Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)?

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Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)? - dvaoa - 13:55 13-11-08

For those of us bunker recording warriors, the biggest frustration
comes from not understanding which frequencies play nice with what
during mixdown. It's always a painful process doing the trial & error
thing, trying to get each instrument to stand out in its own sonic
space.

I'm wondering, is there a good book out there that gives basic, easy
to understand guidelines for which frequencies need to be boosted or
cut for specific instruments during mixing? I wouldn't expect this to
be a turn-key thing (ie, a single preset for "rock" music, one for
"blues", etc.)...just a logical starting point to put you in the
general vicinity, before doing your own final tweaking.

Anyone know of anything like this?

Cheers all,

-d

Re: Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)? - Meat Plow - 15:10 13-11-08

On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:55:44 -0800 (PST), dvaoa
<dvaoa@altavista.com>wrote:

>For those of us bunker recording warriors, the biggest frustration
>comes from not understanding which frequencies play nice with what
>during mixdown. It's always a painful process doing the trial & error
>thing, trying to get each instrument to stand out in its own sonic
>space.
>
>I'm wondering, is there a good book out there that gives basic, easy
>to understand guidelines for which frequencies need to be boosted or
>cut for specific instruments during mixing? I wouldn't expect this to
>be a turn-key thing (ie, a single preset for "rock" music, one for
>"blues", etc.)...just a logical starting point to put you in the
>general vicinity, before doing your own final tweaking.
>
>Anyone know of anything like this?
>
>Cheers all,
>
>-d

I have paperback from Yamaha that I learned from.
The Sound Reinforcement Handbook

It's not really studio specific but I learned a lot from it.
What I learned on my own hands on on the console and studio
wasn't something that could be taught from a book.

Re: Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)? - Adams661 - 15:14 13-11-08

On Nov 13, 12:10=A0pm, Meat Plow <m...@petitmorte.net> wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:55:44 -0800 (PST), dvaoa
> <dv...@altavista.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> >For those of us bunker recording warriors, the biggest frustration
> >comes from not understanding which frequencies play nice with what
> >during mixdown. =A0It's always a painful process doing the trial & error
> >thing, trying to get each instrument to stand out in its own sonic
> >space.
>
> >I'm wondering, is there a good book out there that gives basic, easy
> >to understand guidelines for which frequencies need to be boosted or
> >cut for specific instruments during mixing? =A0I wouldn't expect this to
> >be a turn-key thing (ie, a single preset for "rock" music, one for
> >"blues", etc.)...just a logical starting point to put you in the
> >general vicinity, before doing your own final tweaking.
>
> >Anyone know of anything like this?
>
> >Cheers all,
>
> >-d
>
> I have paperback from Yamaha that I learned from.
> The Sound Reinforcement Handbook
>
> It's not really studio specific but I learned a lot from it.
> What I learned on my own hands on on the console and studio
> wasn't something that could be taught from a book.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Whats that boy plow. That you cant learn nothing?

Re: Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)? - dvaoa - 15:26 13-11-08

On Nov 13, 3:10=A0pm, Meat Plow <m...@petitmorte.net> wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:55:44 -0800 (PST), dvaoa
> <dv...@altavista.com>wrote:
>
>
>
> >For those of us bunker recording warriors, the biggest frustration
> >comes from not understanding which frequencies play nice with what
> >during mixdown. =A0It's always a painful process doing the trial & error
> >thing, trying to get each instrument to stand out in its own sonic
> >space.
>
> >I'm wondering, is there a good book out there that gives basic, easy
> >to understand guidelines for which frequencies need to be boosted or
> >cut for specific instruments during mixing? =A0I wouldn't expect this to
> >be a turn-key thing (ie, a single preset for "rock" music, one for
> >"blues", etc.)...just a logical starting point to put you in the
> >general vicinity, before doing your own final tweaking.
>
> >Anyone know of anything like this?
>
> >Cheers all,
>
> >-d
>
> I have paperback from Yamaha that I learned from.
> The Sound Reinforcement Handbook
>
> It's not really studio specific but I learned a lot from it.
> What I learned on my own hands on on the console and studio
> wasn't something that could be taught from a book.

http://tinyurl.com/SRHandbook

Looks interesting, reviews all look positive.

