1
Table of Contents
Foreword.................................................... 3
How to Plan the Ultimate Mix...................... 4
Mix Like an Expert
with These Three Concepts......................... 8
Panning for the
Beginner and Advanced............................ 11
How to Beat the Fear of Stereo Imaging.... 13
35 Mixing Tips for Punchier Drums........... 17
How to Create a Gated Reverb.................. 21
The Easy Way to Get
a Thundering Tom Sound......................... 24
How Secure is Your Low End?................... 29
Simple EQ Fixes for the Bass Guitar.......... 32
Quick Tips to Great Guitar Production....... 34
Getting that Professionally
Processed Vocal Sound............................ 43
An In-Depth Guide to Vocal EQ................. 48
The Reason You Need
Reverb on Every Mix................................. 51
The Philosophy of Mixing.......................... 54
Putting it All Together –
Going from Amateur to Pro....................... 61
How to Use a Reference Track
for a Better Mix......................................... 65
Preparing for Mastering:
What you Need to Know............................ 69
Conclusion............................................... 72
About the Author...................................... 74
2
 Foreword
A mixing engineer can create something
incredible out of a recorded song, shaping
and polishing until it sounds amazing.
There are quite a few aspects that need to
be kept in mind when mixing, however. An
engineer must be aware of everything from
levels, EQ, and compression to panning,
automation, and effects, because the feel
of the song, the effects used to convey that
feeling, and the style of mixing all play a
role in creating that polished, final mix.
The following E-Book— Mixing Strategies:
Planning the Perfect Mix —goes over the
more subjective aspects of mixing. It’s not
so much a template of great compression
or EQ settings as it is a guidebook intended
to inspire your mixes. Instead of explaining
the concepts that surround compression
as a whole, I’d rather give you easy-to-use,
practical tips and exciting ideas that you
can apply to your mixes.
After all, it’s better to give you fresh ideas
that you can put to good use instead of
lengthy explanations you won’t know what
to do with.
With that in mind, let’s jump into some
easy-to-follow, practical mixing tips.
3
 How to Plan the
Ultimate Mix

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest

route to victory. Tactics without
strategy is the noise before defeat.“
-Sun Tzu

Before you dive into tweaking your com-

pressors and surgically cutting your instru-
ments with EQ, it might be a good idea
to sit down and know where you’re going.
Even though each song and genre can be
approached differently, it’s always impor-
tant to have a game plan.

To put it bluntly: plan ahead and know

which direction you’re headed. It’s the key
to mixing efficiently.

4
Look at the Big Picture
What are you working with? What is your
end goal? Listen to the recorded tracks and
develop an opinion on where the song can
go. A sparse acoustic mix can’t sound like
an orchestra, and a fast heavy metal mix
can’t sound like a spacious ballad.
You have to look at the bigger picture of
the mix so that you can determine what
tools you have at your disposal. Different
genres and arrangements call for different
mixing approaches.
For example: an alternative rock mix might
need shorter reverbs and delays instead of
the longer and bigger reverbs of a pop ballad.
Lower Levels
I know it’s awesome to listen to your tight,
pumping mix at ear-splitting volumes, but
guess what; they’re ear-splitting volumes!
Your ears can’t take all that abuse, and if
you still have goals you’d like to accomplish
before your hearing dies, you need to mix
at lower volumes.
Mixing at lower volumes not only allows you
to work for longer periods of time, it also
makes you listen more closely to what’s
going on.
5
Take Breaks
When you’re done lifting weights and your
muscles are so tired that you can barely
lift the bar again, do you push through the
pain, risk injury and hinder your progress?
No! You give your muscles time to rest and
repair. Well, the same logic applies to your
ears; they’re important, and they need rest
too.
What sounds good after 8 hours of mixing
might sound terrible the day after when re-
visited with fresh ears. Mix with rested ears
and take breaks in between.
Simplify Your Mix like the
Grammy-winning Engineers
Using subgroups and busses to simplify
your mix is the best way of putting all your
tracks into perspective. If you know what
you’re doing 15 backing vocals tracks, 18
drum tracks, and 4 rhythm guitar tracks can
all be grouped and bussed into 4 tracks.
I prefer to send the outputs of each indi-
vidual track to a separate master auxiliary
track rather than use the computer pro-
gram’s “Group” function. It helps visually,
and to top it off, it’s more intuitive.
Send your tracks to auxiliary subgroups and
simplify your mixing. It will be easier to see
6
the big picture when you’re working with
fewer faders.
Chris Lord-Alge once spilled some secrets
on his mixing approach to Sound on Sound
Magazine.
If you don’t know who he is, trust me,
you’ve heard his mixes. He’s mixed artists as
diverse Bruce Springsteen, Avril Lavigne and
Deftones. He’s one of the biggest Grammy-
Winning Engineers in modern music.
He was talking about his mix of My Chemical
Romance, and how he simplified their mix
from 159 tracks down to 44. All by using
submixes and groups of instruments.
That’s the secret to an easier mix. Simplify
your tracks to get an easier grasp of every-
thing that’s going on.
Mono?
Make sure your mix works in mono. You
might not be doing this in the planning sec-
tion, but you should keep it in mind all the
way through the mixing process. Whether
you’re panning things all over the place or
using weird stereo imaging plug-ins, make
sure it all works in mono.
7
Mix Like an Expert with
These Three Concepts

“If you know the enemy and know your-

self you need not fear the results of a
hundred battles.“
-Sun Tzu

Here is an exercise: Put all your faders up

and play the song from start to finish, un-
treated and unmixed. Close your eyes and
listen. Try to imagine where the mix can
go in your head as you are listening to the
recorded tracks.

Think Tall, Wide, and Deep.

8
Think Tall. Wide. And Deep. entire canvases with color, not just the
middle area
Tall - Frequencies
With your eyes closed, what needs to be
The same goes for you. Don’t place every-
tall? Which elements need high frequencies
thing in the middle. Instead, spread the
and which need low frequencies?
elements out and find a good spot for each
individual object.
Which instruments can you trim the off the
top and place in the low end? Which instru-
Deep – Effects and Reverb
ments can you filter out the fat and make
Push the instruments back, pull them for-
shine in the high end? What needs to be all
ward, move them closer, or push them away.
encompassing in the middle?
Think of the mix like a 3D image. Using vol-
ume, reverb, and effects you can place any
Wide – Panning
element of the mix anywhere in the room.
Think about pushing each part into its
proper place. You need to fill out the stereo
If you want the drums by the rear wall, add
spectrum, so pan your instruments around
some reverb and lower the volume. Push an
your canvas. Artists are supposed to fill their

9
element back with reverb and effects, and
pull it forward with more volume and short
delays.
Once you’ve placed all the elements in both
highs and lows, left and right, and front and
back you can have a better idea of where
you’re headed and what you need to do.
More Resources
One of the better books I’ve read about
mixing “philosophy” is The Art of Mixing:
A Visual Guide to Recording, Engineering
and Producing by David Gibson. He sets up
the book in a visual manner, which is an ef-
fective way of envisioning the mix you want
to create.
Of course, the king of audio production lit-
erature is Bobby Owsinski; he has written an
incredible array of music production books.
The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook is a must
for aspiring mixing engineers that want even
more tips and tricks to add to their repertoire.
10
 Panning for the
Beginner and Advanced

Panning is an important part of mixing, and

it’s just as important as achieving correct
levels or correctly EQ’d parts.

Not only will panning make room for every

instrument in the stereo spectrum, it can
another element of creativity as well.

Stereo spread with mono panning – Pan

the reverbs, delays, and modulations to dif-
ferent sides of the stereo spectrum.

