http://www.musique.umontreal.ca/personn ... index.html
I found these works to be very thought provoking. Even though they pertain explicitly to classical music, the big ideas touched upon are in my opinion quite universal.
For example, in the third book - "Orchestration" - there's a very good list of points as to what suggests "Bad Orchestration" right off the bat, that's what my post is going to be (mostly) about.
Prof. Belkin stresses that it's pretty hard to orchestrate REALLY badly, as long as you're not completely disregarding the natural placement of instrumentation, but at the same time it's equally hard to create really OUTSTANDING orchestration.
Likewise, I find that, with some common sense guidelines in mind, it's not that difficult to make a mix that sounds sort of okay or even "decent" but how does one take it to the next level? That's the hard bit...
Orchestration is defined in that book as "composing with timbres" - which immediately evokes parallels to what "we" (I mean the KVR electronica folks) refer to as mixing, and therefore this is exactly the subject that deals with all the "intangibles" that we look for in trying to produce a good mix! Definitely worth investigating...
Here are some of Prof.Belkin's observations regarding what makes BAD orchestration. Below the book excerpts I tried to draw some parallels to the typical things we routinely do in mixing music in the digital domain, which might (hopefully)get those who are involved more interested in the classical subject:
* Feebleness of effect: Not using the resources available to the full to create the desired character (e.g. trying to get a percussive effect using only a few woodwinds, and with no use of percussive sounds); creating contradictory gestures (e.g. adding instruments during a diminuendo).
Translation into KVR language: No drive. The dreaded "boring mix"
* Aural fatigue, often resulting from overuse of extreme registers or very distinctive colors, or from lack of blend in harmonic blocks.
Too much of the harmonic exciter family of effects, overemphasized high end, arrangement doesn't have enough "breakdown" type segments where the ear can rest.
* Grayness, usually from too much unison doubling.
Nothing properly stands out, the mix has no "sexy curves" in the evolution of its timbre over time. Same old double bowl of porridge day in and day out, that's what I call a bad mix!
* Heaviness as a norm instead of as a special effect, caused by too much doubling,or overloading the low register.
All synths used are of the "really fat" sort. The result is that their conversation sounds duller than your mother in law. The low end is full of mud. That's because many VSTi synth patches are designed for the "instant wow factor" rather than for actual usage in a mix - and the wow factor mostly comes from the "massive" bass that sounds so nice in the standalone patch but alas, it's now ruining your mix as it's compressed, effected, summed with all the other tracks.
* Consistently dry sound, without any background resonance. (Dry sound can be effective, but not as a norm.)
Poor stereo image in the mix, there's a gaping hole, an annoying emptiness where with judicious use of reverb and short delay one could be providing a natural space and room for their mix elements.
* Confusion among musical elements, due to poorly differentiated planes of tone.
Big, persistent and meaningless holes in the spectrum of the mix or uncontrolled overcrowding in specific frequency ranges. This is a good way to bury your really awful punk lyrics though, so noone can make out a thing you're saying
* Formal confusion, due to changes of timbre at arbitrary places, or changes not appropriate to the degree of contrast required.
I know I struggle with this one, and I'm not alone according to some of the demo tracks I heard. This is about the "overall picture" and has to do with the arrangement, which has to be good (dynamic and exciting) to start with and THEN you can really make it shine at the mixing stage by accenting the right spots. Then again, there's got to be much more to it that I have yet to learn, as they say composing with timbres is just as much a fine art as composing with notes!
* Lack of clear character.
This one is just like that time you let a certain significant other curb your compulsive VSTi acquisition habit...
More seriously, I think this point is central and should be mulled over during all stages of music composition (down with the unjustified oppression of innocent musicians).I hope this post might be useful to some of the people who are just learning about mixing, starting out with the clear goal of "sounding like the commercial cd" but no real guidance along the way.
Check out those books, you might find some interesting things to think about, not just pertaining to mixing, but also many other musical ideas and their applications. There are actually four texts:
-Composition
-Counterpoint
-Orchestration
-Harmony
(see link above for the download)
Cheers!
-ToneDunce
