Audio Engineering Ass2 (Mixdown)

8/18/2019 Audio Engineering Ass2 (Mixdown)

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Gareth Talbot 08029059

MO1S01 Audio Engineering Assignment 2 - Mix down Report

NB: The mix down is on tra! 2 o" the #$ as tra! 1 was inad%ertent&' reorded as si&ene

This track was mixed in the Audient Studio in CB202. The rou!s initial ideas "or the track was

that as this was the "irst mix the# were doin as !art o" this module that the best wa# to o about

mixin the son was to i$e each instrument and $oice a chance to be heard as naturall# as

!ossible. The# also wanted the mixin techni%ues to re"lect the wa# in which the son was

arraned. &n "irst listenin' the son is ob$iousl# in a rock st#le and the rou! decided to use

modern rock !roduction st#les and techni%ues which included brinin the drums and bass

toward the "ront o" the mix' but not drownin out the other elements o" the son.

The rou! bean b# usin the ta!e trim on each channel to reduce each track(s ain to

0)* so that each instrument could ha$e a "air chance o" bein !art o" the mix' as some

instruments were recorded slihtl# louder than others. The# were care"ul not too boost an# o" the

channels to a$oid boostin an# noise in the sinal. &nce this was done' e$er#thin sat at the same

!lace in the mix and so could be mixed better. This was an idea introduced to them durin a

lecture in Audio +nineerin some weeks be"ore. Althouh this techni%ue is not common

!ractice' the rou! "elt it would be ood to tr# this idea so the# knew whether it was a techni%ue

the# "ound use"ul and could !ossibl# use in "uture mixes.

The next ste! taken was to !an some o" the channels. The "irst drum o$erhead was

!anned to the le"t to about ,0 o(clock and the second was !anned to the riht to about 2 o(clock.

&riinall#' the o$erheads were !anned hard le"t and riht res!ecti$el#' but a member o" the rou!

suested durin a listenin that this made the son "eel as i" the# drums were s!read out around

di""erent sections and that the# needed to be heard closer toether' like the# would be at a li$e

i. -ext' Brass 2 was !anned le"t to 9 o(clock and Brass riht to o(clock. This was done to

make the brass "eel slihtl# s!read out. /n hindsiht' it could ha$e been hel!"ul to also !an Brass

, and Brass slihtl# le"t and slihtl# riht res!ecti$el# to aid this' as it would ha$e !ut s!ace

between all the micro!hones.




A"ter this' the rou! assined some o" the instruments into rou!s. The drums 1channels

, were assined to subrou!s , and 2 and the brass 1channels ,0,3 were assined to

subrou!s and . This was so that the drum kit and brass sections could be i$en $olume

chanes but kee!in the di""erent settins on the "aders on each channels the same.

The com!ression added to the drum subrou!s was "rom the 4B outboard com!ressor

in the studio. The settins used were as "ollows6 Threshold6 25' 7atio6 6,' Attack6 ,0' 7elease6

50 and &ut!ut Gain6 ). This was stereo linked with the com!ressor !atched into subrou! 2 so

that the com!ression a!!lied to both subrou!s was the same. The reason that the subrou!s were

com!ressed instead o" the oriinal channels was because the rou! wanted to ex!eriment with a

techni%ue called !arallel com!ression. This is where #ou ha$e a com!ressed or wet( sinal as

well as the dr#( sinal. This wa#' #ou can chane the le$el o" each sinal inde!endentl# to et

the sound #ou want. This techni%ue hel!ed to i$e the drum kit a "uller sound without

com!romisin the natural sound o" the kit. The com!ression settins used were $er# hea$#'

meanin that the contrast between then wet and dr# sinals was $ast' i$in more o!tions when

mixin the two sinals toether.

-ext' a noise ate was a!!lied to the snare drum to et rid o" the unwanted s!ill'

es!eciall# "rom the hih hats. The !arameters set with the 4rawmer -oise Gate were6 :ow

;re%uenc# ;ilter6 ,k<=' <ih ;re%uenc# ;ilter6 500<=' Threshold6 ,0 and 7elease6 ,0ms.

At this !oint durin the session' the rou! decided to a!!l# e%ualisation 1+>3 to all

instruments that it was "elt needed it. /n all instances where +> was used' the +> chosen was

!arametric. The rou! started at channel , and worked u! the desk' each time listenin to how the

+> sounded in and out o" the mix. +> settins can be seen on the Audient Channel Stri! Sheets

enclosed with this re!ort. ?ost +> was a!!lied to a !oint where the !art sounded ood isolated

and ood in the mix' howe$er some listenin sessions usin the A$antone near"ield monitors and

head!hones showed that some !arts stuck out more than the rou! could tell usin the Adam mid

"ield monitors. +xam!les o" where this ha!!ened' and a lot o" include the snare drum. @hen




listenin with the Adam monitors' the snare drum sat well with the rest o" the kit but when

listened to usin other out!ut sources' it was noticeabl# louder than e$er#thin else' and stuck out

too much in the hiher "re%uencies. The rou! reduced the channel at around ,<= with a

medium > "actor and also at around 00<= with a wide > "actor. The rou! also took the lon

"ader down to brin down the o$erall $olume o" the sound. The whole rou! areed that this

made the snare drum sound better in the mix with the A$antone monitors and head!hone' but also

still sounded ood in the Adam monitors.

