How do you mix audio?

Answer 1

There isn't really a right or wrong way to mix audio, you just kind of do it. Personally, I start with the percussion. I get a good drum mix and then bring the bass into it. Here the big thing to look for is that the bass and the kick drum aren't bleeding into each other. For this you will need to EQ the low end and carve a frequency for them to sit individually without being muddy together. Next I'll add the guitar, then keys, and vocals at the end. Once I have a mix that I like I will turn the entire mix down to the point that I can barely hear it and listen to what I hear. If I hear too much or too little of something I will adjust it and bring it back to regular volume. Once I have what I believe is a good mix going I'll go do something else for a while like play a game of Madden or get some food to take my mind off of the music. Your ears can get tired just like the rest of your body, take breaks somewhat often. When I come back I listen to it all again and decide on what other changes to try. Then I'll burn a copy and take it to different sources to play it. I'll put it in the car and go for a ride. Put it in the stereo, put it in the small CD player. The point is that you want to listen to it on different sources so you can tell what it sounds like with different speakers. Not everyone will listen to the tracks on the same equipment so you need to use different methods to make sure it sounds good on anything. Sitting in one room the sound may be amazing. But those monitors you are using may not fully represent what others speakers will represent. This is why you should never mix with headphones. Most headphones are created with a bass boost built in. You will turn the bass down because of that boost, but when you listen to it on a real stereo you can't hear the bass at all.

That's my method. Like I said, there isn't a right or wrong way to do it as long as the final product sounds good. Once you've mixed a lot of records you will have your own methods and things like that. Some people will always use the same processing settings for every record they mix because they like that sound. Personally whenever I make a mix I save the presets so I can go back to them. If I have something of the same genre I'll go to that preset to start and then fine tune. Processing plays a huge part in mixing. Everyone does it differently, but again, the only thing that matters is the final product.