If you have an entire brass band or multiple

guitar parts, imagine how big you can make
your parts feel if they are coming from every-
where!

11
Automate your pans – Use subtle automa-
tion—or just an auto-pan plug-in if you are
lazy—to create movement and interest in
your mixes.
Make your backing vocals come out from
different sides at different times, or slowly
move various percussion samples around
the stereo spectrum.
Find the correct place for everything –
Every element seems to breathe much eas-
ier when it’s not fighting over territory with
another. Even the smallest pan movements
can make a difference.
Panning does not mean Left, Right, and
Center – Don’t just throw your left and right
keyboard parts to the opposite side of the
spectrum because “that’s how it’s done.”
If you pan everything at extreme left and
right and place the rest in the center you’re
neglecting quite a bit of space, and you
want to use all that space, right?
Panning, as straightforward as it is, can be-
come really creative once you start thinking
about the different ways to apply it.
Whether you’re filling up the stereo spec-
trum with intricately panned arrangements
or enlarging your guitar parts with panned
mono reverbs, it’s a very simple but imagi-
native aspect of audio production.
12
How to Beat the Fear of
Stereo Imaging

Using wide stereo plug-ins that make your

synth or guitar sound larger (and wider) than
life seems desirable when you’re mixing.

However, without careful thought, you

might screw up the stereo image, lose
mono compatibility, and make your guitar
sound disappear, all with one plug-in.

Luckily, it’s easy to get a wide sound with-

out worrying too much about how it will
translate, and getting a professional stereo
image isn’t something that only the mixing
engineer’s box of magic tricks can do.

By understanding stereo and how to ma-

nipulate mono sources, delays, and modu-

13
lation to create wide stereo images and ef-
fects, you are close to being able to produce
smoother mixed sounds that sound bigger,
wider, and taller than anything you’ve ever
done.
Create Your Own Stereo Patches
Most synths come with preset-ready sounds
that are amazing by themselves – huge ste-
reo sounds that have an incredible depth.
However, it’s too bad they clutter up your
mix with their way-too-wide-for-comfort ste-
reo. If you have amazing patches that have
a huge stereo image, everything is going to
pale in comparison. Even if you have two
overheads which are panned left and right to
create a drum sound that covers the entire
spectrum that way-too-wide synth sound is
still going to make your drums sound nar-
row.
Creating your own stereo out of mono
synths enables you to have greater control
over the wideness and placement of your
sound.
Use Delays
Short delays panned to the other side of
the stereo spectrum can instantly widen
up your instrument. You don’t need to pan
hard-left and hard-right in order to create a
stereo sound.
14
Narrow stereo can work just as well, espe-
cially if you are working with many stereo in-
struments. Sometimes just a little separation
between wet and dry sounds does the trick.
Narrow Panning
Your mix is only going to sound as wide as
your widest instrument.
It’s often better to be a little more conser-
vative with panning instruments that don’t
need to fit the whole spectrum rather than
grouping everything into the left, right, and
center.
Here’s how you create a wide but narrow
panned instrument:
1. Pan the left channel hard-left
2. Pan the right channel to around 9
o’clock to the left
Now you have a stereo instrument that
sounds big but isn’t taking up the entire
stereo spectrum. Rather, the instrument
now has only a small piece of the pie allow-
ing other elements to have their fair share.
Layering
Using various layers of double-tracking or
similar instruments playing the same thing
all over the spectrum can result in a thick,
powerful mix.
15
Just be sure that you’re not accidentally cre-
ating phase problems by using delays that
are too short, or cluttering up the mix with
too much of the same thing.
Stereo chorus
Sending an instrument to a stereo chorus
can give a wide shimmer to your instrument
without losing the mono sound source.
A synth, for example, could be panned a
little off-center, and the chorus could be
panned hard-left and hard-right resulting in
a shimmering stereo without the loss of the
main instrumental source.
Stereo widening plug-ins
There are some pretty crazy stereo plug-ins
out there that can open up your sound and
make it bigger.
They do this with various phase manipula-
tions, dividing up the frequency spectrum
between left and right (somewhat). Even
though these plug-ins make your instru-
ments sound great, they should usually be
approached with care since drastic applica-
tions can end in disaster.
Playing with phase can be dangerous, so be
careful when working with these types of
plug-ins.
16
35 Mixing Tips for
Punchier Drums

The most persistent sound which rever-

berates through men’s history is the
beating of war drums.
~Arthur Koestler

1. An 80 – 100 Hz shelving boost will fill

out the kick drum’s low end.
2. A cut between 300 – 600 Hz will clear
up any boxiness in your drums.
3. A sharp filter at 32 Hz discards any
unnecessary (and inaudible) low-end
energy.
4. Low-mid muddiness can be fixed by
cutting at 200 Hz.
5. Compress the peaks (0.5 – 1 dB gain
reduction) for a natural drum sound.

17
6. Get a tight, trigger-like kick drum with a
ratio of 6:1 and a threshold of around -20.
7. Look at the gain reduction meter as you
tweak the ratio. Make the snare breathe
in time with the song.
8. 500 Hz can bring out the fundamentals of
a snare, but it can also clutter up the mix.
9. For more boom in your kick drum, use
a fast attack on the compressor.
10. For more click in your kick drum, use a
slower attack on the compressor.
11. Don’t dull the attack of the snare.
Lower the attack on the compressor un-
til it starts dulling the sound, then back
it off a little bit.
12. Boost 2.5 kHz for a more modern rock
kick drum sound.
13. Boost around 4 kHz for a heavy metal
bass drum beater.
14. Use gated reverb to thicken the snare
without adding a long reverb trail.
15. Pan the floor tom in the middle for a
more powerful final tom hit.
16. Pan the hi-hat off the side.
17. Accent different frequencies of each
track if you recorded one drum with
two microphones.
18. Compress room tracks heavily for a
punchy sound.
18
19. Use a fast attack on heavily compressed
room mics to dull the cymbal sound.
20. Compress, EQ, and pan each tom dif-
ferently, then group them to one fader
for easy handling.
21. Use a limiter to bring out all the nuanc-
es of your snare sound.
22. Use a different reverb on the snare than
the overheads.
23. Gate the kick drum if you are having
trouble with bleed from other drums.
24. Gate the toms so that they only sound
when they are played.
25. Get the kick drum nice and groovy and
then bring up the overheads in the mix.
26. Use drum replacement software if your
drum tracks absolutely suck.
27. Bring out the attack of the snare with
a little boost at 3 kHz.
28. Automate your reverbs so that it only
triggers at specific times.
29. For a narrower drum sound, pan the
overheads closer together.
30. Mute everything except the overheads
to create contrast.
31. Add some slow phase on the over-
heads for a psychedelic, 1970s sound.
32. Make sure all the drums come through
in the overheads, but filter as much as
you can.
19
33. Duck the bass guitar behind the kick
via side-chain so that every time the
kick drum plays the bass guitar ducks
out of the way.
34. Make room for the kick drum by filter-
ing out the low end on other instru-
ments.
35. If you are mixing a stereo drum loop
then use a multi-band compressor to
compress the various frequency areas
differently.

20
 How to Create
a Gated Reverb

Knowing how to make a gated reverb is a The things you need are:
standard in any engineer’s trick bag. A gated • Snare track
reverb is a staple 1980s snare sound popu-
larized by artists such as Phil Collins and • Aux send
Prince. • Effects return track
• Gate with a side-chain
Using the snare as a trigger for the snare-
reverb you can thicken your snare sound up • A Hall Reverb
without cluttering the drum sound with a
long reverb trail. Now, with all the components together
you will mix the snare track as you like it,
In any DAW, this technique is pretty simple, EQ’ing and compressing as needed. Once
easy to do and doesn’t involve a lot of steps. the snare track is ready, send it via an aux
to a stereo reverb.