I've been thinking about this, it'd be nice to have a plug-in for
computer DAW's with instrument & genre-specific presets, at least to
get the rough mastering started. After hitting on a preset, then
you'd do your tweaking.

Thanks,

-d

Re: Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)? - RichCI - 15:26 13-11-08

On Nov 13, 1:55=A0pm, dvaoa <dv...@altavista.com> wrote:
> For those of us bunker recording warriors, the biggest frustration
> comes from not understanding which frequencies play nice with what
> during mixdown. =A0It's always a painful process doing the trial & error
> thing, trying to get each instrument to stand out in its own sonic
> space.
>
> I'm wondering, is there a good book out there that gives basic, easy
> to understand guidelines for which frequencies need to be boosted or
> cut for specific instruments during mixing? =A0I wouldn't expect this to
> be a turn-key thing (ie, a single preset for "rock" music, one for
> "blues", etc.)...just a logical starting point to put you in the
> general vicinity, before doing your own final tweaking.
>
> Anyone know of anything like this?
>
> Cheers all,
>
> -d

I don't know of any book. It really comes down to training your ears
to be able to identify frequencies and ranges of frequencies when you
hear them and gaining experience at determining which frequency ranges
play nice with others when it comes to mixing different instruments
together. I learned how to identify frequencies just because I was
such a sound geek growing up and all the way into my thirties (I'm a
bit reformed now) and had all this stuff hooked up to my stereo a 10
band stereo EQ, compressor and even an exciter - my mini mastering
suite for transferring CDs to cassettes back in the day. I was
dealing with completed mixes back then rather than individual
instruments/inputs but the EQ really helped a lot and it wasn't even a
conscious learning process - I just picked it up. After I got into
live and studio engineering, I was able to transfer the skill to that
medium but in a much more finely grained situation (mixing). That all
probably sounds pretty ridiculous - the EQ on the stereo and all - but
it's how I learned to identify frequencies.

Re: Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)? - Meat Plow - 15:29 13-11-08

On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:14:18 -0800 (PST), Adams661
<keithadams@socal.rr.com>wrote:

>On Nov 13, 12:10?pm, Meat Plow <m...@petitmorte.net> wrote:
>> On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:55:44 -0800 (PST), dvaoa
>> <dv...@altavista.com>wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >For those of us bunker recording warriors, the biggest frustration
>> >comes from not understanding which frequencies play nice with what
>> >during mixdown. ?It's always a painful process doing the trial & error
>> >thing, trying to get each instrument to stand out in its own sonic
>> >space.
>>
>> >I'm wondering, is there a good book out there that gives basic, easy
>> >to understand guidelines for which frequencies need to be boosted or
>> >cut for specific instruments during mixing? ?I wouldn't expect this to
>> >be a turn-key thing (ie, a single preset for "rock" music, one for
>> >"blues", etc.)...just a logical starting point to put you in the
>> >general vicinity, before doing your own final tweaking.
>>
>> >Anyone know of anything like this?
>>
>> >Cheers all,
>>
>> >-d
>>
>> I have paperback from Yamaha that I learned from.
>> The Sound Reinforcement Handbook
>>
>> It's not really studio specific but I learned a lot from it.
>> What I learned on my own hands on on the console and studio
>> wasn't something that could be taught from a book.- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
>Whats that boy plow. That you cant learn nothing?

Fuck off Keefy. Go smoke some more meth and have your girlfriend pay
your bills you ball-less fucking gimp.

