Mixing with the best...

Undoubtedly the most creative part of sound engineering, a good mix can transform the sound – and success – of a song. Mark Cousins gets the balance right...

For something that many of us do so frequently, it appears that mixing remains the ever-elusive, ark art of recording. There are few things, of course, that can guarantee a hit record, but you can besure that a big-name mix engineer – the Lord Alges and ‘Spike’ Stents of this world – can, at the very least, produce a mix which makes it sound like a hit. Not surprisingly, these engineers charge big bucks for the work they undertake, and have a long list of clients all eager to use their services. Ultimately, it seems that the process of engineering signals to ‘tape’ is a relatively easy one (given enough expensive microphones pointing in the right directions), but the process of turning these recordings into the finished mix is something much more creatively and technically taxing.

This feature first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 25
Filed under General Features

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