Mixing advice to get a "pocketed" sound

[JDBoone]

I'm looking for some advice from the more experienced mixers out there.

I'm looking to start giving my mixes a more "pocketed" sound - where each thing seem to sit in it's own little pocket within the mix. I hear it done really well here and there on recordings - Radiohead definitely comes to mind. It sounds like each instrument has a really tapey/fat/warm/round/gooey (I guess saturated would be a good word) sound that sits in it's own space apart from the other instruments.

I've read all about choosing specific freqencies to boost on each track to separate them. I'm curious how the pros go about this task. Is this primarily how to give something that distinct space in a dense mix?

Any and all advice/ideas are appreciated!

[beingmf]

Getting the mid range right! First of all, proper monitoring is required. A mono Auratone does help a lot, when you "understand" the midrange of instruments and sounds. In the first, and most important, stage of the mix – when you find the "pockets" – subbass and crystal clear top end is totally counterproductive. It's ALL in the mids.

[JDBoone]

Gotcha. I'm somewhat clueless as to what to do with the super high and low stuff anyway so I usually don't touch it much. Especially the highs.

One thing I have a hard time with is this - I've read over and over that you should always eq instruments while listening to the mix as a whole. But when I listen to the whole mix and try to eq something, I can't really hear the result, unless it's pretty heavy eq. Is this a sign that I need better monitors? What I usually do then is solo the instrument, find an eq spot in the midrange that I like the sound of for that particular thing and give it a moderate boost there. I've found that this does in fact help things - everything starts to sound a little more focused and localized, but I know it's probably a habit that should be avoided.

I also don't tend to bother taking note of exactly where everything is boosted and making sure I never boost two instruments in the same range. Should I?

[beingmf]

Originally Posted by JDBoone

But when I listen to the whole mix and try to eq something, I can't really hear the result, unless it's pretty heavy eq. Is this a sign that I need better monitors?

Well, maybe. But IMO it's rather the room than the monitors – which you can learn more easily, as against the room acoustics, which you can't learn at all. It would be good to know what your monitoring environment is like, what speakers you are using, where you set them up etc.

A common pitfall, if you mic and record everything yourself, is to accept these recordings as "true". One has to develop an objective ear for masking frequencies, the "proper" midrange and so on. Most of the time, you could easily cut 5 or 6 dB, or more, somewhere in the 50-700Hz area and there still will be enough low end.

Finally: levels! How hot are your track levels in the project itself? If you always struggle to make the snare cut through, because all the tracks are too loud from the beginning, well, then you start to do silly things like boosting the highs like hell or compress crazily, whatever. We have 64 bit internal resolution in Reaper, so rather keep your levels too low, than too high.

[beingmf]

Originally Posted by JDBoone

I also don't tend to bother taking note of exactly where everything is boosted and making sure I never boost two instruments in the same range. Should I?

Forget about theory
Once you know what to listen for (in a good room), you'll hear that it doesn't make any sense at all to EQ instruments in solo. Every once in a while I happen to find myself soloing the bass track – the result in the mix: facepalm

[bls]

Its worth mentioning that when you compare your stuff to someone like radiohead, you have to understand that those guys know how to arrange to leave room for those sounds. If you layer a recording with a ton of 1k-heavy sounds, then your tune will sound as such. They know how to make room for stuff and do it pre-recording.

That's not to say that their average record isn't a production fiasco, just that they started with stuff that was really nice to begin with.

[JDBoone]

Originally Posted by beingmf

It would be good to know what your monitoring environment is like, what speakers you are using, where you set them up etc.

I think my monitoring environment may be making it hard to progress. I have cheap powered studio monitors ($75 for the pair, used). The room I'm in is an ok size.. maybe 20ft x 16ft with a 9ft ceiling. I've hung eight 2ft x 4ft homemade bass traps in the wall/ceiling corners and I think there is enough stuff in the room so that there aren't any really offensive ringing sounds or such. Buuuut, the mixing desk is kind of off in the corner - a necessity due to the practicalities of home recording. I probably have it better off than many home recordists, but am worlds away from the control room in a professional studio.

Originally Posted by beingmf

A common pitfall, if you mic and record everything yourself, is to accept these recordings as "true". One has to develop an objective ear for masking frequencies, the "proper" midrange and so on. Most of the time, you could easily cut 5 or 6 dB, or more, somewhere in the 50-700Hz area and there still will be enough low end.

I have definitely made a habit of hacking away the low end mud. I can't stand to hear the mud and I think my monitors make a lot of stuff in the low end sound muddy anyway, so I am pretty ruthless with highpass filters and dips around 250hz.

Originally Posted by beingmf

Finally: levels! How hot are your track levels in the project itself?

I think I'm ok here. I usually set my mic levels pretty low - maybe too low - averaging around -18 in Reaper. When I mix things usually end up getting a little louder, though I try to keep levels even as I add fx so I can really decide whether something is improving the sound as opposed to just making it louder.

How easy should it be to hear eq adjustments on one instrument when listening to the mix as a whole? Is it something that you can sort of hear and get better at over time, or should it be immediately apparent? Do you usually need to simplify the mix - starting with just drums, then add bass and eq that, then a guitar/piano/whatever?

When is it that you usually start eqing things into their own space - once you have the mix as a whole more or less ready dynamics-wise, panned, levels adjusted, etc. Or is it more of an as you go thing?

Thanks so much for the feedback! I know there must be others out there having similar problems.

[beingmf]

Sounds pretty reasonable
Regarding the speakers and the low end: if you are really sure that you don't overdo the high pass filtering, then brilliant!
"Mixing desk in the corner" means you also put your monitors there? I've tried that once, it wasn't as bad as I expected...

By the way: my room is pretty small, too. Acoustics were "fine" originally, but not more. I also put absorbers behind the main speakers – which did help, but the greatest step forward was a session with a rented measurement mic and Room EQ Wizard (free!). As a result, I've plugged a dedicated hardware EQ between control room output and power amp, with just some steep 3/60 oct notches in order to correct the room resonances. Wow!!! Everything made sense from that moment on. You might try that as well, if you want to know more or less exactly what is going on acoustically.

About the levels: great that you could get accustomed to lower digital levels! It's so much easier to mix that way, isn't it?

Well, I think everyone has its own habits to start a mix, in my case it's drums and bass together. If the song is "loud" stylistically, I try to get the overheads transparent and crunchy first, then I aim for punch in the snare track. I start to look for a drum reverb now.
Bassdrum and bass complement each other, that's why I treat it more or less as one element, never ever solo. But of course that approach is different with more silent songs or electronic stuff.

When I think about it, I add the important tracks first. Vocals, then rhythm guitars or keys, still on mono Auratone! It's just your own decision – respectively what the song calls for – which instruments should be in front and which you want to push back a little (or a lot). If you don't have a vision for this, you won't be able to find the "pockets", EQ-wise or reverb-wise! Sometimes I add enormous amounts of crisp mids or top end, because I want that instrument right in your face. Sometimes I roll off the highs, to make it seem more distant. It's all a sonic picture of an imaginary stage. Even impossible stages can work, of course but you have to "see" or "hear" them in your mind.

Then I add the remaining instruments' tracks, probably on main speakers now, keeping one thing in mind: regular breaks in order to reset my ears. Otherwise I may lose objectivity by focusing on these little sounds or pads, and in the end, these elements will be too prominent.

But that's my way of building a mix – other people start with the vocals, or mix completely dry, adding reverbs and dynamics last...

Just an insight...