Mixing / Production

I've recently started working at a classical radio station in my area, and I was fully expecting to have to deal with mono...

I've been wondering what order people use when mixing. Mixing the instruments in order of priority? Mixing the rhythm section ...

I've got a fairly basic home setup based around a Yamaha AW16G multitracker, but I've seen an Aphex Aural Exciter and wondered...

I've recorded a couple of songs with just three tracks: acoustic guitar, bass and lead vocal. I'll obviously pan both bass and lead vocals in the centre.

Over the last couple of years Ive mixed quite a lot of songs, but only single tracks here and there. Now Im about to mix an album, and Im wondering what would be the best way to do it. The recording has been done in a very decent studio, and they have been adding some programmed elements afterwards. I want to avoid a situation where I mix all the tracks so that they sound great on their own, only to realise later that they wont fit together as a whole. How would you approach this? Would you mix one track, and use it as a reference for the other mixes? Would you re-use some of the settings (for example, use the same plug-ins for the same tracks, with some tweaks)? Sadly, the budget doesnt allow for a separate mastering job, so I would have to do some limiting and final tweaks myself.

Parallel compression is something Im just beginning to explore. Its not something Ive used much in the past, but Im seeing its potential for beefing up groups and whole mixes. However, if I set up a compressor on a send channel, rather than processing the whole signal via an insert effect, wont I get phasing? Also, if I set up compressors on several send channels and filter out certain frequencies on each channel (for example, roll off everything but the low-mid range on one, roll off everything but the high-mid range on another), then wouldnt this just be the same thing as multi-band compression?

SOS reader Gordon Staines of Cheshire emailed us because he was having difficulty using NIs Guitar Rig 3 with his Pro Tools M-Powered setup. Using NIs Rig Kontrol USB interface and controller, with Guitar Rig 3 running in stand-alone mode, he was able to get exactly what he wanted from it, “no latency, and it sounds great live just plugged into the phono inputs on my Marshall AS100D acoustic amp, of all things, or even when I just have the headphones in the controller for practicing. My problem is getting the same sounds out when laying down tracks.”

I have someone coming into my studio to do some recording and I'm looking for a way to achieve a 12‑string guitar sound for...

I've only really just started getting to grips with EQ and I've come to a stumbling block. I'm working with Apple Logic 8 and am using all of the preset synth and drum sounds, which sound fabulous on their own (no problem frequencies, in other words). However, there are obviously overlapping frequencies between instruments, because things are getting muddy. Given that I have to remove some frequencies from one already perfect–sounding sample to make room for the other, how do I decide which frequencies are expendable? How can I identify which frequencies are causing the problem? For example, if you have a guitar part, obviously you remove the low end, but what frequency bits should you take out in the rest of the waveform? A little bit of the 500Hz range and 1000Hz? How do you know which bits waste headroom? Also, is it best practice to reduce the overall level of an instrument and then raise certain frequencies containing the essential musical parts ('attack', 'body', and so on)? I'm not asking which parts of specific instruments should be removed, but am more wondering how I can identify which parts of a sound are useful or unnecessary. Is it common to have seven or eight steep (high-Q) 'notches' removing a number of frequencies in one instrument?

I often record double-tracked vocals and pan them left and right, but was listening closely to some other artists and noticed how the vocals seem to be close-up and spread across the stereo field, without appearing doubled up. How can I achieve this?

While I know this is pretty much the job of a mastering engineer, how frowned upon by professional mixing engineers is...

All of my mixdowns start with a list of all the tracks involved, then each one is introduced and blended into the mix...

I recorded a performance of Handel's Messiah recently, and I was wondering what the common practice is when compressing...

I use Cubase SX v1 and I want to set up a reverb that the vocalist can hear during recording, but that doesn't get recorded...

I have a few tracks that I'd like to put on-line, but I'm having trouble getting the bass to sit forward enough in the mix...

I have been recording music for quite a few years now, but I always get the same problem when I listen back to my mixes:...

I understand how to record and mix music for surround, but how do I burn an audio-only disc to share my surround mixes with others on their domestic systems?

I seem to get different information on the order in which mix processors should be used. What should I have on the master output of Cubase when I export my mix?

I'm looking to create a home studio so that I can make beats and improve my DJ and production skills. My current set up is...

Is there a preferred method of using normalisation?

I've seen it suggested that compressing the stereo bus is the key to getting a mix to come together and sound 'like a record'. Is this really the case?