Author: Orlando Lawrence

This block of lessons on creative mixing techniques has taught me a lot and informed my recent work. The first blog focusing on reference tracks has become a vital part of my workflow, especially when applying finishing touches and mastering. If mastering is considered any finishing touches to prepare a song for distribution (to streaming or any other market), then it is vital to compare your work to other similar songs already out. Ive been adding to my reference list over the course of this term, finding songs that do one thing incredibly well and using that as a reference for how to achieve that in my own work.

The second blog about visualising a mix was a very interesting concept. The idea that no two things can exist in the same place was incredibly helpful, as something could either be pushed into the background (volume and reverb) or moved aside (panning, EQ). This is a concept I want to start using in my mixes as I feel it could be a brilliant way of making them less muddy.

Later, the discussions around surround sound and immersive audio started to push me out of my depth. While I understand its application in cinemas and perhaps audio/visual arts instillations, I think it’s a bit over the top. Outside of a cinema, I don’t think I have never once listened to a piece of music or even audio in surround sound or immersive audio. The equipment needed to listen to songs mixed for immersive audio is so unaccessible and expensive that many people just can’t. Similarly, coming from a rock/guitar music based background, it’s just not something that I see as necessary within my music. While I know it’s a closed view that I should probably work on, I feel as if stereo is good enough for what I need to convey. Nonetheless, it was still interesting to hear about the history of surround sound, learning about its early uses at live gigs and it has been fun to experiment with for this specific project.

Ultimately these 9 blog posts have allowed me to research further topics that I find interesting, for example finally taking the research deep dive into the loudness wars in the 2000s I wanted to take for a while. All the techniques i’ve learnt have been interesting and I hope to find ways to incorporate them into my future mixes.

Steve Albini is a mixing engineer whose career has spanned over 4 decades and has created a signature sound. He’s known for his use of exclusively analog equipment, and recording bands as live as possible, minimising overdubs. His production style is associated heavily with grunge, yet ideologically takes from a punk ethos.

Perhaps the most famous record Albini has worked on, the approach on ‘in utero’ was to capture the sound of nirvana in the room, with most of the songs being recorded in a few takes live. On some songs such as “Very Ape” the drums were recorded separately in a kitchen for natural reverb and Grohl’s drum kit had about 30 microphones on it. Albini refused to double track Cobain’s vocals, believing it to sound too polished, and instead recorded vocals with multiple mics in a resonant room. There’s a lot of natural reverb on the record as a whole, in a ‘rough demo’ sort of way. The band chose Albini specifically for this, Cobain stating his love for the pixies. While technically the producer of the record, Albini discusses in Dave Grohl’s sound city documentary that he refused royalties as he believed it was an insult to the artist, and prefers to allow artists to pick their own takes and have ultimate creative control in their work. While not technical, this last part reflects the punk ‘rough and ready’ ethos that Albini stands by while working In the studio.

Albini was also the producer chosen by PJ Harvey for her 1993 album ‘rid of me’. Similar to In Utero (and recorded at the same studio), most of the songs on the album were recorded live in as few takes as possible. Harvey was particularly fond of Albini’s drum sound, saying “He’s the only person I know that can record a drum kit and it sounds like you’re standing in front of a drum kit. It doesn’t sound like it’s gone through a recording process or it’s coming out of speakers.”. Albini discussed his drum sound in one interview, highlighting his use of many room mics in acoustically untreated rooms, prominently mixed in with the close mics on the kit.

This is the sort of approach I would like to take when producing and recording music. While I don’t make punk music, I greatly admire this punk ethos that Albini takes into the studio. The emphasis on capturing the chemistry and energy of a band playing all together is something I appreciate in Albini’s approach as well.

Cameron, Keith. “This Is Pop”. Mojo. May 2001

MWTM Q&A #23 – Steve Albini (2015) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQonl6exhNU (Accessed: 04 May 2024). 

Steve Albini’s ‘conditions’ for becoming Nirvana’s producer | Conan O’Brien needs a friend (2023) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGfloIbd7eM (Accessed: 04 May 2024). 

