Comments on: Sound mixing: 10 essential tips

By: Timm Tayshun

Timm Tayshun — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:43:04 +0000

@howie: That’s generally because Behringer mixers suck pretty consistently. Almost all of them have excessive noise on the rightmost channels due to an unshielded power supply and I’ve seen your problem a couple times as well. Usually because of a crappy potentiometer.

By: howie

howie — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:56:52 +0000

Newbie here. I have a small Behringer mixer and panning from hard left to right produces a huge boost in volume. Any ideas what’s going on, please?

By: Marv

Marv — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:53:13 +0000

Lars has the right idea.

These tips are exactly that . . . suggestions. You don’t have to follow them.

As a professional my best recommendation is . . . your ears and commonsense are your best guides. And when faced with problems, go back to basics.

By: Lars

Lars — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:26:53 +0000

@Andy: Your opinion about #4 is probably just because you didn’t understand the point properly, and/or the fact that none of this is written in stone.

By: James Hayhurst

James Hayhurst — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:14:08 +0000

There’s a time and a place to break every one of these rules. But, for a lot of them, it’s rare. For instance, the only time when I don’t give my ears a break is when I’ve done all day mixing sessions (for live conventions). You can’t mix with headphones, but you need them to check your monitors. etc… etc…

But the CD tip is a good idea – for live sound it’s usually better to listen to the style somewhat extensively for a couple days before whatever – it’ll be easier to find the same sound.

By: Pivotalrole

Pivotalrole — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:47:22 +0000

Another tip…pick an existing commercially produced song on CD that has the general balance you have in mind for your mix and listen to it in your mixing environment. The idea is not to copy specifics but to hear how a familiar mix reacts acoustically in your mixing environment.

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:55:10 +0000

No.4 is rubbish. Do both where required.

By: Cameron

Cameron — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:21:45 +0000

“A Noise Gate is an electronic device or software logic that is used to control the volume of an audio signal. They are commonly used in the recording studio and sound reinforcement. Small portable units are also used by rock musicians to control unwanted noise from their amplification systems. Band-limited noise gates are also used to eliminate background noise from audio recordings by eliminating frequency bands that contain only static.
In its most simple form, a noise gate allows a signal to pass through only when it is above a set threshold: the gate is open. If the signal falls below the threshold no signal is allowed to pass: the gate is closed. A noise gate is used when the level of the ’signal’ is above the level of the ‘noise’. The threshold is set above the level of the ‘noise’ and so when there is no ’signal’ the gate is closed. A noise gate does not remove noise from the signal. When the gate is open both the signal and the noise will pass through.”

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_gate

By: SlayerRules

SlayerRules — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:15:47 +0000

Thanks for the tips. What do you mean by noise gate?

By: darkat

darkat — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:57:35 +0000

I like to go and listen to tracks on a nice car system to check them out, it is a nice common enclosure of sound.