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2. Try, when mixing, reducing the volume to just barely audible. Does any instrument stand out? That may be a problem (even for vocals). Can you hear every instrument? You should be able to.



I agree with the first part of this but not the second, Matt. I was just discussing this with someone over the weekend and we went for a drive in my car to test it. You do not hear every instrument at very low volumes. My Benz is a nice quiet car with the Bose sound system but it's still a noisy environment compared to a studio. We spent a good half hour driving around and listening to everything from country to jazz to heavy metal to classic hiphop. When we turned the radio down to where we could barely hear anything what's left is always the lead, either vocals or instrument, and drums. That's it 95% of the time (there's always a few exceptions) and of those two vocals or the lead instrument like your sax are always on top of everything. I've used this as a rough test of the mix for years. Of course this is just rough, it has little to do with panning, EQ, compression, all of that stuff. It's just that when I listen to songs people post here and elsewhere most of the time the lead is buried. The basic mix is way off and my quick down and dirty test will at least put someone on the right track.

My guess is amateurs have no confidence in their singing or playing so they don't mix themselves properly. My feeling is if you're going to do it, then do it warts and all. If you don't then the whole production sounds like amateur hour not just the singing. I'm occasionally guilty of that too btw. I have some live recordings where my piano solo had a few too many clams in it so I buried it a little. One I was able to cover by pasting in a short phrase I did earlier and that little repeat sounded much better than the totally awful chord I played. When I played it back you would never tell I did that, it just sounds like I repeated a lick. Whatever, at least I try to do it right and also improve my playing.

Bob

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