An Indie Musician's Diary Vol 2

Fixing "The Vine" Clutter & Effective Static Mixing

Oct 13th 2018

I am sharing this with you to show you that it is normal to make mistakes. As long as you learn from them it is o.k. And, how important it is to get industry feedback. And, how constantly watching YouTube mixing gurus helps us newbies get inspiration and mixing hacks.

Critique: "too many competing elements"

The song The Vine just got critiqued by a professional mastering studio. Cluttered! There are too many things competing in the mix.

When I got the feedback, I was a bit devastated for a day or so. So much time on that song and still not up to par! I need to decide which elements are to be showcased at various parts of the mix and mute others. Its like I have too many spices in the soup so I can't taste spices anymore, it's just too hot and tastes terrible. Newbie stuff, I'm told.

But, hey, this was my first mix ever to be shown to a professional. He did say that the editing was good. (Pat on the back.) So, now, after I've rebounded from rejection syndrome, and I saw the video above, I think I have found a way to pick up the pieces and get this mix uncluttered -  the way is going back to the basics of making a Static Mix.

My mix de-cluttering strategy:

1. Plan the arrangement: Sit down with a numbers chart (Mac) and plan my arrangement. (Something I didn't do before but should have done!) Planning the arrangement before recording the song is going to be standard in the future. Why didn't I do it before? Things evolved as I learned and I did them in the wrong order. I started with a song, a voice and a guitar and started adding on instruments as I went. I think at some point before mixing at least, you have to decide the arrangement of the song. But it really should be done before the recording stage.

(Maybe you're sitting there smirking, laughing and thinking, "How could she be so stupid to forget to plan the arrangement?" Well, I didn't plan it because the arrangement grew over time as I tested various things and learned the ropes in midi, etc. If I started a new song today, I wouldn't do it that way at all. I would have planned it. It's called the school of hard knocks, learning by doing. Learning from making mistakes. It's how we all grow!)

2. Mute/Delete doubles of vocals an guitars. (1 soprano instead of two for example.)

3. Fix the balance within the group busses: Bring the remaining background vocals up to a great mix within their mixed bus and send the BV sub and Lead to a Total Vocal Mixed bus and readjust the balance within that group. 

3. Strip automation: Then I am going to get rid of all the automation on the other tracks and switch to mono to get a good mix and follow the steps below. 

4. Switch to stereo & pan elements to get a balance in the width of the mix

5.  Automate elements where needed: bringing certain parts up where they should be showcased. 

In the following "chapters" I'll let you know how this worked out and what I learn as I go. 

Static Mix

An independent musician has to constantly learn and apply what he/she learns. Finding a logical and effective process for getting a first static mix (after gain staging and fixing each track so that they are clean), is imperative. But it is also great at helping a cluttered muddy mix clean again (my problem). Of, course, if I had known how to do a static mix the right way from the beginning, I might have never had as many things in the mix. It is easy to be smart in hindsight. 

I am constantly learning how to be a better mixing engineer. It feels like some of the videos I come across I can just skip because I have already got that hack but there are some that cover the basics that are really good at cementing my skills and giving me depth in what I already know. Rob Mayzes is really good at clarifying the basics of mixing. I appreciate his work more and more. The fact that he does scores of top quality videos for free and adds free cheat sheets is one of the reasons why I have subscribed to his channel. If you are into mixing, don't miss his stuff. In this one he offers a volume balancing cheat sheet in the bio.  This video was so clear and helpful and I gleaned the most important parts for you and me here (my adds in italics) :