Recording Engineer, Steve Albini, on the making of Nirvana’s ‘in utero’ album. (2021) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHcmfzhxSm0 (Accessed: 04 May 2024). 

Tracking snares with Steve Albini (2020) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEoCNOdBIDk (Accessed: 04 May 2024). 

P.J. Harvey – Interview (1993) (2007) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhT4Kp828hs (Accessed: 04 May 2024). 

Immersive audio, similar to surround sound, utilises multiple audio sources to create a more immersive listening experience. While surround sound refers to specific examples of 5.1, 7.1 and 9.2, immersive audio is the umbrella term for this practice. However unlike surround sound, high end immersive audio typically utilises speakers from above and below as well, to create a 3D space.

Starting with stereo, the use of multiple audio channels meant sound could seem to originate from different places, allowing for more immersion while listening to music. The 60s and 70s saw experimentation with quadraphonics (4 channel audio) and the 80s saw the invent of surround sound audio by Dolby. In recent times, immersive audio has been used in cinema predominantly, utilising “3D” height speakers above the listeners head. Dolby Atmos is the main immersive audio system, used first in screenings of Disneys ‘brave’.

While Immersive audio is interesting and something I would certainly be interested in experimenting with, I feel its use is somewhat limited to cinema and audio/visual projects. The facilities to both create and listen to music which has been mixed and mastered in immersive audio are rare to come by, and not something that the majority of listeners have access to. While I think it does have great artistic merit, for example its effective use in the audio/visual display ‘Van Gogh Exhibit: The Immersive Experience‘, I think it’s mostly redundant within solely music due to its inaccessibility. Within audio/visual exhibitions and works, immersive audio can be incredibly effective at creating environments that reflect the work shown, such as Brian Eno’s exhibitions using projections and ambient music. Similarly immersive audio doesn’t massively grab me as I work predominantly with guitar based rock music. While immersive audio could be used in this setting with more psychedelic acts for instance, my production is usually a lot more in line with 80s post-punk and 90s grunge music, keeping production simple and rough. However I am still interested to learn about its capabilities and create a surround sound mix during this term.

Patel, M. (2023) Immersive audio explored – really, what is immersive audio?, audioXpress. Available at: https://audioxpress.com/article/immersive-audio-explored-really-what-is-immersive-audio#:~:text=Therefore%2C%20while%20Dolby%20Atmos%20is,not%20limited%20to%20Dolby%20Atmos. (Accessed: 03 May 2024). 

Definition of Immersive Sound (no date) PCMAG. Available at: https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/immersive-sound#:~:text=Immersive%20%22Sound%22%20is%20concerned%20with,create%20a%20true%203D%20effect. (Accessed: 03 May 2024). 

Brian Eno – Overview (no date) Paul Stolper. Available at: https://www.paulstolper.com/artists/56-brian-eno/overview/ (Accessed: 03 May 2024). 

Surround sound audio systems, while becoming increasingly more popular, date back to the 1930s and 40s. Initially conceived for use in cinemas with Disneys ‘fantasia’, the core idea was to use several sound channels to immerse the audience in the film. While mono utilises one channel, and stereo utilises two (left and right), surround sound utilises many that are positioned around the listener to create space and depth. While this new technology was very interesting, the Broadway Theater in New York and the Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles were the only two locotaios screening fantasia that had the capabilities for the technology, and it fell into redundance.

However, surround audio made a come back with ‘Dolby Stereo’ in 1975, which introduced the now standard format of a centre channel, a left and a right channel, and then side channels and rear channels (most commonly seen in 5.1 and 7.1 formats). At this stage most big block busters, such as Star Wars, were being mixed for surround sound, however it wasn’t until 1982 that surround sound technology was available for commercial and home settings. In 2012 Pixar released the first Dolby atmos film ‘brave’, heralding 3D audio.

Musically, Pink Floyd played the first ever gig with quadrophonic audio in London in 1967, placing 4 speakers across each corner in the concert hall. Since, surround sound audio has only grown in popularity with most big album releases in the modern day getting a surround sound mix in addition. However, I think surround sound audio is somewhat limited for two reasons: firstly, not everyone has the capabilities to physically listen to surround sound mixes. A pair of stereo headphones is a lot cheaper than a surround sound audio system, and surround sound audio can’t be listened to on the go. Secondly, only three streaming platforms currently support surround sound audio, Apple Music, amazon music and Tidal.

