EQ Magazine - December 2008 - (Page 44)

MIX BUS Cakewalk Sonar's Sonitus:fx EQ is creating a slight cut around 300Hz and a gentle rolloff starting at around 80Hz, both of which can help reduce muddiness. 6 WAYS TO CLEAN UP MIX MUD by Bruce Bartlett Does your mix sound like mush? You’ll know it when you hear it, because the tonal balance of your song will sound tubby. Instruments will be blurred together rather than distinct, and they’ll sound distant and muffled. Here are six ways to reduce muddiness so your mixes can emerge with clarity. STOP THAT LEAK Leakage (signal bleed) in a multiplemic situation is a major cause of muddy sound. Examples of leakage are the drum sound picked up by a scratch-vocal mic, or the electricguitar sound picked up by an acoustic-guitar mic. I explained several ways to reduce leakage in the June 2008 issue of EQ: place mics closer, overdub instruments, record direct, gate the toms, deaden room acoustics, omit the bass amp, and impose high-pass filters on most instruments. It also helps to position bass traps in your studio and control room to suck up boomy low end. BACK OFF THE EFFECTS Too much reverb can muddy the mix. For some reason, many recordists assume a song sounds more “produced” if it’s bathed in reverb and/or echo. But if your mix is sounding muddy, mute or disable all effects for a moment. Does the mix suddenly become clearer? If so, turn down the effects send levels. You might be surprised how little reverb you can get away with. I also recommend putting no reverb on the bass and kick drum, using shorter reverb times (especially if the song’s tempo is fast), and trying echo instead of reverb (just be sure to reduce feedback so you get fewer repeating echoes, and adjust the delay time so the echoes don’t mess with the groove). Another trick is adding about 50ms to 100ms of pre-delay in your reverb unit or plug-in so that the listener hears the direct sound of the instrument for a short time before the reverb kicks in. This can clarify the sound by separating the reverb from the direct sound, as well as help the reverb appear more audible so you can use less of it. COMPENSATE FOR FLETCHERMUNSON As discovered by audio researchers Fletcher and Munson, we hear less lows and highs (around 4kHz) when monitoring at low volumes rather than high volumes. For example, a rock band might sound bright and punchy when you hear it playing live at around 110dB. But when you record the band, and play back the track without EQ at a normal listening level of approximately 85dB, it can sound dull or muffled. 44 EQ DECEMBER 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - December 2008

EQ Magazine - December 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Punch In My Morning Jacket Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Cakewalk Sonar 8 Propellerhead Reason 4 Indie 500: Lunchbox Pres and Compressors 500 Series Preamps 500 Series Compressors Gadgets and Goodies Sounds Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - December 2008

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