(For the final installment of my rambling notes on DIY recording I'm going to gloss over the most subjective subject with a few tips, but mostly my own personal tricks.)

Let's assume you've gotten a bunch of really pristine, clean tracks. Every note is in place, and every vocal is in place. Now what?

"Mixing". That's when you take all the individual recorded tracks and adjust their respective volumes, stereo spread, effects, and EQs so that together they sound like a song you hear from all those bands you've wanted to be like since you were 15.

For Atlas Takes Aim I approach each song individually. I mix every song from the ground up. No cut-and-paste settings or effects, no templates.

Also, even though I record 16 tracks of drums, fifteen guitar tracks and thirty vocal tracks I don't use all the tracks I've recorded. I pick the best ones, or mix down until I've got the bare-bones sound which invariably is the most dynamic sound.

It's the whole "Less is More" thing. So why record all those tracks if you aren't gonna use them? Because you might. There are times when I DO use twelve vocal tracks at the same time (Undertow),

Besides, less is more, but more can be less if mixed properly.

Hate paradoxes? Let me break down some common tools for helping tracks stand out or "fit" into their own sonic spaces so that your mix rocks.

"Panning-In One Ear, Out the Other"

With Atlas Takes Aim I rely heavily on stereo panning. Believe me, the song starts to sound like mush if you just crank each track and run it down the middle of the stereo spectrum.

You can really create a sense of space by panning. Try playing around with one guitar on the left, the other on the right. Or try sliding the bass over to one side slightly. Have a main vocal right down the middle, but the doubled tracks panned hard to either side. Give it a shot. See what it sounds like.

I tend to run the drums with hard panned overheads (standard), and slightly panned toms (standard), but also I experiment with panned snare mics (top, side and bottom of the snare mic'd). Also, I sometimes run a mono room mic down the center with a slight echo hard panned.

Panning is the bread and butter of my mixes.

"Effects or Affects?"

Effects are usually the last things I add, believing firmly that the dry sound ought to be made perfect first. Sometimes a little reverb or delay works, but sometimes it is just a crutch for a weak mix (or worse, an inferior recorded track.)

"Dynamics"

Compression. Whether you brickwall your mix or just add a little squeeze to get that analog "breath" compression is a valuable tool. I'd say play with different presets before tweaking knobs-just to see what knobs do what.

Personally I like a light compression overall. Not a heavy squash. If you don't know what that means... well, when you start recording your band let me know and I'll give you more info. J

Mason & ATA

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