Re: Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)? - dvaoa - 15:33 13-11-08

On Nov 13, 3:26=A0pm, RichCI <ric...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 13, 1:55=A0pm, dvaoa <dv...@altavista.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > For those of us bunker recording warriors, the biggest frustration
> > comes from not understanding which frequencies play nice with what
> > during mixdown. =A0It's always a painful process doing the trial & erro=
r
> > thing, trying to get each instrument to stand out in its own sonic
> > space.
>
> > I'm wondering, is there a good book out there that gives basic, easy
> > to understand guidelines for which frequencies need to be boosted or
> > cut for specific instruments during mixing? =A0I wouldn't expect this t=
o
> > be a turn-key thing (ie, a single preset for "rock" music, one for
> > "blues", etc.)...just a logical starting point to put you in the
> > general vicinity, before doing your own final tweaking.
>
> > Anyone know of anything like this?
>
> > Cheers all,
>
> > -d
>
> I don't know of any book. =A0It really comes down to training your ears
> to be able to identify frequencies and ranges of frequencies when you
> hear them and gaining experience at determining which frequency ranges
> play nice with others when it comes to mixing different instruments
> together. =A0I learned how to identify frequencies just because I was
> such a sound geek growing up and all the way into my thirties (I'm a
> bit reformed now) and had all this stuff hooked up to my stereo a 10
> band stereo EQ, compressor and even an exciter - my mini mastering
> suite for transferring CDs to cassettes back in the day. =A0I was
> dealing with completed mixes back then rather than individual
> instruments/inputs but the EQ really helped a lot and it wasn't even a
> conscious learning process - I just picked it up. =A0After I got into
> live and studio engineering, I was able to transfer the skill to that
> medium but in a much more finely grained situation (mixing). =A0That all
> probably sounds pretty ridiculous - the EQ on the stereo and all - but
> it's how I learned to identify frequencies.

I have a pretty good ear for frequencies...it's the encyclopedic
knowledge of which combinations work and which don't that I don't.
For instance, I'd never know that you need to cut some of the sub-1k
frequencies to get rid of boominess if I hadn't picked that up in a
thread here in AG. Or hoe to EQ an acoustic guitar so that it cuts
through a little more without making it sound too middy. Or how to eq
the kick drum so it doesn't dominate the mix. Stuff like that. All
in the context of the overall mix. When it's just a single channel,
everything sounds good and clear ;-)

-d

Re: Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)? - Meat Plow - 15:39 13-11-08

On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:26:40 -0800 (PST), dvaoa
<dvaoa@altavista.com>wrote:

>On Nov 13, 3:10?pm, Meat Plow <m...@petitmorte.net> wrote:
>> On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:55:44 -0800 (PST), dvaoa
>> <dv...@altavista.com>wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> >For those of us bunker recording warriors, the biggest frustration
>> >comes from not understanding which frequencies play nice with what
>> >during mixdown. ?It's always a painful process doing the trial & error
>> >thing, trying to get each instrument to stand out in its own sonic
>> >space.
>>
>> >I'm wondering, is there a good book out there that gives basic, easy
>> >to understand guidelines for which frequencies need to be boosted or
>> >cut for specific instruments during mixing? ?I wouldn't expect this to
>> >be a turn-key thing (ie, a single preset for "rock" music, one for
>> >"blues", etc.)...just a logical starting point to put you in the
>> >general vicinity, before doing your own final tweaking.
>>
>> >Anyone know of anything like this?
>>
>> >Cheers all,
>>
>> >-d
>>
>> I have paperback from Yamaha that I learned from.
>> The Sound Reinforcement Handbook
>>
>> It's not really studio specific but I learned a lot from it.
>> What I learned on my own hands on on the console and studio
>> wasn't something that could be taught from a book.
>
>http://tinyurl.com/SRHandbook
>
>Looks interesting, reviews all look positive.
>
>I've been thinking about this, it'd be nice to have a plug-in for
>computer DAW's with instrument & genre-specific presets, at least to
>get the rough mastering started. After hitting on a preset, then
>you'd do your tweaking.
>
>Thanks,
>

Look into Abelton Live. It's pretty slick and I've used it for some
sequencing stuff. It's drag and drop and I thought easy to configure.
Somewhere I think it was touted as the easiest to get something
worthwhile out of in the shortest amount of time. IIRC Abelton started
its life on Mac.

http://www.5min.com/Video/Abelton-Live---setting-up-controller-knobs-7393

Google Ableton Live.

http://www.ableton.com/

Download a 14 day free evaul.