21
Dial up a big hall setting. Remember to have
the effect on 100% wet so the channel only
has the reverb sound.
Now, insert a gate after the reverb. Put the
threshold as far up as you can, essentially
killing the reverb. Now, via your side-chain
on the gate, patch the gate to the snare-
drum track.
When the gate on your reverb track is side-
chained to the snare track you can start
experimenting with the parameters of the
gate. Reduce the threshold so that it starts
letting the reverb through. The reverb should
breathe in time with the snare drum creating
a thick snare drum sound without an exces-
sive reverb trail.
You can get different results by experiment-
ing with the attack and release. A fairly fast
attack and medium release in time with the
snare makes it sound like the reverb is be-
ing sucked into the snare again.
I like having the attack a little slower. That
way you hear the snare sound first, and it
sounds like the snare is breathing out the
reverb before promptly sucking it in again.
Experiment with the parameters until you
get something you are satisfied with. Also,
gated reverb isn’t just for the snare. You
can experiment by using it with other in-
struments as well.
22
For instance, use it:
• On vocals when you don’t want a big tail.
• On guitars when you want a quirky solo
sound.
Now, you don’t necessarily need to use a
reverb and a gate. You can also side-chain
two elements together with a compressor.
With side-chained compression you make
one element duck behind the element being
played. This is a great way to make the kick
and bass work together.
You can make this work by using a compres-
sor’s or a gate’s key-listen to make one ele-
ment listen to a different track. When some-
thing goes on in that track, the element will
react what occurs on the other instrument.
For example, let’s say you want your com-
pressor to compress the bass guitar a
few dBs every time the kick drum hits. By
inserting a compressor on the bass guitar
track and making it listen to the kick drum
via the compressor’s side-chain, you have
chained the compressor’s “ears” to the kick
drum instead of the bass guitar.
Now, every time the kick drum makes a
sound, the compressor will compress the
bass guitar to the extent you choose.
This is a very effective way to make differ-
ent elements work off of each other. More-
over, it’s an easy way to automate or affect
different elements of the mix by making
them listen to each other.
23
The Easy Way to Get a
Thundering Tom Sound
Everybody has at least one top ten favorite song
that has a thundering tom sound. You know the
breakdown part where the drummer goes:
“!Bam! !Bam!”
For some reason “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC
comes to mind immediately, even though
I’m not a huge fan of the Hard Rockers from
Down Under.
Sometimes it’s necessary to be able to coax
a thunderous tom sound out of your drum
tracks, and by using these easy steps you
will be much closer to achieving that power-
ful rock drum sound.
Step 1 –
Use Your Equalizer
When doing toms I prefer EQing before I
compress. You can always try the double-
whammy EQ/Compression trick, but I want
the sound of the drums to come through
before everything else so I start by sculpt-
ing the sound with EQ.
Thunderous toms need a rich low end as
well as a nice attack.
What they don’t need is the boxy sound of
the middle frequencies that clutter up the
tom sound and make them lose their thunder-
ous definition. The best way to do this is to
cut the middle frequencies first and then find
the complimentary lows and high afterwards.
24
1. Cut the Mids – Start your cutting at 300
Hz or so and sweep along the mids until
the toms start sounding thicker. Subjec-
tively, by taking out the middle frequen-
cies you are making more room for the
lows and highs to come out and play. Cut
the boxy frequencies until you hear your
toms getting thicker.
2. Add the Lows – Add more lows to get a
thicker tom sound. Depending on the
size of the drum there are different fre-
quencies involved. Big floor toms have
a fuller sound around 80 – 100 Hz but
smaller toms might need to be boosted
even higher, around 100 – 200 Hz.
Sweep along the lower frequencies with
a wide bell curve or a shelving boost
until you find the frequency that com-
pliments the tom.
3. Sprinkle with Highs – Now that you’ve
gotten a thick sound from your drum
you might need to add some attack
to it. A broad but small boost around
the higher middle frequencies, say,
1.2 kHz – 5 Khz should give your toms
a little more attack. Be easy on the
highs since you don’t want too much.
Just enough to compliment the thun-
derous lows.
25
Step 2 –
A Compressor with an Attitude
Now that we’ve gotten the general sound of
our toms going, it’s time to use some com-
pression to make it even more powerful.
Compression is a big subject and not one I’ll
be delving into in detail here. (If you really
need help with compression basics, check
out Joe Gilder’s Understanding Compres-
sion).
However, we need to compress our toms for
a powerful sound and knowing what each
part does is important.
Let’s go through some of the parameters
that are important for our tom sound.
• Medium Attack – We want the attack of
the toms to come through before our
compressor clamps down on it. If the
attack is too fast the initial transient
will be eaten up by the compressor.
Timing the attack so that the com-
pressor allows the initial hit to come
through is important to this specific
sound.
• Ratio – Set the ratio to around 6:1. By
cranking up the ratio you bring up
the power of the toms. A ratio of 6:1
isn’t extremely high so that you won’t
notice the sucking sound of too much
compression but it is enough to give
your toms a powerful sound.
26
 • Crank the threshold – If the toms are Step 3 –
only used in hard hitting fills or specific Add Some Reverb
tom parts, as opposed to low-key tom
Now you should have a fairly thick and
beats, then cranking up the threshold
creamy tom sound. You can either leave it
is a good way of making sure the toms
as is and focus on the rest of the drum-kit,
are heard. By lowering the threshold
making everything sound tight and great or
you are essentially squashing the signal
you can add this one last step.
harder and hearing all the little nu-
ances and subtleties of the toms that
Adding individual short reverbs to each
otherwise would be too quiet to hear.
tom can be a great way to add some more
Put your threshold at around -20 and
power to your tom sound. Short rooms or
make sure you are compressing at least
halls that don’t leave a long reverb trail can
6-10dBs on the peaks, if not more.
make your tom sound larger than life, espe-
cially if you pan them accordingly.

27
By using mono reverbs and panning them
behind each tom you can give your toms
that extra punch you need.

Not Only for Toms

By now you should be familiar with how you
can get a thunderous sound out of your tom
tracks. Not only can you use these tech-
niques on your toms, but try them on other
percussion instruments as well. I use the EQ
method in step one for many instruments,
not just toms. By being familiar with what
each processor does you can work faster
and more efficiently on your mixes.

28
 How Secure is
Your Low End?

A good mix must have good low end. If

you are mixing in a room that doesn’t
have a good bass response, chances are
that you will add too much bass.

If you have your subwoofer cranked

because you love the added bass when
you’re listening, it’s likely that you’ll end
up with a very bass-light mix that sounds
full in your room but nobody else’s.

Low end is tricky. You need to adequately

distribute the bass to those instruments
that need it. A cymbal doesn’t have any
bass, and therefore doesn’t need anything
below a certain frequency.

29
However, bass guitar and kick drum are the
kings of low end, and you need to be sure
that they have enough space and energy.
They also have to play nice with each other.
The Lowest End
Let’s take the first 100 Hz or so as an example.
The power of your mix, where you can feel
it more than hear it, is centered around 31
– 63 Hz, which are the first standard octave
values. This is where the really low rumble
of a bass synth or an 808 kick drum sample
can be felt, rather than heard.
The frequency range of 50 Hz to 100 Hz is
where the low end of the kick drum and
bass guitar resides.
We need to distribute the energy in that
area to both elements so that they sound
great and aren’t interfering with one an-
other. By boosting different frequencies in
each instrument, we create a playground for
each element.
For example, if we have a bass-heavy bass
guitar track that really comes to life at 80
Hz, we can boost the track there, but at the
same time we can cut that frequency at the
kick drum.
To compensate, we can find a frequency
that really makes that kick drum punchy in
the low end, at 100 Hz for example.
30
Divide the Frequencies By spreading out the boosts and cuts be-
tween instruments, you can carve out a
By boosting the 100 Hz in the kick drum
space for each element in your mix
and cutting the same frequency in the bass
guitar, we have given each instrument a play-
ing field. It’s kind of like a 4th grade division
problem.