A brief history of surround sound (no date) KEF US. Available at: https://us.kef.com/blogs/news/a-brief-history-of-surround-sound (Accessed: 26 April 2024). 

The History of Surround Sound (no date) Official Fluance Blog. Available at: https://blog.fluance.com/history-surround-sound/#:~:text=Although%20most%20consumers%20look%20upon,released%20his%20revolutionary%20film%20Fantasia. (Accessed: 26 April 2024). 

Mastering is the process of applying finishing touches to a whole musical project, usually through adjusting levels from track to track (in the context of an EP or album), applying stereo enhancement etc. At the moment it’s standard for a track to be mastered to around -14LUFS for digital distribution, however if previous trends have anything to show us, this could go higher. As was focused on in my previous blog on ‘the loudness wars’, the evolution of the mastering process has focused on being able to take full advantage of newer technologies, most recently the move to digital streaming.

In this sense I don’t think stereo mastering can evolve much further than this, aside from getting louder. However, I believe both the process of mastering and the end result of mastering could change drastically. Michael Romanowski currently works to create ‘immersive audio’ spatial mixes, using surround sound systems such as dolby atoms. While I think this will remain outside of the average music listeners access for a while, I think its an interesting artistic path that will certainly become more common as time passes.

Similarly, online AI tools for mastering have become all the more common, such as LANDR. I believe without intervention, AI mastering could become much more wide spread, as to many mastering can seem like some strange unknown science. While i’m unsure about my thoughts on AI’s use in music, my opinion recently became a lot more positive. I attended a talk on AI by Eric Drass (and a few other speakers I can’t recall), and the point was made that 150 years ago when the camera was invented painters were terrified that their medium was done for, however today photography and fine art both thrive alongside each other. It was upon hearing this analogy that my view on the use of AI changed somewhat, and while I still believe that it can be used problematically, it is ultimately a new technological tool (such as the camera) that we can use to help us.

Ultimately I believe a simple loud-ish stereo mix will remain the most prominent outcome of mastering for the foreseeable future. While tools may come such as AI, and other listening formats may be invented, I think ultimately it depends on the accessibility for an average listener. This usually comes to speakers or headphones, meaning simple mono and stereo mixes will remain important for a while to come.

What is mastering? (no date) What Is Mastering? Available at: https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/what-is-mastering.html (Accessed: 19 April 2024). 

AI & Automated Mastering: What to know (no date) iZotope. Available at: https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/ai-mastering.html (Accessed: 19 April 2024). 

Hillmayer, M. (2024) Mastering spatial audio. Available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/mastering-spatial-audio (Accessed: 19 April 2024). 

Latest works (no date) shardcore. Available at: https://www.shardcore.org/spx/ (Accessed: 19 April 2024). 

The ‘loudness wars’ was a phenomenon that came to the forefront of music discourse in 2008 with the record ‘death magnetic’, however it can be dated back to the 1940s. With the popularity of jukeboxes in the 40s, a bar owner would set the volume and leave it, meaning any louder song would stand out, this being the cornerstone of the loudness wars. Over the years with the invention of new technology, music has been able to be made louder. By 2008 Rick Rubin was one of the worst culprits for the unnecessary compression and noise that typified the loudness wars, with the most obvious examples being ‘death magnetic’ and ‘californication’.

The compression on death magnetic introduced huge amounts of noise and digitally distorts on the CD, being criticised by almost everyone who listens. At this point it was clear that this extremity was unpopular, and when guns and roses were mixing ‘Chinese democracy’ they rejected the louder mix in favour of a quieter yet more dynamic mix. By now, most streaming platforms have audio normalisation, and will start automatically turning down music that’s too loud. This, to some degree, levels the playing field again as now everyone knows what degree of loudness is acceptable before penalty.