Re: Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)? - RichCI - 15:46 13-11-08

On Nov 13, 3:33=A0pm, dvaoa <dv...@altavista.com> wrote:
> On Nov 13, 3:26=A0pm, RichCI <ric...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Nov 13, 1:55=A0pm, dvaoa <dv...@altavista.com> wrote:
>
> > > For those of us bunker recording warriors, the biggest frustration
> > > comes from not understanding which frequencies play nice with what
> > > during mixdown. =A0It's always a painful process doing the trial & er=
ror
> > > thing, trying to get each instrument to stand out in its own sonic
> > > space.
>
> > > I'm wondering, is there a good book out there that gives basic, easy
> > > to understand guidelines for which frequencies need to be boosted or
> > > cut for specific instruments during mixing? =A0I wouldn't expect this=
to
> > > be a turn-key thing (ie, a single preset for "rock" music, one for
> > > "blues", etc.)...just a logical starting point to put you in the
> > > general vicinity, before doing your own final tweaking.
>
> > > Anyone know of anything like this?
>
> > > Cheers all,
>
> > > -d
>
> > I don't know of any book. =A0It really comes down to training your ears
> > to be able to identify frequencies and ranges of frequencies when you
> > hear them and gaining experience at determining which frequency ranges
> > play nice with others when it comes to mixing different instruments
> > together. =A0I learned how to identify frequencies just because I was
> > such a sound geek growing up and all the way into my thirties (I'm a
> > bit reformed now) and had all this stuff hooked up to my stereo a 10
> > band stereo EQ, compressor and even an exciter - my mini mastering
> > suite for transferring CDs to cassettes back in the day. =A0I was
> > dealing with completed mixes back then rather than individual
> > instruments/inputs but the EQ really helped a lot and it wasn't even a
> > conscious learning process - I just picked it up. =A0After I got into
> > live and studio engineering, I was able to transfer the skill to that
> > medium but in a much more finely grained situation (mixing). =A0That al=
l
> > probably sounds pretty ridiculous - the EQ on the stereo and all - but
> > it's how I learned to identify frequencies.
>
> I have a pretty good ear for frequencies...it's the encyclopedic
> knowledge of which combinations work and which don't that I don't.
> For instance, I'd never know that you need to cut some of the sub-1k
> frequencies to get rid of boominess if I hadn't picked that up in a
> thread here in AG. =A0Or hoe to EQ an acoustic guitar so that it cuts
> through a little more without making it sound too middy. =A0Or how to eq
> the kick drum so it doesn't dominate the mix. =A0Stuff like that. =A0All
> in the context of the overall mix. =A0When it's just a single channel,
> everything sounds good and clear ;-)
>
> -d

Heh! Well that last line you wrote - "When it's just a single
channel, everything sounds good and clear" is where I think a lot of
people run into trouble by spending too much time EQing inputs that
are soloed. Soloing is good for checking gates and ferreting out
strange noises but, IMO, not much else. It doesn't matter what
anything sounds like soloed unless it's going to be soloed somewhere
in the final product.

I guess if there is a guideline, it's to pay attention to instruments
that overlap into the same frequency ranges and think of them as
groups so you can keep them from fighting with each other; the kick
drum and bass guitar are a good example if you like a pretty thick
kick drum sound as they'll step all over each other so you concentrate
on those two inputs and get a good balance while working in the
context of the entire mix.

Re: Is there a good book to address this (mixdown acumen)? - Cyberserf - 15:57 13-11-08

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