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 Contents
1. EQ........................................................3
2. Compression ......................................6
3. Reverb ................................................8
4. Delay (And When To Use It?) ..........10
5. Saturation .........................................11

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If youre having trouble with getting better mixes, please dont think theyll magically improve with
the next plug-in youll buy.

You already have the plug-ins you need for a great mix.

Let me tell you what they are:

1. EQ
You use EQ to give each instrument their space in the frequency
spectrum. You carve out pockets for each instrument, and depending
how much youve got going on in your mix youll need to be more or
less heavy-handed on the EQ.

Know your frequencies

Now, this might be a little confusing but heres what I mean. Take
these two plug-ins: CLA Vocals and a normal channel EQ, and
compare the EQ settings on them. Now, the CLA line isnt just an EQ
but it HAS an EQ.

But the thing is that it doesnt have is frequencies. It just has names
like bite and top which arent very helpful when youre trying to
understand where specific frequencies are.

So if youre still trying to figure out where boominess, boxiness and all those areas are I recommend
using an actual EQ and not a fancy plug-in like this. Itll teach you where to look when you just need
to add or subtract a little EQ in any of your session.

Think about it this way, its great to save time and order someone else to make you your fancy coffee
drink, but knowing how to make coffee yourself is a valuable skill to have.

OK, on to the next one.

Get rid of annoying sounds

Take boxiness for instance, because that seems to be a common problem with multiple instruments
but none so much as the kick drum.

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Boxiness can be reeled in by cutting in the mids around 3-400 Hz and sometimes in the 600 Hz
region. You can do this with either two narrow cuts or one big one. Sometimes it depends on the
genre which method works better.

If youre looking for different annoying frequencies the same technique applies of just boosting
around until you pinpoint the frequency you want to cut, then simply bring your EQ cut down until
its gone.

Make your instruments mask the vocal to help you get a

clean vocal sound
This sounds backwards but you can find where any instrument is clashing with another by simply
finding the frequency range where it starts masking the other instrument.

For example, I can easily make the acoustic guitar mask the vocals by boosting around the frequency
spectrum and listening to when the vocal starts feeling cluttered.

Thats when you know thats the frequency range you need to cut in order to bring the vocal out in
the mix without necessarily adding a bunch of boosts to the vocal track.

Filter, Cut & Boost should be your mantra

Filter, cut and boost is the only mantra you need to live by for effective EQing.

Lets use the example of an acoustic guitar.

Start by filtering up the lows to get rid of the boominess from the mic being too close to the
instrument.

Then cut the jangly mids in about 6-800 Hz to smooth the guitar out a little bit.

Then boost in the 250 Hz range for warmth and then maybe a little bit at 500 Hz and/or 8 khz for
brilliance.

Boost harmonics to get things to cut through

The bass guitar is a low-end instrument and needs to carry weight down there. But you shouldnt
neglect the higher harmonics of the bass guitar to get it to cut through the mix.

Say one of the fundamental note of a bass is around 100 Hz. Then you can boost at multiples of that
harmonic, such as 200 Hz, 300 Hz, 400 Hz etc

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Many small boosts at regular intervals (some argue that even numbered harmonics sound better)
can help add richness to the guitar.

So in this case boosting at 100 Hz, then again at 200 Hz (the second interval), and then at 400 Hz
and 800 Hz can give some additional higher harmonics to help it cut through.

The same will work with other instruments. Try it on keyboards to get them to cut through in the
mids without needing to boost them where it clashes with the vocal for instance.

Use your training wheels

EQing needs practice and its not always easy to figure out where a specific problem lies.

Thats where you can use your analyzer to help you spot an unnatural buildup of frequencies. I use
the Voxengo Span analyzer on my master bus and then I always keep the analyzer on the EQ plug-
in for whenever I run into problems I cant find.

Finally, Dont Engineye, enginear!

I know using visual EQ can be hard because eventually the oh no, that EQ curve looks real weird
mentality rears its head. But the thing is, nobody is going to watch your mix so unless it actually
sounds terrible it should be just fine to have a weird EQ curve.

As long as youve referenced your mix to other commercial recordings and what youre hearing out
of your mix isnt that much different than what the general public is used to hearing you should be
fine.

So let that be the last word on this EQ Checklist. I hope that gives you some ideas to help you with
your next mix.

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2. Compression
Compression tightens up your mix, makes the elements sound glued
together and adds an overall punchiness to everything you need. Using
the various compression models youll achieve different sounds
depending on whether youre adding Opto, FET or VCA compression.

Its not only important to know how to tweak the attack/release,

threshold and ratio. You also need to know which compressor model
brings out the most flattering character of any of your tracks.

Compression is what makes your mix breathe. It can also squash your mix
and choke out the naturalness of it. Depending on the genre, instrument
and other considerations, the approach to compression varies.