This will certainly affect my future work, as while I do appreciate a loud track I value dynamics within my music more. While being the loudest song played might definitely jump out while on the radio for example, if anything a listener actively engaging and turning your song up is a much more impressive achievement. This in combination with preservation of dynamic range is much more appealing.

Metallica Death magnetic – how to lose the Loudness War (2008) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRyIACDCc1I (Accessed: 18 April 2024). 

(No date) Gateway Mastering & DVD. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20090131045144/http://gatewaymastering.com/gateway_LoudnessWars.asp (Accessed: 18 April 2024). 

Frampton, T. (2024) Mastering audio for Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube, Mastering The Mix. Available at: https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/76296773-mastering-audio-for-soundcloud-itunes-spotify-and-youtube (Accessed: 18 April 2024). 

EQs original use was purely as a corrective tool. For television dramas, a set had to have several mics to pick up the actors as they moved around, however for several reasons (spacing of actors, mic type) the frequency response of the dialogue would be noticeably different from mic to mic. This is where the term ‘equalisation’ stems from, as its original use was to make sure each mic had similar enough frequency responses and thus the change In audio source wouldn’t be too noticeable. This principal was then applied to audio engineering work, being used creatively in the studio. While initially the EQ controls were simple, usually a high and low filter (a circuit made up of a resistor and capacitor bleeding certain frequencies to ground), a ‘midlift’ filter was quickly created, focusing in on the midrange of a recording. One extreme example of the use of a ‘midlift’ filter is the progressively more ‘scooped’ metal guitars of the 80s and 90s.

Dynamic EQ is another EQ technique, working somewhat like a compressor. When incoming signal hits a certain threshold the dynamic part of the EQ kicks in, effecting the desired frequency range. For example, this could be useful if a certain vocal passage in a song is brighter than the other sections and needs to be kept the same.

In my music I initially start using EQ as a corrective tool, cutting low end on guitar to let the bass sit better and techniques like that. Creatively I use EQ in a similar vain as Queens of the Stone Age and deftones, boosting midrange on guitars and ‘telephone EQing’ vocals. Dynamic EQ sounds like a very useful tool to use on something such as cymbals, which often run the risk of sounding sharp or harsh at points.

Gill, C. (2010) Dimebag Darrell: Reinventing the squeal, guitarworld. Available at: https://www.guitarworld.com/features/dimebag-darrell-reinventing-squeal (Accessed: 08 April 2024). 

Valentine, E. (2023) Making records with Eric Valentine – Qotsa -No one knows, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmIyIPItlG0 (Accessed: 08 April 2024). 

Stereo, while popularised in the late 1960s, has its roots back in the 1930s. Created by Alan Blumlein in 1931 in response to his frustration at a cinema sound systems breaking his immersion due to the sound source, its gone on to be a given that every album and recording now is in stereo. One of Blumlein’s earliest tests was the ‘walking and talking’ film, in which he displays stereo with sound coming from different speakers as the sound source moves in the movie.

While the first stereo recordings at abbey road were conducted by Blumlein in 1934, all radio broadcasts and most commercially sold gramophones were only mono compatible. It wasn’t until the mid 1950s that stereo started being introduced to some studio work, however mono took priority with a stereo mix being an addition. In the late 60s, along with the introduction of stereo tape machines, stereo became the exclusive format for most artists and labels. 60s bands such as the Beatles were accustomed to working on 4 track machines, however by the 1980s technology had advanced so quickly as to allow up to 48 tracks. This gave greater options to artists when to came to panning audio signals across the song, allowing for greater stereo widths and depth to a mix. While somewhat rudimentary, I feel a great modern example of a song fully utilising stereo is Alain Johannes’ ‘fall to grace’.

Fall To Grace starts with a stringed instrument (i’m not sure which, but Alain is known for using both mandolins and guitars, even within rock settings such as his time with QOTSA and Chris Cornell), double tracked and hard panned. This is accompanied by another stringed instrument sitting in the middle of the spectrum. A tambourine and clicky stick-like percussion are also taking advantage of the stereo field, and while it has very minimal instrumentation, the mix and production still sound full. After the first chorus a double tracked theremin enters, nearly hard panned to each side, fully displaying stereos capability.

