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[DOCUMENT TITLE]

Lucky 'Star" Kaenge

[COMPANY NAME] [Company address]

EasyWayMixingByLSK
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Volume. 1

Easy Way Mixing

By
Lucky ‘Star’ Kaenge
Live Sound Engineer, Producer and Singer
At
Pro Media Records

kaengelucky@gmail.com
+260 979 64 87 18
Lusaka, Zambia

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Contents

 Introduction………………………………… 3
 Terms Used Measurement and Symbols ….... 4
 Definitions………………………………....... 5
o Music……………………………….. 5
o DAW………………………………. 5
o Mixing……………………………… 5
o Monitors…………………………… 6
o Microphone……………………….. 6
 Mixing…………………………………….. 7
 Equalizer………………………………… 7
o Parametric EQ…………………… 8
o Graphic EQ………………………..9
o Filters……………………………… 10
 Compressor and Limiter…………………… 11
o Basic Compressor…………………..12
o Limiter……………………………....12
o Hint…………………………………14
 Stereo Imaging………………………………..14
 Vocal …………………………………………15
 Time Effects …………………………………15
o Delay………………………………….15
o Reverb…………………………………16
 Conclusion…………………………………….18

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Introduction

Easy Way Mixing is a book inspired by the

experience have been through over ten years in my music
career as a producer and sound engineer in a local by
then Jetson Records in 2005 before I opened my own
records label Pro Media Records.
I worked there for about six years and
understanding compression and eq and also knowing
what each nob of the processor is responding to was not
easy to the way I do now. Understanding compressors
was one thing that gave me a lot of time to just know how
to get on to. The experience that I acquired to make my
music sound like one of those already on the market, took
me time to back and get to know how to use the basic
things I needed to know unlike just using presets I dint
understand .
And my journey started with the eq, compressor,
limiter delay, reverb and not forgetting one important
thing, understanding my studio gear starting with the
microphone ,studio monitor’s, headphone and my
processors all this made me to be who I am today. Its
important you understand your gear.
If you want to get that professional sound right
wherever you are, use the technics I will show you in this
book, and make it your tool and it will work for you. Easy
Way mixing has been designed to change your mix with
easy tweaks.

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TERMS USED, MEASUREMENTS AND SYMBOLS

NAME SHORT SYMBOL MEASUREMENT
(UNITS)
Threshold Thres T Db.
Volume Vol V Db.
Release Rel R ms.
Attack Att A Ms.
Decay Dec D Ms.
Ratio Rat r 1:00

These are some of the basics that you may see during this
process of becoming a producer to have a better mix
and understanding exactly what you are doing. To be a
producer who does music without understanding the nobs
you are adjusting is not an ideal. But to be one that
understands what is doing professionally. Now I want you
to know one thing, without practice, music will be difficult
for you. A lot of people in Zambia so called producers,
or beat makers, find it a problem when it comes to sound
mixing. But you won’t be called a beat maker anymore
but a music engineer. Let’s make a move on our journey.

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DEFINITIONS
What is music?
Some people think music is always produced in a studio.
But music is all around us in our daily life. Hence music is
any sound that is produced.
If music is any sound that is produced, then it is through
this that you must be able to gather up different sounds
to come up with a certain type of music.
DAW’s
Any software used to make music in modern day
computers (pc) is called Digital Audio Workstations.
Here are some of the commonly used DAW’s:
 Flut loops studio
 Cubase
 Pro-tools
 Reason
There are a lot of DAW’s around the world but they
work to archive one goal and all that depends on the
person using them. Some DAW’s are user friendly, some
look difficult but they all use similar things.
MIXING
Mixing is the process of having different sounds and
putting them together to come up with one thing.
Pre-mixing: is putting things in order. This is the stage
where EQ, punning and volumes are adjusted.

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Mastering: is the final stage of mixing where output is on

cd, mp3.

MONITORS
Monitors are speakers used in production room. You can
use any speakers, so long you master the output.
SOUNDCARD (sound interface)
A computer that producers and records sound in a
computer. It is advisable to use a better soundcard at
least from a 9 voice going up to 32.
MIXER CONSOLE
A device used to correct the equalizer before being
recorded. These mixers have different number of
channels starting from 1 going up that which may vary.
Some mixers have and some don’t have a phantom
power which switches on the condenser mic. Hence if you
happen to have that you which has no phantom power,
you can get an external phantom power when using a
mic that might need that.

