When mixing minimally, compression is key. That will also help you avoid phases that you may create yourself by eq-ing too much. You’ll question the eq moves you make more than you would vice versa (which results in minimalist eq techniques). With this, I would recommend practicing using pro-tools stock eq so you can focus on using your ears instead of your eyes. I think it’s usually best to eq minimally, and if you’re capturing things well in the studio you shouldn’t have to do TOO much of it on the back end anyways. EQĮq is always incredibly important in any mixing process. One of the reasons I sometimes like to mix minimally is because it’s easy to have control over your mix when you don’t have too many things bussing into one another (aka phase issues, and your mix could get muddy if you lose control of the low end). For the drums, I would recommend bussing together the things that are the same (kick in/kick out, snare top/ snare bottom, etc), but don’t get too “bus” happy. The way I mix is I start with the drums soloed and then I move through the mix adding in each instrument at a time. A reverb, delay, and a slap delay are pretty effective for any mix. I would recommend only 2 (maybe 3) effects tracks since we are keeping this mix minimal. Start adding in things you do need to create some depth in the mix. Now that you’ve gotten rid of things you don’t need. Make your starting base simple, so you can move through it seamlessly. two mono overhead mic tracks)- create it as a stereo track. If you have two tracks that could become 1 (ex. Not using that DI track you captured? Hide and make inactive. What I mean by “clean up your session” is- get rid of tracks you don’t need. Here is the list of steps I would take from when I would first open up the session to when I sent them their first mix of the song: Clean up your session There are certain artists or bands I work with that I like to get very creative with plug-ins, but in this instance- we didn’t go that route, and I wanted to talk about the steps I used to get the band their final product. You might’ve noticed the title for this month’s blog is called “Minimalist Mixing Techniques”, so you already know what I’m about to dive into…the art of NOT using 10,000 plug-ins on ONE song! Now, there is nothing wrong with that at all! If the song is calling for production, or if you want to just be creative with plug-ins…do it. With all that being said, we are circling back to the album I just wrapped and today’s blog will be about the mixing process, (YAY!). She has multiple interviews streaming now, plus the conversations are fun and intriguing! You’ll definitely enjoy them. If you haven’t listened to the Women in Audio podcast yet- I suggest you do. I was lucky enough to be her first guest, so for my March blog, I broke down some essential topics we talked about in the podcast, and provided links to it at the end. Although I promised that my next blog would be about the mixing process, that took a pause because my last blog ended up being about my friend Tangela’s new podcast, “ Women in Audio”. Hi SoundGirls! Back in January, I wrote about the recording process for a 16 song album I was working on at the time.
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