Creating a sonic Landscape
Mixing is the shaping of sound to craft a sonic landscape that’s best for a song. It’s very similar to a photograph of someone against a horizon landscape. There is the sky, the ground, the subject of focus front and center, and other smaller elements such as trees that surround and support the subject. Mixing is taking all the elements of the song, and make them fit into one beautiful landscape.
There are many different ways to mix. Even with different approaches, the intent of creating a sonic landscape that is interesting to the listener remains the same. Let’s use the photograph analogy to highlight different mix components. In a mix there is a lead vocal, this can be compared to the subject of the picture. The person that is front and center, is like the voice you want to hear loud and clear, so the audience can easily understand what is being sung. All other elements in the mix are support. Drums, guitars and background vocals, are all used to fill out the ground, sky, and trees of the picture. These elements need to be placed around the subject so the listener can distinctly hear each element. To do so, width, depth and height of the landscape need to be created.
To create width, panning is used to move the elements left and right, spreading them out, so everything can be heard and nothing is hidden behind the vocal. Depth can be compared to the trees in this picture. Some appear to be closer, while others appear further in the distance. Volume and effects (such as reverb and delay) are used to help create that sense of depth. The more reverb and/or quieter volume, makes things feel further in the background, while less effects and/or louder volume, brings things more in the forefront. Think about someone in a cave. The closer they are, the less reverb is heard from the cave and the louder the direct sound. However, the further inside the cave they get, the direct sound lowers in volume and the reverb becomes more prominent. These are the same natural concepts used in mixing to create the illusion of depth and width between 2 speakers.
The element of height in a mix is a simple concept, however, it tends to be less obvious. Since there are generally only 2 speakers and we hear through 2 ears, the illusion of vertical height within a mix needs to be created through the manipulation of frequencies. The upper frequencies (commonly referred to as “top end”) make an element sound like its higher in the vertical spectrum of the mix. The lower frequencies (commonly referred to as “bottom end”) makes an element feel lower in the vertical spectrum of the sound field. The frequencies in the middle (the “mids”) will help keep the element in the middle, along the center horizon line of our sonic landscape.
Some elements or parts in a song naturally lend themselves to specific areas in the sonic space. Kick drums and bass guitars are generally more low end, so they would be ground of the landscape. There is only so much top end available in a kick drum to move it up in height, so it will naturally maintain that foundation. Then elements like guitars or keyboards in higher registers that naturally lend themselves to fill out the top of the mix, making up the sky of the sonic landscape. Then the main elements of the mix, such as lead vocals or main rhythm guitars, will have a good amount of top, bottom and mids, which makes them feel centered in the mix, occupying the horizon line of the landscape. Most elements will be starting somewhere around the horizon line of the mix, and can be manipulated vertically further up and down with EQ shaping to place them for the listener to hear.
Using these techniques, the mix is given width, depth and height. This allows everything to have its own space in the sonic landscape. By doing this, it gives the listener a very clear picture of every element in the mix, and ultimately, giving them an enjoyable listening experience.
