The Inner Voices
Another aspect of mixing, and it was clearly important in big band work, is the inner voices. No, I don’t mean the little voices in my head saying, “check out that woman in the third row.” Rather, I’m referring to the relationships of all the instruments between the bass and cymbals.
Any arrangement – rock, jazz, classical, or whatever – relies on specific voicings. I’m talking about the order of notes from the lowest to the highest within a chord. As a mixer, if you’re not aware of this, then you likely don’t realize that the third of a chord determines whether it’s major or minor, that the fifth along with the root make up the “frame” of the chord, and that everything above the fifth is harmonic embellishment but nevertheless important in terms of leading notes, harmony, and what kinds of scales might be used for melodic material.
And perhaps the mixer might miss (or not know) that inversions (chords where the root, third, etc. are stacked out of order) are extremely important to musical harmony, and thus are a critical element of a musical style like jazz. An example is the horn section for a swing band (think Brian Setzer’s Dirty Boogie), where if one of the horn mics is turned up too “hot,” then the wrong note in some chords may be emphasized. The difference might be subtle, but it may also throw a certain amount of “aural sand” into the musical experience for at least a portion of the audience. And let’s face it – it’s just not right.
But these are “rules of thumb” taught by the educational process. Another way to figure out “who’s playing what” might be to listen and think, without cluttering up the works with confusing terminology. In other words, how do you think it sounds?
The New Response
“The most important tool in audio is… ?” I ask this question often when giving presentations. It used to be that the answer I wanted to hear was “our ears.” Recently, however, I’ve preferred the response of “our brains.”
Of course, good ears are a critical component in mixing, and without them, there wouldn’t be much of a purpose for audio systems. (Although I’m sure that marketing departments would find a way to put a spin on that!)
But my thinking began to change as I realized that without the brain, what the ears are telling us can’t be interpreted and no plan of action can be developed. In other words, we may hear a problem, but if we can’t produce a solution, then what’s the point?
For example, if there’s a buzz in the system, is it at 60 Hz? 120 Hz? 180 Hz? And if it’s indeed at 60 Hz, where to start in looking for a solution?
On the flip side, those without the sense to apply their knowledge in order to generate an aesthetically pleasing mix lead me to question the value of any understanding of things like gain structure and signal flow, let alone voicing and spatial relationships. In other words, it may be technically “right” but does it sound good?
Perhaps their mixes are “good enough,” and certainly any situation involving art and technology must by nature be a form of compromise. However, if you knew of a way to improve your mixes, wouldn’t you want to employ it?