When I mix songs for clients, one of the biggest problems I encounter is that they simple have too many tracks. Now, as a mix engineer, it's my job to create balance and get these tracks to play nicely together. I like a challenge as much as the next guy, but this isn't about fighting for space in the frequency spectrum. Sure, it's a lot more work when I have to make ten electric guitar tracks play nicely together, but the problem I'm referring too is a problem musically. Today I want to encourage you to keep it simple, and it here's why.
More tracks does not mean a bigger mix.
One of the number one lies new recording artists or engineers buy into, is that more tracks will equal a bigger mix. They think that if they have ten guitar tracks and three bass tracks and eight vocal tracks that their mix will sound huge. The sad truth is this: most of the time, it wont. You can record as many tracks as you'd like, but that isn't going to automatically make your mixes sound huge. In fact, it will usually have the opposite effect. I know it's counter intuitive, but you would be amazed at how big a mix can sound that has a really small number of tracks.
I think one of the main reasons we do this is sometimes we hear albums from our favorite artists and there is a lot going on. We start noticing all these different instruments and we think that if we record a lot of tracks, then our recordings will sound like that too. Unfortunately that just isn't the case. You will get there, but you need to master getting huge mixes with simple tracks. It isn't the number of tracks that make the professional mixes sound huge, it's the talent behind the engineers recording and mixing the tracks. Work on getting your skill level higher before throwing in too many tracks, or you are just going to overwhelm yourself.
Too many instruments can mean musical chaos.
This is where it really gets frustrating as a mix engineer. I can't tell you how many times I get songs from clients, and the song is just all over the place. Quite frankly there is just way too much going on. All the instruments are fighting each other, there are too many lead parts, too many melody repeats in tracks, etc. Most songs I get I believe would sound better if I deleted half the tracks. And that's actually still leaving a lot. I was working on a song today that had around twelve guitar parts. It was as if every guitar was trying to be front and center and play the lead. It was musical chaos and no amount of mixing was going to make it right.
Next time you start up a recording session, remember to keep it simple! You can and will create huge sounding mixes with a smaller number of tracks. It's easier to manage, it allows some parts to be up front, and it sounds bigger than you'd think.
I offer professional mixing and mastering at an easy flat rate. Head over to http://willsterling.net for more info.
