Top Tip for Sound Mixing (using a basic analogue mixer)
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- Опубликовано: 3 сен 2017
- This simple tip is the most useful thing you will ever learn about mixing your sound. It tells you how to use the mid-sweep knobs on your mixer. I learned it from a Yamaha sound engineer and it's great and it's simple - perfect :).
It includes a detailed explanation and a live example.
But don't keep to to yourself - share it around and help all your musician friends !!
And if you want to know how to sound-check fast, check out another of our videos "How to Sound Check in under 5 minutes": • Video 
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OH MY GOD, there actually exists a video that explains mixing sound without a load of jargon. Thank you!
Aw thanks John - that's lovely. Like you I hate jargon that makes things harder not easier to understand :).
@@SamanthaSingerThank u so much bruhh. Love from India💕
@@gabrielisaac1821 No problem - glad you found it useful.
and now that's how you all youtubers have to explain things! THANK YOU A LOT!
My pleasure - glad to help :).
That was the best clear explanation about parametric eq compared to all youtube I watched.. I used this technique at church and never looked back..thankyou, samantha
Thank you for you kind words and glad it was useful.
Fantastic. Simple and clear. With no waffle. Thank you very much
You're welcome - glad you liked it.
I have watched a few videos trying to explain sweepable mids but this made the most sense.
That's very kind of you to say so, thanks :).
Amazing tip! I'm an assistant high school orchestra director and I need to learn the school's sound mixer/console. This is so useful! Thank you
Glad I could help :). Have you seen my 5 minute sound-check video - also on my channel.
Thank you Samantha. Your explanation was direct and easy to follow ... just what I needed. Much appreciated.
Thanks Michael for your kind comments. I'll be doing one on the different ways of setting gain/volume sometime.
thank you samantha..you have made this so simple.. anyone can understand this..and apply it to get a great mix..thank you again
My pleasure - glad it was useful
I’ve looked through so many audio videos, and they had to brush over this, or don’t explain it without saying all this extra jargon, and this makes it very simple for someone who didn’t grow up as an audio engineer lol
So pleased it helped Michael.
I actually learned something today. Not to use the parametric mid eq to boost, but to reduce nadty mid sounds. Thank you!
I do the same thing for live sound, except I cut and sweep to hear when it sounds better. But this is just another good way of comparing what you are hearing when sweeping. On a 31 band, I do this as well by asking students to boost a bit and listen then cut a bit and listen. This is a very good video that I will show to my students as part of a discussion on 'using your ears' to tune a sound system. Cheers!
Thanks :). The Yamaha guy I learnt this from mad a good argument for always cutting instead of boosting (to reduce mush and increase clarity and separation). But I'm no expert - I just pick bits up here and there :).
@@SamanthaSinger The explanation and video itself is very clear, so thanks for sharing!!
Thank you. I have looked so long now for an easy to understand explanation. This is great...
You're most welcome, Clive. I'm glad it was useful. If you think others might find it useful too please consider sharing it :).
@@SamanthaSinger No problem...
Amazing, thanks for the help!
Love how simple you made it
Thanks :). It has to be simple for me :)
You have been an amazing teacher and thanks for finally making me understand with live demo 🤗🤗🤗
Thanks so much for your lovely comment. Glad I could help :). Have you checked out my related video - 'How to Sound check in 5 minutes'? ruclips.net/video/i9qIgeDoybA/видео.html
@@SamanthaSingerI just did watch it and its just as amazing 😊 and you both are perfect duo of a teacher ❤️🤗 and can you also please make another video just as your dad talked about "how to increase the volume using the mixer" like to focus on the gain or the channel fader or the master fader 🥶
@@paulson2008 Yes that's planned to do in the next week or so. And he's my partner! BIG age difference between us - haha :).
wow wasn't expecting this .....
It's been couple of months since the church made me incharge of the sound systems.
I always used to play around with the mids.
But gotta say this is a revelation 😂😂❤️.
Will be doing this henceforth 💯.
Subscribed ☑️
Hey, so glad I could help :). Will be doing a simple explanation of gain-staging sometime :).
@@SamanthaSinger please do...
That would be wonderful 🤙🏻🙌🏻
@@SamanthaSinger yes please
Watching it again and just have to say - well done, Samantha!
I am a veteran muso and sound engineer so I am good with all of this but for those who don't know, this video should help dispell many misconceptions ;-) Take care and hope to chat soon ...
Thanks Joe, I agree, when I was shown this I thought it was a great simple tip and I'm happy to share it with everyone else :).
Thankyou dear, you are such a beauty, a life saver. Been seeking for tutorial like this.
I'm very glad it was helpful.
Thank you! This is exactly the How-To that I needed tot reduce that bathroom quaility in vocals.
Great news, Frans :).
ahh appreciate your efforts to explain the mid-frequency levels.
My pleasure :)
Perfect explanation.
Thanks. I keep promising to do 'Gain-staging' sometime - must get round to it.
