How to blent it all?

Jerry Eilander · From: Hadspen, Tasmania, Australia

Don't know how to go about this ,but here I go.
When I listen to any Cd ,it sort of sounds ,warm blent in .
When I do my own recording ,Guitar, bass,steel,drums,
keys,record them on my 16 track,put them together,
they sound sort of , individually, not blend in.
hopefully that will do it.
how can I fix this ,
the recorder got lots of effects,
I used ,reverb, chorus, bighall, delay,.
but they dont do it,
anyone.
greetings from "Down under" Jerry
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Linkon d-10 4x8. Fessenden sd-10.5x3. NV 112.G&L telie

Robert Tripp · From: Mesa, Arizona, USA

hi Jerry

The process of mixing and mastering are techniques that take awhile to master. To break it down for you on a very simplistic basis it's sort of as follows.

1. Once tracks are all recorded, listen to each individual track and apply any desired effects, hopefully non-destructive.

2. Listen to all tracks at a very low level, so as to reduce ear fatigue, and adjust each track level to where you want it. Then put it away for a day or so and relisten at another time to get a fresh perspective on the mix.

3. If each track sounds about where you want it in the mix, then you have a basic mix established.

4. I am not a pro sound engineer, so you might get some better advice from another forum member regarding pre-mastering and mastering, but this is what I do.

5. I listen to each track individually without adjusting levels, and add fx. compression, eq, reverb, and or peak limiting. Different tracks may require less or more of one effect or another such as delay, chorus, etc. That's up to you.

6. I keep tweaking it until it sounds good, then I raise the master level and play it again. Put it to bed and listen again the next day. If it sounds good then I send it to a few people whose judgement I trust and ask them to critique it.

7. If they say its a go, then i put it in the can. If they have suggestions to the mix or effects, then I explore what their suggestions would do to the piece, and make my decision.

In the end, it's about what sounds good to you, unless you are looking for airplay, then you need to get it to a pro mixing / mastering lab, and follow their advice.

Hope it helps.
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http://www.reverbnation.com/roberttrippmusic

http://www.reverbnation.com/roberttrippgospel

I might be a beginner now, but someday I'm gonna steel the show.

Leri Schiller · From: Belton, Texas

Jerry, are you mixing to stereo?
Perhaps a little about your process from the 16 tracks to the mix would help. (Equipment your using)
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1991 Emmons Lashley LeGrande II, D-10, 8x6/Session 400/RV3

Jerry Eilander · From: Hadspen, Tasmania, Australia

to Robert
point 2 and 6 ,are most likly a big part of it.
been raining here for 3 days .
and I've been in my studio for all that time,
recording 9 tracks,
now its Sunday ,and let the wife listen to it ,
and 5 tracks just sound like s#@^*t.
supose my ears are playing up after 3 days recording.
remixed 1 track today ,with 2 tumbs up from the missus,
cheers
_________________
Linkon d-10 4x8. Fessenden sd-10.5x3. NV 112.G&L telie

mtulbert · From: Plano, Texas 75023

Not sure what type of music you are mixing but we'll assume that it country since you are posting here Very Happy

As mentioned before, mixing is an art form and it does take a lot of experience to get the job done correctly.

Here is how I used to do it in Nashville.

1. Work on rhythm section first. Start with the bass drum, add the rest of the set, then the bass, and finally rhythm guitar and/or piano if present. The trick to having it sound good is that the rhythm section should sound like a single entity but you should be able to focus on any of the instruments with selective listening.

2. Once you have that done then you can add the fill instruments.

3. Finally add vocals. The key to vocals and fill instruments is make sure that they do not sound as though they are glued on top of the track. With fill instruments, sometimes a little brighter eq and pulling it back in track works well. Vocals are somewhat tougher to get placed correctly.

Also, there are no hard and fast rules for what is good or not good. It can also boil down to musical taste. I have heard lots of records which to me were technically very weak, but musically it knocked off my socks.

Hope this helps
_________________
Mark T

Infinity D-10 Justice SD-10 Judge Revelation Octal Preamp, Fractal AXE III, Fender FRFR 12

Rick Campbell · From: Sneedville, TN, USA

I'll take a stab at this. First of all, I'm no expert recording engineer, but I do a lot of this stuff myself, and I experienced the same problem in the beginning.