While Stereo is a great tool, there are some negatives when it comes to production that while are easily avoidable, producers most be careful when approaching. Mixing in Stereo can easily lead to phase issues when played in mono, so mono must still be considered. Similarly just the concept of stereo may be distracting for some. Instead of creating a good mix first in mono with every element sitting nicely and then panning out, some may use stereo immediately, causing issues further down the line. If it sounds cluttered in stereo, it’ll sound worse in mono. While this isn’t a huge issue it is one that must be considered. Ultimately, stereo as a tool is a great invention, being used to enhance creative visions, such as in the song I talked about last blog double dare.

David Gibson’s ‘the art of mixing’ discusses the concept of visual representation, and the ways in which this can improve your mix. I’ve come across this concept a couple of times before and it’s explained and used slightly differently in each incarnation. The way I see the concept being used most commonly (and quite similarly to Gibson’s) goes as follows:

Imagine a 3D space, left to right is panning across the spectrum, up and down is the frequency range something inhabits, and depth is prominence in the mix, altered usually through volume, reverb (FX) or EQ. I find this concept extremely useful, as I imagined that each instrument within this space was solid, and two things couldn’t be in the same place. for example, this means that if two things take up the same frequency range, then one would either have to be moved across the room (panned) or sent further back (volume or reverb to remove focus). This idea was incredibly useful to me as it helped me visualise each instrument sticking to its own space within the mix.

While analysing the song I realised something I had never noticed before, the bass guitar is panned all the way to the left. The mix however still sounds incredibly full and balanced, and I realised this was because almost every other element of the song was In the other ear. The kick, snare and lead vocal occupy the centre, while a low backing vocal takes up a lot of the low range on the right. The guitar is extremely thin and trebley, as is common place in post punk, and the toms were panned across the spectrum. I thought while listening that the low tom actually had the least amount of low end to it, really only compromising of the sound of the initial hit, which makes sense when considering it was on the same side as the all encompassing bass. A janky noise guitar part sat slightly above the vocal, frequency wise, but was drowned in reverb and pulled back slightly in the mix, keeping the focus on the main vocal.

overall I find this technique very helpful in combatting muddy and cluttered mixes, making sure every element has it’s own space and the focus is where it should be at all times.

In our first lesson of creative mixing we learnt about the cornerstones of mixing, EQ and compression. While I knew a little about both of these already, I find the ability to use them as both ‘fixing’ tools and ‘tonal’ tools really interesting.

For instance, the ‘tonal’ use of EQ immediately jumps out at you in any queens of the stone age song, in which an EQ pedal boosting mids went into an amp boosting further mids, and after being picked up by the mic, had the midrange further boosted at the console. This created the iconic tone used on Songs For The Dead, and perfectly exemplifies the use of EQ as an effects and artistic choice instead of something to just fix a mix.

However, we learnt a great mixing technique using EQ as a ‘fixing’ tool in which we applied a low pass to focus on these frequencies. We then soloed the bass and bought in other elements of the song individually to see if they clashed with the bass and used an EQ on these individual elements to remove any of these problem frequencies. This is a great example of EQ being used as a tool to fix a mix, creating space for each individual element.

We were then told to consider reference tracks. When producing or mixing, it’s always useful to have tracks that capture what you want, to then compare against your mix and see what could improve. For example having a track that you think has great industrial drums or distorted punk guitar, and that fit really well within the produced and mixed final track that you can compare to.

This got me thinking about a list of songs that I think do certain things perfectly that I want to compare my own work against, so I started making a reference track list. So far its not too big but a few examples are:

• WOVENHANDs ‘long horn‘ for twangy, spy-theme style guitar
• The Cure’s ‘fascination street‘ or ‘holy hour‘ for super prominent, gothic bass
• Bauhaus’s ‘passion of lovers‘ for vocal reverb
• Nick Cave’s ‘your funeral my trial‘ for the piano within a whole band context

In conclusion, I found the EQ technique to focus in on certain frequency ranges really helpful, and the idea of reference tracks is something I really want to expand upon and use whenever possible in the future