Outboard Mixing

I have chosen to re-mix the hip hop logic project. In the project the audio have not been mixed down properly. The way I went about mixing down the project I listened to the whole track and I knew what needed improving. I first soloed the kick drum and it was as punchy and strong as a kick drum should be. So what I did was I added and EQ and I adjusted the lo ends because the kick drum is a lo end instrument. When I listened to kick again it sounded much more strong, punchy and aggressive. I then decided to bypass the EQ so that I can hear the difference between what the kick sounds like with and without EQ. I then repeated this same method for the other instruments and vocals.

I did all of this because I wanted all the instruments to sound clear and not flat in the mix. When mixing it is always important that everything is balanced and clear. You don't want any of the instruments to be behind the or in front of the expected mixing limit. It always important for a producer/engineer to mix and master his/her tracks because when a track is mixed and mastered the track will sound so much cleaner, it won't distort and it will be cleaner. It won't sound dull or flat. Mixing and mastering back in the early days wasn't that up to standard. This is understandable because the equipment that was used for mixing and mastering tracks wasn't that efficient enough. For instance, when an engineer was trying to EQ an audio recorded guitar, the EQ was not good enough for this because no matter how hard the engineer tried to get the hi ends to a good standard the EQ was not good enough for it. As of today digital technology has made mixing and mastering so much easier especially EQ'ing. When the digital EQ was invented it has made instruments and vocals sound much cleaner, brighter and not dull or flat.

During the vocal mixing I inserted some bus sends so that I could add reverb and delay. I did this because bus sends allow me to control how much of something I want. So when I was using the bus to control how much reverb and delay I want I first decided to play around with the bus until I got something that satisfied me and fitted in well. The vocals were dry and I wanted to improve the vocals by adding reverb and delay because this made the vocals more wetter and it also gave the vocals a little bit of ambience.

Mixing a track is an essential thing to do. When a track is unmixed it doesn't sound like a professional track. When a track has been perfectly mixed down it sounds clear and hearable. Mixing down tracks is a long process but it's a process worth getting your tracks sounding to high quality. This shows that not only do you want your tracks to sound musically but sonically as well. In my opinion it is important for every producer to get his/her mixed down properly coz this shows that a producer wants his/her tracks to sound as good as possible. This is sort of thing I  would do in every track I make because it shows that I want my tracks to sound clear and not dull. It shows that I can do more to my tracks sonically rather than musically.