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Other music and off-topic => Studios, Sounds, Vocals and Tech-Talk => Topic started by: Neal Sabel on March 17, 2017, 08:43:16 PM

Title: Precision Mixing - To get really CLEAN mixes
Post by: Neal Sabel on March 17, 2017, 08:43:16 PM
Hi everyone,

Have you wondered how Max Martin get's his songs sounding so clean ?
How was the Cheiron sound so clean ?

My grandfather Kyle Sabel worked in Sweden during the 80s and 90s as a sound engineer in many recording studios and before he died he left me his unreleased written philosophy on all things music production.  This was an actual diary, which I inherited.  One of his concepts was "Precision Mixing."  He had observed in many studios in Sweden and Europe, especially with electronic and synth production that mixing was key. 

The art of getting a super clean mix was through carefully calibrating each mixing function to it's optimal level.  This meant being a very precise mixer and thinking in terms of single unit measurements or even fractional unit measurements.  So for example, if you are applying Reverb you wouldn't just add 10 units of Reverb, he taught, that to get the cleanest mix you would add 1 unit of Reverb each time and monitor the effect until you found the optimal level of reverb, which  might actually be 3 units of Reverb.  So this is exactly how the technicians at Cheiron and Max Martin mixed, in very precise, unit amounts, calibrating each mixing function to it's optimal level, this goes right across the board to Channel EQ's, compressors, delays, you name it - everything. 

I since, have fined tuned what my grandfather started and carry on the same philosophy of precision mixing in my music.  People ask me all the time how my songs sound so clean and well to prove it you can take a listen to my album on ITunes.  This is relevant to the topic and not just me blinding self promoting, I hope you can appreciate. 

The link is http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1212052933?ls=1&app=itunes

Please feel free to ask me any questions about specifically what precision mixing entails.  As with all techniques it improves over time so I am still finding new ways to get cleaner results in my mix. 

Kind Regards,

Neal