Mixdown
From DNBWiki
Mixdown is a difficult term to define precisely, despite being of extreme importance in drum and bass production. Essentially, it covers the process of setting elements in the tune to appropriate volumes, and giving each element its place in the frequency spectrum (most likely with use of EQ) and sound stage (via panning and reverb for example).
To put it another way, it is the point where you are no longer programming synth or sampler parts on an individual basis, but rather taking a holistic view of the track. In a way you are trying to achieve two apparently contradictory aims at once:
- giving each element separation (most notably via EQ and panning) so that no element is "buried" in the mix or indistinct
- getting all the individual elements to "gel" cohesively, so they feel part of the same track.
Overall, the mixdown is about achieving an overall positive sound to the track which could be described with fuzzily-defined adjectives such as "fat", "clean", "punchy", "crisp", "spacious" and so on.
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[edit] Mixdown as a separate stage
In the commercial rock and pop world, it was (and is) common for mixing to occur as a separate stage, done by a separate specialist engineer, the mixing engineer. He would be given multitracks following tracking and production, and (probably) using little more than a mixing desk, EQ and compressors, deliver a finished mix.
Part of the reason for this is purely the notion of "fresh ears". However, engineers who specialised in mixing would also of course develop a greater depth of experience and wisdom in this field.
In drum and bass this is fairly uncommon, and it is probably fair to say the "mix as you go" approach is more widespread. However many do still praise the benefits gained by taking a day or two away from the tune once you have 'finished' it, before mixing it down, in order to give yourself some degree of fresh ears.
[edit] Mixdown over content
A frequent complaint on The Grid is that modern drum and bass values mixdown over content. Posts such as this are common: "a crap/boring/unoriginal tune with a perfect mixdown will get signed and rinsed by the DJs, but a wicked/original/musical tune with a dodgy mixdown will never get picked up".
There is probably some element of truth of this, although this Wiki is not the place to debate it. At any rate, the wicked tune with a perfect mixdown is surely the best of both worlds, so this argument is not a credible reason to avoid striving for high quality mixdowns.
A couple of huge threads along these lines are:
[edit] The Mixdown Button
References to this should not be taken literally. It is a piss-taking reference to comments made by Teebee in a Knowledge Magazine interview, in which he claimed Reason came equipped with a mixdown button.
See:
[edit] Texts on mixing
