Description
"Audio Engineering | Audio Manuals for the Sound Engineer" Series
Volume 3
- 590 total pages (A4 format: 21.59 x 27.94 cm – Font: Avenir Book 11 – Line spacing: 1)
- 10 pages of index divided into 4 levels, to find each topic quickly
- n. 247 images
- n. 4 sections divided into n. 40 chapters in total
The Audio Mixing Manual It is primarily aimed at general learning of the principles of mixing, but can also be used as a practical guide to consult during mixing.
It is composed of 4 parts of which:
- the first is aimed at acquiring a basic but sufficient culture of the sound engineer regarding: the purposes and general criteria of the mix, sound, equipment, listening criteria;
- the second is technically the most important, it is dedicated to the description of the entire operational process to be followed during the mix, with the description of the tonal, dynamic and environmental processing criteria and operations up to the finalization of the mix which precedes mastering;
- the third deals with the specific operations of fine-tuning the various sound sources (instruments and voices), focusing especially on the most complex, delicate and recurring ones);
- the fourth is a list of small “Tips and Tricks”, partly developed by the author and partly “fished” from the “common domain repertoire” of sound engineers and some mix-stars.
Preface
The Zen teacher asked aspiring painters to study for ten years, practicing for many hours a day.
He then suggested to “forget” everything, stopping practicing for months.
After that he urged the student to paint “truly”, following only his intuition, as the technical ability would emerge naturally, but without dominating the scene.
In this sense, the same exhortation can be formulated for the art of mixing, suggesting the following:
“Don't follow any rules, but know them all first.”
I'm sure that every expert sound engineer will agree with this statement.
The Author
Introduction
To mix well, you need to thoroughly understand all the characteristics and pitfalls of sound, to the point of developing an intuitive wisdom that, unfortunately, no manual like this can ever directly teach. However, it intends to provide a simple aid to orient oneself in the world of sound, clarifying its principles and encouraging the student to research.
MANUAL INDEX
Preface 14
Introduction 15
Part A *** INTRODUCTION TO MIXING 17
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MIXING 18
Orchestration as primordial mixing 18
Mixing in the first recordings 19
Multitrack and post-production processes 20
The 20 tape digital
Digital magnetic tape 21
DAW and home studio 21
APPROACH CRITERIA TO MIX 23
Mixing Definitions and Functions 25
Technique and art of mixing 26
Listening and comparing diversity 28
Natural and artificial sound 28
Imitation and innovation in the mix 31
The Limitations of a Manual Dedicated to Mix 32
ANALOG AND DIGITAL 33
Differences between the two worlds 34
Hardware Emulators 34
RUDIMENTS OF ACOUSTICS 36
Noise, sound, vibrational frequency 37
Fundamental, harmonics, beat 37
Waves, height, polarity, phase, cycle, period 39
Composite waves, polarity reversal 40
Transient and tail of sounds, ADSR 41
Sound propagation 42
Intensity 42
Spatiality 43
Reflections and Absorption 43
Reflection Vectors 44
Eco 45
Flutter echo 46
Reverb 46
Presence and proximity 50
Volume 52
Environmental Resonance 52
Low frequencies 52
High frequencies 53
Transients 53
REFERENCE LISTENING 55
Acoustic setup of studio 56
Sound Insulation 57
Internal treatment 58
The 66 monitors
Big and near-field monitors 66
Closed and reflex speakers 66
The subwoofer 68
Speaker placement 70
Subwoofer placement and phasing with room 75
Subwoofer volume and its phasing with the speakers 76
Position of the listening point 76
Corrective Equalization 79
Acoustic perception 80
The Deception of Volume 81
What happens at high volume 81
What happens at low volume 82
Reference volumes 83
Reference mix at 85dB 83
Working at 70 db 83
Compare at 60 and 110 db 84
Critical listening to the various volumes 84
A different finalization volume for each musical genre 84
Let's not ruin our hearing 84
Other listening tests 85
Headphone monitoring 85
All 87 listening tests
Avoid psychoacoustic adaptation 88
Technical listening and relaxing listening 89
Narrowband Monitoring 89
Alternative Monitors 91
A THREE-DIMENSIONAL MIX 92
Sound front 93
Monophony 93
Stereophony 93
Surround 94
Hierarchy of mix elements 95
Masking 98
Tonal Interlocking 99
Dynamic Interlocking 106
Respect for dynamics 106
