Mixing Music
Once you have all your tracks recorded and edited it's time to put all your parts together into a song and mixing music is how you do it, blending your tracks together to give your song a coherent feeling.
Mixing Involves:
- Panning - Positioning your tracks left to right within the stereo field.
- Levels - Setting the volume of your tracks relative to each other so that nothing is lost in the mix.
- EQ - Adjusting the frequency of your tracks.
- Effects - Adding whatever effects you think your song needs such as reverb, delay, compression etc...
The Mixer
The main tool that you'll be using during the mixing process is the mixer.
To the right is a picture of the ProTools mixer window, this is what a typical digital mixer looks like and if you can use one you can use any of them.
The Mixing Music Process In Easy Steps
- Choose the best takes and tracks that add to the song. Get rid of any tracks that are unnecessary or clash with the more important parts of the song.
- Set the levels of each of the instruments so that nothing is lost in the mix.
- Adjust the EQ of each instrument so that no frequencies clash and cause a muddled sound.
- Panning the instruments so that each has its own place within the sound field.
- Add effects such as reverb and delay.
The mixing music process is your chance to get really creative and have fun with your music. Experiment with different mixing techniques and record your songs using the different mixes.