Mixing It Up

The syncopated beats of the African continent and Asia all feature rhythms that rely on point and counterpoint, on bass beats which give the music its shape and form and lighter more airy elements which get the body moving, the feet tapping and awaken the primeval response to the structure and form of elemental sounds.

Today this effect is within reach of those who wish to apply their minds to the possibilities of the 21st century mixing desk which will reward the search for the perfect beat with sounds that reach into the soul and stir the emotions.

In our continued efforts to enhance the appreciation for the possibilities of today’s new DAW technology Soundselect has made the latest eBook on the subject available for free download from our web site. This Ebook covers a wide variety of different subjects, with each section designed to provide readers with useful information on subjects such as tone and frequency and their importance to the mixing process, as well as pointers on a variety of different techniques that can be employed to enhance the DAW experience and produce studio quality tracks.

This article is based on some (by no means all) of the information contained in the easy to understand free eBook, available from Soundselct.co.za and serves as a summary of some of the concepts contained in the eBook and how these concepts can be applied in the real world to finish off that potentially award winning track.

MAKING THE FINAL TOUCHES – SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE CREATIVE PROCESS

This is not the end, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, not even the beginning of the end of the creative process, but rather the end of the beginning, Once the initial creative process has been completed the avid mixologist will find that he or she is mixing as they progress and often the very nature of the piece of music that they are sculpting will change as it progresses so that by the time that the track is finished all that remains is some fine tuning.

In the end mixing perfectly illustrates the 80/20 rule, final 20% that is required to achieve greatness will entail 80% of the work. EQ here, a bit of compression there and lots of small tweaks will make those big differences to the final result, it’s all about balance and harmony.

One of the underlying guiding principles of computer aided audio mixing for the electronic musician is that there are no free rides when it comes to the search for that perfect combination of sound, so think carefully before you tweak, listen to the different results and keep searching for that perfect Zen moment when all the elements are in harmony, don’t over think, keep in mind that this is the search for a Yin and Yang of perfect creative balance. Trust your ears, if it sounds bad it probably is, if it sounds good, then step back and carefully consider whether extra effort is going to pay dividends or only muddy the purity of the result.

If you want to learn more and get an in depth idea and understanding of the various elements and steps required to make your music into an accurate reflection of your creative ethos, then visit the Soundselect web site and download the free Ebook that will provide you with all the tools that you need to turn your DAW into the perfect harmonic instrument, whatever style of music you prefer.