I use to have was the lack of usage of high pass filters, which resulted in having a lot of rumble and boominess throughout my mix (“How to Tame Unwanted Low Frequencies Out Of Your Mix | ReverbNation Blog”, 2017). This was due to not using high pass filters on the vocals and other instruments around the frequencies spectrum of 150 to 200 Hz and for the bass around 50 Hz.

References

Cochrane, G. (2017). How To Mix Vocals (2 Simple Strategies) – TheRecordingRevolution.com. YouTube. Retrieved 28 September 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw49zpS-hGg

Earnhart, R. (2015). Acoustic Guitar | 10 Ways to Record, Mic Shootouts, Positions, and More. YouTube. Retrieved 28 September 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=859-yG6DlQk&t=668s

How to Tame Unwanted Low Frequencies Out Of Your Mix | ReverbNation Blog. (2017). ReverbNation Blog. Retrieved 28 September 2017, from http://blog.reverbnation.com/2017/08/31/how-to-tame-unwanted-low-frequencies-out-of-your-mix/

Parsons, S. (2017). 5 Tips To Avoid Ruining Your Mix With Muddy Sound | LANDR Blog. LANDR Blog. Retrieved 28 September 2017, from https://blog.landr.com/5-tips-avoid-ruining-mix-muddy-sound/