Instant Audio Mixing

by Jason Johnston

Okay, so there's no such thing as instant. Sure they have instant potatoes, instant oatmeal and instant tellers - but are they as good as the real thing? No. But here are a few quick tips to get a mix up and running on the quick. It may not be your final work, but it will help you on the way. I find this approach especially helpful as you want to get a sense of the song for laying some overdubs.

First select an 8 bar section to loop as you are doing this. Ideally a part where there are all the tracks represented. Hit play then follow these steps:

1. Drop all the levels to zero. Mute or hide the tracks you won't be using. (I drag and drop extra tracks in there to hide)

2. Drums Quick mix: Bring up the kick to a good level, add 4:1 compression, roll off the top end in the EQ. Bring the snare up, throw a little plate reverb on it. Add the overheads and other mics if they exist.

3. Next bring up the bass. Add some 4:1 compression and lower the threshold/increase the gain to get a good volume. Dip out the middle on the EQ to give you the "disco smile".

4. Add any piano/strings and leave them centered.

5. Pull up the electric guitars. If there are two guitars pan one left and one right. Do the same if there are multiple acoustics. With the acoustic guitar throw on a little room reverb and cut some frequencies around 200-400 and roll off the frequencies below 80 (or use a high-pass filter).

6. Bring the lead vocal. Throw on another compressor 4:1 ratio - adjust threshold and gain as needed. Roll off the frequencies under 80 Hz. Give it a little increase at 12 kHz for sparkle. Adjust the volume again so it just cuts through the mix.

7. Now add other vocals and backgrounds as needed

There you have it - instant audio mix. To be honest, it won't be great - but it will be a start. And it might just give you the reference point you need to do the rest of the overdubs as needed. This is not a list of rules but guidelines. Just remember to use your head, your ears and especially your gut when you need to mix it on the fly.

Vocal Mixing Tips

by Jason Johnston I have learned a lot from reading various books on the subject of recording. One such book is called "Behind the Glass - Top Record Producers tell how they craft the Hits". Below are some excerpts from top engineers/producers answering the question, "How to you get vocals to sit correctly in the mix?" "I ride the faders as I'm recording; when the guy is singing the vocal, I don't just sit there and listen to him. I'm feeling the emotions in my fingers, so to speak. When he's down, I'm pushing him up so I can hear every single syllable." Mike Clink (Guns N' roses, Sammy Hagar, Triumph, Whitesnake) "You just have to keep wrestling with it. Vocals are usually the trickiest thing..I usually start by putting the vocal up dry and see if I can shape it around the music...it's all about creating space; you only have so much 2, 3, 4 kHz that you can fit on a record before curling everybody's eyebrows. So instead of stacking it up, I'll try to dip some out and see if I can fit it in there, frequency-wise. A lot of people who haven't been doing this a long time, the first thing they'll do is start reaching for delays and reverbs and all that kind of stuff, but that's missing the point. You want to shape it so the music is sitting around it and the vocal is telling the story like it should, so it's in the right place. And then if you want to add something to it to put it in a space, go ahead, but you have to shape it first." Ed Cherney (Bonnie Raitt, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan) "Compression will help, and don't ever be afraid of putting the vocal too high in the mix. Sure, there's a point where it's ridiculous - I've heard some people put it too high - but you've got to hear every word, and what you should do is ask someone not involved in the production if they can hear every word." Tony Visconti (David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Thin Lizzy) "Take different microphones to try out until you find the one you want..just sing in all of them, and try them out. I set them up in an array where the singer can quickly move from one microphone to the next, and it's pretty quick - it's not a painstaking process for the singer or the producer/engineer to identify the microphone that really works best for the vocalist. The microphone is the place to start..." Chuck Ainlay (Vince Gill, Dixie Chicks, Trisha Yearwood, George Strait) Use these tips as a guide, but remember the best advice is to experiment - try everything and anything to get that great vocal sound. Just don't forget the first key to mixing in the vocals is recording them well in the first place.

Vocal Recording in Every Room of the House!

by Jason Johnston I have many conversations with people about where and how to record vocals at home. They ask, "Should I record them in the bathroom? The kitchen? The cold storage room?" And I say, "Sure, why not! What do you want your vocals to sound like? The bathroom, or the kitchen or the cold storage room?" You can record vocals anywhere you want, but just remember that you are not just recording the vocals but you are also recording how the room is responding to the vocals. So, you must always keep the room in the audio equation. A good test is this: go into each room or the house and sing loudly without a mic and ask yourself, "Is this the sound I'm looking for in the end?" Most good recording engineers have a problem with commitment. They are typically perfectionists who do not want to commit anything to track that cannot not be reversed at a later point unless it is absolutely necessary. This makes perfect sense and keeps you the most flexible in your final sound. For this reason, most vocals are recorded completely "dry" - no reverb - little or no compression - no EQ. All of these can be added and tweaked later. And this is why typical vocal rooms try their best at being a non-room. That is, a room that sounds like nothing. No bounce back from the wall, no reverb, no external sounds coming in. A typical vocal booth has a sonically pleasing shape like 6 X 7 X 8 (come to my Acoustics 101 class Jan 14th for more info!) and almost completely covered by Sonofoam or such material. It takes the room out of the equation and allows you to add room sound later if you like. You can get similar effects by opening your closet, placing the mic slightly inside and singing into the closet. (Don't take the clothes out!) Some people have made "sonic tents" out of 2 X 4's and heavy quilts. Another way is to dedicate a corner of your recording room to vocals, with heavy deadening material - just don't forget the ceiling. So record your vocals anywhere you like, as long as you like the sound. The myth that the best vocals are recorded in the bathroom was spread well before the time of being able to add artificial reverb after the fact. However, if you like the way you sound in the shower, then go for it! But you might want keep the water off and put some clothes on.