HOFX
Member
- Apr 12, 2012
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Mixing with Pink Noise
- Thread starter UMF
- Start date
So yout got the Signal Generator a-20db Peak as by it's default and turn the channel down 12db?
I think this could make sense to get a decent level at the master bus when I try to mix my instruments like that.
How do you set up all your drum busses? All my recorded songs only have Superior Drummer with a lot of Parallel Compression on the Kick and Snare.
The Ambience, Mono Room and Reverb Busses from Superior could be a problem when mixing it with the Pink Noise.
How do you handle that?
By now I am not trying to layer it from the beginning. Just messing around with that Idea.
Heavy Greetz
Joey.coldweather
Joey R
I've tried this a while back and can't say it agrees with me. I felt as though it made my mix at the time quite bland.
No, my pink noise hits -12db on the channel meter where it sits on. It gives me the headroom that i need for mixing.
When it comes to Busses, I have kinda like the same setup. A Kick parallel bus and one for snare, but also a parallel bus for all shells. I do very little compression on individual drum tracks, just kissing it. Compression whise, I like giving the drums it's character with the parallel Bus.
I set up my own master bus and run everything to it except pink noise, that runs directly to the real master like my fake master bus. I do this cause when I mix, I have a compressor on my fake master that I mix into.
When it comes to ambience and room tracks, I always toggle the pink noise on and off when mixing. It is quite tricky to mix those cymbals and other high end instruments with pink noise. Just experiment, try what work best for you. after all it's nothing more than a reference track just like a song but more constant so that it makes focusing on levels a lot easier. And once I like my levels, I turn off the pink noise an actually have a reference in my session as well, that I use for sculpting my song, figuring out problem areas etc......
Let me know how it works out for you.
I tried some of the tips yesterday and it is a good starting point. But my ears are getting tired very fast. Tried it for about 15-20 minutes straight.
In one Song I really though I still got the Pink Noise on but it was only a slightly to loud open HiHat.
Seems that you have to be very careful when messing around with the Noise.
Tried the Method on 4 Songs by now and it works kinda good. I could almost instantly hear where the Problems are. e.g. Vocals too much Dynamic Range.
Heavy Greetz
maybe its mentioned but to clarify,
do you guys keep checking your levels with the pink noise when mixing ?
do you guys keep checking your levels with the pink noise when mixing ?
Well, for me it's checking levels, balance between instruments and balance in the frequency spectrum. I use it like a frequency analyzer, not visual of course, but for my ears. Since pink noise has equal amount of energy in every octave, it is like a ruler to me, that I always compare against my mix and single instruments in my mix. It is just a starting point for me. Like I said before, my mixing environment always changes. Small rooms, big rooms, square, rectangle, different surfaces on the walls etc...., and normally I have to set up my mobile recording gear and start micing instruments an record. Pink noise is like my safe zone, and I learned to compare whatever I'm recording against it. You could propably use something else to to mix that way I guess! Like said before,
Nothing more than a ruler to me. The creative and "ART" side of the mix is done without pink noise for me at least. It really helps me to balance the basic levels at first mixing stage.
I wonder if anybody of the Pro's on this forum ever messed with this.
Your thought and input is more than welcome.
3rd does sound significantly better. Is that really just making fixed fader offsets relative to the first mix positions or did you make new automation judgements too based on the pink noise?
