Grebz - Mixing in practice

MIXING IN PRACTICE

After seeing the theoretical notions here, let's put them in practice. How can we make our recorded instruments clearly distinct from one another, what frequencies should we boost or cut, where should we place the instruments, etc.

We are going to study the complete mixing of a song I wrote: Life.

Instrument after instrument, we will see what plugins and virtual instruments were used and how, and we will proceed until the ultimate mastering stage. Of course, this is my way of doing things, this is not a recipe that everyone should apply in all circumstances, but that's an example that can be used as a solid base, in order to know what amateurs can do when there's no outside help.

Concrete exemple with a song of mine: LIFE

I made this song entirely in my home studio. And my home studio is only vaguely related to professional recording studios. It's just a room in the appartment, it isn't soundproof and my neighbors don't appreciate tube amps played in the evening. So I plugged my guitars directly into my audio interface (through a preamp) and used amplifier simulations for the guitars and the bass, an acoustic drums software instead of a real drum set, as well as software synthesizers. The only thing that produced some noise during the recordings was my voice. But that's a rather quiet song, vocally speaking.

Of course, before mixing it, the song doesn't sound like much, as you can hear below.

We are going to go from here...

No effects whatsoever are used in this version. The takes are raw, superimposed one onto another, the sound is monophonic (everything's centered) and the guitars are thinner than a fashion model... As for the drums, they sound really flat. To sum up, it lacks everything that could make it sound good. It's even hard to imagine that it will sound good.

Here is the waveform of the song before mixing.

As we'll see in this tutorial, we are going to have to use some tools to make Life come to life (!).

...to there:

This is the finished song. As you can hear and see in the graphics, the difference is huge.

This is the waveform of the finished song

This song is called Life, I wrote it and recorded it in my home studio in October 2011, and made some modifications in the course of the year 2012.

MESSAGES

Wyv3rN
le 25/11/2011 à 10h53

J'étais sur Guitar Rig 4 avant, ben depuis que j'ai découvert ces simus d'amplis et de cabs gratuits, je l'ai presque mis à la poubelle (sauf pour les effets). Le X30 couplé avec 2 cabs de Mesa, c'est peu de dire que ça envoie le pâté !!! Bravo pour le site clair, avec aperçus visuels et sonores, c'est du tout bon !!!

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Oui, tout n'est pas à jeter dans les simulations payantes, loin de là, et elles ont l'avantage de proposer beaucoup de choix, mais quand on n'a pas un rond de côté pour s'acheter des plugins en plus du séquenceur, c'est quand même génial de pouvoir disposer d'alternatives gratuites et d'excellente qualité.

Grebz

Yannedge
le 29/10/2011 à 01h40

Félicitations...
Très beau site, complet...

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Merci beaucoup !

Grebz

Ogre
le 25/10/2011 à 09h47

Thank you for the plugins.

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You're welcome!

Grebz

Allstage
le 15/09/2011 à 06h41

Très très beau travail, bonne rédaction : assez complet et très compréhensible.
+1

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Merci beaucoup !

Grebz

Mike
le 04/09/2011 à 22h33

Bonjour,

Excellent Travail, merci !

Mike

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De rien, mais merci d'éviter les liens commerciaux.
Pas de problème pour des liens vers des créations musicales personnelles ou des sites en rapport direct avec les trucs et astuces musicaux gratuits, mais pas de liens vers des services payants, d'autant plus s'il ne s'agit pas de musique.

Grebz

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OK, le site n'est pas payant, c'est le mien, et ce sont ce sont mes démos de compositions et d'arrangements...

Mike

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Alors désolé, renvoyez-moi le lien...

Grebz