Also' the ke#board was increased a lot at hih "re%uencies and reduced slihtl# at low

"re%uencies. This is because most o" the notes bein !la#ed on this instrument were in the hiher

reister o" the instrument. The hih "re%uencies o" the !iano were treated in the same wa#' but the

lower "re%uencies were boosted slihtl# to i$e the bottom end o" the !iano a bier sound. The

ke#board was also !anned slihtl# to the le"t and the !iano slihtl# to the riht.

&nce all the channels had been +>(d' the rou! decided to do some work on the main

$ocal and backin $ocal. A 4rawmer com!ression was added to the main $ocal at6 Threshold6 0'

7atio6 56, and Gain6 20). Also' the :exicon +""ects *nit was used in the auxiliar# section to add

a room re$erb to the $oice. The rou! "elt that the $ocals sounded %uite ood to bein with' so

a$oided addin to man# e""ects so not to run the risk o" ruinin the sound.

;or the backin $ocals' the ?idi$erb +""ects *nit was used to add a ta!e dela# o"

,0.0ms' which meant that e$er#thin sun in the back $ocals was re!eated exactl# one beat

later in the son. The backin $ocals were also !anned slihtl# le"t. ?ost o" the rou! thouht

this was a strane thin to do but it was an idea had b# one member based on another son he had

heard. @hen listenin throuh head!hones' it i$es a nice e""ect.

;inall#' com!ression was added to the brass. The rou! "elt that the brass needed this to

decrease the d#namic rane to a$oid $er# loud !arts' !ossibl# caused b# the bell o" the

instruments bein brouht too close to the micro!hone. The 4rawmer com!ression unit was set

us as "ollows6 Threshold6 9' 7atio6 .56, and Gain6 2).




4urin mix down' the rou! used manual automation( on the uitar !arts to brin the

le$el u! durin the chorus. This was due to the standard o" !la#in in the other !arts o" the son

not bein as ood as it could ha$e been' so the rou! decided to brin the le$el down in these

!arts so that the uitar could still be heard' but it was harder to hear the mistakes that had been

made durin recordin.

+$aluation

The rou! were ha!!# with the outcome o" the mix' but all had a list o" thins which the#

"elt weren(t %uite !er"ect or could be chaned i" another mix was done.

The "irst o" these thins is that the track came out $er# %uiet when listened to on the

students home monitors and head!hones. This was due to the master "ader on the mixin console

bein too low down throuhout the mixin session. This is somethin that could ha$e easil# been

recti"ied' but will hel! the rou! remember this in "uture mixin work.

Another thin is that the reader ma# notice "rom earlier in this re!ort that the drums and

brass were each sent to two subrou!s each unnecessaril#. The reason "or this is that oriinall#

the rou! were !annin the subrou!s hard le"t and hard riht but decided aainst this as it could

ha$e a""ected some !annin that was done on the drum and brass channel stri!s.

There was one idea that the rou! had which was' durin the drum "ill be"ore the "inal

chorus' to !an the two drum o$erheads all the wa# to one side. The rou! tested this idea durin a

!ractice session and it sounded ood' but as the normal drum beat came in in the chorus and the

!annin couldn(t be !ut back %uick enouh' the rou! "ound that the "eelin o" the drum kit was

thrown o"" somewhat b# this so decided aainst the idea.

&ne !roblem encountered durin the "inal mix down session was with the !atch ba# on

the Audient mixin desk. @hen tr#in to !atch in the 4B com!ressor to use in the !arallel

com!ression on the drums' the rou! "ound that the !atch ba# schematic was inaccuratel#

labelled and so had to s!end around ,0 minutes workin out where to insert the !atch cables to

com!lete the circuit throuh the com!ressor and back out to the desk.




Another !roblem was that when the rou! "irst recorded their "inal mix' a"ter the disk had

"inalised' the# !ut it into the ?ac workstation in the studio to im!ort the track to iTunes' but the

track had sto!!ed recordin at Dust o$er , minute and then the C4 showed another track which

onl# contained silence. The students had done nothin to the C4 recorder durin the recordin

and could not work out wh# this had ha!!ened. This resulted in the students ha$in to rerecord

the mix.

/n conclusion' it is understood that all the members o" the rou! were ha!!# with the

outcome o" the mix' exce!t "or the ideas stated in the e$aluation. All rou! members were i$en a

"air chance to tr# di""erent thins and all ideas and thouhts ex!ressed were tried out durin the

!ractice sessions o" the mix. Some members o" the rou! o"ten had di""erent thouhts about what

should be done to certain !arts o" the track' but the rou! manaed to "ind wa#s to !lease

e$er#one and still maintain a ood soundin mix.

Documents

Audio Engineering Ass2 (Mixdown)