A Mix Engineer's Glossary of Techniques

Multiplatinum producer, engineer, and mixer Brian Malouf defines the terms used and found in the notes that mix engineers receive, and shows how to achieve the intended sound.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What are mix notes?
• What you should know

1. Lo-Fi Mix Techniques

• Lo-fi glossary
• Make it lo-fi
• Make it distorted
• Add some grit
• Add more saturation
• Overdrive it
• Drum destruction

2. EQ Mix Techniques

• EQ glossary
• Brightening something
• Add more presence
• Darken the bass guitar
• Make it warmer
• Make it more edgy
• The vocal is too harsh
• Adjusting muddy, tubby, or woofy mid-range bass tones
• EQ and dynamics for acoustic guitars
• Add body to the snare drum

3. Volume/Level Mix Techniques

• Volume glossary
• Faders and pan pots
• Specific frequency EQ boost
• Balancing conflicting requests
• Balancing lead and background vocals
• Blending male and female vocals
• Inner balance of the drum kit
• Manipulating the levels of drum samples

4. Ambience Mix Techniques

• Make it more roomy or make it less roomy
• Make it wider
• Give it more space
• Using ambience to position the drums
• Give it more sauce and other specific examples

5. Location Mix Techniques

• Location glossary
• Applying spatial modifications to vocals
• Affecting location in a stereo blend
• Designing frequency specific location
• Altering the spatial location of drums

6. Vibe/Attitude/Energy Adjustment Mix Techniques

• Attitude adjustment glossary
• Make the vocal crunchier
• Getting a good feel with timing and EQ
• Setting the chorus up for success
• Augmenting the production
• Other techniques for attitude

7. Compression Mix Techniques

• Compression glossary
• Basic principles of compression
• Basic principles of peak limiting
• Combining two processors for the perfect sound
• Special processing: Multiband compression
• Special processing: Transient design
• Avoiding overdoing dynamics devices

8. Other General Mix Requests

• Glossary terms that don't fall into a particular category
• Unusual terms for basic mix moves
• Understanding the aesthetic
• Relating to transients
• Other terms you should know

Conclusion

• Next steps