Comments on: Unity Mixing Part 2 http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/blog/unity-mixing-part-2 thoughts regarding art, music, and technology Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:54:26 +0000 hourly 1 By: sjoerd http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/blog/unity-mixing-part-2/comment-page-1#comment-925 sjoerd Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:52:54 +0000 http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/?p=579#comment-925 Wow thanks for the quick answer. Yes this definitely answers my questions, thanks very much. P.S. sorry for the Tom instead of Tim. Wow thanks for the quick answer.
Yes this definitely answers my questions, thanks very much.

P.S. sorry for the Tom instead of Tim.

]]> By: timcorder http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/blog/unity-mixing-part-2/comment-page-1#comment-924 timcorder Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:44:33 +0000 http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/?p=579#comment-924 Sure you can still clip a signal if you turn it up too loud. In reality, the biggest adjustment you'll probably make is gaining down channels that are MUCH hotter at the pre then you're actually going to use in your mix. PFL would be necessary if you're using a console without individual signal meters and to doublecheck yourself that you're not pushing a pre too hard somewhere, but yes, I'm suggesting setting gain in such a way that you're using your ears and building your rough mix through the channel gains. You gain them one at a time. When I'm setting up my drum kit during soundcheck, I bring up the channel faders one at a time to unity, then dial the gain for the particular channel until the balance starts coming together. So its a combination of using your ears and then spotchecking on the meters to make sure you're not going to overdrive a channel or do something else really detrimental to the signal. This also means that I'm probably in the minority of soundchecking a drum kit by having the drummer play a pocket rather than hit each drum individually one by one. My problem with going drum by drum is that most drummers will hit the drums that way at a completely different intensity then they will when they're actually playing a groove. So you spend lots of time massaging all of those drums one by one, then have to make major changes when he actually starts playing. Since the drum kit is a collection of individual sound sources, I find it more effective for the way I work to dial in EQ, balance, and compression while listening to the kit as a whole. If I need to, I may drop out all of the mics but the snare, for example, just to hear what its doing as a part of the whole, but I've found much faster and efficient mix results by soundchecking the kit as a whole. Does this answer your questions? These are just my principals. There's certainly other ways to do things - this is just what works for me. Sure you can still clip a signal if you turn it up too loud. In reality, the biggest adjustment you’ll probably make is gaining down channels that are MUCH hotter at the pre then you’re actually going to use in your mix.

PFL would be necessary if you’re using a console without individual signal meters and to doublecheck yourself that you’re not pushing a pre too hard somewhere, but yes, I’m suggesting setting gain in such a way that you’re using your ears and building your rough mix through the channel gains.

You gain them one at a time. When I’m setting up my drum kit during soundcheck, I bring up the channel faders one at a time to unity, then dial the gain for the particular channel until the balance starts coming together. So its a combination of using your ears and then spotchecking on the meters to make sure you’re not going to overdrive a channel or do something else really detrimental to the signal.

This also means that I’m probably in the minority of soundchecking a drum kit by having the drummer play a pocket rather than hit each drum individually one by one. My problem with going drum by drum is that most drummers will hit the drums that way at a completely different intensity then they will when they’re actually playing a groove. So you spend lots of time massaging all of those drums one by one, then have to make major changes when he actually starts playing. Since the drum kit is a collection of individual sound sources, I find it more effective for the way I work to dial in EQ, balance, and compression while listening to the kit as a whole. If I need to, I may drop out all of the mics but the snare, for example, just to hear what its doing as a part of the whole, but I’ve found much faster and efficient mix results by soundchecking the kit as a whole.

Does this answer your questions? These are just my principals. There’s certainly other ways to do things – this is just what works for me.

]]> By: sjoerd http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/blog/unity-mixing-part-2/comment-page-1#comment-923 sjoerd Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:33:54 +0000 http://www.cordernotes.com/blog/?p=579#comment-923 Hello Tom, Having read this article some questions came up. Is it still possible to clip a signal this way? Do you still use PFL? Or do you completely rely on your ears? And if you rely only on your ears how do you gain every channel seperately? My apologies if my questions are being answered in the article, but I'm a bit new to the whole mixing thing. Hello Tom,

Having read this article some questions came up.
Is it still possible to clip a signal this way?
Do you still use PFL? Or do you completely rely on your ears?
And if you rely only on your ears how do you gain every channel
seperately?

My apologies if my questions are being answered in the article,
but I’m a bit new to the whole mixing thing.

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