If you have 4 frequencies and two rock in-
struments, how many frequencies does each
instrument get? You can’t give the same
instruments the same attention in the exact
same frequencies. And this is especially true
when it comes to low end. Too many fre-
quency clashes in the bass make your mix
sound muddy and undefined.

31
 Simple EQ Fixes
for the Bass Guitar
You might be working with many different
instruments and they all might sound good,
but for some reason you can’t get that bass
guitar to the same level. It’s too muddy,
too thick or too weak. Finding that perfect
middle ground can be hard.
There are a variety of fixes when it comes
to dealing with low end, as every situation
is always a little different. However, there is
one crucial processor that is instrumental in
getting your bass sounding good.
The equalizer.
By using the equalizer you can sculpt the
low-end until it’s just the right amount of
tight bass. But knowing where to look and
knowing what to steer clear of is important
to getting your low end right.
Let’s look at a few quick fixes for the bass
guitar.
Subtle Filtering
It’s always a good idea to filter out any un-
necessary frequency information. However,
be careful when you use that high-pass
filter on a low end instrument. Since that’s
where most of the character of the instru-
ment lies, filtering it out can lead to a thin
sounding bass that has lost all of its power.
Much of the juice is between 50 and 100
Hz. If you set your filter higher than that
32
you might cut out the punch from the bass
guitar. Remember, we just want to get rid of
the low-end information that we don’t need.
If you filter too high you might end up with a
lifeless bass sound.
However, different scenarios call for different
approaches, and that’s why you should get
over The Fear of Filtering.
Subtle EQ Fixes
A common problem with bass guitars is that
they can sound too muddy while still needing
some extra thickness. Careful cuts around
150 – 200 Hz can clear up a lot of muddi-
ness, giving extra room to the thicker and
beefier bass frequencies around 100 Hz.
Sometimes cutting the muddiness is
enough to get a tighter thickness to your
bass, as opposed to a flabby muddiness.
But if cutting the mud isn’t enough, boost-
ing the 100 Hz can sometimes really give
weight to the bass guitar without cluttering
up the guitars or other elements of the mix.
To me, this results in a thicker but less
boomy sound.
Finally, if you need more attack from the
bass without adding on the bass, the mid-
dle frequencies around 700 Hz can really
bring out the character of the bass without
creating additional boominess.
33
Quick Tips to Great
Guitar Production

We guitarists like to hear our guitar sound

amazing in a mix. We want it to be the loud-
est instrument, and routinely have fights
with our singers about what the main instru-
ment in a song really is.

Is it the vocal? Or is it the amazing guitar lead

that’s all around the track? We sometimes like
to think it’s the latter, but that’s up for debate.

We want the mixing engineer to think about

the guitar mixing first, and the rest of the
song second.

Since I play and sing I have inner turmoil

with myself every time I’m mixing guitar. I
always want the guitar to sound interesting,
but I don’t want it to crowd up the track.

34
I like my guitar lines as much as any guitar-
ist does, but as a mixing engineer you have
to be aware of all the elements of a track.
That’s why I’ve brainstormed some good
starting points to make your guitar mixing
sound amazing.
1. Filter Out the Low End
Guitars have their character frequencies in the
middle frequencies. Their lower end some-
times competes with the bass guitar which can
muddy up the track. A good trick to get rid of
this clash is to filter out the lowest frequencies
of the guitar with a high-pass filter EQ.
Filter it in solo until you begin to filter out
the fundamental frequencies, then back it
off a bit. If the guitar still clashes with the
bass guitar when you play them both to-
gether, filter out a little bit more. Remem-
ber that instruments have to sound good to-
gether, and that sometimes means making
them sound bad in solo.
2. Add Modulation for Depth
Modulation effects such as chorus and
flangers can add an interesting character to
your guitar sounds. Being really subtle on
the modulation can be really for adding bit
more space and depth to the instrument
without making it into an effect.
3. Add a Stereo Delay
Adding a nice stereo delay can help widen
the guitar sound. With a 100 ms delay and
one repeat you can achieve a nice doubling
35
effect that stands out just enough and still
sits well in the mix.
4. Add Reverb and Pan it
Send your guitar track to a mono reverb, and
then pan your reverb to a different side. It
creates a sense of space around the instru-
ment without drowning the guitar in reverb.
5. Find the Character Frequency
Every guitar has a certain character frequen-
cy that makes the sound of it jump out at
you. With a parametric EQ, boost a few dBs
and sweep around the mids until your guitar
comes to life. Then shape your EQ curve ac-
cordingly until it sounds just right.
6. Don’t Overdo the Distortion
Too much distortion can really get in the
way of a clear mix. Poor choice of distortion
results in a poor guitar sound. You want
enough distortion so that the guitar sounds
powerful and… well, distorted. However,
you don’t want so much distortion that all
your notes bleed into a pile of unintelligible
fuzz.
7. Filter Out the High End
You can really clean up a hissy guitar part
by filtering out the high-end. Digital distor-
tion and amp emulators can create an un-
natural digital hiss in the high ranges that
can easily be filtered out.
36
8. Don’t Erase the Mids
Like I said before, guitars are a mid-range in-
strument, so getting rid of the mids kills the
fundamental frequencies of the instrument.
By taking away the guitar’s mids, other in-
struments drown out its sound, making the
guitar impossible to hear unless you crank
up its volume. This can result in an unbal-
anced mix where the guitars are relatively
louder than anything else.
9. Make Way for Other Instruments
Being a guitarist means that you love your
guitar. You like the way it sounds, and you
love the riffs you come up with. Sadly, most
of the time there is more happening in the
mix than just your guitar. So make way for
other instruments.
Pan your guitar so that it doesn’t sit on top
of other instruments, and cut frequencies
that are clashing with the vocal or just plain
turn the guitar down. A mix in which all
of the elements can be equally heard is a
good mix, and, unless your guitar solo is up
next, don’t touch that volume button!
10. Color with Effects
Lastly, modulation can be used in more ways
than just achieving subtle depth. Heavy cho-
rus brings out the 1980s in you, and some
cool tremolo or vibrato can take your guitar
lick to the next level. Experiment with differ-
ent effects, mix and match, and just go for
whatever you think might go well together.
37
Being a mixing engineer means being able
to mix any instrument, not just your favorite
guitar. Think of your mix as a painting, all
the elements have to go somewhere. If you
paint a tree and then paint a house on top,
nobody is going to know that there’s a tree
behind your house.
The same goes for guitar mixing, if there’s
layers of guitars on top of everything, all
the other subtle elements won't get noticed.
Spread things out, mix it up, and equal up
your elements. It will make for a better song.
Advanced Guitar
Production Tricks
1. Long Release on Chords – For a longer,
more sustained sound for chords, use a
long release on your compressor. Think if it
this way: the longer the release, the longer
the sustain of the chords.
2. Fast Attack to Reduce String Sound –
Compression is used to create shape. It’s
not just used to control the volume. A really
fast attack really pushes down on the initial
strum resulting in a more pad-like sound.
If you combine a fast attack with a fast/me-
dium release, you’ll end up with a chord that
seems to wash over you, especially if you hit
the chords (and your compressor) hard.
38
3. Re-amp if Needed - Re-amping means
routing your performance from your DAW
into an amp and recording it again. If you
recorded a great performance through a
guitar emulator and you’re not satisfied with
the sound, re-amping is a great way to give
your electric guitar more depth. It’s a perfect
way to tweak a great performance that has a
lackluster sound.
4. Cut at 800 Hz – I always seem to dip a lit-
tle at 800 Hz, it takes the cheap sound away.
Especially if I’m working with cheap guitars.
5. EQ the reverb - Reverb is the number
one culprit when it comes to a muddy mix.
This trick is applicable to any instrument, but
make sure to filter out some of the low-end of
your reverb send when mixing electric guitar.
It’ll still give your guitar space and depth,
but without the unnecessary muddiness.
6. Use subgroups – If you’re working with
many similar guitar tracks, grouping them
together makes mixing a lot easier. This is
one of the most important pieces of advice I
can give. It’s simple but extremely important.
Bus, route, and group your tracks, and, sud-
denly, your tracks become more manageable.
7. Use the Right Reverb – Take your time
to go throw your reverbs. The right reverb
choice depends on a lot of things: genre of
music, speed of song, type of feel.
You can’t get a large open guitar sound with
a small jazzy club preset. You’re better off
with a hall setting. Also, a fast rock song
39
with a cathedral reverb is going to muddy up
the mix immediately. So take your time to
use the right reverbs for the song.
The Guitar Mixing
Do’s and Don’ts Checklist
I don’t mean to be redundant, but make
sure to check this list every time you’re mix-
ing your guitars. It’s an easy checklist for a
better guitar sound.
Do – Add just the right amount of EQ boost
to accent the guitars’ fundamental frequen-
cies. Sweep around the spectrum and find
which frequencies flatter the guitar sound.
Then add a tasteful amount.
Don’t – Overload the guitar with low mids.
The guitars might sound thicker with a lot
of 200 Hz, but if that clutters up the rest of
the mix, it isn’t worth it.
Do – Pan your guitars around so they don’t
compete with everything else. Off the sides
and in between makes them stand out more.
Don’t – Make the guitars compete for the
center of attention. Don’t pan them all to the
center, especially if you have many guitar
tracks. Spread them out over the spectrum.
Do – Add the right reverb – Go through your
reverbs until you find the right one for your
parts. It might be a typical spring reverb or
40
it might be a big hall. Every song is different,
every guitar track has its quirks, and every
reverb works in its own way.
Don’t – Add Too Much Reverb – Drowning
the guitar in reverb might work on occasion,
especially if you are going for a specific effect.
But it’s usually a sign of amateurism to have
too much reverb going on. Add the reverb to
compliment the part, not to take it over.
Do – Separate the guitar from the snare – Is
the guitar sound clogging up the snare sound?
Make sure the snare can be heard by the
heavy riffage of your electric guitars. EQ cuts,
panning, and levels can help fix this problem.
Don’t – Overload the mix with guitars – The
guitars usually aren’t the most important part
of a mix. I’m a guitar player and it hurts to
say this, but back off the guitars unless you
want to alienate your audience. People aren’t
listening for your amazing guitar sound. They
are listening for the song. Let them.
Do – Add tasteful modulation when needed
– Subtle flanging or chorus can go a long
way to make a guitar come alive.
Don’t – Go overboard on the effects – Sure,
crazy effects can suit a song just fine some-
times, but don’t think that’s going to save
your mix if it sucks to begin with.
41
Do – Use a low-pass filter for distorted gui-
tars – You can reduce the amount of hiss
from a heavily distorted guitar by filtering
out the high-end frequencies.