We could decide to completely squash down a room microphone for a

punchier drum sound, but we would never compress a beautiful vocal to
such an extreme.

For a simple vocal compression trick that tightens up the vocal without really pushing it too hard try
using just a low 2:1 ratio with a really low threshold so its always compressing a tiny bit.

That compresses the vocal at all times while still allowing it to breathe and be dynamic.

In general, not just for vocals but for any of the tracks, if you want to use compression in a subtle
way that doesnt squash your song, heres a good way to do it:

Step 1 Mix the LOUDEST part of the song

Youve probably read about the importance of getting a great static mix before. Find the loudest
part of the song, loop it and go to town on it.

Mix that part until it makes you cry its so good. Use all your compressors and limiters to get that
part really really rocking.

Once youve got that part of the song sounding really great you can go back to the beginning and
mix the rest of the song.

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Step 2 Leave your compressors and limiters ALONE
Mix the rest of the song without touching your compressors or limiters. If all your hard hitting
compression is pumping along nicely during the loudest parts of the song then dont add more
compression in the quieter parts.

This method gives your quiet parts a nice dynamic range while giving your loud parts the punch they
need. If you add more compression to the vocal during the calm verse then itll sound squashed and
overly compressed in the choruses.

Step 3 Automate, DONT compress

Dont think that your instruments need more compression in the verses just because theyre
quieter. Just automate the phrases that need a little more volume.

Of course, there are multiple ways to approach compression, this is just the conservative way of
doing it. Your particular approach to compression is a big factor in how your mix will end up.

Top Ten Uses For Compression on Specific Tracks

1. Tame Drums If the drums are getting in your way, careful attack and release timing can tame
some of those pesky transients to make for easier-sounding drums in the background.

2. Explode Drums On the other hand, if you want them to explode, parallel compression can make
your drums big and juicy.

3. Take care of lousy bass players Inexperienced bass players can be all over the place. Using the
threshold and ratio to control their dynamics so that their notes dont pop out all over the place is
a great way to use compression.

4. Make the rhythm guitar pop Compression on tight and strummy rhythmic guitars can fatten up
the guitar tracks and make it pop.

5. Smooth out lead guitar dynamics If you have long lead lines soloing in the background, long
releases can make your solos sustain even longer. You might even go grab a cup of tea and itll be
like wheeee when you come back. If you didnt get that reference go watch Spinal Tap.

6. Side-chain compress for automatic dynamics Side-chaining the bass to the kick drum can give
both of them space in the mix. The same goes for the vocal and a busy guitar part.

7. Make the room sound bigger and punchier Compressing room mics can make your drum sound
even more explosive. This, combined with parallel compression can make your drum sound real fat.

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8. Bring out the intricacies of the vocal A juicy valve compressor, even just an emulator, can bring
out the little intricacies and nuances of the vocal. Compressing to retain dynamics while bringing
out the emotion is the key to a well compressed vocal.

9. Thicken up toms If your toms arent compressed, youre losing out on a punchier drum sound.
Scoop the EQ a little bit and add some heavy compression and your thick toms will sound like theyre
straight out of AC/DCs Thunderstruck.

10. Keep the reverb at bay Since compression is sort of an automatic volume leveler, using
compression on effects such as reverb can really help.

3. Reverb
If youve created a really nicely EQd mix full of punchiness and tight
dynamics youll be most of your way there. However, youll end up with a
fairly two-dimensional mix if you dont add any space to it.

Thats where reverb and delay come in. Use delay to add a sense of depth
without creating huge reverb tails that clutter up your mix. Conversely, use
big reverbs to add huge sounds to your instrument.

Want to make you home-recorded guitar sound like its in a cathedral

because of that one part in the song where everything drops out?

No problem! Just add reverb.

Reverb and delay add so much character to a mix. You can give the same
song to two different mixers and just their use of reverb can make each mix
sound drastically different.

Using reverb can get pretty challenging.

Not too much and itll sound dry and unpolished.

Too much and itll be a cluttered mess.

Reverb For Contrast

You can use reverb for contrast between verse and chorus as well as how you can use reverb to
create two completely different mixes for the same song.

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In one of my songs I basically mixed two different songs within the same session.

The verse drums had a completely different sound: Heavy reverb, floaty, crisp with the cymbals.

The chorus was tight: Parallel compression, small drum rooms, punchy.

The same went with the bass. In the verses I used the same plug-ins: Amp simulator, EQ, Rbass, but
with totally different settings to suit the sound I was after.

The guitars were even more extreme. I used sparse processing on the verses because it already
sounded pretty good. Just some EQ and compression along with some tape saturation. And best of
all the Kramer tape plug-in has a built-in echo/delay effect so I just dialed in a little bit of delay to
put the solo guitars in its space and voil.

But the chorus guitars were routed, subgrouped, saturated and parallel distorted. It was edgy while
still keeping it within the type of sound I was looking for. The guitars just sounded a bit too clean
overall and to create that drastic contrast its always good to resort to some saturation.

