How I Mix Music #2 ...Color


Remember when you first heard your voice played back to you? Did it sound different than you thought? You know it did. The reason for it is listed some place other than here, the point is we all have a tone and timber that make up our own personal sound …our voice.

Equipment used for the capture, storage and release of an audio source have a voice too. They all sound different. Back in the analog era of audio recording each piece of equipment would sound different from its manufactured duplicate. It’s the reason we’d look for sequential serial numbers in the mono gear we’d use to couple together for stereo. They sounded similar, not exact but similar.
Would you breed a $30K AKC dog with a mutt? Most breeders wouldn't.
I’m the guy however who'll send a source to a remote input on a Hamond C-3 playing through a 122 Leslie speaker, mic’d with two SM-56 in stereo and returned to two in/out (IO) modules to blend into the mix. Then I'll buss that to a cheap spring reverb chained to a stupid expensive EMT 140.  And then …then I filtered all the low frequencies out of the lead vocal track when feeding that source to the chain. Why?
 Because I’m weird, that is why …and because it was exactly the right combination of voiced tonal qualities needed to place the lead vocal in an ethereal place without compromising the low frequency blending of the rest of the mix. Weird huh?
Each piece of gear has a unique sound. The blending of those sounds are the canvas and colors you bring into the mix.


Next up …Mix Structure, Building the meat.

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It's All in the Talkback For Tom Cody ...and Bruiser ~Welcome to the Show~ Lessons learned from life on the other side of the glass. 1)      The 4 Ups 2)      Cool Plug ins: How do you know? 3)      Cool Plug ins: Its Level 4)      Hang ~Around the Campfire @ The Old School Music House~   A combined 200 years of audio engineering experience sitting around a campfire. 1)      Getting there   2)      Digital / Analog Warriors   3)      How do you know? Call Chips   4)      People knowledge. A lost treasure?   5)      Romantics vs Classics   6)      How did we learn? Under fire     7)      I'm out      ~The Show~ 50 Years of How I Mix Music 00)      3 Screens 01)      Whadda ya need?   02)      Color   03)      The Meat   04)      Raising Faders   05)      Bass & Drums 06)      Blending Drums 07)      Drums ...You or me?   08)      Drums ...How big is your window?   09)      Snare drum ...Loudness   10)      Mixing Overheads   11)      Mixing Bass   12)      Whaaat?? 1-5 summ
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