Great Mixes from Imperfect Productions by Eli Krantzberg
Remembrance Of Things Past Modern mixing crosses many boundaries. The once separate creative steps of writing, arranging, producing, tracking, editing, mixing, are no longer executed in separate silos. Not only do most of us, as engineers and producers, perform all or most of these tasks, we often move back and forth freely between these separate stages of creation. Music production is fluid. Anytime may be the right time to change an arrangement element, a production idea, or a performance edit,—right up until we hit that “Bounce” button.
As a mixer for other people’s productions, our role is metaphorically like that of an orchestral conductor, whose job it is to ensure that all the individual sounds and performances blend as a cohesive and musical whole and represent the producer’s intention. An audio mixer, in principle, has no control over how performances were recorded. The parts have already been committed to disk before we start our mix. Mixing tools traditionally encompass adjusting volume, panning, equalization, and adding effects and ambiences.
Modern mixers must think like arrangers and producers as we craft our mixes. It is no longer just about levels, panning, and effects. There is much more we can do to manipulate the sounds and arrangements given to us to mix. It is at this stage where our creativity separates us from any other mixer who can create a decent balance of the production.
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