DrumsAndSounds.com – Questions

I would like to know some tips for mixing a beat in a small room 6×6. And which is better mixing before adding the vocals or after? Thanks
- Matthijp

Thanks for leaving a comment on the web site Matthijp.  To answer your first question about mixing in a small room this is they way i would approach it.

The first and most important thing to mixing in any room is to LEARN the room.  Learning to Mix music has a lot to do with learning what a “Good Mix” sounds like. Even Pro engineers will sit in room they have never used before and listen to Albums or Singles they know the sound of very well, or listen to other work they have mixed. In both situations your playing something you know and comparing how you know it and how it sounds at this point in the room your listening in. You’ll want to make notes to your self about the overall lows, mids and highs. Take a Good CD you know has a “Good” low end sound. Not necessary loud, but good. Play it in your small room. Can you hear it? Does it sounds to soft, to bassy? Now when you mix your music you know what bass should sound like in your room.   What your trying to do by listening to good records in your room weather it be 6×6 or 30×30 is to give your ear a reference point. Some place to refer back to and some place to compare.  As you start working on your mix you should also compare your mix to your reference mix directly. Switching back and forth. Recording engineers call this AB ing a mix.

Some other solutions to help your problem would be to add a small amount of acoustic treatment to the room.  Also you can check your mix in a pair of good headphones. You will also find that it will help to use small speakers and work at low levels in volume. None of these answers are exactly ideal how ever many  records have been made like this. If you have questions leave them in a comments section below.

Peter Weis
Composer, Producer, Engineer.

Distortion on recorded tracks is one of the biggest problems I find when mixing music by people learning to record. Unfortunately the only real way to fix distorted tracks is to record them over. While you are recording vocals you want to make sure you are not capturing any distortion. In the following video I’m going to explain where distortion problem usually occur and some basic ways  you can prevent them. In the tutorial I’am using Logic Studio. If you are recording with another program like Protools, Cubase or Sonar the same principles will apply. What will be different are how your the levels will look.

Please leave comments and questions below. Your feedback is important.

An Example of what a distorted vocal track looks like compared to one  that is not distorted.

The top track has distorted parts. You can see the top of a few parts have a square shape to them. The bottom track in comparison is not distorted. Each part has a rounded triangular shape to it. Using this technique is a very easy way to spot distortion if you are having trouble hearing the difference.