Mixing - Where You Can't See the Forest for the Trees

Just got back from my big final mixing session. This is where I've deviated the most from the Production Bible as Commandment IX is to leave the mix for someone else to do.

“I usually pass the task of creating final mixes off to other people because by that point, I can’t see a whiff of the trees.” (Gallant)

However, it wouldn't be much of a Studio Skills project if I didn't try to mix the damn thing myself, so I did. Over the years that I've been involved in studio work, I've often felt like mixing is where I have the most trouble. It's easy for me to get lost among individual elements and lose sight of the whole. Luckily, however, we've had some great guest speakers this semester, several of which have addressed mixing at length. I've tried to incorporate their advice. I borrowed from Phil Harding's go-to boost frequencies and panned background vocals the way he suggested. I made sure to ignore guitar buzz and breaths and such per Ken Scott's advice. As Richard Formby suggested, I focused on the lead vocal, the beat, and the bass at the expense of everything else. I really went for a layered approach, with certain elements up front and some more felt than heard.

Here is where the mix is currently at:




As I mentioned in my previous post, I made sure to crunch up the drums with some tape saturation. Here they are by themselves:



And here's the plug-in responsible for this crunchy goodness. I also used it on some of the background vocals and on the lead guitar.

The last stage of this whole process will be getting some feedback on the final mix and creating a second version if necessary. Either way, I hope my big drums, big pads, and ethereal vocals would do Mr. Epworth proud.