Sunday, August 24, 2014
12-Step Program—Key Questions In Critiquing Your Live Mix
Pro Sound Web: It’s OK to steal. Wait – allow me to rephrase that. It’s OK to steal from studio engineers. Live audio is a different beast compared to what happens in the studio, yet my live mix quality skyrocketed once I started reading the works of studio engineers Roey Izhaki, Bobby Owsinski, and Mike Senior.
Last year, I stole…uh, found…a list of questions that studio folks ask in critiquing their mixes. The questions largely focused on emotion, energy, and clarity. It’s a great list but not quite suitable for the live world, so I embarked on creating my own list.
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3 comments:
As the first article of the new semester that I saw, this one seemed perfect for me to read being that it is what I want to go into. I think that this list is very informative to young engineers (like myself) who are currently trying to work on their mixing techniques. I found these 12 steps to be more of a validation of methods that I have already began to practice in my own mixing experiences. Many of these things I began to pick as an A2 or monitor tech watching others mix and thinking about what I would do. This past summer I started mixing for a local beach band on Long Island and I was constantly looking for advice on making a quality mix and I know that when I return to Long Island next summer I will definitely reference this list as I work on my mix.
I absolutely agree with Mike regarding this article. This list presents a great opportunity for up-and-coming live sound engineers to take a look at their craft and ask a few questions that could ultimately improve and make a huge difference in their product. More than just being a list of useful question or tips, this article presents a great opportunity for anybody to take a look at a discipline that they might think isn't related to theirs and glean something useful from it.
Before coming to CMU I didn't really know much about mixing, or sound in general, but after working in the sound department for a couple semesters I think I definitely have a better understanding of it. In high school I never had the opportunity to mix a show, and even if I did I would have been terrified of screwing up. After being exposed to so much sound stuff though, I want to try live mixing. Because of this, when I saw the title of this article I was intrigued. It had a lot of great information, and although there was stuff in there that meant very little to me because I didn't rally have anything to reference it to, this type of article is a great resource for when I try mixing.
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