1. You can't rely on volume level only to do the mix and get any good results. Here's how I've found to get a good mix that allows you to hear each instrument, when you're supposed to, and have them blend to be pleasing to the ear.

2. EQ of the instruments is very important. Each instrument fills a place in the EQ spectrum and when you have them all competing with one another you get the result you mentioned. Listen to them individually and get them sounding good, before you include them in the mix.

3. Panning is equally important. If all the instruments sit in the center, you will have nothing but volume adjustments to separate them. I usually put drums, bass, and vocals in the center. Harmony vocals can be split a little. Lead instruments go pretty hard left and right. If it's an instrumental, then this replaces the vocal and you treat the lead instrument accordingly.

4. Compression on the individual instruments and vocals. Also compression on the total mix. Without this, you are trying to lower the loud notes and boost the quite notes manually. The ear and hands are not fast enough to do this effectively. Compression does this for you, but be careful......too much compression will take all the dyanamics out of the mix. Play around with it and you'll get the idea.

5. Reverb will help you create a "live" sound. But, be careful here too...... too much is not good. I usually mix down to two tracks and get it as close as I can, and then add a touch of reverb to the two track mix. This seems to give it a bit of sparkle.

6. Use some common sense. Steel players always want to hear more steel, fiddle players want to hear more fiddle, vocals are never loud enough for the singers, etc... What you're looking for here is a balance to please the average listener. Always leave them wanting more. They'll listen closer if you do this.

7. Listen to some commercial mixes that you like and get their ideas. Use a stereo that you can turn the balance left to right so you can see how they've panned the mix.

8. There's no substitute for practice and experience. Keep in mind that the pro guys do this every day, day in and day out, and have been for many years. They also have expensive equipment. Most professional studios have mics that cost more than my whole home studio set up. But, what you've got to your advantage is time. You can spend as much time on the project as you want to, without it costing you money. Take advantage of that.

Good luck, and most important, HAVE FUN! Smile

Jerry Eilander · From: Hadspen, Tasmania, Australia

thank you all ,gentleman for your tips.
it will give me plenty to go on with,
I'm recording my own backing tracks,Country.
And the steel being the solo instrument,
that is I think harder than anything els ,because of the many shades the steel gives,
thats what I mean by trying to blend it in ,rather than that the steelsounds are sitting on top of the recording,
never used the "Compresor", I think that will help a lot,
once again ,thanks for the input,
cheers from "Down under" Jerry
_________________
Linkon d-10 4x8. Fessenden sd-10.5x3. NV 112.G&L telie

John Roche · From: England

Jerry, here is a link to a great program for mastering.
Just get your mix as good as you can then use AAMS to Master it.. save hours of work..
http://www.curioza.com/

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

Some great tips here. One thing to watch out for, especially when you're recording and mixing everything through the same small board channels, is additive EQ effects- in other words, turning up the same EQ band on every track. It's easy to turn up the low mids to make an acoustic guitar sound "fat", and the same basic frequency on the vocal to make it sound big... be careful to notch out some individual areas for each instrument. For instance, you might boost the kick drum a bit at 100 HZ, cutting the bass guitar at that frequency and boosting it a bit at, say, 250.
If you listen to acoustic guitars soloed up in a Nashville production, they usually sound much thinner than you would want them to sound by themselves, letting them cut through the mix and not fight with other low midrange information.
Also, try to hone in on the particular frequencies that really define an instrument or voice, like the low thump of a kick drum combined with the high click of the beater.

Compression is a whole art unto itself. Here's a good intro: http://www.xowave.com/doc/recording/compression.shtml
Once you get the individual instruments/vocals sounding great, a small bit of compression will usually help to glue everything together. As in all things, practice makes better.

Jerry Eilander · From: Hadspen, Tasmania, Australia

thanks all,
Mark ,the info on the "Compression" is excellent.
read it twice, realy good ,thanks
cheers all.
jerry
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Linkon d-10 4x8. Fessenden sd-10.5x3. NV 112.G&L telie

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