advanced mixing advanced audio and mixing with greg hill avgenius.com copyright © 2011 av genius,...

Advanced MixingAdvanced Mixing

Advanced Audio

and Mixingwith Greg Hill

AVGenius.comCopyright © 2011 AV Genius, LLC

www.AVGenius.com

Sound and Acoustics

• The Speed of Sound is around 1115 ft/sec• Calculate Wavelengths (speed / frequency)• What Does Sound Do When it Encounters an

Obstacle ? Refraction – Bend around obstacles Reflection - Bounces off like Light Occurs When Wavelength < Size of Obstacle Absorption = Difficulty of Transmission Porous Materials Absorb Energy Converted to Heat No Such Thing as “Sound Proof”

Copyright © 2011 AV Genius, LLC www.AVGenius.com

Sound and Acoustics 2

• Diffusion Redistribution of Sound in all (random) directions Rough Surfaces Diffuse Sound Diffusion Sounds Good

• Reverb Consists of Reflections less than 0.1 Sec. (100 msec)

apart Brain Retains Sound for about 0.1 Sec. (100 msec) Reflections longer than 100 msec is Echo or Delay For Most of Us, more like 30-40 msec


Sound and Acoustics 3

• How We Hear Fletcher Munson Curve Intelligibility Fundamental Freq. of Speech is 135-400 Hz Reflections below 300 Hz affect the Most (vowels) Consonants are strongest at 1.8 - 2.5 kHz Sounds Consist of at Least Two Freq. Ranges

• An Impact or Attack in 1-4 kHz range• The Body or Fundamental in 100-500 Hz Range


How to Make a Great Mix

• What is a Great Mix ? You hear everything Clear Separation of all parts from each other Nothing “Sticks Out” - unless it’s supposed to No Frequency Range “Sticks Out” Smooth, Balanced, and not Irritating You can Clearly Hear the Vocals If It Sounds Good, It IS Good.

• Vocals are the Most Important• The Low End is Where it’s At !


How to Make a Great Mix 2

• The 4 Ways to Get Separation Volume

• Can’t separate many instruments/voices• Can’t separate similar sounding instruments

EQ• The Most Effective and important• Gives each instrument it’s own musical space• Can remove “low end clutter” to reveal instruments

Panning• Only valid in stereo or surround PA• Yours is probably mono - and should be



• The 4 Ways to Get Separation - 2 Effects

• Use Reverb and Delay to add space and Depth More effect moves sound “further back” Less effect or none brings sound forward

• Limited effect in live spaces• Less effective than the other methods

• Attack is as Important as Body Frequency Compression can help remove Attack and leave Body Compression can help remove Body and leave Attack Sounds are masked by other Sounds



• You Can Learn to Mix Well by Practicing• Make Your Mix Appropriate for the Style• Mix During the Entire Service


EQ !

• The Most Effective Way to Create Separation• The Low End is Where It’s At

All Instrument’s Fundamental Freq. is 100-500 Hz Hi Frequencies Fall off at Different points Instruments Consist of at Least 2 Main Frequencies:

Attack @ 1-5 kHz, Body @ 100-500 Hz Octaves

• 100 - 400 Hz = 2 Octaves• 1000 - 5000 Hz = 2+ Octaves• Bottom 2 Octaves = 300 Individual Frequencies• Top 2 Octaves = 5000 Individual Frequencies


EQ ! duex

• Cut Out What’s Bad - Especially 100-500 Hz EQ “Cuts” Sound Better than and are More Effective than Boost Think Backwards - Remove What You Don’t Want Always Try to Cut First - Not Boost

• The “Cut” Technique (on sweepable mid) Turn EQ Gain Up All the Way Sweep Frequency Control from Low to High Listen for What Sounds Bad (esp. 100-500 Hz) Listen for What’s Good, too If More than One, Pick the Lowest One Cut that Frequency by 3-4 dB 250 Hz and 500Hz are sound bad, a lot


EQ ! Tres

• Using Common words to describe Frequencies

• Use a table of words describing certain frequencies, to help develop the ability to EQ your mixes.


Advanced Mixing

• Compression Automatic Volume Control 4 Controls + One

• Threshold• Ratio• Attack• Release

Use to Control Peaks, or Leave Peaks Why Compression Sounds Warm(er) Be Careful with Ratios and Threshold - Especially with Cheap Ones !

• Limiters• Gates

Drums Guitars


Advanced Mixing - 2

• Difficult Instruments Acoustic Guitars Violins (Strings) Piano Choirs

• Dealing with a Difficult Room Get as much Absorption as You Can Use Directional PA to Your Advantage Use Very Close Micing, DI as much as Possible Fix the Low End ! Low End Reverb is the Biggest Problem

• Creative Routing AUXes are not Just Monitor Feeds (Stefan and the Aux 5 Sub) Group or Sub-Masters and Their Outputs Direct Outs What is The Matrix ?


AVGenius.com - SPECIAL

• AV Genius Amplify SPECIAL • Churches - $ 249.99

Good until July 2012 Hi-def, multiple logins

• Individual - $ 99.99 Good until July 2012 standard-def, single login


advanced mixing advanced audio and mixing with greg hill avgenius.com copyright © 2011 av genius,...

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sounds copyright

sound proof copyright

hz range copyright

msec copyright

hz eq cuts sound

hz octaves

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