Don’t – Boost too much in the high mids –

You can bring out the bite of the guitar with
boosts in the high mid-range, but too much
can make the guitar sound fuzzy, nasal, or
brittle. Don’t boost too much, but if you
need a little bite, look for it in the 2.5 kHz
range.

42
Getting that Professionally
Processed Vocal Sound

Getting the vocals to sound great is the

most important factor. It can either make
or break a mix.

If your vocal sounds dull, uneven, and dry,

then there’s no chance that any awesome-
sounding backing track will be able to
help.

You can have lackluster guitars and less

than stellar drums, but if your vocals don’t
cut through and deliver, your mix is done
for.

Where do you start when you want to

process your vocals and create that profes-
sional sound you hear in your head?

43
1. Edit – Chances are your vocals have a
little bleed from the backing track or
your singer is shuffling around between
vocal phrases. Edit those out by delet-
ing the regions where there is no sing-
ing or using a gate to silence the un-
needed areas.
2. Compress the peaks – I like using a
subtle compressor first. By managing the
peaks of the vocals, I can later concen-
trate on creative EQ and compression to
create my “sound.” Compress lightly with
a ratio of 2:1, a gain reduction of .5 – 1
dB, and a medium to fast attack.
3. De-essing – Some singers pronounce
their s’s more than others. If you have
a singer with an interfering lisp, using a
de-esser to treat those s’s is a must.
Some DAWs come with dedicated de-
essers, but you can also use a side-
chained compressor to deal with the
sibilant frequency. Instead of going
into the details, here is an in-depth
tutorial on How to Create a De-Esser.
4. Filter and Cut – Filter out the low end
with a high-pass filter. Singers usually
don’t sing at 100 Hz, so filtering up
to and around 100 Hz will clear up
any low-end rumble the microphone
picked up while recording.
Additionally, it will give you more room
to work with since you’ve discarded all
that low-end energy. You might even
need to check on your compressor to
see if it’s working any differently now
that some of the low energy is gone.
44
 You should also concentrate on finding
and cutting some of the more unflatter-
ing frequencies. A boxy sound can be
reduced with cuts in the mids (3 – 600
Hz), while a nasally sound results from
too much 1 kHz. By sweeping around
with an equalizer you can pinpoint and
reduce frequencies that don’t contrib-
ute to a great vocal sound.
5. Processed Compression – Maybe you
like the natural sound you’ve gotten so
far and don’t want to compress again.
That’s fine.
But now you can use different compres-
sion models and parameters to bring
out the nuances and intricacies of your
vocal track. You don’t want to com-
press the track to lifelessness, but you
want to compress it so that it comes
out and says hello.
Now you can compress a little heavier
with a starting ratio of 4:1 and a gain
reduction of 6 dBs or more. If you are
compressing heavily, using a medium
attack will ensure that you don’t hear
the compressor squashing down, mak-
ing the initial breath come out un-com-
pressed.
You can use emulations (or the real
outboard deal) of FET, Opto, or VCA
compressors, though you’ll get a
slightly different sound from each one.
I don’t have any preference, but try
each one out to see how it fits.
45
6. Making up for frequency loss – Now
that you’ve controlled, filtered, and
compressed your signal to your liking,
there’s a chance that your signal is a
little duller than it was before.
If your vocal lacks any presence or
brilliance, some nice broad boosts in
the upper mids can help get your vocal
back on track (no pun intended). A few
dBs at 3 kHz can increase clarity, and
a boost at 5 kHz will make your vocal
more present. A slight boost at 8 kHz
can make up for the loss of brilliance.
7. Doubling – Even if your vocal is rocking
by this point, there is no harm in mak-
ing it better. By sending your vocal track
to a new bus and adding some short
20 – 30 ms delay or chorus to it, you
can make it sound bigger and fuller.
Just be careful. When sending your
tracks to a different bus, you should
mix the doubled track underneath
the original track. Use a mono delay
or a stereo chorus (it doesn’t matter
which). A little doubling will fill out the
vocal if it had any trouble before.
8. Reverb – Assuming that you recorded
your vocal in a fairly dead vocal booth,
it’s possible that it sounds a bit dry at
this point.
You need to add some “liveness” to
the vocal, some space around it to
46
 make it sound natural. In a sense, you The steps listed above are the basic prin-
need some reverb. However, the choice ciples of processing a vocal, but what you
of reverb differs, depending on what do to the vocal track after the basics are
type of song you are mixing. Use short covered makes it truly yours. Do you want to
reverbs for faster songs, especially add extra delay, a radically different reverb,
if you just want to lift up the vocal a or even some modulation to create interest?
little bit. Don’t be afraid to use longer
reverbs for slower and more spacious That extra mile is yours to walk, so have
songs. fun with it. Hopefully you’ll come up with
Remember that choosing a reverb is a awesome vocal sounds that you can share
bit of an eccentricity; no two engineers with us fellow engineers.
will choose the same one. Two differ-
ent reverbs can work equally well in the
same situation. It simply depends on
your choice and preference.
9. The extra mile – The extra mile is that
special thing you do to make the vocal
stand out.

