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Mixing is where all the musical spices of the music recipe come together. As in cooking, if the balance is just right the results are a sonic delicacy. I don't know why I'm using cooking references here, but my point is that, to me, mixing is where the track really comes to life. Inside Audio Mixing we have lots of articles to help you get the most out of your mixes.

Surround Sound Mixing – Part 4 of 5

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This is a guest post by mix engineer, Unne Lilijeblad over at www.mix-engineer.com. This is the fourth article in a five part series about his experience with mixing in this still under utilized medium for listening to music. Recording and Mixing in Stereo. This week he talks about Mixing in Surround.

Unne Lilijeblad - Mix Engineer

Unne Lilijeblad - Mix Engineer

 

Mixing in Surround 
Now what about surround? Obviously, the panning of mono sources in a surround mixing environment works very similarly to the way it works in stereo. It gets more complex of course, as the panner has to divide signals between more speakers, and you now have a three dimensional sound field with both an x and a y-axel, rather than just a simple two dimensional field between left and right. The panning via delay technique works too of course, and naturally, the two can be combined.

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Mixing tip: Bump the chorus about +1.5db to +2.0db

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Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin

Here’s a tip that I believe came from Rick Rubin.

We all know to push the elements in the chorus, right? It’s kind of a no-brainer. When mixing we usually bump the lead vocal, or whatever instrument is the main melody of the chorus, to separate it from the rest of the track and establish the hook. This is mixing 101. Well Mr. Rubin has gone one better…

The chorus is the money part of a song. Without a good hook in the chorus the listener won’t be inclined to stick around so now your “hit” song will would be just another song that they skip. Well Rick has a little trick up his sleeve that helps push the chorus even further…. He bumps the master fader!

Yep, he performs the ultimate no-no while mixing – touching the master fader.  I was taught that the master fader is the last bastian of output from the console to the mix down medium. It needs to be set at zero and not touched – at all! As it happens, Rick Rubin doesn’t pay attention to the rules of recording and has this little trick p his sleeve.

“TIP: When the chorus starts push the level on the master fader up from +1.5 db to about +2.0 db and then brings it back down the for the next part.”

Genius! Not theory of relativity genius, but still a very wise move. Why is it that the simplest of changes to the norm produce such magnificent results? I ask because I tried this recently on a song I was mixing and it made a HUGE difference. The key is to leave enough headroom so that you feel the energy in the song, but don’t hear more distortion in the mix.

If you do this with your mix already being slammed up to 0.0db your mastering engineer will not be happy with you at all. He may even consider you a hack. And no mix engineer wants that  now, do they?