Mixing
The Mixing Process
Mixing is the process of fitting individual instruments together into a well-balanced song.
The goal is to create a coherent performance that supports the original intent of the artist. Mixing involves several components.
i. Quality Control
The mixing engineer reviews the track for inconsistencies or artifacts that negatively impact the quality of the recording. These may include a noisy background, poor tonal quality, or occasional clicks or pops. Although many problems can be fixed in the mix, in extreme cases the engineer may recommend re-recording a part.
ii. Bussing
Related tracks are grouped for common processing. For example, the percussion elements may be grouped into a 'Drum Buss' to share a common tonal and spatial character.
iii. Track/Buss Processing
Each track and buss is processed to fit alongside the other instruments. Dynamics and tone are adjusted to give each instrument its own distinctive sound and place in the mix.
Instruments are equalized and compressed as appropriate to the musical genre. For example, in dance music, drums are typically highly compressed with strong sub-bass characteristics. By contrast, a folk song would typically use light compression / limiting to retain an open, natural sound.
iv. Track mixing
To produce a final stereo mix, the multiple tracks in each buss are blended to create a well-balanced group. The different busses are then mixed together into a complete song. The dynamics and equalization of tracks and buses are adjusted to reduce 'competition' between instruments in the same frequency range.
Final mixes are usually given sufficient headroom (e.g. -14 LUFS is a currently popular target) and with reasonable peaks (between -6 and -1 dB TPM), so that a mastering engineer will have plenty of scope to tune the dynamics.
Naturally this depends on the style of music, e.g. dance, rock, and hip-hop tend to be mixed 'louder' than typical pop songs.
The final mix should be clear, open, and tonally complete. Although it will be close to 'radio-ready', as a final check most songs are usually passed to a mastering engineer, who makes sure that the track translates well on all systems (earphones, home stereos, cars, and restaurant/club PAs) by applying a final 'polish' of EQ and dynamics.
Our Mixing Service
Typically our workflow goes like this:
i. You submit --
the recorded tracks of your song, exported from a DAW in a lossless format (typically WAV), or -
 a live multi-track recording of your band (such as off a mixing console)
ii. We review the tracks with you, and discuss next steps. You will have the option to re-record parts, or add overdubs.
iii. We mix the tracks down to stereo, applying dynamics, equalization, and time-correction to each track as required.
iii. We share our results with you, and make the revisions that you request.
Our goal is to provide the best result to you as quickly as possible.
If you have any questions, just drop us a line at --
mixing@dbo.productions