47
 An In-Depth Guide
to Vocal EQ
EQing a vocal track can be frustrating.
Sometimes it seems to sound like it was
stuck on later and doesn’t flow with the rest
of the track.
Following are the five frequency ranges you
can start with when you are in trouble and
need to figure out how to equalize your vo-
cal so that it sits better with your song.
It goes without saying that no amount of EQ-
ing is going to fix a badly recorded vocal. So
be sure to have a clean and well recorded
vocal before you start mixing it.
1. The Too Low-Range
Usually vocals can be filtered quite severely
in the lowest range. Flip on the low-cut filter
on the microphone when you’re recording
to cut out the low-end rumble. Usually do-
ing this cuts at 75 or so but during mixing
you can filter it out even more.
Obviously this depends on the singer’s
voice but I usually go for a little over 100
Hz. Listening is critical here because you
don’t want to cut out the singer’s character,
especially if he has a good presence in the
lower register. For female singers you can
go even higher. But be careful of the Barry
White and Leonard Cohen type singers, they
may need that extra rumble in their voice.
48
2. The Thick 150 Hz
For rounding out a vocal and making it more
thick and full, I would search around the
150 Hz area. Some singers sound thin and
nasally and could do with a little meat on
their vocal chords. Boosting here can give
the vocal more punch.
3. Honky-Boxy 4-500 Hz
If your vocal track lacks definition and
sounds boxy you can sweep around this area,
even going as far up as 800 Hz. Remember
that when cutting you should have your Q
pretty narrow because you are trying to repair
your recording, and cutting too broadly from
the frequency spectrum will severely compro-
mise the natural sound of the vocal.
4. In Your Face Presence of the 5 Khz
If your singer doesn’t seem to be cutting
through the mix, he might need to be
presented to 5Khz. It will push the track a
little more to the front and give the singer a
much needed presence.
5. Sibilance around the 7 Khz.
Some people have more sibilance than oth-
ers. The ‘s’ sounds have much more energy
than other consonants. If your singer has
an excess of s’s you can try cutting around
7 Khz. It will make the s’s less pronounced
and won’t make them jump out too much.
Better yet, inserting a de-esser or a com-
pressor that only compresses the ‘s’ area
49
can work even better. As Randy Coppinger
(@randycoppinger) pointed out, “male sibi-
lance is typically 3-7k Hz and female sibi-
lance is typically 5-9k Hz”, so there needs to
be some experimentation to find that annoy-
ing ‘s’ sound.

The Art of EQ’ing

Obviously, treating vocals is an art, and
every case is different. These are only basic
suggestions and one should search for the
right frequencies on a case-to-case basis.
But having an idea of what you need and
where to find it makes it all the more easy
and fun.

50
 The Reason You Need
Reverb on Every Mix
During mixing, once you’ve gotten past a
certain amount of tracks, it gets harder and
harder to separate everything. This is when
you inevitably start cluttering up your mix,
drowning out the vocal with rock guitar or
losing the punch of the drum because of all
the synths.
One time I was mixing a really cool dance/
pop song. All of the individual tracks sound-
ed great. The rhythm section was grooving,
and the beat was tight. However, when I put
it all together, it just fell apart.
Everything was trying to occupy the same
space, and all the instruments were scream-
ing for my attention.
That’s when it hit me:
I hadn’t started using any reverb…
I was so caught up in making all the lev-
els right and too focused on making each
individual instrument sound great that I’d
forgotten about creating an actual space
for them. No wonder my instruments were
clashing. They were all vying for the same
two-dimensional space. I hadn’t given them
any room to breathe.
Reverb Creates the Stage
Think of reverb this way: If you want your
song to take place in a big cathedral, then
use the big cathedral reverb. If you want a
tight studio space, then use the space that
51
sounds like a small studio space. Find a
good space for your song.
But a song without space won’t sound good.
Skipping the reverb will result in a cluttered
and one-dimensional mix unless you’ve
carefully recorded everything with a specific
room sound, but not many bedroom record-
ists do that.
Group Your Elements
Like I said in previous chapters, simplify-
ing your mix is crucial to creating an easier
mixing experience. If some instruments are
going to the same reverb, then using sub-
groups can make it easier on you and your
DAW. For instance, if you’ve already mixed
your guitars then you can group them to-
gether and send them to the same reverb.
The same thing can be done with any num-
ber of similar sounding elements, such as
drums, vocals or synths.
For example, group together your vocals,
your drum and percussion tracks, and your
guitars into three separate groups. By using
three short but different reverbs on each of
these groups you can create three different
spaces for these instruments. That way they
fall into place with each other and won’t
fight for the same space in the spectrum.
The same can be done with a number of
different instruments that belong together.
52
It’s as simple as that to transform a cluttered
one-dimensional shouting match to a nicely
separated 3D image.

Reverb Holds
Everything Together
Now, we go back to my mixing session. It
sounds silly to say I had forgotten to use
something as necessary as reverb. I just
hadn’t gotten to it yet, but, in this particular
case, it was shocking how big of a difference
it made to the overall mix.

It wasn’t just that the tracks sounded bet-

ter with reverb on them. Rather, it was that
all the tracks somehow held together better
with a little space between them.

53
 The Philosophy
of Mixing

“Be extremely subtle, even to the point

of formlessness. Be extremely myste-
rious, even to the point of soundless-
ness. Thereby you can be the director
of the opponent’s fate.“
-Sun Tzu

Take the Listener on a Journey

As with selling, public speaking, or any
form of address that’s supposed to engage
the listener, you must get your audience’s
attention.

With a variety of music mixing tools at

your disposal, you can tell each listener a
story. A mixing engineer, just like a song-

