Luke Hendrickson, an audio mixing expert from Bethel Church, shared his insights on creating a great sound mix for music. He emphasized the importance of teamwork and learning from each other’s strengths. Mixing is subjective and there is no perfect mix; it’s crucial to learn the language of music and mixing before breaking any rules.
In a live mix, it’s important to have fresh ears and protect them from loud noises. Sonic real estate refers to creating pockets in a mix for different elements to live without being cluttered. High-pass filters can be used to make room for certain elements like kick drum and bass guitar.
When starting a mix, keep things natural until they get cluttered. Close your eyes while listening to your favorite track, visualize where each element should be placed in the sonic space, and consider panning or EQ adjustments to create separation between elements.
Stereo recording is essential because everything in life is stereo – even mono sources produce indirect sounds that create stereo effects. Double tracking can make instruments or vocals sound wider by recording the same part twice and panning each take opposite directions.
Compression helps create a narrow dynamic range which makes music more accessible in noisy environments like driving down the highway with noisy backgrounds. Parallel processing involves running signals through two separate processors then blending their outputs.
Mastering is the final stage of production but shouldn’t be relied upon for fixing problems; greatness starts at the source with songwriting, performance, gear selection, production techniques, mixing then mastering as the last step.
