Entries Tagged 'mixing' ↓

Constant listening levels during mixdown is critical, as our perception of frequency changes according to sound pressure levels. In plain English: we hear pitch differently depending on the volume.

For example, at high volume, our perception of sound frequencies may resemble this:

…whereas at lower listening levels, it’s more likely to resemble this:

So when you alter your listening level halfway through mixing, you might inadvertently overcompensate for the “missing” lows and highs. This doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t ever raise/lower the volume when mixing – just be aware! -kf

Here are four points to keep in mind before you start mixing:

1. What are the acoustic properties of the room you’re mixing in? Surface treatments, walls, etc.? Is the room “live” or “dead”? You’ll need to take this into account when mixing, as it will affect the amount of reverb you’ll add.
2. Do your monitors (speakers) have a flat frequency response? Are any frequencies being boosted? This will also affect your mixes as you may unknowingly compensate for this in your mix, and end up with a different tonal balance than you had originally intended.
3. Are there standing waves in the room? Move around the room and use your ears – use a reference CD you’re familiar with and compare the perceived tonal balance at various locations in the room. This also has the potential to affect how you mix your recordings.
4. Do you have the choice of using several types of monitors (speakers) in order to compare your final mixes? Ideally, you’ll want to monitor your final mix on several types of speakers – including:
   • Good quality nearfield monitors for a more accurate representation of how your music will sound on regular speakers.
   • Headphones to verify your stereo imaging.
   • Cheap car stereo speakers. If your mix sounds good here, it’ll sound good almost anywhere!

Happy mixing! -kf

Here’s a neat trick for getting more bass out of your speakers at your next party: Place the speakers in the upper corners of the room.

First, a micro-lesson in acoustics and sound transmission: Geometrically speaking, each wall and the ceiling in a room is a plane. You get an extra 3dB of perceived bass response for each plane surrounding a speaker. This is because the volume of air in which the sound is projected is reduced accordingly. (The theory behind this exceeds the scope of this post, so just trust me on this one!)

What is boils down to is this:

• Putting the speakers in a corner where two planes meet (i.e. two walls) will increase the perceived bass response by 6dB.

• Placing the speakers in an upper corner where three planes meet (i.e. two walls and the ceiling) will increase the perceived bass response by 9dB.

Why should you care? This is a great example of how the location of your speakers and the shape of your room can affect the sound you’re hearing when mixing. Think about it – if you’re getting an extra 6 or 9dB of perceived bass response from your speakers, and you mix your song that way, what’s the result going to be? A mix that sounds super wicked in your studio, and super sucky (read: no bottom end) pretty much everywhere else.

The moral of this story: Be aware of how speaker placement and room shape/size affect the sound you’re hearing when you’re mixing. -kf