Something that I keep finding over and over again in mixing, is that there are holes in the tracking process. I have found that it is really hard to get a mix right if it hasn't been tracked right. I used to say "No biggie, I'll fix it in the mix." Its an awful attitude. You can have the musician just play the part again and take two minutes or you can try to edit a bunch of crap together and could take you hours and hours. It will also almost never be quite right.
Even beyond that - something can be tracked with a good technical performance but not the right capture from an engineering standpoint. This is just as important for mixing later on. Just because the take is good, does not necessarily mean that it was captured correctly for the song. Every song calls for something different.
Lets take an example: Do the drums you are recording have the proper depth for the song you are recording? Anyone can set up a pair of overhead mics, a set of room mics, and a number of close mics for the snare, toms and kick. But more importantly, is the way the mics are set up appropriate for the mix later on with the other elements? Maybe all those close mics are not necessary because it is not a true representation of how the drums sound in an actual room. Is there space in the mix for the bass guitar based on how the kick drum is mic'd and TUNED. Do the drums have space or do they feel cramped? Do the drums need a feeling of space, or do they need to feel cramped? Does the song call for the drums to be big and far away or in your face? All good things to think about. Also, this is just the drums. You would still have to consider every other element as well. It is a lot harder than it often seems.
On the other hand, it is important not to go overboard either. Don't be so picky about the technical aspects of a recording that you miss the point of the recording: THE MUSIC. My personal philosophy is that if a song is good, it almost doesn't matter at all how good or bad the engineer is because the song can carry itself. That is not to say that an engineer can not be held responsible for screwing up the presentation of a great (or crappy) song.
I think the solution to this problem is to simply think about how the mix would unfold before you track it, not just before it is mixed. Obviously, you get better at this with more experience. Also, I have clearly fallen victim to this problem with different levels of severity and still do. I guess it is just important to think, plan and experiment and eventually you will gain an intuition to this kind of thing (at least I hope!)
my thoughts on this subject for now. I would be interested in hearing what everyone thinks about this too, so feel free to comment and get a discussion going.
-rishi
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2 comments:
Agreed. Very easy with the resources we have to let things wait till later. Not always the best idea.
Here's the latest column from engineer Chris Stamey featured in Tape Op, entitled "Fixing it Before the Mix":
http://tinyurl.com/6nsdfc
This one happens to be about drums - mostly overheads - Stamey covers some mic'ing techniques, thoughts, etc.
If you look around, you can find the other three parts.
I am very glad that you brought this up cuz it's something I have been thinking about since I walked in the audio studio for the first time. I look at the number of mics and channels at my disposal and feel secure knowing that I could use multiple simultaneous setups and choose later, especially if I am overdubbing. But I noticed recently that this isn't that common a practice and it made me really rethink my approach. I would like to start approaching a session more like a musician would approach a gig, where it's essential to be able to think on one's feet and there aren't second chances. I'm not knocking mixing with options at all but I personally would feel more like one of the musicians in the song-production process if I were to make my choices at the same time they do.
With that said, I still plan to play around in the mix with different setups until I have more experience with mic choice/placement.
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