Art of Mixing, Part One

After having conducted numerous seminars over the years, one subject that always comes around is the art of audio mixing . It's easy to teach the technical stuff, simply because it is pretty much black and white. It's either works or it doesn't. I'm going to break this post into two parts as it's gonna be pretty long and besides, I'll need some time to gather my thoughts on this matter.

In this post, I'll try to put some of my years of experience mixing for different events into text form. I'm not entirely sure that I'll be sucessful as I'm pretty sure I'll leave some gaps in the process simply because there is so much to cover.

The art of mixing is exactly what it implies - art. Why the challenge? What makes it difficult for operators to get consistent quality sound? The very fact that there are so many variables week after week in terms of people, instrumentation and physical conditions makes any of these questions almost self defeating.

Anyway, on to business.....

Generally, there are two areas to consider when approaching the art of mixing - 1) Technicals, and 2) Artistic Values. We will cover Technicals in Part One.

1) Technicals

This is the really easy part - basically it's about getting to know the audio system. Consider its strengths and weaknesses. What can it do? What are its limitations? Knowing this will help you to plan for an event efficiently. You can't have 26 mics if you only have 24 input channels on the console. If you absolutely must have 26 mics, then you will have to plan for alternatives.

Sometimes, it's not just about the mixing console. It's about knowing the limits of the system and looking for the best compromise in view of limitations. I remember one event in a small club space where there was a very basic audio system consisting of a 24 channel mixer with a pair of three-way 15" boxes. The space was a shoplot in Bangsar and the event consisted of several alternative, heavy rock type bands. Translation - big loud drums, screaming guitar amps, booming bass and furious vocals. While I could have put a mic on all the instruments, etc, it was really an exercise in futility due to the limited space and massive sound level that was gonna come out of the band onstage. I ended up only using one channel - a mic for the main vocals. The loudspeakers barely made it out in one piece that night as the amplified vocals were almost drowned by the rest of the band! But I managed to get the vocals on top of the rest of the band. Just! I managed to keep the manager and punters happy and kept the owners happy too, by keeping their system intact ;-)

Back to the topic at hand....other things to consider include the number of monitor sends needed, console position, existing inventory of mics, stage setup, etc. Stuff like this is usually taught in stage and theatre production courses and can be found in books available today.

One step that is absolutely crucial for successful technical operation is setting proper gain structure. Basically, what this means is ensuring that every input channel you have is set in a way where it does not clip and overload any of the stages in the mixer. One would usually start at the master gain control that is usually found at the top of the channel strip by slowly cranking it up until the clip light comes on and then backing it off until that light stops flashing. This procedure can only happen if there is something called a 'soundcheck'. A soundcheck is where the musos come on stage and each instrument level is set on the mixer by having the muso play their instrument as they would during the show. This is not a rehearsal for the musos; in fact, I kinda think that it is rather a rehearsal time for the mix operator.

So, in a nutshell, get to know the system really well. You should know where everything comes from, what each knob does, and where to send various signals. Get some serious hands-on time at the console. Not just on Sunday service, but try to put in some hours just getting to know the console. This familiarity will make your 'instrument' almost invisible as the musos come in and the music starts flowing so that you can start to focus on the mix instead of the technicals.

This last bit sets us up nicely for the next section, dealing with artistic matters when mixing, so I'll leave it a that for the moment.

Next, Part Two - The Art ...