The task of compression 106
Sound field 108
Sound field front width 109
Soundstage depth 110
Part B *** OPERATION IN MIX 115
ORGANIZE SESSION 116
Number of Bits 117
Sampling frequency 118
export tracks from the recording timeline 119
Import tracks to the new timeline 120
Organize tracks AND GROUPS 120
Organizing Tracks 120
Organizing groups 122
Small preliminary operations 124
Phase coherence 125
OPERATIONAL SEQUENCE IN MIX 127
Mix 127 Timeline
Conclusion 130
LISTENING AND LEVELLING TRACKS 131
GAIN STAGING IN THE MIX 132
A lightning rod for distortion 133
A huge dynamic 134
Audio levels in tracks and groups 135
The VU meter 136
Managing tracks inherited from Recording 137's engineer
Groups and subgroups 137
Input and output levels in plugins 137
Mastering Delivery Volume 139
Gain staging in monitoring 139
LEVELING AND PRELIMINARY EDITING 141
Preliminary Leveling 141
Volume Imbalances 142
Significant tonal imbalances 144
Imbalances caused by differences in ambient sound 144
Imbalances caused by tonal, dynamic and environmental causes together 144
Preliminary Editing 145
Tuning 145
Timing 148
Cleaning 150
Fading 151
TRANSIENT ALIGNMENT AND PHASING 152
stereo track phasing 152
Phase inversion 153
Phase Coherence Optimization 153
Phasing a multiple shot 155
Double miking phase shifts 156
Phasing a 160-microphone percussion set
TONE CONTROL 163
Harmonic Spectrum and Spectrum Analyzer 164
Tone Processors 165
Equalizer Action 165
Equalizer Types 166
Shelve and Peak Equalizers 171
HPF and LPF 173
Notch filtering 175
Eq 176 Plugin Conformation
PRELIMINARY EQUALIZATION 179
Sound Optimization in the Analog Age 180
Why use a precise equalizer for the preliminary EQ 183
Preliminary EQ for Melodic Instruments 184
Preliminary EQ for Drums 189
THE ESSENTIAL MIX 190
A two-move mix 190
Introduction to the Essential Mix 191
Identifying the primary elements 192
Unleash Creativity 193
THE COMPLETE MIX 195
Mix Equalization 198
Purpose of mix equalization 199
Tonal operations that can be performed in the mix 199
Masking and highlighting equalization 199
Static EQ vs. Masking 200
Dynamic EQ against masking 202
Hierarchy of elements in de-masking 204
Cosmetic Equalization 204
DYNAMIC CONTROL 206
Dynamic Processors 207
Dynamic processes 208
Compressor and Limiter Controls 210
Expander and Gate Controls 214
Dynamic Tone Processors 217
Basic Dynamic Processing Techniques 219
Gating 220
Isolate tracks 220
Reduce noise and other disturbances 224
Limiting 225
Definition and usefulness of brickwall limiting 225
Plugin Selection 227
Operation 227
Modeling 228
Enhance transients 230
Attenuate transients and accentuate the sustain of the tail 234
Shorten the sustain 235
Side effects of modeling expansion 236
Modeling Transients with a Transient Shaper 237
Leveling 240
Compression and Expansion: Roles and Risks in Leveling 241
Pre-leveling actions 245
Compress parallel 246
Soloist Leveling with Double Compression 249
Leveling bass and bass drum 253
Leveling the background elements 255
Leveling a group 255
Level the entire mix 257
Leveling out submerged phrases step by step 258
Side chain leveling 259
Unzip an overly compressed track 262
Increasing the dynamic accents of a performance 263
Mixed techniques 266
Contemporary modeling and leveling 266
Stressful parallel compression 266
Smoothing Compression 267
De-essing 269
Bass Maximization 272
The physical principle 273
The solution in a specific processor 273
How to operate 275
Conclusion 276
HARMONIC ENRICHMENT 278
Harmonic enrichment with Eq 278
Harmonic Saturation 279
Post-recording analog saturation with the 280 preamp
Saturation with plugins 281
Traditional Exciters 284
Special enrichers 285
SETTING PROCESSES 287
Echo and Delay 289
Eco 290
Delay 290
How to install a 290 echo-delay processor
Delay Control Parameters 291
Effect of delay on the mix 296
Reverb 297
Dry – Wet 297
The three dimensions of ambient sound 297
Convolution Reverb 298
Reverb Controls 300
Effect of reverb on the mix 304
Doppler 311
OTHER PROCESSES AND PROCESSORS 313
SPATIAL DIMENSIONS IN MIX 315
Acoustic space and spatial map 316
The dimensions of the acoustic space 317
Manageable sound dimensions in stereo acoustic space 317
tools for managing spatiality ACOUSTICS 318
Managing the width of the acoustic field 319
Managing the depth of the acoustic field 326
Resources for managing the width and depth of the acoustic field 329
The third dimension of the acoustic field 333
Example of spatial distribution of mix elements 334
The rear front 342
FINAL FINISHES 344
Take a break 344
