There are many things in the production of an album that most people don't know about. Not even the musicians themselves. Let's start with a few examples of what you might see everyday in the studio.
1. Microphone selection: Mostly everything in audio is an art form therefore subjective but there are a few things most people will agree on. Certain mics have certain distinct sounds, such as tube mics might have a "warmer" sound or a different pattern to it. This makes every mic unique in its own way.
2. Microphone placement: This is one of the most important things an engineer/producer will start with after picking the right mic for the job. Both Mic placement and the sound of the Room will make a big difference on how the recorded track will come out. Sometimes even the smallest movement of a mic will change the sound completely.
3. Equipment: Engineers will sometimes use different pre-amps, compressors and Eqs on different instruments to achieve distinct sounds for each one. The studio monitors are also very important in giving you the clarity you need to mix a song.
4. Your ears: Your ears are absolutely the most important thing in audio production. Usually someone can have the hearing range of 20hz to 20khz, but there are others who have a broader range than that. It's very good to listen to every detail in the mix and make sure things are not going to get "muddy" by adding too many instruments.
5. Effects: The use of effects will greatly change the sound of your mix. Add a bit or re-verb to your mono track, pan it to the other direction. Now you have a sense of space and you can gradually add depth and dimension to your mix by applying these effects. Be careful though, like with anything you can add too much and quickly destroy your mix. This especially goes for compression and eq. It's always better to use subtle amounts and have your sound more transparent unless there is an artistic view on how you want it to sound.
6 Musicians: The musician plays a big role into all of this too acourse! Not just the equipment but on how the artist plays his instrument. For instance, two guitar players play the same rhythm track with the same exact equipment and settings. The second guitarists has a different sound than the 1st, but how is this possible? They were both using the same guitar, the same amp, and no one touched the settings on the console. I mean come on, they were playing the same exact guitar line! Well there can be many reasons for this. The obvious would be maybe the guitar player spiced it up a bit by adding different tempos maybe up stroking on the guitar when the other guitar player was playing down strokes. But what else could make it sound different? It could also be the way the 2nd guitarist held his fingers across the fret board or the way he placed his picking hand on the strings near the pick up. So you see, there are many ways on getting a different sound without doing it in the mix, but in the end it's the engineer that gives you the final sound.
7. Stereo: Stereo is very important in the world of audio. When setting up multiple mics on a drum kit or re-dubbing separate takes on a guitar, this allows you to take full control of the stereo spectrum. Lets say we place our kick and snare drum down the center. Now we pan our toms a little to each side to taste. Let's say we used two mics placed overhead the drums. We can pan one hard left and the other hard right. Play back the song. Wow! Do you hear than wonderful stereo! Now lets place the bass guitar down the center. We can also put a rhythm track from the 1st guitarist towards the left and the other guitar on the right. This just keeps getting better! Now we're taking full control of the audio spectrum and everything is sitting better in the mix. Lets finish up by placing the vocals down the center also. Now you have a full mix in stereo by re-arranging the parts of all your mono recordings.
8. Frequencies: Everything has its own frequency. Some share the same, others cross paths. For example, the bass guitar and the kick drum. They both share the lower portion of the frequency range. Guitars and vocals. Cutting some low-mids from the guitars is an easy way to make your vocals shine out. Remember, cutting frequencies is always better than boosting them.
OK, so now you have tracked (recorded) all the instruments you want in the song. You have the drums, the bass, guitars and vocals. You've separated them to take advantage of the full audio spectrum, and you have added effects to increase depth and dimension. You now understand the importance of putting each instrument into its own frequency range so you don't run into the risk of making the mix sound "muddy" or flat. So now that that's all out of the way, we can start mixing the levels!
9. Setting the Levels: This is very important as you really don't want one instrument over powering the next. Everything needs to be even sounding through out the song (either by riding the faders or using compression). Maintain your levels and make sure they never "clip" or go into the red. It's usually wise to keep your master fader -3 decibels below the 0. (Especially for mastering) Now things are starting to get more clarity and detail.
We're finished! Or....are we? Wait, did we forget something? Acourse, we need to check our mix outside of the studio! So now we make a copy of our song and play it on different systems. The reason for this is, the studio is a great place to mix your song, but that's just it, it's the studio! How are we going to know if these sounds are going to relate outside of our mixing environment? First place to check, the car. Listen for anything that sounds out of place or if the levels are set incorrect. Next, listen to it on a boom box or the stereo system in your living room, a friends house or car. Make the necessary changes, copy it to a cd, and listen again until it sounds right to you. It's also good to reference your mix to a commercial cd made by your favorite band, or if there is a certain mix you like on a released song to reference that also. After putting the final touches on your mix it's off to the mastering facility!
