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Mic Choice & Placement, Mixing Levels & Panning

Written by Willie Green. Published: Monday, March 22, 2010.

As we move further into the recording process the advice I give will be more and more subject to personal opinion. While these tips are well founded and common practices, I urge readers to do what sounds best to them; the end point is to make records the way you want to hear them.

Recording

Mic choice and placement is an often overlooked part of the recording process, as it seems the easiest. In some ways that’s true; you put a mic up, sound goes through it, and you’re recording. Then why don’t all vocals sound equal?

Willie Green Pro Logic Mic Selection Microphone Image Step one is the mic. I am the last person to tell you to go drop a ton of money on anything. That said, when you hear the right mic on the right singer, it is truly incredible. (See Michael Jackson – “Speechless” for proof) The first step is having the right mic. Hand-held dynamic mics (like a SM58 for instance) are mainly for live sound, not studio vocals. The most common choice for studio vocals is a “Large Diaphragm Condenser” mic, something like a Neumann U87. There are literally thousands of choices in this type of mic, ranging from a few hundred dollars to thousands. The aforementioned U87 retails at around $3500, but there are many quality mics for a fraction of that cost.

I’m not going to recommend a specific mic, but ideally you should be able to go to a store and test out a few different options. If you’re recording yourself, listen for a mic that makes you sound how you envision yourself. If you’re recording various other people, you may want to look for a mic that’s more neutral, something that flatters certain voices will sound bad on others.

Placement is not a mystical black art, but some thought is required. Unless they have a specific preference, the artist should be standing up. The mic should be right at mouth level, definitely not lower. If the artist has to speak down into the mic, they close off their wind pipe and therefore weaken their voice. I prefer to put the mic slightly above the mouth, if the artist performs up into the mic their windpipe is guaranteed to be open.

At the risk of stating the obvious, make sure your mic is pointing the right way. You’d be surprised how often this is an issue. The back of your mic will have a totally different (generally much worse) sound. Your mic was designed to record what’s in front of it, not what’s behind.

Some people prefer not to use pop filters claiming they cut the high end of the voice too much, but especially in hip-hop I find them essential. An added benefit of a pop filter is you can use it to sort of dictate how close to the mic the performer can get.

There’s no hard and fast rule for artist distance to the mic. The further away they are, you will obviously get more room sound, and depending on the sound you want and the sound of your room, this may be desirable. However, in most home recording situations it isn’t. At the other end of the spectrum, once you get within a few inches of the mic, something called “Proximity Effect” starts. The low end response of the mic increases drastically. A certain amount of this might be desirable for larger than life sounding vocals, but too much will have your vocals sounding boomy, and loud close vocals can also distort your mic. (Which is different than distorting your preamp, more on that next month)

Next Month: Mic Pre-Amps and Proper Gain Staging

Mixing

When starting a new mix, the first thing I’ll do is listen to a rough mix of the song.

I always ask the client for a reference track so I can get an idea of what they want; that way I’m not mixing blind. I’ll know if they envision any kind of effects, panning, etc. It’s important to remember that you’re mixing for a client, and it’s their music. I’m not a big fan of mix engineers who impart their signature sound on other people’s records. The artist has to live with the music for ever, it should sound like they want it.

Ask the client how the record should sound, and ask them for examples to reference. If they want 36 Chambers dusty, but you’re giving them Kanye clean, they’re not going to be happy. To be point blank, if you want to insist that your mixes sound only your way, make your own music. If you want to be a working engineer, be flexible.

I have mix templates similar to my recording templates. I have them setup with my groups (Drums, Hook, etc.) send effects (reverbs and delays) and compression on my mix buss/master fader. It saves tons of time setting up for mixes, and I always know where I’m starting from.

Before I start EQing or compressing anything, I get a basic balance of levels and panning. Before you start changing the sound of things, you should have a good foundation of what you are working with. Levels are a pretty objective thing, and will change as you start putting on effects, but starting with a good balance will help you keep things in perspective as you work. Your levels will obviously vary so I can’t tell you how loud or quiet to make things, but here’s a few tips:

- Start with your faders at a reasonable level, most software will default to unity gain, that’s a good place to begin. This gives you enough headroom to bring up the fader if necessary.

- If a channel is peaking, turn it down. If that track is now too quiet, turn everything else down too. This will keep your tracks from distorting. Even if you don’t hear it in one track, if all your tracks are in the red, it will build up.

- Your mix doesn’t have to be overly loud and slamming the mix buss, that’s what mastering is for. I keep my mixes at around -6dB, that will give the mastering engineer plenty of room to compress and do what they need to do. If you want to hear the mix louder in the studio, just turn the speakers up. Your master fader isn’t a volume control.

- If you have to pull a fader all the way up to get something loud enough, use offline processing/Audio Suite/whatever your program calls it to raise the gain. If you ever want to make this instrument louder when you start writing automation, you won’t be able to if the fader is all the way up.

Panning is also quite subjective, but I find that people usually fall into patterns in how they pan. Some people like widely panned hooks, some people like their all their drums dead center. You’ll develop certain things you like, but remember to keep everything in context of the song.

- There is more to life than hard Left, hard Right, and Center. Experiment with the spaces in between, it can lead to a more full sounding, detailed mix. Don’t just stack 5 stereo keyboard sounds left and right, spread them out and your mixes will sound bigger.

- Everything doesn’t have to be wide and stereo. Try panning complimentary parts opposite each other. (2 different keyboard parts or guitars for example)

- Low frequency sounds (kick drums, basses) are usually kept in the center. This helps the stereo balance.

- If something is hard panned, while it sounds wide in speakers, in headphones it will sound like it’s right behind your ears. This could be desirable, but keep it in mind.

Next Month: EQ

Listening

I got a lot of positive feedback last month about the listening section, so I decided to add a small piece each month about listening.

- Listen at different volumes, and definitely not loud the entire time. Listening too long at high volumes will cause ear fatigue, making your hearing less accurate. I usually start loud to get balances and basic levels, then turn down. I turn back up from time to time to check the low end, the human ear is not flat, and at lower volume, it does not hear bass as well.

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For more, read last month’s segment: Recording and Mixing: Part 1

Category: Columns, Pro-Logic