What is Mixtering?
Mixtering is the process of mixing and mastering inside a neutral response listening environment. But, let's define first these two terms:
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Mixing is the process of summing all audio track/channels captured in your recording system to create a mono, stereo {two channel}, surround sound or Dolby Atmos mix.
Mastering {formerly known as 'pre-mastering'} is the adjustment of mix frequencies inside a neutral response room to achieve a more dynamic and balanced sound for proper streaming, or playback system translation.
When you combined these two powerful processes into one {mixing & mastering}, you are effectively "mixtering".
-- Edward Vinatea
Hi! I am Edward Vinatea, an audio engineer in New York City and I invented the term Mixtering.
It doesn't change the
way you record, or track music, so you can always get your tracks
recorded at your local recording studio with your favorite audio engineer, or finish a mix all by yourself.
If you are
reading this and were looking for mastering, it's not too late, let me explain:
Imagine a mix that has a weak kick in electronic or pop music, but you can't get back to the original session mix. You then sent it for mastering.
To
get the feeling that the kick drum is thumping in your chest and
packing in a serious punch, you will need to accentuate its fundamental
frequency somewhere in between 40Hz and 100Hz.
But in conventional mastering, you would also be affecting the bass response of many instruments, especially bass synths and/or guitars!
But in conventional mastering, you would also be affecting the bass response of many instruments, especially bass synths and/or guitars!
Mixtering can take your stereo production mix and adjust your kick drums without meaningful changes to the overall sound of other instruments at the bottom end.
Now, imagine a vocal track that dips in some sections of the song. To get the lead vocalist perfectly leveled you would have to adjust, or even compress frequencies in the mid range, usually between 800Hz and 4kHz.
But in conventional mastering, you would also be affecting the mid range frequencies to ALL instruments within that frequency range which could have undesired changes to the overall sound.
It's the main reason why mastering engineers would ask for mix revisions to artists and producers, which in turn compromises your release date.
Mixtering can take your stereo production mix and adjust the lead vocal without meaningful changes to the mix of other instruments/parts at the mid range.
MAIN DESCRIPTION
Mixtering is a radical departure from the traditional notion of music "mastering". The idea of the engineer doing both, the mixing and
mastering inside a neutral response room is, of course, not even new. It's
certainly not a 100% guarantee that you'll be achieving the best sound quality because, just
like great mastering depends on great mixing, the quality of a mix
depends heavily on great tracking, the correct use of microphones
during the recording process, and even arrangement.
The problem with mixing engineers attempting to do their own mastering is that they usually lack the experience, sometimes the necessary skills to work with mastering tools, and they conduct the mastering in the same room where they mixed the material. That is, a room cluttered with stuff all over the floor, furniture, large racks of gear, keyboard stands, etc, etc. In other words, a room filled with comb filtering issues, multiple sound reflection problems and certainly not acoustically fine tuned for the task at hand.
This is what separates me from these engineers as many years ago I created what I believe to be, the ideal workstation inside a neutral listening environment to accomplish both, mixing and mastering {mixtering}. So, most processing is done hybrid with analog hardware and DAW's. One look at the workstation above, and you can understand why this can be accomplished with great precision.
Furthermore, I don't use a large console/mixer anymore, which allows me to reduce the size of my working area and eliminate potential reflective surfaces.
I usually start the process mixing by stems which allows me to process beyond the specifications and limitations of my system. My formula is simple: I usually divide a mix into 4 main stereo groups, or stems (sometimes more):
(1) The rhythm section {which may include bass parts}.
The problem with mixing engineers attempting to do their own mastering is that they usually lack the experience, sometimes the necessary skills to work with mastering tools, and they conduct the mastering in the same room where they mixed the material. That is, a room cluttered with stuff all over the floor, furniture, large racks of gear, keyboard stands, etc, etc. In other words, a room filled with comb filtering issues, multiple sound reflection problems and certainly not acoustically fine tuned for the task at hand.
This is what separates me from these engineers as many years ago I created what I believe to be, the ideal workstation inside a neutral listening environment to accomplish both, mixing and mastering {mixtering}. So, most processing is done hybrid with analog hardware and DAW's. One look at the workstation above, and you can understand why this can be accomplished with great precision.
Furthermore, I don't use a large console/mixer anymore, which allows me to reduce the size of my working area and eliminate potential reflective surfaces.
I usually start the process mixing by stems which allows me to process beyond the specifications and limitations of my system. My formula is simple: I usually divide a mix into 4 main stereo groups, or stems (sometimes more):
(1) The rhythm section {which may include bass parts}.
(2) The guitar section.
(3) The keyboards, horns and special effects section.
(4) The vocals section.
(3) The keyboards, horns and special effects section.
(4) The vocals section.
These 4
stereo stems in turn produce the stereo 'production mix', which in the end, it gets
fine tuned and "mastered" to the desired target format. Try this
method of mixing and you'll see that it takes focus and extensive music
engineering experience.
Mixtering Methods & Processes
Method I - "Mixtering"
Conventional mixing {multi-track mono or stereo channels} => mastering.
Method II - "Stem Mixtering"
Stems {2+ mono or stereo tracks} => mastering.
Method III - "Unmixing Mixtering"
Unmixing* {2+ stereo channels} => mastering.
*Unmixing for mixtering is a process in which the spectral elements inside a stereo mix are extracted or separated out, so that they can be adjusted, remixed and mastered. This is a fairly new technique which is giving mixes that were not mixed correctly, or could not be revised and/or had issues that couldn't be fixed at mastering, a new life. This process can be applied even to final masters.
EV Sonic Lab is a leader in mixtering stereo mixes and have pioneered all these mastering and remastering techniques.
You can request a free mastering demonstration which usually takes up to three business days to process. Please, do not submit more than one mix and do not submit compressed or lossy files like mp3. Click here.
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