Beyond the Rough Mix with Dead Soul Revival
If you’ve been following my “first single release” journey for my new band deadsoulrevival.com you know I’ve been examining how we recorded, mixed, and promoted our upcoming release. You can download Black Roses and Down for the Last Time at the link above.
Today let’s continue with moving beyond the rough mix.
For an in depth look at getting your tracks right in the recording phase pick up a copy of my course The Sound Visualization Method.
Thus far I’ve primarily been discussing getting individual tones to a place where they can sit in a rough mix and not get lost. Getting to this point can be a chore depending on how well your tracks were recorded.
Once my rough mix is in place I like to really start honing in on making the mix a rollercoaster ride. I want hills and valleys so the listener’s interest is maintained throughout. Every single second should be pulling them to the next part and most importantly to stay engaged in the song.
This is accomplished by multiple techniques but let’s start with volume automation. If you have a band that really plays dynamically and has already “cooked” those kind of performances into the track fantastic. Less work for you.
What often happens though is that in the quest to get a good rough mix happening you’ve had to apply compression to individual instruments. Some more than others just due to the nature of sound.
Through volume automation we can build dynamics back into the mix. As a mixer I’m often manipulating the ebb and flow of the song in order to accomplish this.
For example, let’s say the song starts at one energy level and as it goes along there isn’t much dynamic variation if any. This can sound kind of flat and amateur.
In this scenario what I’ll usually do is automate the master buss so the volume starts the song at let’s say -1 db. Then when the verses come in I’ll drop the volume maybe a couple of db gradually over a few measures. When the chorus hits I’ll automate the volume to 0 db. So we just built in some hills and valleys. This way the chorus hits harder.
Another thing I like to do is have a really good idea of what the “star” part(s) of a particular section are. So if a section is all about the guitar riff, I’ll be making the guitar louder in those sections. Conversely it may just mean that I”m making other parts quieter. This can have a dramatic effect on the way a section is perceived and even how heavy the listener thinks the band is for example.
This is really subjective and one of the things that help define your style as a mixer. And as you may have guessed, this is some of where the art of mixing lies.
A technique I like to employ as well is selective muting. If I think the rollercoaster ride can be made more exciting I will experiment with muting parts. For example, if there is an awesome bass line happening and the guitar part is more supportive I’ll try muting out the guitar for part or all of a section.
This can work great on verses or quieter parts, when you want the band to come back in and have a big impact. If you want to make things sound BIG it’s a good idea to make them small or at least smaller right before that moment. Many bands use this to great effect.
Another idea is to change the tone of one or more parts to give some contrast. This can be subtle or extreme. I just did a mix where I put a Mutron effect on the guitars during the verses. It’s subtle but it changes things up a bit to maintain the “ride” I’m talking about.
Until next time…
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