You’re mixing like it’s going out of style, but it just isn’t sounding right. What to do? Oftentimes, the answer isn’t to throw more gear at the problem. We’ve all heard over-processed mixes, and for the most part, they don’t sound pretty. If you find yourself in a situation like this, strip the mix back and examine the individual components. Ensure that all the parts are as good as they can be, then start building it up again — with a mental picture as your guide. Let’s break down some mixing tips that have nothing to do with gear.
Work with High-quality Tracks
Perhaps this first one’s a no-brainer, but it’s entirely possible that if you’re struggling to mix a song, the tracks themselves may be the issue. Garbage in — garbage out, as they say. It should go without saying that all the instruments and vocals should be in tune. In the arrangement, make sure there’s no excessive frequency clustering (this can be mitigated somewhat — but not fixed — with EQ). Perhaps that doubled rhythm guitar part would sound better up an octave, or played on a different instrument. You’re painting with sound — a delicate dab here, a bold brushstroke there — and you need high-quality sounds on your palette.
Think of Your Mix in Three Dimensions
As you record, overdub, and make rough mixes, you’re developing a mental picture of your final mix — or at least, you should be. In the cognitive sciences, this is called structural visualization, and it’s an aptitude shared by architects, astronauts, and yes — successful recording engineers. You can think of your mix in terms of a three-dimensional universe with height, width, and depth. Your universe is populated with objects — instruments, vocals, and effects — that each have a frequency range (height), stereo pan position (width), and relative volume (depth). Thinking about “furnishing” your recordings in this way will yield more interesting mixes with dimension, detail, and impact. In other words, ear-candy mixes that sound like hits.
Establish a Monitor Reference Level
Hollywood film mixing soundstages are calibrated for 85dB and remain there, so re-recording engineers have an absolute reference and are never misled by fluctuating monitor levels. In accordance with the Fletcher-Munson curves, 85dB is where frequencies sound flattest. Loud playbacks accentuate your ears’ perception of bass and treble frequencies and consequently tend to make mixes sound punchier than they really are. Conversely, quiet monitor levels attenuate the extremes, leaving the midrange. Mix with loud monitor levels, and you end up with a puny mix. Monitor too quietly: your mix will have tons of top and bottom, and vocals and other midrange instruments won’t be loud enough. You get the idea. So get yourself an SPL meter and calibrate your monitors. Of course, 85dB is a good starting point, but in smaller rooms, you may find it uncomfortably loud. Having a reference in the range of 70dB–80dB in such cases is fine. You can still enjoy a rockin’ loud playback with the band now and then, and by all means — do check your mix on small speakers. But doing your most critical work at your established reference level goes a long way to achieving radio-ready mixes that adhere to the Goldilocks principle: just right.
Keep Your Ears Healthy
Healthy monitor levels are a start, but as we’re ultimately dealing with our perception of sound, the other side of the equation is our ears: we need to optimize them for monitoring accuracy. Not to turn this article into a PSA, but what we’re essentially talking about here is staying healthy. Classic scenario: you mix a song for 15 hours, tweaking it to perfection. You play it back the next day, and it sounds absolutely terrible. Assuming you have a modicum of engineering talent, accurate monitors, and decent equipment to work with, ear fatigue will be the most likely culprit. Just as loud monitoring fatigues the ears, so too does critical listening at nominal monitoring levels for hours on end. So take breaks, give your ears a rest, and know when to call it a day — before you reach the point of diminishing returns. Get a good night’s sleep and come back to it fresh the next day. (If you’re nocturnal, the principle still applies.) Not only will your mixes sound better, but you’ll also be avoiding potential hearing damage that could cut short your brilliant career.