Agruv Studios “Tip Of The Week” #8 – Some Things I Do Before Mixing

Whenever I get a project to mix, there are a few things I do before I actually start mixing. I begin with editing to ensure my tracks sound the best that they can, in raw form, with no EQ or plugins. This involves listening to the tracks as a whole and as individual tracks or groups. Here are some of the steps I take before diving into mixing.

Undesired Noise

Working with indie artists means that they may not always record in the most ideal locations. While they do capture great sounds and music, there may still be undesired sounds/noise in the background that should be removed. Sounds such as machinery like a computer or a fan, mouse and keyboard clicks, or maybe the artist kicked the mic stand and caused a boom sound to be captured. These are all samples of some of the things I’ve heard when mixing and it’s important to remove these sounds from the tracks. Normally, what I do is delete any area where there is no actual word being said. If the artist is in silence waiting for the next part to come in, you might hear excessive breathing or leakage and I’ll remove that from the track.

Pops and Clicks

Pops and click can originate from different sources such as the zero crossing of an audio wave or glitches in the DAW. Pops and clicks are interesting because they may not be so obvious and you might not hear them right away. I’ve worked on mixes where I couldn’t hear a certain pop or click until almost sending it to mastering. This is because sometimes pops and clicks are so subtle they can get buried in the busyness of the song and get masked from the other tracks. Once I find them, I either cut or fade them to remove.

Breathing

A natural occurrence when recording is hearing the sound of breathing. But what breathing am I referring to specifically? When rappers have a long and/or fast part of a song, at times their breathing gets in the way and they take a really awkward sounding breath. I clean up those breathing sounds that just doesn’t do anything to song and stands out as sound that doesn’t sound natural. However, there are natural sounding breaths and those I do keep in the song. You have to listen breaths that take away from the song or if it makes the song work.

Levels

Finally, I start setting the levels. In this stage I try to get as much of a good balance between tracks as I can. Yes, they most likely will change through the course of mixing, but having a good balance is the foundation of starting a mix, which should lead you to a great finished product.

What is your approach to mixing? Do you have a list of certain steps you take before diving into the mix? If you have any tips or suggestions, please comment and share your ideas with us!

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If you are looking for an engineer to record, mix, and/or master your music:

Call me directly at 323-543-5356

You can also email me: agruv@agruv.com

For samples of my work, visit my website: http://agruvstudios.com/

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What’s up underground hip hop heads! My name is Alex, as an audio engineer I go by Agruv. UnderGroundHipHopBlog (UGHHB) has given me the opportunity to contribute weekly tips about the music industry. Although my background is in audio engineering, I did start out as a musician in high school and attended Musicians Institute (MI) in Hollywood. During my year at MI, I studied music business, which allowed me to see first hand how the industry works.

My weekly topics will mainly cover audio engineering, which will include recording, mixing, and mastering. I may occasionally cover topics such as networking, marketing, collaboration, and some philosophical ramblings from time to time.

Again, I’d like to thank UGHHB for this great opportunity. I hope I get to work with you guys on any recording, mixing, and mastering projects. But more importantly, I hope you gain some knowledge and understanding about the industry, make some dope music and take your career to the next level.

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