The intended outcome for audio engineers is to produce music appealing to the listener. Audio engineers achieve this by mixing the audio provided by the artist or musician. Mixing is the process in which multiple audio elements are brought together sonically in a way that appeals to the listener. Balancing the various audio elements is critical to achieving the intended result for the audio engineer.
Many techniques are used when mixing. Knowing what methods and where to use them requires an engineer with a trained ear. As stated before, mixing involves many techniques and tools, but this article will focus on leveling audio, plug-ins, panning, EQ, and bouncing.
Level Adjustment
Leveling or level adjustment is a common technique that comes to mind when discussing mixing. Level adjustment deals with balancing relative loudness. The engineer usually contemplates what vocals or instruments should be accentuated or reduced. After the musician or artist finishes recording, the audio could be more consistent. Common problems with audio consistency include background noise, overlapping instruments, or soft vocals. These problems bring down the overall quality of the audio. To combat those problems, engineers employ normalization tools to improve the audio project's quality. Normalization tools help balance out the sound so that it is uniform for listeners.
Plug-ins
Plug-ins are software that runs within a digital audio workstation (DAW). They are used to add in functions such as instruments and vocal effects. Plug-ins provide music with more "color," creating dynamic sounds and effects within the audio. Common plug-ins include delay, reverb, compressors, and CLA vocals.
Panning
Panning refers to the placement of sounds in the right and left channels of the stereo field. Panning is most noticeable in headphones. Panning helps individual parts of the audio to stand out and to be heard clearly without infringing on other parts of the audio. Two conventional types of panning are surround and stereo. Surround is used primarily in video projects, while pure music mixing is often in stereo.
EQ
As the audio file becomes more complex with the layering of multiple tracks, it creates a muddy sound because tracks inevitably take on the same frequencies. EQ or Equalization helps solve this problem. EQ is the process of adjusting, balancing, and fine-tuning frequency components to produce a refined piece of music. Equalization can be done by using an equalizer. An equalizer is a hardware or software plug-in that allows you to adjust the loudness of frequencies in the audio.
Bouncing
Bouncing is the very last step of the mixing process before exporting. Bouncing takes all the audio tracks and converts them into one audio file. Bouncing is helpful for several reasons. Compressing the audio into one file saves space on the computer's hard drive. Bouncing a file also makes it easier to share the file between two engineers for collaboration. Lastly, it is used to review the music for any last needed changes before being exported for mastering.
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