Reverb For Style

You can also use reverb to create different feels to the song.

Because, the arrangement is a fun one to play with because it has both acoustic guitar, pianos, pads
and strings.

And depending on your perspective, you can take the song in multiple directions.

If you want to emphasize the singer/songwriter style of the song you can accent the acoustic guitar
and create a folkier mix.

But if you want to create a big, orchestral arrangement you can really bring the pads, violins and
piano to the forefront to create something much bigger.

But its not just pulling the faders of the instruments up that create a mix.

You have to create spaces around these instruments that make sense.

You cant have big string pads and violins sounding like theyre being played in a garage.

And you cant throw a cathedral style reverb on a rhythm acoustic guitar. Itll just clutter up the mix.

So I went through some ways you can use reverb and spaces (in addition to balancing the faders) to
create different mix styles.

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Just by emphasizing different aspects of the mix and using different reverbs (or delays instead!) you
end up with two completely different sounding mixes

4. Delay (And When To Use It?)

I had a conversation a while ago with a fellow mixing engineer and

we started talking about some live sound tips. We talked about the
various techniques we use when mixing live sound when we started
talking about vocal processing.

I told him how I like to use a short plate reverb on vocals, especially
live but also in the studio, and he told me how hed much rather
use delay instead of reverb. That got me thinking: When should you
rather use delay instead of reverb?

Is there any specific situation where reverb works better? Or can

you use delay interchangeably instead of reverb?

The Difference Between Delay and

Reverb
The difference between delay and reverb is simple. Delay takes
your source sound and repeats it. How much depends on your
feedback and parameters. Meanwhile, reverb takes your source
and repeats it in an artificial space, creating reflections and ambience thats not possible to do with
simple delays.

Reverbs are usually more complex and include all sorts of different parameters and buttons to
control and mold the sound.

So When Do You Use Which?

Delay is used for simpler purposes, when you want to create depth without necessarily creating a
new space in your mix. Its very easy to use delays to enhance and thicken vocals, guitars and
keyboards. Settings with a delay thats less than 100 milliseconds and only one or two repeats will
result in a thicker sound. Using longer delays can create a sense of space without cluttering up the
mix like you might experience with long reverb trails.

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Long, lush reverbs are great for slower songs, especially if the arrangement is sparse. You can also
use short room or plate reverbs if you want to create a specific ambience, since each reverb mode
has their own characteristic.

Like I said, reverbs and especially the longer ones can add a lot to an arrangement or mix. But it
can also add noise and clutter if you use too much of it. Delays might be easier to manage since
theyre simpler but you also have to be careful with the delay and feedback times. Too much
feedback with a short delay results in metallic noise. The same goes for too much feedback with a
long delay; itll continue long after the phrase has finished, repeating at the wrong times.

Mix and match

Maybe you want to use a shorter delay to double the vocal but you still need to add some space
around it. Mixing delays with reverbs is very common, and using them on different auxiliary sends
means you can dial in the perfect amount of both processors.

Pick What The Situation Calls for

In the end, my friend and I were just discussing different approaches to the same thing. He liked to
use delay to enhance the vocal, especially in a faster rock track, and I liked using short plate reverbs.
Thats not to say one of us knew the right answer. Both approaches were 100% correct, we just used
different methods.

So in the end pick the processor that works for you and grooves with the track youre mixing. Maybe
a medium delay is all you need, but maybe a long hall reverb is the order of the day.

5. Saturation
Now, we get to the final ingredient of a great mix. The popularity of
saturation and tape emulation plug-ins has surged in recent years
because of the convincing sounds these plug-ins make.

You dont have to own a reel-to-reel machine to create that tape feel.
You dont even need fancy premium plug-ins either. Just google free
saturation plug-ins and youll be on your way to adding some analog
warmth to your tracks.

Saturation is kind of like a secret sauce. You can never tell what kind
of character itll give your instruments without trying it and Ive found
that I always get something different when Im playing along with the
plug-ins.

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But usually, what I get is some nice dimension to my tracks, with the saturation bringing out some
added character via the harmonic content it brings to the mix.

Thats really the most concise and valuable tip I can give you for saturation. Just try it out, tweak the
amount of saturation and make sure you have proper gain staging in place.

If you just want tape warmth then dont overload the input to accidentally give the track a distorted
feel.

You want warmth! Not a fire!

5 Plug-ins to a Great Mix

Thats all you need for a great mix. As long as you use these five plug-ins effectively youll be cranking
out killer mixes in no time.

Of course, Im not advocating you dont use any other plug-ins. Im saying that as long as you master
these five everything else will become easier.

So let help you get started by giving you a bunch of ideas on how to use these plug-ins in the next
few emails.

Keep an eye on your inbox for all the handy tips that will be coming your way!

Until then,

Bjrgvin | Audio Issues

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