MICROPHONE
It is good to use a very good microphone that will
provide you with the quality you need. It’s not only
condenser microphones, you can use dynamic ones and
come up with the best results.

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MIXING
In a basic audio-track you will see the following sections.
 EQ
 Inserts
 Sends
 Volume fader
 Pan
EQ
Equalizers range from 20Hz to 20 KHz or beyond.
Because humans can only get or hear sounds within these
frequencies. Frequencies below 20Hz are called sub-
sonic frequencies while 20 KHz and above are called
Ultra-sonic-frequencies.
NOTE: with EQ’s you adjust volume up and down. We use
EQ’s to bring the desired sound light or sub. It’s by
adjusting EQ faders that will enhance the sound.
EQ’s are the first compressors that are used if we put it
we don’t have the compressors. You can make music only
using EQ in a professional way by knowing how to low-
pass and high-pass with it. EQ is a very important tool
which will be used throughout music creation process.
Basically we now know that bass is added by increasing
the lower range similarly with mid and treble.

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Basic EQ diagram with frequency range.

Fig.1

20hz frequency 20khz

TYPES OF EQUALIZERS
 Parametric equalizer
 Filter equalizer
 Graphic equalizer
Mostly, equalizers are abbreviated as EQ or Q.
Parametric equalizer
Fig .2

20hz frequency 20khz

Normally these are found in four (4) band or have four

nobs that are moved from 20Hz to 20 KHz. Each nob has
three (3) controlling nobs.

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 Gain nob
 Frequency nob
 Frequency nob.
These work like this as shown below.
Fig .3
Frequency point at 100Hz

Gain
0

20hz frequency 20khz

Graphic equalizer
This type ranges from normally 3 bands going up. This
type of an equalizer does not have three frequency
controlling nobs, but has only the gain or amplitude on a
specific frequency range and mostly forms a triangular
shape.
Fig. 4

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Filter equalizer
Normally filters can be one band or two band
equalizers. The low-pass and high-pass are the main
concentration of the filter equalizer. But also any
equalizer can act like any other filter you may know if
the options have been included.
Low-pass filter
Fig. 5

20hz frequency 20khz

A low pass filter works on the high frequency and helps

cut sounds above 20 KHz because the frequencies are
not heard by the human ear hence they can be regarded
as noise in the mix.
High-pass filter
Fig. 6

20hz frequency 20khz

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Unlike the low-pass, the high-pass cuts off low

frequencies. These are very low in your mix has more of
this it becomes noise in the mix, hence high-pass is
needed.
Compressor and Limiter
Just the word compression, is exactly the same what
happens with audio waves. Compressors work in this way,
(1) bringing the peaks down, (2) use average or amplify
the wave.(3)stabilize the audio.
Fig. 7

Before peak
compression
RMS line

A
peak

RMS line

B
After compression

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By now am sure you have an idea of what the

compressor can do to your wave. Check the crest of
diagram A, the first and the second crest, you will see
that the amplitudes are different. Hence, the output sound
at times will sound high and low. But in order to eliminate
that disturbance, we put a compressor to have a uniform
wave throughout like in diagram B. But music has a lot of
dynamics, at times it is better to have a wave that varies
in order to have a certain feel in the music like acoustic
music and RNB.
Basic compressors
A basic compressor will have the following bob
controllers to have a desired effect.

 Threshold = Thres
 Ratio = Ra
 Release = Rel
 Attack = Att
Limiter
Unlike a compressor, a limiter does not allow any signal
pass the set Threshold. Any signal below the Threshold is
not being limited. Limiters are distorters in general. They
bring in distortion in the signal while making loud the
signal from the input. They are mostly used as the final
stage in mastering. It’s advisable not to add anything
after limiting and make the limiter the last plugin in your
chain. Which means a basic mastering chain might look
like this e.g. – comp - saturator - stereo imager - final EQ
- limiter.

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NOTE: limiters that don’t have a ratio nob, simply means

the ratio is beyond 7.1 to infinity. And those without
attack nob, simply means they have an attack time below
0ms.

