"Mixing" Technology in Post Processing
Source: unknown Time: January 10, 2017 Click: 92 times
1. Purpose of mixing
Why do we mix? Because mixing can make a song or musical work show its temperament to the maximum. Besides melody, hearing is also very important. It's like singers with different timbres will have different temperament when they sing the same song. Mixing is like "body". A song with a reasonable "body" will make people feel comfortable. So mixing is very important!
Mixing style:
Since the purpose of mixing is to correct the "figure", that is, cosmetic surgery, it means that the "hearing" of the current figure of the works obtained is not very reasonable. If it is reasonable, there is no need for further mixing. "Reasonable" here is an idealized concept, but even the best mixing of music in reality will slowly become unreasonable over time. Why? Because the technology of human mixing is constantly developing, the aesthetic standards are also constantly changing. It cannot be said that the previous works are bad or failed, but that they do not meet the current taste. Just like the fat women in the Tang Dynasty, snake spirits are now the mainstream. If the jaw shell can penetrate the watermelon in a second, it is absolutely excellent. In short, mixing has its own style. The so-called style is formed according to the development of the music style and the times, and has the same characteristics. For example, country music must be dominated by the sense of guitar. Another example is hiphop, which must be dominated by low frequency and rhythm. Therefore, if you want to make successful mixed music works, you must understand the characteristics of this style, and listen to the successful works of the current era and use them together.
2. Tools for mixing
The main tools for mixing are good auditory environment, skilled hands-on ability and correct and artistic music concept. The correct and artistic music concept is the most important! Because music belongs to artistry, artistry is very important. It depends on your aesthetic and artistic cultivation. A good auditory environment mainly refers to an environment that does not affect your hearing to the greatest extent. It can be a good acoustic space, such as studio, or a headset. Because a good acoustic space is like a monitor, you can clearly hear the volume of sound, the direction of sound, the brightness of voice, and the sense of sound space. In fact, just like the eyes, you can judge only when you see clearly. In mixing, judgment is very important! You often need to make repeated judgments, but mixing is a job that needs to be judged by the ear. Therefore, listening for a long time, the ear will slowly adapt to the sound due to the human body's own factors, so it is not advisable to work for a long time. At least, I think the working time of mixing should not be too long. Therefore, the ear is also a very important tool for mixing. And ears are the most expensive in the mix, so you should take good care of them! ww.sgpeiyin.com
Because most people don't have good conditions to build a good acoustic space, such as studio, when they want to get started, earphones become a slow way. I suggest beginners choose closed earphones, because they can block external sounds, which is more like the feeling of studio. Open headphones are also good, but many people have not formed the habit of separating sounds, so closed headphones are very good for beginners. I personally used sony7506, akg271s， Iron triangle m50. I recommend akg271s. It really depends on personal preferences.
In addition to the auditory environment, mixing requires an operating platform. For example, the player and mixer in studio, or a handy host software, such as pro tools, Cubase, etc. Of course, for most people, it is more convenient to use software, so some operations of these software must be remembered and skilled. In your judgment, skilled operation can make you focus on hearing. If you have to search for buttons all over the screen when judging, then you can never do it. So be sure to use the mouse and keyboard with ease, and in the best case, remember all the shortcut keys of the software, which can greatly improve your efficiency!
What do we usually do with host software?
The most important thing is to play multiple audio files together, and then adjust their volume, sound direction, and some operations of editing audio. Another important thing is to hang the audio file effector! Effector is one of the most important tools in mixing. It can change the sound of the audio track and modify it in the direction you want. Therefore, it is very important to understand the role of effectors in the foundation of mixing. Because there are many kinds of effectors, the most commonly used ones can be summarized as four types: compressed equalizer (EQ) reverberation spectrometer. With these four effectors, you can basically mix a complete work.
The function of compression is to shape the "shape" of sound, EQ is used to adjust the "light and shade" of sound, and reverberation is used to adjust the "spatial sense" of sound. Finally, the spectrometer is very important. It can observe the spectrum to help adjust EQ. For example, the spectrometer in waves can also observe the volume, the spatial sense of sound, and so on. For beginners, it is a very important step to attach a spectrum analyzer to the bus. Only by observing the spectrum changes after the EQ changes can you understand what role your operation plays in that frequency range.
