slagter wrote:
The use of a good EQ is nothing to sneeze at. Lifting your top end - 2K - 20K will just breathe a little life into an otherwise dull mix. Also looking for the fundamental frequencies of each instrument is very important, but so are harmonic frequencies. Harmonic frequencies are a doubling or halving of the fundamental. For instance if your Fundamental is 500hz, the harmonics are 250hz and 1000hz. Tweak these as well.
When mixing, try to remember that less is more. What I mean by this is: If you are losing your kick drum in the mix behind your bass guitar, drop the fundamental frequencies of your kick drum out of the bass guitar track. Try not to pump the kick drum, as you will then struggle to get it to sit nicely in the mix. I agree with the above, take your time on the kit. If it sounds wrong, it can ruin a great track.
+1 Slagter.
Musicmadness. Here is a fun exercise you can try. Record just your guitar tracks. And lets experiment with the Fundamental and Harmonic frequencies. Lets pretend there are 3 layers.
1st track - Telecaster Rhythm chunks.
2nd track - Telecaster Picking High Notes
3rd track - Telecaster Main Melody
Use a spectrum / frequency analyzer to determine the fundamental frequency of each track. You will notice that by changing the exact fundamental frequency (or group of frequencies) , you will completely change the tone of the track. Then as slagter mentioned, half it , and double it to determine the harmonic frequency.
The main thing to remember with E.Q-ing is that rather take away, than add. Example : if you want to "boost" 500 Hz...
Rather attenuate / lower all other frequencies and leave 500 Hz as is.
The reason for this : if you just keep increasing frequencies , you are going to end up with too much output / distortion/clipping.
Lets cover some effects :
Our 1st track won't have much effects. Maybe a touch of reverb. (like 2% reverb send) , remember this is rhythmic/ percussive guitar layer.
2nd track - Here we can add tons of stereo delay(double delay) . The track is slow picking(textures) and if slow picking gets doubled/ delayed, it can create an interesting sound.
3rd track - Lets double the channels (2 tracks of the same guitar track) PAN left and right. Add some large room reverb on the left channel (8 %). Then maybe a delay in MIDI sync on the right.
Lets look at mix levels: What shall be the loudest/ softest.
1st track(30 %) - Rhythm, nice and chunky, relatively loud and audible. Attenuated mid frequencies.
2nd track(20 %) - picking must just be textures that cut through every now and again.
3rd track(50 %) - main melody must stand out and be very clear
Have fun... You will make a few discoveries along the way.
