SoundGirls.org: Learning to mix is the best reason to take the time and go slow. First, you start with everyone in a scene up. Once you have a grasp on that, you can start to break it down into manageable chunks that progressively get smaller. Mark when someone doesn’t have lines for a bit: if actors 1, 2, and 5 are the only ones talking for a page or two, you can pull 3, 4, and 6 out until they’re needed. Maybe you start with everyone in a scene up. Once you feel comfortable with that, you move to only have the people you need for a couple of pages, then just one page, then the next four lines, the next three, etc. Eventually, you get used to the flow of bringing faders up and down for one line at a time.
3 comments:
I enjoyed reading Heather Augustine’s history of her mixing background. When attempting to become master at a skill is something important to put into practice. Many reasons these days people are becoming less and less interested in classic skills, is because people feel like it is simply too hard. Augustine says that when learning to mix, “ listening is one of the hardest things to do.” Painting, printmaking, or drawing all take time to learn, anything that includes both technique and creativity is very difficult for most, it is a developed skill for all of these. Something that is lacking in new art and shows is the skill set. People try to jump into making or mixing while they should learn the basics to advance. One cannot just become a master painter, they have to go through a process of trial and error and hours of painting in their room to see improvement. Augustine also discusses being out of your comfort zone. Many artists get stuck into what they do well instead of seeing art as a skill that you can get better at. If people thought the way Heather sees it, creative improvements would be made.
Personally, I love sound but I know my knowledge of how to execute it properly in a theatre is very lacking. I have taken some very basic audio recording classes but I know that I still have far to go before I can properly mix and EQ. Unfortunately, I have never had the opportunity to mix a show, however it is something I have always wanted to do. I think the article did a good job of basically explaining how to mix and why one should use faders. I really enjoyed watching the videos and getting to see some live mixing. I think that this is something I would enjoy doing. It is interesting to read about just how complex live mixing really is, but I know how much difference it makes in the sound which is why I hated that my school only ever did mute mixing, but they had their sound tech so oh well. I would definitely like to learn to live mix properly and practice my skills.
This was quite a fun article for me to read cause in many ways it mirrors how I have learned to mix line by line. For example, when I am first designing a show for line by line, I'll only be super concerned with line by line for larger songs with many characters, since that's when there's the highest chance of feedback. After that I prioritize all songs, and then dialogue by itself. While I do try and have most of the show be line by line by the time the show opens. That doesn't always happen, and sometimes there may be scenes that are never done line by line, however they are never done with channel mutes cause that's sloppy. Like the article said, line by line should be used as a tool where appropriate, it is not a blanket solution for mixing as a whole.
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