Mixing with the whole mix running?

[Flow Of Time]

Hey guys,
I've always been processing stuff soloed and never questioned that approach, but I read from people who're doing otherwise. Do you guys mix with the whole mix running / which elements of the mix do you process soloed?

 

[if6was9]

I like to keep the whole mix in the picture and to go between soloing and the whole mix often and from as early as possible. So listen to everything and see what needs to be improved and how the sounds can slot together.

I find if I solo everything and don't listen to the whole picture then the different elements of the mix don't sit well together and I have to redo a lot of processing to get it sounding good as a whole.

A handy approach is to put the element you're working on over the mix but louder than it needs to be, you get the mix in the background for reference but you can hear the detail in whatever you're working on.

 

[UncleBob]

It's usually a good idea to sort out the crap etc while in solo, so you can really hear what's going on, but to hear how the guitars are shitting all over the snare, or how the guitars are shitting all over the vocal etc it's a good idea to have everything running, or at least the guitars AND whatever they're causing problems with.

 

[SoundsLikeFog]

I remember asking this in the Reaper thread.. But why isn't there a 'solo in front wet/dry'-function, or something like that in daws?

In Reaper you can select between normal 'solo', and 'solo in front', but there's no way to control the amount of "front". Am I the only who would find a 100% solo to 100% mix-slider extremely helpful?

Maybe I should drop the guys at Cockos a e-mail. They seem to be quite active on the user side of things.

 

[El_Gato]

Do you guys mix with the whole mix running / which elements of the mix do you process soloed?

That's why it's called "mixing" and not "solo processing"

 

[Flow Of Time]

It's usually a good idea to sort out the crap etc while in solo, so you can really hear what's going on, but to hear how the guitars are shitting all over the snare, or how the guitars are shitting all over the vocal etc it's a good idea to have everything running, or at least the guitars AND whatever they're causing problems with.

Thats the way I proceed too^^
The solo in front thing sounds interesting, I'll try that

 

[El_Gato]

Seriously now, I first roughly process everything solo'ed to get to a point where I know I like them, just like tweaking an amp or tuning a drum to get a tone you like, but most decissions and fine adjustments on the mix take place within the mix, here.

Even better if you have different monitoring solutions to check how's everything getting along.

 

[Fbarre]

I filter, eq, compress, saturate, etc always within the mix while sometimes soloing to check how it sounds by itself, but only very seldom adjusting while in solo. Mostly it's only If I have trouble hearing something in the mix.

If you're mixing your signals while soloing each channel you have absolutely no idea what you're doing because you're missing everything around it as your reference. Image eqing a signal, bass for example until it sound massive soloed and then switching back to the mix having it disappear completely, even though you filtered the signal nicely and boosted the low end a lot. But what you forgot is that EQs not only change the amount of boost or cut at a certain frequency but also change the phase of and around the affected frequency range depending on the design/type/algorithm of the EQ. You don't hear those changes in phase and what they do to your mix while soloing.

Same with compressing. Tweaking the attack and release parameters from within the mix helps you so much more to get the elements to sit nicely inside the mix. Do I want the attack of the signal to poke out a bit more of the mix or less? Can't really tell what's going on anyways when soloing... However a solo function with a dry/wet slider could be very useful for certain things, only slightly dimming all the other elements around the soloed signal.

 

[RedDog]

I remember asking this in the Reaper thread.. But why isn't there a 'solo in front wet/dry'-function, or something like that in daws?

In Reaper you can select between normal 'solo', and 'solo in front', but there's no way to control the amount of "front". Am I the only who would find a 100% solo to 100% mix-slider extremely helpful?

Maybe I should drop the guys at Cockos a e-mail. They seem to be quite active on the user side of things.

Check your preferences. There is a solo in front dimmer level function. Mine is set to dim about 12 dB, but you can go just about anywhere.

 

[SoundsLikeFog]

Check your preferences. There is a solo in front dimmer level function. Mine is set to dim about 12 dB, but you can go just about anywhere.

Fuck yes! Cheers, dog!

 

[Flow Of Time]

I filter, eq, compress, saturate, etc always within the mix while sometimes soloing to check how it sounds by itself, but only very seldom adjusting while in solo. Mostly it's only If I have trouble hearing something in the mix.

