Mixing audio is not only the most common technical need in every church related service or event, but it is also, in some regards, the most difficult to do, and do well.
Evaluate your sources and make sure they sound good.
Why is this?
It is because audio is based on listening to something, and then translating what is heard into knobs, dials and faders. It is difficult to make that translation to something physical/visual. It also takes a lot of research, training and practice to really cultivate the artistic aspects of mixing audio.
Hopefully some of these tips discussed in this article will help you learn more about the art of audio and help make your services and events sound better.
It All Starts with The Source
You can make a bad sounding instrument sound OK, but you can make a good/great sounding instrument sound even better.
If the source doesn’t sound good, there is not much you can do to fix it. You can certainly help make it sound a little better. But you can only do so much.
It is much better to evaluate your sources and make sure they sound good. Are you using the correct snare drum and drum heads, for the type of sound you are going for? Are the drums tuned? Too much “ring” sound in the snare? How long has it been since the drum heads have been changed? What type of guitar amps/pedals are you using?
Do they fit the style of music and the sound you are looking for? Do all the instruments sound good on their own, without putting a microphone on that particular instrument? These questions are often overlooked and yet are very important.
The better the source sounds, the easier it is to focus on making that sound translate through a sound system, rather than spending time trying to fix those issues from an audio perspective. Not only will trying to fix things on the back-end take a lot longer, the end result will not add up to an amazing sounding final product.
Balancing and Mixing - EQ
There is more to mixing than just the faders. Yes, faders and the overall balance of the instruments and vocals are very important. However, focusing in on how each instrument and vocal will layer, to create a cohesive mix, is more important. How do you accomplish this? One of the first things to focus in on is EQ (and yes, this includes the high-pass filter).
EQ is your “tone” control for an instrument or vocal. The goal here is to use EQ to make instruments and vocals sound good on an individual level, and then use EQ as a layering tool.
EQ is hard to completely understand, because it is one of those things that requires you to listen to a source and translate that source into frequencies. Therefore, the focus is on listening to the source and not just looking at a meter.
First is your high-pass filter. Always start here. With the high-pass filter, you have control of getting rid of low frequencies that are either not in the original source (think cymbals) or can just help clean up the original source from audio that isn’t needed. For example, a high-pass filter can clean up a vocal microphone, snare, electric guitars, acoustic guitars and even keyboards.
If you have a variable high-pass filter available, then you can even use this to fine tune things even more. You can use it even on kick, toms and bass guitars. Yes, even though these instruments have very low frequency content, you can use a variable high-pass filter set to a very low frequency, to help control the low frequency content. Don’t go up too high with the high-pass filter on these instruments, but a high-pass filter can definitely help clean things up, even on these instruments.
Additionally, for vocals, don’t be afraid to bring that high-pass filter up pretty high (around 200 Hz - 250 Hz, depending on the vocalist) to help get rid of audio that isn’t needed. Additionally, this can help clean things up without reaching for the EQ.
Next is the actual EQ section. You will want to focus on subtracting, or taking away, frequencies that are hindering the sound of the source.
Instead of listening to a source and thinking about what it needs to sound better, think about what needs to come down, to better hear what you are missing. If you feel like you don’t have enough high frequency content, maybe it is a problem with the low-mid/low frequencies, and you therefore need to take some of the low-mid/low frequencies down a bit. By doing this, you will naturally bring out more of the high frequencies.
It takes a long time to really understand EQ, and all the things that you can do with it, especially now with digital mixing consoles and all the added benefits of the additional controls that are always at your fingertips.
Again, EQ is something that takes critical listening to then translate to an understanding of frequency content and then to knobs and controls. It takes a lot of practice to get to where you want to be, and continual improvement is key.
(Look for the second part of this piece on audio mixing tips on Monday, September 23.)