54
writer, can act as a storyteller. The story,
however, is already in the song; the engineer
just needs to bring it to life.
n Lead the listener on and build up the
mix with various elements.
n Surprise the listener with sudden build-
ups or break-downs.
n Keep constant elements like rhythm
and melody in place, but interchange
other production elements to keep
things interesting.
Use Your Own Presets
You know you’re in the presence of an ama-
teur mixing engineer when he treats a preset
like it will solve all his problems.
Keep in mind that a “Vocal Compression”
preset might not apply any compression to
your vocal track if it’s below the threshold.
By tweaking the presets and making them
work with the audio at hand, you can save
the sounds that you’ve grown to like.
Chances are that you’ll come back to the
presets that have actually worked for you in
the past instead of tweaking a non-working
preset yet again.
Explore the Reverbs
Every song sounds different. Every reverb
sounds different, too. Mixing the new song
with the last reverb therefore isn’t always a
good idea.
55
Just like you should tweak your presets,
so should you explore your reverbs. Many
commercial songs have less reverb on them
than you think. Piling on the reverb to make
the vocal stand out can result in a less than
desirable sound.
Instead, try to make the vocal stand out on
its own by having all the processing, reverb,
delay, etc. support the main vocal/track.
What’s driving the mix?
What’s the thing that’s keeping the mix
together? Even though the main focal point
is usually the melody, the song wouldn’t fall
apart if you muted the vocal.
What is the driving element that’s pushing
the mix forward?
For example:
“Eleanor Rigby” – The Beatles
The driving element behind “Eleanor Rigby”
isn’t the melody; it’s the string section.
Granted, there are only strings and vocals in
the song, but the violin stabs are what drive
the mix forward.
“You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” – Bach-
man Turner Overdrive
The pillars behind the production of this
song are the strummy guitars in the verse.
They keep the mix together. I feel that if you
56
were to mute them, you’d end up with a very Go Bigger With Shorter
hollow and odd production.
Using simple effects and short delays, you
can create a much bigger mix without mak-
“Love Song” – Sarah Bareilles
ing it sound obvious.
It might seem a little obvious to point out,
but the incredibly characteristic piano riff is
The amount of effects in a typical commercial
one of the defining production elements of
mix can be astounding, but they are all under
this song.
control and do not clutter up the overall mix.
With subtle delays and modulation effects,
In a number of genres it’s easy to pinpoint
you can enhance an already great mix.
what’s holding everything together, since it’s
just the riff of the song.
Take it up to the next level and make it big-
ger (but not overbearing).
But sometimes it can be chord strums, the
sustained keyboard, or the bass-line (“Billy
Jean,” anyone?), so it pays to listen critically
for that one thing that if muted, would ren-
der the mix lifeless.

57
4 Ways to Spice Up works exceptionally well when most of your
Your Production rhythm tracks are beats and drum loops.
Even when you’ve followed all of the above
Adding that layer of a human percussion
steps, sometimes there just seems to be
performance helps humanize an otherwise
something missing. If you need to create inter-
robotic rhythm track.
est in your mix, try some of these ideas below.
Pads
Percussion
You don’t always have to add a lead instru-
An added percussion track in the chorus
ment to create interest in your mixes. Add-
helps lift it up. I’m not talking about chang-
ing a supporting instrument like an organ
ing the drum beat, which the drummer
track underneath everything helps give
should have done anyway, but adding an
the song a thicker foundation and some-
extra layer of percussion.
times a very cool vibe. Imagine how empty
many of Pink Floyd’s songs would sound if
Add a tambourine track over the chorus, or
they didn’t have that thick layer of padded
insert various shaker patterns throughout
organs providing the harmonic content for
the song to create a fluid rhythm track. This
Dave Gilmour’s solo.

58
A pad is a really important production tool
to create a more interesting mix. Call your
keyboard player next time you feel like your
solos and melodies need more soulfulness
to them. Those underlying chords supplied
by the organ pads can really help make your
mix more interesting.
Unrelated Instruments
Think outside the box. Swap out the pre-
dictable guitar solo for a muted trumpet or
a saxophone. Done right, it will sound cool
and unpredictable at the same time. If you
catch the listener off guard but still keep
them interested, you’ve succeeded.
Backing vocals
Every melody is enhanced with a simple har-
mony. It’s so simple to use, and it works ev-
ery time. A doubled harmony backing up the
main melody is the easiest and most effective
way to create more interest for your vocals.
It doesn’t have to be a difficult harmony,
and it doesn’t have to be constant either.
Accenting a vocal phrase here and there
goes a long way towards creating an inter-
esting vocal production.
Easy and Interesting
Next time you’re stuck with an uninspiring
mix, think about these three things: add
some percussion, swap out the standard
instruments for something more interesting,
59
and use backing vocals and pads to create a
cooler harmonic structure. These ideas are
simple and easy to use, and can help a dull
mix become much more interesting.
Strive for Awesomeness, but
Leave Perfection Alone
“There is no instance of a nation benefit-
ting from prolonged warfare.”
-Sun Tzu
The kicker about perfection is that once you
think you’ve achieved it, you realize it’s just
beyond your reach.
Some mixes start sounding great after an
hour of mixing, while others take a little
more time to get rocking. Regardless, the
rule of thumb is to mix until what you’ve
got sounds awesome.
Don’t start tweaking your mix to achieve an
ostensibly perfect version—tweaking each
and every vocal phrase, drum back, and
guitar lick—because you’ll end up spending
an eternity on it and yet still falling short.
Honestly, it’s just not worth the time if it
already sounds awesome to the client. Mi-
chael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” was mixed 91
times by Bruce Swedien before they finally
released it. And which mix did they use?
Mix number 2. So just remember to leave it
alone when it’s already awesome.
60
 Putting it All Together –
Going from Amateur to Pro

“Every artist was first an amateur.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

When I started writing this book, I asked

the readers if there were any specific is-
sues they wanted discussed.

A reader chimed in immediately with his

concern about mixing:

“Mixing is the area in which I’m struggling

at the moment. Particularly with, how to
make my mix sound, well, less amateur.....
I have some good success with solo singer
with 1 guitar but I can’t translate this into
a 4-piece band recording with Drums,
Bass, 2 guitars, and vocals. I struggle to fit
all the pieces into the mix together.”