Hint!
A compressor with high attack and release times, makes
the input signal warm and punchy. Having short attack
times and long release times it makes the input material
more edgy, smooth and clean. Having short attack times
and short release times may introduce distortion but with
a better setting this can be a good color added to the
mix. A compressor followed by a limiter will make the
signal smooth and soft. And this work well with vocal and
kick drum.
Stereo imaging:
Imaging is one of the important part of a mix. It takes the
engineer to visualize the music. It is hard to mix if you
can’t put an image to your art. Take for instance a
drawing artist if they are told to put up an image of a
school mathematical instrument set.
Fig. 8
Bad imaging

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Good Imaging

With that quick example, by now you have the idea on

what we are taking about. This kind of imaging is done
by the pan nob on your mixer channel. The nob is
normally on center © and can be adjusted the left side
and right side of your monitoring system. It’s good to do
this when you are done putting up all the sounds for a
particular material. For example, having recorded a
coated guitar and a piano that are playing on almost the
same frequency, you would want to have the same space
between the two sounds. So you might push the guitar to
the left and the piano about 30% right.
With the pan nob, you only working the side not depth.
Right and left are the sides running at different levels
and all that remains make up the center. Almost all stereo
imager plugins for more enhancement, but the
enhancement will dealt when we start looking at
saturators and stereo enhancer.
Vocal
With the effects we have discussed we can come up with
a better balance of a vocal. And the following attack

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5ms and release 80ms. 4:1 ratio with a good desired

threshold equalize it and for the two backing vocals pan
the other 30% left and 60% right and check out what
you will have with just compressor – EQ – pan.
Time Effects:
Time effects are the ones now that bring about depth.
Trying to create an extra dimension in imaging.
Delay
Just by its name, the delay works like this, when signal
enters must be delayed a few min’s before the delayed
signal is produced.
Fig. 9

Dry wave

Delay time Pre delay

Wet wave

Input signal Delaye period

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Delay period: the time taken for the wet signal finish.
Pre-delay: the number of times the wet signal is delayed
again hence creating a sustained kind of a feel. And this
creates depth or distance ambience and a good feel to
the mix like modern day music used this so much and in an
extra ordinary.
Reverb
This is the acoustic feel that any place has natural,
bedroom, church, stadium etc. This has also some delay in
nature. Now with this it is only triggered when it reaches
the wall, the sound that will bounce through the room is
what is known as pre-delay. So from our definition of
pre-delay in the previous close this is the same. This
creates space in a mix and adds some stereo effect that
will just give your mix some definition. With reverb you
create some imaginary depth. For example, having an
artist doing some poetry and want it to sound like you
captured that in a stadium, with reverb you can have that
when you just recorded that in 4x4 meters room and
make it sound like it was in a 45,000 sitter stadium.
Fig. 10

vocal

Reverb room

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A basic reverb has the following:

 Pre-delay
 Delay/Time
 Room
 Mix nob
Pre-delay is the time taken when the signal hits the
reverb and then you get to fill the reverb. So the time
you get to hear the dry and wet signals.

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Conclusion

Music has been an interesting path have taken

and has taught me a lot.my ideal goal every time when
am working is not to fix something with one fx to avoid
losing the natural feel of the sound. And this brings me to
the selection on sample, I tend to select the right samples
when making my music, this will reduce on spending a lot
of time fixing cause you already have the best samples
in place.
Using much of compressors on my drums and
instruments like pads over the years has turned out to be
a great way of having my music clean and pleasant.
Compressors are one tool that need a lot of critical
listening to attain the best result. I normally start by
setting my threshold then my ratio, finally my release and
attack lastly. This is a better start to begin from if you
are just learning how to use compressors.
In also treat my drums with eq to have presence
and body more especially a boost at 300 Hz and 3 kHz
for my snear.in the case where I find my kick with some
air on top, low pass filter is an ideal for me. I make sure I
fix all that I feel going wrong in the mix before I reach
the mastering stage. This tends to be good for me such
that by the time am done mixing the song sounds better
and play without people getting to know it’s not
mastered yet.in my master stage I will only do a few
tweaks to attain good results with changing anything too

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much. If I happen to have any problems with track during

mastering, I will go back to my session to fix it, maybe
my snear had some bad hi end to avoid masking in
mastering by tuning the eq which is the best thing to do
but may remove something from the overall track like the
good hi end in the vocals.
Lastly mix to Finnish. Simply means do not go fix
anything at you master stage. This has always been my
style of making my music. Use this book as a tool and you
always have good results. Everything is book is based on
the years I have been doing music and have my mix
stand out in one the big radio stations in my country. And
this has been done with just simple tweaks, if you are
doing too much it means something is wrong in your mix
and just go back to you mix.

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