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Owner's of the Yamaha Musical Instrument MG16 16 Channel Mixer gave it a score of 0 out of 5. Here's how the scores stacked up:
Making the Most Of Your Mixer
MG16/6FX
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5-2. Panning For Cleaner Mixes
Not only does the way you pan your individual
channels determine where the instruments appear
in the stereo sound field, but it is also vital to give
each instrument it’s own “space” so that it doesn’t
conflict with other instruments. Unlike live sound
in a real acoustic space, recorded stereo sound is
basically 2-dimensional (although some types of
surround sound are actually very 3-dimensional),
and instruments positioned right on top of each
other will often get in each other’s way—particu-
larly if they are in the same frequency range or
have a similar sound.
Spread them Out!
Position your instruments so they have room to
“breathe,” and connect in the most musical way
with other instruments. Sometimes, however,
you’ll want to deliberately pan sounds close
together, or even right on top of one another, to
emphasize their relationship. There are no hard-
and-fast rules. Normally (but this is not a rule),
bass and lead vocals will be panned to center, as
will the kick drum if the drums are in stereo.
5-3. To EQ Or Not To EQ
In general: less is better. There are many situations
in which you’ll need to cut certain frequency
ranges, but use boost sparingly, and with caution.
Proper use of EQ can eliminate interference
between instruments in a mix and give the overall
sound better definition. Bad EQ—and most com-
monly bad boost—just sounds terrible.
Cut For a Cleaner Mix
For example: cymbals have a lot of energy in the
mid and low frequency ranges that you don’t
really perceive as musical sound, but which can
interfere with the clarity of other instruments in
these ranges. You can basically turn the low EQ
on cymbal channels all the way down without
changing the way they sound in the mix. You’ll
hear the difference, however, in the way the mix
sounds more “spacious,” and instruments in the
lower ranges will have better definition. Surpris-
ingly enough, piano also has an incredibly power-
ful low end that can benefit from a bit of low-
frequency roll-off to let other instruments—nota-
bly drums and bass—do their jobs more effec-
tively. Naturally you won’t want to do this if the
piano is playing solo.
The reverse applies to kick drums and bass gui-
tars: you can often roll off the high end to create
more space in the mix without compromising the
character of the instruments. You’ll have to use
your ears, though, because each instrument is dif-
ferent and sometimes you’ll want the “snap” of a
bass guitar, for example, to come through.
Boost With Caution
If you’re trying to create special or unusual
effects, go ahead and boost away as much as you
like. But if you’re just trying to achieve a good-
sounding mix, boost only in very small incre-
ments. A tiny boost in the midrange can give
vocals more presence, or a touch of high boost
can give certain instruments more “air.” Listen,
and if things don’t sound clear and clean try using
cut to remove frequencies that are cluttering up
the mix rather than trying to boost the mix into
clarity.
One of the biggest problems with too much boost
is that it adds gain to the signal, increasing noise
and potentially overloading the subsequent cir-
cuitry.
MG16-6FX.book Page 17 Saturday, January 25, 2003 10:13 AM
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