USING MIXERS
Mixing is no less of an art than playing the piano. This art involves two vital skills-- knowing reflexively where everything is on the console, and hearing exactly what is going on. As with any musical instrument, virtuoso ability with a mixer is only acquired through long practice. To get this practice, you should use the mixer for monitoring any time you are in the studio, and you should make several mixdowns of all of your multitrack work.
There are many ways to set up a console for mixdown, and they will all produce pretty much the same electrical results. As you try various approaches, you will find some easier to use than others. Eventually, you will develop a fairly standard working technique that will make mixdowns almost instinctive.
This is how I usually work:
SETUP
Generally, I patch the multitrack outputs to the mixer inputs in order, starting at either end of the input modules. That way the meters on the deck relate to the input levels nicely. The only exception to this is when I am mixing orchestral music, when I put the instruments in score order, no matter what track they are on.
If I am adding reverb, I use the auxiliary send that is closest to the the front to feed the reverb. I bring it back on aux return or a spare set of inputs.
I don't use EQ unless I am extremely provoked. I set the EQ listening to single tracks, trying to get the most natural sound. Later, I may change EQ to get a special effect.
A professional secret-- when I am recording live musicians, I set the EQ by listening to the performers talk-- when I have an irresistible urge to answer back, I know the EQ is right.
At the same time that I am checking EQ, I set the PAN. I try for a natural image (no ten foot keyboards please) with the important parts near the center. I seldom pan anything hard left or right.
Practice
Next, I listen to the entire mix with the faders up to the "normal" mark. [7] I set the TRIMS to get a good balance of sound. To me, a good balance means each part is distinct and it is always obvious where the important material is. I am a fanatic about being able to understand lyrics.
Another secretyou can use EQ to bring a part out without turning it up. Boost the 2k-5k frequency range by about 3dB. Then reduce the same band in the other parts by the same amount. You can do this during a mix if you have to.
Calibrating Mixer
Step one is always to calibrate the mixer. 1) use a test tone of 0db (that's LOUD, so turn down the monitors)
2) Set the fader at 0db on the board. If you don't have a test tone to use, take the loudest sound that the channel does during the mix.
3) Set the trims so at the loudest, the meter pegs read at 0db
4) do this for every channel in the mixer. This gives you a reference. A zero db signal will meter at zero db when the fader is at zero db.
This is what i had found on another forum (can't remember which one) but didn't quiet understand it
right now the way i do it is i set up all the channels faders at 0db (the channels that the mic and instruments are pluged into) and when the channels are playing, i look at the meter and if it goes over 0db (the led light) i used the trim or the fader to either bring the meter display up or down.
I'm feeling particularly ergophobic today (afraid of work per Penn and Teller), so I thought I'd throw a question that's been rattling around in my skull out there and see what people think.
We use a Yamah 01V (original) as our mixer. Cailbrating the output of the mixer to the amplifier for me thus far has been fairly straightforward. Since the mixer can't produce anything higher than 0dbFS (zero dB below Full Scale digital output), I've just used that as my limit. Pipe in some program music that's peaking at 0dBFS, set the amp so the clip lights are following the clip on the mixer and all must be well.
This is certainly the safest way to set things. If just clipping the output of the board is just clipping the amp, then full signal out of the board is full power out of the amp and all is right with the world. So if the keyboard player gets 100% of the output of the mixer and thus 100% of the output of the amp (assuming the amp is sized to the continuous rating of the speaker), then you can get away with that indefinitely and not hurt anything. And best of all, I've got full headroom in the amp so the unclipped output of the board is sent unclipped to the speaker.
If I were only playing program music with heavy compression, this would definitely be where I'd want to stay.
But given the crest factor of live music, should I calibrate lower?
With my current setup, if I want the bass drum peaking noticeably above the keyboards, then I'm going to have to keep a significant portion of my output in reserve for the drum hits. Again, I'm safe in the event of an accident, but I may have 6dB or more of average output that I'm leaving in the amp to have that headroom.
So let's just say (for example) that I calibrate for -6dBFS on the mixer = just barely fluttering the clip lights on the amp.
Now that kick hit can go up to 0dBFS and be 6dB above the din. It's so short-term that the speaker isn't going to care, and the amp should be fine as well.
The risk is that if you get a sustained 0dBFS output from the board, that's 6dB above clip steady-state into the amp, and thus 4x power into the speaker. I'm thinking for example feedback.
My other option is to just limit the output of the board and slam it with the kick. My average power will go up without my potential peak power output getting into the red as far as the speaker is concerned.
Obviously the optimal solution is to have enough speakers, powered at their continuous rated power, such that you never even need to hit the clip lights. And if I'm doing that, I think I'd like a new Ferrari just to round things out.