61
Fitting all of the pieces together can be
tricky when you’re working with a lot of dif-
ferent instruments.
Obviously, it’s easier and quicker to piece
together an acoustic singer/songwriter than
a full band since there are fewer instruments
to take into account.
With more elements comes more detail-ori-
ented work, because there are more instru-
ments to fit into the same frequency spec-
trum and area as opposed to the singer/
songwriter mix.
Equalize like a Photographer
Let’s say you’re taking a group photo. You
want everyone to be seen, so you avoid hav-
ing 6-foot Uncle John stand in front of 5-foot
Grandma Millie, and you aim to have some
space between the various people being
photographed.
The same logic can be applied to multiple
instruments in a single mix. Everything has
to be heard, and everything has a specific
place where it sounds best.
In a group photo you keep the “whole” in
mind; you’re not just shooting a random as-
sortment of different-sized people who hap-
pen to be in close proximity to one another.
The same goes for equalization, since you
accent the frequencies that flatter specific
instruments.
By giving each instrument a place to stand
in the frequency spectrum, either by boost-
62
ing, cutting, or filtering, your instruments
can be grouped together as a whole.
Professional Compression
What separates the amateurs from the pros
is the correct use of compression.
Using the right amount of compression in
your mixes can be the difference between
sounds popping up all over the place, weak
and loose, or flowing with punch and in-your-
face tightness.
If you’re working with instruments that have
a lot of dynamic range and sound unsteady
level-wise, it’s usually a good idea to tighten
them up with compression.
There are varying techniques that different en-
gineers prefer; some engineers rely on com-
pression for just a little bit of peak treatment,
while others really like to pump things up.
Whatever your approach is, if your mixes
are sounding weak and amateurish, jump-
ing out unsteadily, then some compression
will definitely help make them sound more
professional.
Professional Placement
In the chapter entitled “Tall, Wide, and
Deep,” I touched upon the importance of
envisioning your mix as a three-dimensional
space.
63
Some mixes sound amateur because there
is not enough separation from front to back.
When you give your mixes depth, you bring
them much closer to professional caliber.
A good example of an amateur mix is when
the drum-kit is front and center; you want to
push the drums behind the lead elements, but
not so much as to drench them in reverb and
make them sound a million miles away. Taste-
ful reverb and careful level changes can make
your drums sound punchy yet supportive.
Competing against the Masters
Engineers mixing at home often make the
mistake of comparing their mixes to profes-
sionally mastered records.
Remember that it’s impossible to make your
un-mastered mix sound as tight and punchy
as a professionally compressed and mas-
tered record. Mastering is a completely dif-
ferent facet of audio production, and it is the
final step in making a mix sound great.
If you keep in mind the constraints of the
frequency spectrum, the placement of ele-
ments in all three dimensions, and the right
level of compression, you can make your
mix sound extremely professional overall.
64
How to Use a Reference
Track for a Better Mix
You might have heard the advice that it’s al-
ways a good idea to check your mix against
a reference track.
But what does that mean? What kind of refer-
ence mix? How do you go about doing that?
A reference mix is a track that you know
really well, translates (sounds the same) on
different systems, and has a great sound.
To use a reference mix, simply import the
song into your DAW on a new track. Make
sure you don’t have any compressors or
mastering plug-ins on the master fader, be-
cause they will interfere with your imported
track. Lastly, make sure that the song is
level matched against yours. That is, your
reference needs to be at the same level as
your mix.
Step 1 - Use a Proper Reference
Make sure from the start that you’re actu-
ally using a good reference mix. If you think
your mix is bad, it won’t do you any good to
compare it to another shitty sounding song.
No Mp3s – It’s not enough to just listen to
one of your favorite songs and compare.
You need a quality version of your song. No
mp3s, AACs, or any other compressed au-
dio format. Only lossless WAV/AIFF or bet-
ter is good enough. Usually, the CD master
is the last stage of the professional produc-
65
tion, so only use quality audio for a proper
comparison.
Know Your Reference Mix – Make sure you
know the reference song well. You need to
be familiar with the song and know how
it sounds on your system and others. Pick
something you’re comfortable and familiar
with.
Finally, make sure that your reference mix
is not a “Loudness War Casualty.” That is,
make sure that it’s not squashed to death
by compression. If it has no dynamic range,
it does not sound good. Even though a split
second might sound great in your head-
phones, tracks that are devoid of dynamics
just sound awful. Aim for your reference to
be somewhere between -12 and -8 dB RMS.
If you’re scared of over-compressing your
mix, then I suggest you check out Ian Shep-
herd’s blog, “Production Advice”. I would
pay particular attention to one of his posts:
“How to Avoid Over-Compressing Your Mix”.
Step 2 - Listen
You need to actually listen to your reference
mix.
What do you hear? How is the mix layered?
What stands out?
Analyze your reference mix and make criti-
cal listening observations.
66
Just like I’ve said before:
Think Tall, Wide, and Deep.
How can you recreate the things you hear
from your reference mix in your own mix?
Loudness – Listen to the levels of the in-
struments. Are some louder or quieter than
you expected? Do you need to balance the
levels in your own mix to get the same bal-
ance as your reference? How is each instru-
ment EQ’d? Are they clear, or muddy?
Width – How wide is the mix? Are the drums
panned hard left and hard right, or does the
kit sound narrow? Does each instrument have
a specific spot in the stereo spectrum, or are
they panned to many of the same places?
Does the mix have a lot of stereo effects
spreading the instruments all over? Is the
kick, snare, and bass steady in the center, or
is there some creativity used in panning?
Depth – How wet is the overall mix? Are
the drums in your face, or are they pushed
back with reverb? Did the mixing engineer
use reverb on the vocal, delay, or a combi-
nation of the two? Does the song sound like
a band recording in the same room, or is it
full of artificial synths with separate reverbs
and delays? How is modulation used?
Once you’ve made these observations,
you can go back and try to recreate them
67
in your own mix. Take what you like from
your reference mix and remix your own mix
accordingly. Jump back and forth between
your mix and the reference to see if you’re
making process.
Step 3 -
Recreating the Master EQ
One of the hardest things to recreate from
a reference mix is the overall EQ. For exam-
ple, say your reference sounds punchy in the
low-end and clean and clear in the high end,
but your mix sounds muddy and flat.
The proper way to fix your mix is to go back
to each instrument and see where the prob-
lem lies. Find out where the muddiness is,
cut out the boxiness, and troubleshoot by
using your reference mix as a guide.
Another, simpler way to do this is to use
Match EQs. The Match EQ plug-in in Logic
listens to your reference mix and allows you
to apply that EQ curve to the master fader
of your own mix. It’s great in a pinch, es-
pecially for mastering purposes when your
individual instruments sound great but the
master needs some EQ’ing.
A Different Perspective
Using a reference track gives you a different
perspective on your own mix. It helps you
find out what’s lacking from your mix and
reveals inconsistencies that you otherwise
wouldn’t have noticed.
68
Preparing for Mastering:
What you Need to Know

This is not a book about mastering. In fact,

I’ve barely broached the subject. But there
are certain things you have to know when
preparing your mixes for mastering.

Make sure you are satisfied

If you are unsatisfied with your mix and
expect the mastering engineer to improve it
somehow magically, you are in the wrong.

Make sure you’re content with your mix

before you hand it over. Remember that the
mastering engineer can only master the mix
you pass off; if you don’t like the mix to be-
gin with, you’ll end up with a mastered copy
of something you disliked in the first place.

69

Why would you do that? Finish it. Love it.
Then master it.
Give him some room to think
Before bouncing your mix down to whatever
format the mastering engineer requests, make
sure it isn’t overloading the master fader.
If you give the mastering engineer a mix
that’s so loud it lacks headroom to get
louder, he’ll have less leeway. The maximum
loudness of a mix is usually at around -3dB
at the peaks, so make sure your mix isn’t
going any further than that.
Use an analyzer on your master fader to see
if you are exceeding that level.
Give him what he wants
For easier communication and quicker load
times, it’s best to give the mastering engi-
neer your mix in a format he can use.
Don’t give him your mix as an unbounced
ProTools file, and don’t expect him to be
able to use Mp3s either.
Mastering engineers usually want your
mixes in a WAV file at 24 bit. The sample
rate depends on what you recorded in. CD
files will usually end up at 44.1 kHz, but if
you recorded at a higher sample rate, leave
it at that and he’ll take care of the rest.
70
Don’t try to impress
Don’t bounce your mix down with loads of
mastering plug-ins already on the master
fader. You may have wanted to impress your
client with your loud mix, but your master-
ing engineer will not be so impressed.

Take off your mastering plug-ins so he can

use his.

Further Reading
If you want more information about the
mastering process, check out the mastering
articles over at Audio Issues.

71
 Conclusion

I hope to have touched upon some of the

more important and inspiring aspects of
music mixing.

Creating a great mix is not simply a mat-

ter of turning knobs on your compressor,
selecting the best reverb, and cutting the
right frequencies; it’s also approaching the
song with direction, with an idea of where
to take it.

Your mixes will get better with time and

experience. Knowing where you’re headed
and what it takes to finish a mix will allow
you to mix faster, more easily, and with
more confidence.

72
Don’t just think about the practical proces-
sors and equalization settings; consider the
subjective aspects of the song as well and
how your mixing can bring it to a completely
new level.

Simply put,

“You have to believe in yourself.”

-Sun Tzu

73
About the Author

Hi, I’m Björgvin Benediktsson. I’m one of the

few non-famous people in the world that can
Google themselves and every single hit is
actually about them.

I’ve been involved in the music and audio in-

dustry for almost a decade, playing in bands,
working as a sound engineer and recording
music. I hold a diploma in audio engineer-
ing from the SAE Institute in Madrid, where I
graduated with the highest academic result of
my intake.

The audio production website Audio Issues

is a brainchild of mine, as I want audio en-
thusiasts to have a solid understanding of the

74
various aspects of producing music, whether
it’s through blog posts or e-books. It’s my
sincerest hope that the material you just
read will be practical to you in your mixes.

Sincerely,
Bjorgvin Benediksson
September 19th, 2012
Audio-Issues

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