3. Compressor
Compression plays a very important role in mixing. From the processing of a single audio track to the master band processing of the bus bus, compression plays a role throughout the whole song. For a good music work, the dynamic size in its style is very important. For example, symphony music often has a very large dynamic range, while modern music works such as dance music or rock music often need the performance of small dynamic volume. So the compressor is very important at this time!
Compressor usually includes several adjustable parameters: Threshold/Ratio/Attack/Release.
Threshold: refers to the range of the volume to be used by the reducer, that is, the threshold, generally from 0 to - xx.
Ratio: refers to the compression ratio. The greater the ratio, the more obvious the effect of the compressor.
Attack: refers to the enlightenment time when the compressor starts to work, that is, the trigger time, which is usually in milliseconds.
Release: refers to the time when the compressor work ends, that is, the release time, and the unit is milliseconds. (It is hereby declared that the unit values of different effectors are different, which should be operated according to the actual situation)
After understanding these, you can basically operate the compression effector. Generally, if we want to increase the dynamic of an audio segment after we get it, the Threshold value should be within a reasonable range, which is close to the middle value of the total volume, (Of course, this is just pure theory, and the actual operation depends on the actual situation. Mixing is not a dead book, it is also an art thing, so there is no unity in the operation. Individuality can often create miracles.) Then adjust the Ratio, for example, c1 in waves. If you want to increase the dynamic range, the ratio should be selected as 0: xx: xx, so that you can increase the dynamic range, On the contrary, if you want to reduce the dynamic, select (x+1): xx: xx
Just mentioned that the compressor can shape the sound. The hardness and softness of the sound can be changed by the compressor. At this time, Attack and Release are used. These two parameters must be used together. If you make a modern music, such as a drum in rock and roll, its rhythm is very important, and the beat and beat are highlighted according to the rhythm, so that the final listening feeling is very comfortable. For example, the rhythm of a drum is very rhythmic. We want to make him more rhythmic. After setting the first two parameters, we need to know the speed of the song, that is, bpm. Then observe the rules of the large and small parts of the audio track in the host software. Calculate their time, and then Attack and Release can be set. These two time parameters need to be set completely according to the song speed. Of course, there are no fixed parameters, which need to be adjusted according to hearing. After setting, you can adjust the first two parameters to a reasonable range. This is basically a process of compressor operation. After mastering this process, the compressor can basically be used.
It is very useful for sound processing with a good compression effector. For example, the softness and hardness of drums, the size of guitar particles, the dynamics of voices and the softness and hardness of sound heads, etc!
4. Equalizer (EQ)
? Equalizer also plays a very important role in mixing, especially the overall lightness and darkness of a mixing work, EQ is very influential. Whether a work has temperament or not can be heard from the natural sense after EQ adjustment. Like voice, sometimes I hear a work in which the voice of a female voice is dull, but it is very clear, and the lips and teeth sound good and full of air. In addition to her own good conditions, this is a good EQ tone! So EQ is a necessary tool!
There are two main types of EQ: Graphic EQ and Paragraphic EQ
No matter what kind of EQ, it is helpful for music. For example, I usually use the REQ series in WAVES, which basically contains the following parameters: Gain, Frq, Q, the range of gain influence, Type, and the type of filter
To tell the truth, balanced regulation is very learned, and the regulation methods of different styles often differ by thousands of miles. For example, for an Irish style light music, its listening sense is often not so stressful, the sense of volume of low frequency is obvious, and the sense of high frequency is not so harsh and sharp. However, if it becomes the electronic music in the dance hall, the high frequency can never hide shyly, otherwise the people in the dance hall would have drunk wine and would have slept one by one without some stimulation. The real purpose... would be difficult to implement, such as dancing. Therefore, EQ has no fixed formula. People who want to learn how to add, subtract, multiply and divide can earn money should change to real estate as soon as possible. Although EQ has no fixed mode, its frequency point sound is fixed. 75HZ is always a stuffy low frequency, and 2KHZ is always the most ear stimulating frequency point. If you add more, you will feel that the horn will be broken by your fingers. As for the sound at different frequencies, there is a method called "sweep".
The specific method of frequency sweeping is to select a frequency point, and then select the filter type as "bell", Select the minimum Q value, and finally click the frequency point with the mouse, pull up while playing music, and then drag left and right. This is a way to change the effect after the listening point is improved. On the contrary, pulling down is a way to listen to the effect change after attenuation.