If you're mixing your signals while soloing each channel you have absolutely no idea what you're doing because you're missing everything around it as your reference. Image eqing a signal, bass for example until it sound massive soloed and then switching back to the mix having it disappear completely, even though you filtered the signal nicely and boosted the low end a lot. But what you forgot is that EQs not only change the amount of boost or cut at a certain frequency but also change the phase of and around the affected frequency range depending on the design/type/algorithm of the EQ. You don't hear those changes in phase and what they do to your mix while soloing.

Same with compressing. Tweaking the attack and release parameters from within the mix helps you so much more to get the elements to sit nicely inside the mix. Do I want the attack of the signal to poke out a bit more of the mix or less? Can't really tell what's going on anyways when soloing... However a solo function with a dry/wet slider could be very useful for certain things, only slightly dimming all the other elements around the soloed signal.

This statement seemed very plausible to me, so I did a mix, trying to follow that approach. Here's the thread, if someone's interested:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/practice-room/883929-rate-my-latest-mix.html

What I noticed is, that it sounds a lot warmer and fuller, but a bit washier, compared to my previous mixes

 

[UncleBob]

This statement seemed very plausible to me, so I did a mix, trying to follow that approach. Here's the thread, if someone's interested:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/practice-room/883929-rate-my-latest-mix.html

What I noticed is, that it sounds a lot warmer and fuller, but a bit washier, compared to my previous mixes

You probably just have to give it some time to get into a different approach, which is all it is at the end of the day.

 

[jval]

You should definitely try not to solo too much when mixing. Think about it... NO ONE else will ever hear that kick drum or guitar track by itself. They only hear the full mix, so that's how you should make your decisions. It'll also keep you from over-processing each track and sucking the life out of it.

Solo is useful for zeroing in on problems - like if you hear a harsh freq in the guitars, use solo to go hunting and fix it.
Soloing is a hard habit to get out of, and it's uncomfortable at first to try and EQ / compress without soloing. But it's pretty crucial.. once you get used to it, it'll improve your mixes for sure. Better yet, do your EQ'ing in mono...

 

[Klosure]

Search up on the Pebbles jar and sand story, applies to mixing very well. Start big go to small, mixing makes more sense and solo is less of a problem.

I solo but hardly at all nowadays.

learn to hear it in the mix. The mix is one big instrument, all the plugins and stuff are like the knobs on a synth - the synth being your mix.

 

[Skaldir]

That's why it's called "mixing" and not "solo processing"

That's quoteworthy

 

[Nimvi]

Agree with the other comments. Soloing has its use, but that's usually very specific troubleshooting for me. When I hear a weird sound somewhere in the mix, I keep soloing/muting tracks until I find it and deal with it.
The main technical problems in the mix are usually a large amount of clashing and balance issues between instruments though, and you won't be able to hear those when instruments are solod.

I also agree with working from big to small. At the start of a mix, I decide which instrument should get what role. This makes a mix a lot more workable for me. Instead of trying to cram 30 instruments together without a plan, I just start with the framework (for me that's usually percussion and vocals/leads), and keep filling the less important instruments into the increasingly small gaps.
This helps against the mentality of trying to get everything as loud as everything else, but it also gives you a grasp of how far you are in a mix.
Also, if you start having problems in the middle of the mix, chances are that it was caused by the last instrument you've added to the equation. Oftentimes, muting and unmuting that last instrument after a few seconds makes the problem jump right at you. Saves you from making 20 small unnecessary changes, instead of the one that would fix it all.

Also, +1000 for EQing and many other things in mono. Good luck hiding from the imperfections in your mix there! I cannot emphasize enough how much I wish I had started doing that earlier.

 

[Flow Of Time]

I often read about eqing in mono, but never really tried it... I will definitely try it on my next mix though!

 

[SoundsLikeFog]

One thing that can't be emphasized enough, is to use only one speaker for it. Don't just flip the mono switch from the DAW, make sure the sound is only coming from one speaker. It was quite a light bulb-moment to realise, why all those old hags and bearded bastards had three speakers on their desk instead of two.

You'd think that it would be quite self-evident but I know I have made that mistake earlier.

 

[Flow Of Time]

One thing that can't be emphasized enough, is to use only one speaker for it. Don't just flip the mono switch from the DAW, make sure the sound is only coming from one speaker. It was quite a light bulb-moment to realise, why all those old hags and bearded bastards had three speakers on their desk instead of two.

You'd think that it would be quite self-evident but I know I have made that mistake earlier.

Thanks for the hint, I was going to make EXACTLY the same mistake

 

[Deuteronomy]

First Solo in order to remove the basic crap,some EQ and some basic compression,and then with the whole mix running
But i always use Solo again to find some very specific details on the mix