Refine the mix 345
Volume and Faders 346
Equalization highlighting 346
Compression highlight 347
Prominent Expansion 347
Final critical listening 348
DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF MIX 349
An alternative mix 350
EXPORTING MIX 354
Intended uses of mix 355
Direct use without mastering 355
Mastering and Archive 355
Stem Mastering 356
Backing tracks for live use 357
Click sequences for live use 357
Mastering Notes 358
Naming files correctly 358
Send notes 358
Mix 359 Review
Part C *** TREATMENT OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE MIX 361
SOLO VOICE 363
Initial management of voice volume 363
The ex editing imbalances 363
Performance Imbalances and Vocal Leveling 364
Tonal balance 366
Preliminary equalization 366
Dynamic-tonal smoothing 373
Dynamic Leveling 375
Double and triple compression 376
Parallel Compression 383
On face 386 voice compression
Tonal adjustments in mix 387
Mix Equalization 387
Enhancement 389
Harmonic Saturation 389
A dynamic contextual dimension 390
De-Essing 391
Setting 395
Delay and Chorus 402
The volume control for the lead vocal in the 404 mix
Final checks of volume 408
Final management of voice volume 414
BASS AND DOUBLE BASS 415
Preliminary equalization 415
Mix Equalization 416
A good fit with the 416 bass
Controlling Dynamics in the Bass 421
Dyn 422
BATTERY 424
Gate 424
Considerations for using Gate 425
Gate 426 Controls
Using the Gate for the 430 Drums
Manual gating of tom tracks 434
The gate for the bass drum 435
The gate for the snare drum 437
The gate for cymbals recorded with close mics 438
The gate in purist music 440
Preliminary Equalization 441
Bass drum 443
Parallel Compression 443
Double track 443
Preliminary equalization for the bass drum 447
Mix EQ for the 450 bass drum
Dynamic Control 457
Modeling 465
Dynamic balance between bass drum and bass 470
Sound field 473
Snare Drum 475
Double track 475
Preliminary equalization 478
Mix Equalization 481
Dynamic Control 485
Modeling 489
Sound Field 494
Hi Hat 496
Preliminary equalization 496
Mix Equalization 497
TomTom and Timpano 499
Double track for each drum 499
Preliminary Equalization 500
501 Mix EQ
Dynamic Control 506
Sound field 512
Overheads 513
Resumption of the environment 515
Stressed Drums 515
PIANO 518
The function of the 520 tracks
Mixing criteria with piano tracks 521
Preliminary equalization of plan 523
Mix of the 523 piano tracks
Parallel compression 524
Piano sound characters and mix eq 524
GUITARS 526
The Queen of Pop 526
Phase control 526
Different colors in tracks 528
Preliminary equalization 529
Cutting with the HPF 529
Eliminate resonances 530
Adjusting the strumming 532
Preliminary Limiting 534
The shaping compression 534
Leveling Compression 534
The guitar in the mix in general 535
The 535 bass
The Acoustic Mud 536
The bottom 536
The medium 536
The light band 536
The Biting 536
The Argentine band 537
The electric guitar in mix 538
Amp and Cabinet Selection and Simulation 538
Layered Compression 539
Panning Management 542
Natural Panning 542
Artificial panning generation 543
Adjusting Electric Guitars 545
The Electric Solos 545
Heavy Electric Rhythms 546
The sustained distorted guitars 547
The fast and “hard” rhythms 547
ORCHESTRAL SECTIONS 548
Soloists 548
Preliminary interventions 549
Posthumous interventions 549
Tools in Section 550
Part D *** TIPS IN PILLS 553
COMPRESSION 554
Make friends with side-chaning 554
PHASES AND TRANSIENTS 555
Check for phase 555 problems
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 556
Put the 556 reverb on a diet
ENHANCING 557
How to Break Through the Wall of Sound in the 557 Mix
EQUALIZATION 558
Saving money by using Eq 558
MIX 562
Listening volume too high 562
Does it sound better at high volume? No! 562
Ear Tiredness 563
Don't trust your monitoring too much 563
Run the mix with the finalization filters inserted 564
Widens the stereo of double tracks 565
Automation before 566 compression
Beginner's Mistakes in Mixing 567
Tips for the beginner to mix 571
The voices in mix 572
Stereo Expansion 573
Acoustics of room 573
Parallel Compression 574
Vocal EQ Tips 574
Voice Frequency Guide 575
The bass in the 576 mix
Dynamic Processing 578
Warming up the sound 579
Side chain between bass and kick to fine tune the low end 580
Bass Frequency Band Guide 580
The drums in the mix 581
Guitars and then guitars 584
MONITORING 585
Listen with the ears of the public 585
Don't overuse the "Solo" button 586
CONCEPTUAL PILLS FROM GREAT EXPERTS 587
EN
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