When creating his own composition, any musician sooner or later encounters the fact that the recorded parts of instruments or vocal tracks must be brought together, that is, to make sure that all the instruments sound natural and do not overlap each other. About how to mix tracks, then we will talk. But we will consider not only the manipulations associated with giving the composition a professional sound, but also some actions that may be needed, say, to combine two audio tracks into one mix or related to the cross-overlay of one track on another. The choice of the preferred program and the actions performed in it will depend on this.
How to mix tracks: a general idea of the actions performed
First of all, we’ll touch on the information, so to speak, in the classical sense, when in one mix you need to adjust the sound of each track. Here, the most basic thing is not only to adjust the volume, but also to set the optimal level of dynamics with processing the frequencies of the track so that the instrument sounds without distortion, and the frequencies of different instruments do not cause side effects. How to mix tracks? Most sound engineers in the simplest case for a master track, not to mention the effects processing of each track, recommend using a bunch of compressor and equalizer (although in fact there can be many more such instruments). In addition, you should not get carried away with effects for individual tracks, since an excessive number of them can cause the instrument to sound distorted or the frequency will be lost on the track (for example, if the reverb level is set too high). There are no delays, choruses, flangers and reverbs on the master track (you can lose the natural sound, and even crush the drums).
On the other hand, mixing tracks can relate not only to setting their parallel sounding, but also to combining several tracks in a certain sequence so that they sound one after the other without interruption and at the same volume (or overlap one on one with attenuation and increase or without of this).
What to use as software?
As for the choice of a program, by and large, all such packages can be divided into two types: music sequencers and audio editors (or similar applications in the form of virtual studios that combine the capabilities of both types of programs). The first type includes packages like FL Studio, Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar, etc. In the second class, programs like Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit Pro), Sony Sound Forge, Cockos Reaper, Acoustica Mixcraft and many others can be noted. Among professional studios, the championship, without a doubt, belongs to the most powerful Pro Tools package.
Mixing, joining and overlaying tracks using the Cool Edit Pro example
So, for starters, let's look at some operations with audio files using the Cool Edit Pro package as an example. Despite the fact that now it is not released, the program for a novice user looks much simpler than its counterpart in the form of Adobe Audition, although most of the functions have remained unchanged.
So how do you mix tracks in this app? Suppose we need two tracks to sound in parallel.
To do this, in the multi-track mode, upload an audio file to each track and set their position relative to each other. Effects are best applied to each track separately, but it is better to control their parameters or the volume of each track on the remote control.
How to connect two tracks, for example, so that the second begins to sound immediately after the end of the first? In normal mode, the cursor is positioned at the end of the first track, and then the second is inserted as a file. You can also pre-process the tracks so that one at the end has a Fade Out and the other has a Fade In.
They can also be positioned as needed on a multitrack grid, and without using it, apply the Crossfade effect in normal mode.
In principle, any such program for mixing tracks has similar tools, and in any application they are called exactly the same. The easiest way to equalize the volume is to use the normalization function (Normilize), and to limit the sound of peak frequencies - the limiter (Limiter).
Mixing tracks in FL Studio
Now a few words about the popular FL Studio sequencer. The basic operations remain unchanged, but even if you use only the built-in tools of the program itself, you can achieve a very impressive result.
First, you need to associate each track with a free mixer slot, using the corresponding function, after which it will be possible to add effects to the tracks and adjust other parameters like volume or panorama on the remote control, and not in the step sequencer.
By default, the Fruity Limiter is set on the master track, in which you can switch to compressor mode and select the desired preset.
You can also use single or multi-band compressors, in which there are several more options. The main thing here is not to crush the overall sound. Particular attention should be paid to the frequencies of the reduced tracks. It is better to process them in advance with a parametric equalizer, setting the optimum sound with cutting out peak frequencies.
If you use VST effects like EZ Mix, the choice of preset modes for information that on the master track, that on a separate track, can be significantly expanded. In addition, saturation effects look good on the master track. But the expansion of the panorama due to the installation of the Stereo Enhancer is better left on each individual track.
Recommendations at the end
And of course, this is only the very first basics in the mix. It will not be possible to describe absolutely all the actions and capabilities of such programs simply physically. Regardless of which program is used for mixing tracks, it remains to add that in many respects mixing depends on musical instruments and on vocals. So, the main elements of the drum kits (bass drum and snare drum) must be in the panoramic position strictly in the center, and the hat, cymbals and toms can be scattered around the panorama. If you use drum plugins like Superior Drummer or Steven Slate Drum Sampler, you don’t have to worry about volume and panorama. Keyboard parts look good in stereo. The bass guitars are strictly centered. Leading or rhythm guitars can be distributed in a panorama, and when using a drive, use the stereo extension or a small percentage of delay for leading parts. But, in order to fully learn mixing, do not be afraid to experiment, and for the final processing the AAMS program is good for the first time, in which, after analyzing the track of any professional artist, you can set the same sound parameters for your composition.