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<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nNailing the right mix for your music takes skills, gear and discriminating ears<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>You\u2019ve penned the perfect songs, recorded flawless tracks, and you\u2019re well on your way to creating a masterpiece. But what about the mix? Snagging that ideal sonic blend can be tricky business, and the stakes are high. The right mix can mean the difference between fulfilling your dreams of revealing your musical brilliance to the world\u2014or not.<\/p>\n
For many musicians and songwriters, the prospect of managing a pro-caliber mix can be as daunting as piloting a jetfighter in a dogfight. Selecting the right software and gear\u2014and more important, knowing how to use them\u2014can make or break the project. And there\u2019s much to know, from tweaking EQs and managing compression to finding the right workflow. But crafting the perfect mix doesn\u2019t require advanced degrees\u2014just commitment, practice and advice from the pros.<\/p>\n
We turned to two veteran mixing engineers for guidance, Leslie Brathwaite and Ben Wisch. Brathwaite has worked with a range of artists including Beyonc\u00e9, Ludacris, Akon, Pharrell Williams and Erykah Badu. Wisch\u2019s resume includes projects by such artists as Marc Cohn, Ricardo Arjona, Tony Carey and Patty Larkin.<\/p>\n
How do you approach mixing?<\/b><\/p>\n
BRATHWAITE: I always approach every mix the same way. I start with the vocals\u2014they\u2019re the most important element in any song. Then I move on to the drums. I mix a lot of urban music, but even with gospel\u2014when I was working with BeBe and CeCe Winans\u2014I approached it the same way. Next I figure out how the bass will work with the kick drum. That\u2019s a very important relationship in the mix.<\/p>\n
WISCH: I used to be very systematic about my approach\u2014start with the bass drum, bass, and move on from there. I don\u2019t have a set way that I approach mixing anymore. Sometimes I do very little, but other times I have to change quite a bit. It helps that I\u2019m an arranger. A lot of times I end up moving parts around. It\u2019s a fun puzzle to put together.<\/p>\n
Are you affected by a rough mix?<\/b><\/p>\n
BRATHWAITE: An artist may have been listening to that rough mix in their car for a year. It could sound terrible\u2014but they like it. So my job is to figure out how to make it sonically correct without destroying the artist\u2019s vibe.<\/p>\n
WISCH: A lot of people want to send a rough mix so I can hear what\u2019s going on. I prefer to come into it completely fresh with a clean slate, so that when I sit down at the mixing board I can pick out the prime elements of the tune\u2014piano, guitar or whatever\u2014and bring those out. It\u2019s all about creating a piece of art.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s vital in dealing with vocals? <\/b><\/p>\n
WISCH: I don\u2019t have racks and racks of gear. I use a Tube-Tech CL 1B for vocal compression and API EQs. These days I use the EQs in my board, but even back in the \u201990s when I was mixing Marc Cohn, I used an SSL board with outboard API EQs. I fell in love with those EQs back then, and 20 years later I\u2019m still using them.<\/p>\n
BRATHWAITE: My main focus with vocals is to clean it up. I take my time and treat every vocal track individually. It\u2019s not about putting this effect on it or using that plug-in and compressing it. It\u2019s about paying attention to detail. How does this artist say her S\u2019s? Are certain frequencies too harsh? Do the levels match? I go through it and make sure everything sounds right.<\/p>\n
How do you deal with dense mixes?<\/b><\/p>\n
BRATHWAITE: When somebody brings me a song with a million tracks and vocals everywhere, it\u2019s often easy to mix. To create a song where you have all of these tracks working together, you need a rough mix going, and it has to have some sort of vibe to it. And because there is so much going on, there has to be room for everything. When a song is too sparse, you hear every single mistake.<\/p>\n
How has mixing evolved?<\/b><\/p>\n
BRATHWAITE: If I wanted to fly a hook and copy it down in the song, it would have taken me 45 minutes in the \u201990s. Moving a bridge might have taken two hours. Now it takes 10 seconds. There are two sides to the coin. It wasn\u2019t better the old way, but it gave me a different understanding about how things worked, and it made me patient to pay attention to detail.<\/p>\n
WISCH: There was a lot of finesse involved with getting a full-sounding mix to translate in the old days. It wasn\u2019t like today, where you can pump things through a peak limiter and have it do all of the work for you. It really forced you to get it right. But I embrace technology that makes things easier\u2014it makes you more efficient, and you can spend more time being creative.<\/p>\n
What are labels looking for?<\/b><\/p>\n
BRATHWAITE: Labels are easy to please. They\u2019re always chasing the current hit, whatever\u2019s hot at the moment. It actually makes my job easy. Last week I was in the process of mixing a record with Nelly, Akon and Pitbull, and the A&R exec at the label called to tell me to think about some
\nFlo Rida song. I bought the song and used it as a reference track in my mix. That\u2019s the thing about labels, they always give you a cheat sheet.<\/p>\n
What are common mistakes?<\/b><\/p>\n
BRATHWAITE: A lot of the artists I\u2019ve worked with, like Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Beyonc\u00e9 and Cher, hate it when you destroy their vibe. It\u2019s the biggest rookie mistake lots of younger engineers make. They get a song to mix, and they drop all the faders and delete all of the plug-ins and start over from scratch. Do that, and you\u2019ve cut out any input the artist had on the final mix. The important thing is to focus less on what you want and more on what the artist wants.<\/p>\n
WISCH: Overdoing compression, equalization, and how much time you spend on things. Mixing is an art form, not a science. It requires the ability to not only be intellectually invested but emotionally invested. Listening comes from both the ears in your head and the ears in your heart. You have to be multifaceted in the way you hear things.<\/p>\n
When do you know that a mix is done?<\/b><\/p>\n
WISCH: The truth is, it\u2019s never really done. You put it away, and when you come back to it, there\u2019s probably something you\u2019ll want to change. At a certain point, though, there\u2019s nothing standing out, nothing gnawing at you telling you that you need to change this or fix that.<\/p>\n
BRATHWAITE: You can unmix a song as much as you\u2019ve mixed it, so I have a checklist. A) Did I preserve the vibe? B) Did I make it sound better? C) Did I clean up the mistakes? D) Can I turn the volume all the way down and still hear everything in the mix? When I\u2019ve achieved that, I walk away.<\/p>\n
\u2014Phil Selman<\/p>\n
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COMMANDING THE MIX Nailing the right mix for your music takes skills, gear and discriminating ears \u00a0You\u2019ve penned the perfect songs, recorded flawless tracks, and you\u2019re well on your way to creating a masterpiece. But what about the mix? Snagging that ideal sonic blend can be tricky business, and the stakes are high. The right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[7180,7185,7178,1342,4703,6978,7177,7179,4975,7184,7181,7182,7183],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10942,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10940\/revisions\/10942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}