Audio mixing

Mixing (English " mixing" or " mixdown " ) is in music production, the assembly of all analogue and / or digitally processed audio tracks to a single unit, the sum signal ( engl. "stem "). It is the penultimate process in the recording studio, which only follows the mastering. With film, the mutual tuning of audio tracks (dialogs, sounds, music, sound effects and effect sounds ) and in the narrower sense, the mixture of the many sound information to a master tape and the connection of audio tracks is understood with the master cassette under mixing in a broader sense.

History

The phase of the mix there is in recording studios only since the development of multi-track recording. The multi-track process began in January 1943 with 2- track recording, which was already a stereo feature. The engineers Helmut Krüger and Ludwig Heck began at that time at the Broadcasting Corporation in Berlin with the production of stereo recording for archival purposes. Blending in the modern sense was not possible here, since both tracks were recorded synchronously on the same tape recordings and the same sounds. Only the presented by Ampex in October 1955 3-track recorder ( "Selective Synchronous Recording", "Sel - Sync" ) allowed one overdub and the first time allowed the application of Abmischungstechniken.

The rock & roll success writers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller broke new ground in the studio practice of pop music, as they like never before interfered in the recording process and their own compositions transpose in the studio work. Your technical possibilities in the recording studio in 1955 were still quite modest, as it could only different takes together and reverberation effects are produced. Leiber / Stoller were from 1956, the first, to design purposes massively intervened in the recording process and inserting Abmischtechniken as an acoustic design element.

Phil Spector worked with 3-track technology and developed by doubled or even tripled overdubbing ( "double tracking" ), by the reverberations of an echo chamber, a phase shift and Überorchestrierung or symphonic production the Wall of Sound. Spector called his Abmischungstechnik "little symphonies for youth " in a Wagnerian approach to rock & roll. The end result were highly compressed, intended for transistor radios music productions.

Even stronger emphasis on Abmischungstechniken put the Beatles music producer George Martin, who recorded mainly with 4-track technology. He and the engineers Norman Smith and Geoff Emerick attempted from 1967 to interpret the sound images of the Beatles and preserve on tape. John Lennon turned the title Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! a fairground or circus atmosphere before, so you einbaute a collage circus typical steam organ recordings.

Recording studio

In advanced analog time tape recorders ( multitrack recorder) and tapes for the multi- track procedures were provided. From this time, the term " soundtrack " salvaged in digital technology, although this is now constitute a separate audio files. During the recording process ( "recording session" ) individual instruments and voices are recorded on individual tracks; the original sound unit is thereby broken down into their sound sources. In this case, a separate track is reserved for each instrument and separated from the rest of the sound sources. The number of tracks used depends on the number of instruments and / or the number of microphones used for the recording. The recording on separate files or audio tracks has the advantage that the present on a single track vocal or instrumental defects can be edited individually or only the affected track is re-recorded. A new recording with all stakeholders - such as would be required with the Einspurtechnik - thus remains spared.

Abmischungsphasen

Are all the tracks recorded last take, all selected audio tracks can be joined together to form a unit in a further phase. This is a natural-sounding, balanced and commercially viable overall sound can be achieved. When mixing the volume of the individual tracks are successively adjusted and distributes them in the stereo right and left or on a channel. In particular, the balance between the level rhythm section, background instruments and background vocals and lead instruments and lead vocals is set. The Mixing Engineer can reproduce the music as it would sound on a concert ( besides about drums and singer in the middle, bass and guitars on the sides). However, there are also blends with complex sound collages, where it is clear from the outset that they are no longer reproducible in live performances ( as part of The Beatles LP Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ).

Post

There are non-additive and additive sound editing. In the non-additive it comes to mute individual tracks ( mute) or volume adjustment of the tracks (level). The additive sound processing takes place in the context of post-production ( post-production; "post- production" ) instead. Here the individual tracks can be edited with sound effects. One hand they ensure that each instrument can be perceived as such, and on the other hand created the piece of music as a unit. The Equalizer creates more space for other tracks and the instrument's character works out more. Reverb or compression ensure that the song into a unit matures. The mixing process will conclude is that the piece of music on a single stereo track is summarized ( with one channel left and right). It implies a completely synchronized music track that serves as the basis for the master tape. Overall, when mixing the musical balance is prepared and finalized the sound design.

Mixer

The mixer ( or " mixing engineer " ) use of for the mixing console ( console), which provides its own control options for each track. Today's computer-based consoles also allow the execution of complex sound structures. So worried Chief Engineer Lawrence Thomas Horn with Motown Records for the final mixdown. Their results were Fridays, the label owner Berry Gordy presented under the "Quality Control" and examined before it came to mastering. A key criterion was the filtering of sound, thus created by the unspoilt spectrum of overtones Residualtöne. The mixing by the mixer and / or music producer was, and is therefore in the pop and rock music in terms of sound quality as an independent aesthetic design element of utmost importance. Sound engineer and music producer can sometimes grow into composers similar tasks during mixdown.

Film

As mixture (English " mix" or " re-recording " ) is referred to in the film production process, in which, a master tape is made ​​of the various sound information, which came about in the formation of a film. For this particular atmosphere, sound, synchronization or sound effects are merged. As premix ( " premix " ) merging multiple tracks of the same type of sound ( sound, voice, music ) is called, the final mix ( "final mix") is the merging of pre-mixed tracks with the music tracks.

Demarcation

In a narrower sense, the blend is already a post-production ( editing ). For post-production include in the music making processes that lie between the end of recorded music and the delivery of the finished master tape. The subsequent to the Mixing Audio Mastering is part of the post.

In the phase structure of a film production post production are all events that lie between the end of filming and the delivery of the finished film. The resulting during the filming of film and sound material is sorted and cut, edit image and tontechisch, added special effects, the corrected colors, created the sound and the lab work coordinated, monitored and controlled.