Music Mixing

Music Mixing is the process of combining and balancing all individual mono and stereo tracks that were recorded for the music or song. Before digital recording, there were usually restrictions on how many tracks were available for recording due to the capacity of tape but now in the digital era, it is not uncommon for the modern pop song to have in excess of 100 tracks of different instruments and sounds and vocals. It is the mixing engineers' role to take however many tracks there are and blend each one of them into a coherent single stereo file.

The engineer must understand the relationship of each instrument to each other as many of them compete at the same frequencies in the audio spectrum. For example, the mid-range of an electric guitar will be directly competing with the lead vocalist. So the engineer has to know how to operate these frequencies and place them in the stereo field to ensure as listeners we can hear all the instruments without them becoming one big mushy or muddy mess that will be unpleasant to listen to. But the mixing process goes much further than just balancing and EQ’s. Compression types and techniques are required, delays and reverbs to create space and life into the spectrum, tuning and doubling of vocals where required, removing noise such as rumbles from mic stands, breathing between singing takes, amp hissing between playing, string squeaks, vocal sibilance etc,  re-amping instruments and a lot of an engineers time will be spent with editing the tracks i.e perhaps moving individual notes of say, bass guitar to line up with the kick drum or ensuring the drums are in time all the way through the song if required.

They will make decisions and have a discussion with both artists and producers about cutting or adding sounds to a track or moving some sections around. So the engineer has to be also a type of producer and musician themselves to be able to get the music space to breath and to create the correct excitement or melancholy to the song to fully capture what the artists intended. Once the artist and producer are happy with this balanced mix then it goes to its final phase;