Mixing is no less of an art than playing the piano. This art involves two vital skills-- knowing reflexively where everything is on the console, and hearing exactly what is going on. As with any musical instrument, virtuoso ability with a mixer is only acquired through long practice. To get this practice, you should use the mixer for monitoring any time you are in the studio, and you should make several mixdowns of all of your multitrack work.
There are many ways to set up a console for mixdown, and they will all produce pretty much the same electrical results. As you try various approaches, you will find some easier to use than others. Eventually, you will develop a fairly standard working technique that will make mixdowns almost instinctive.
This is how I usually work:
SETUP
Generally, I patch the multitrack outputs to the mixer inputs in order, starting at either end of the input modules. That way the meters on the deck relate to the input levels nicely. The only exception to this is when I am mixing orchestral music, when I put the instruments in score order, no matter what track they are on.
If I am adding reverb, I use the auxiliary send that is closest to the the front to feed the reverb. I bring it back on aux return or a spare set of inputs.
I don't use EQ unless I am extremely provoked. I set the EQ listening to single tracks, trying to get the most natural sound. Later, I may change EQ to get a special effect.
A professional secret-- when I am recording live musicians, I set the EQ by listening to the performers talk-- when I have an irresistible urge to answer back, I know the EQ is right.
At the same time that I am checking EQ, I set the PAN. I try for a natural image (no ten foot keyboards please) with the important parts near the center. I seldom pan anything hard left or right.
Practice
Next, I listen to the entire mix with the faders up to the "normal" mark. [7] I set the TRIMS to get a good balance of sound. To me, a good balance means each part is distinct and it is always obvious where the important material is. I am a fanatic about being able to understand lyrics.
Another secretyou can use EQ to bring a part out without turning it up. Boost the 2k-5k frequency range by about 3dB. Then reduce the same band in the other parts by the same amount. You can do this during a mix if you have to.
Calibrating Mixer
Step one is always to calibrate the mixer. 1) use a test tone of 0db (that's LOUD, so turn down the monitors)
2) Set the fader at 0db on the board. If you don't have a test tone to use, take the loudest sound that the channel does during the mix.
3) Set the trims so at the loudest, the meter pegs read at 0db
4) do this for every channel in the mixer. This gives you a reference. A zero db signal will meter at zero db when the fader is at zero db.
This is what i had found on another forum (can't remember which one) but didn't quiet understand it
right now the way i do it is i set up all the channels faders at 0db (the channels that the mic and instruments are pluged into) and when the channels are playing, i look at the meter and if it goes over 0db (the led light) i used the trim or the fader to either bring the meter display up or down.
I'm feeling particularly ergophobic today (afraid of work per Penn and Teller), so I thought I'd throw a question that's been rattling around in my skull out there and see what people think.
We use a Yamah 01V (original) as our mixer. Cailbrating the output of the mixer to the amplifier for me thus far has been fairly straightforward. Since the mixer can't produce anything higher than 0dbFS (zero dB below Full Scale digital output), I've just used that as my limit. Pipe in some program music that's peaking at 0dBFS, set the amp so the clip lights are following the clip on the mixer and all must be well.
This is certainly the safest way to set things. If just clipping the output of the board is just clipping the amp, then full signal out of the board is full power out of the amp and all is right with the world. So if the keyboard player gets 100% of the output of the mixer and thus 100% of the output of the amp (assuming the amp is sized to the continuous rating of the speaker), then you can get away with that indefinitely and not hurt anything. And best of all, I've got full headroom in the amp so the unclipped output of the board is sent unclipped to the speaker.
If I were only playing program music with heavy compression, this would definitely be where I'd want to stay.
But given the crest factor of live music, should I calibrate lower?
With my current setup, if I want the bass drum peaking noticeably above the keyboards, then I'm going to have to keep a significant portion of my output in reserve for the drum hits. Again, I'm safe in the event of an accident, but I may have 6dB or more of average output that I'm leaving in the amp to have that headroom.
So let's just say (for example) that I calibrate for -6dBFS on the mixer = just barely fluttering the clip lights on the amp.
Now that kick hit can go up to 0dBFS and be 6dB above the din. It's so short-term that the speaker isn't going to care, and the amp should be fine as well.
The risk is that if you get a sustained 0dBFS output from the board, that's 6dB above clip steady-state into the amp, and thus 4x power into the speaker. I'm thinking for example feedback.
My other option is to just limit the output of the board and slam it with the kick. My average power will go up without my potential peak power output getting into the red as far as the speaker is concerned.
Obviously the optimal solution is to have enough speakers, powered at their continuous rated power, such that you never even need to hit the clip lights. And if I'm doing that, I think I'd like a new Ferrari just to round things out.
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