Truely explained well.
Thank you for the excellent information luv! Very succinct and helpful , brilliant!!!!! Cheers!!!
Glad it was useful, Paul :).
Brilliant! Very clear tutorial.
Thanks Barry, glad you liked it.
Thank you verymuch, you explained it very nicely and clearly, Keep it up..
Thank you - glad to have helped.
This was very helpful, many thanks 🎉
My pleasure :).
Very helpful Samantha. Thank you so much.
Thanks John, so glad you found it useful.
Youre explaining very effective than a professor.Thanks a lot
Thanks Anton - glad it's useful :)
A good n perfect setting for mic purpose. Thanks a lot.
You're welcome.
Thanks it helped me a lot..very simple and understandable 👍
Glad it helped - I found the same when I was first discovered it.
Well explained solution indeed...Two thumbs up !!
Thanks for your nice comment - glad to help.
I am Joshua from India 🇮🇳 your teaching is very excellent I learned the new dimension of mid controle usage thank u ✋
Thank you Senthil, I'm glad it was useful.
Wow
This Videos simple explanation was an eye opener for me
Thank you
My pleasure to be able to help you.
Great video
Keep it analogue and you'll carve a big audience
Well done
Thanks, Ruby. I can see there are some advantages to digital but so far I haven't found them worth worrying about - analogue works fine in 99% of situations :).
I got tech week next tomorrow you just saved my life 🙏
Glad to have helped :).
Great video extremely useful thank you.
Thanks glad it was useful.
The Read was dope! 👌🏿
Thank you Sam your tips helped me so much, I wanted a full tutorial on the soundcraft efx12 audio mixer
Glad you liked it. Sadly I'm a singer as my main job so I don't have time to do a full tutorial :(. I'm sure there must be one on YT somewhere?
Amazing tips thanks u
Beautiful!
Amazing tip!
Thanks Samuel, glad you liked it.
simply great!
Thanks, Samantha!! I have the EFX 12 SoundCraft mixer, which is identical just with more channels. I've never fully understood the mid-sweep function.....until now 😉.
So glad it was useful :)
Thank you!
Thank you Samantha I found you helpful..
You're welcome. Jim. Let's all help each other any way we can :).
This was very informative!!! Thank you for taking the time to do this!!
My pleasure, Tim. When I come across useful tips it's great to spread them around :).
This was great, thanks
Very glad to have been useful :).
You have my thanks and my sub. You aved me a lot of time.
Thank you :). Glad it was useful.
Great Job
Thanks David.
Nice information
Well done and thanks
Glad you liked it :).
Came across your video so helpful. I’m into karaoke what mixer and wireless microphone would you recommend to get a good sound. ?
Thanks Samantha
Thank you very much!!!
Glad it was useful :).
Thank you very much 🙏
You're welcome
Very nice
Thanks Dennis.
Thank you it's nice
Thanks Karthi.
Thank you
Thanks a lot!!
You're welcome :).
This is very helpful. Please do gain staging on the same mixer please!!!
Thanks, glad you liked it. And yes, we will do gain staging sometime - excellent idea :).
Instrument specific would be a good video ✌🏻
Do you mean specifically mid-sweep for different instruments?
Thank youu 🙏
You're welcome
Thanks a lot
You're welcome, Nathan.
Haha, that was a clear as mud !!!
Ah well, I tried :).
what is the use of other controls in the right side of the mixer.. how to gain echo and reverb that it wont have an echo feedback from the speaker.
On this mixer the effects controls should not effect whether you have feedback or not. To avoid feedback follow all the usual advice - don;t have mics facing speakers, etc. But the best advice I can give for feedback is to use top quality equipment. I use DPA mics and Dynacord (same company as EV) speakers and RCF monitors -and I've never has feedback once in any venue in 8 years of touring. I'm convinced it's the equipment that makes that possible.
@@SamanthaSinger Thanks 😊 for the tips.
Anti-clockwise. I laughed so hard!
Gold!
Thank you :)
Samantha I loved the way you have simplified what I have been wondering about those two knobs, I do have a novice question: Do you adjust the Mid & Sweep before or after adjusting the High & Low. Thanks in advanced for your time & reply
Hi Guz. Theoretically it doesn't make any difference. However we do the mid range first because we think it's easier to do - when you hear a sour spot it's fairly easy to identify and so reduce/eliminate. Once that's done the overall sound is then closer to 'best possible' and any problems with the upper/lower ranges should be easier to hear and adjust. Did that make sense? :)
@@SamanthaSinger it's as clear as crystal. It does make sense as you say. Thank you very much for this info now I'll be able to face the board at our gigs & church and know more or less what I'm doing thanks to your layman's explanation. P.S. You have a wonderful voice.
@@guzglez3071 Thanks Guz - glad to be able to help. And thanks for the voice compliment - three years training!
I saw this tip some years ago and used it with my Zoom R16 multitrack recorder. I found that a friend's guitar has a very bad resonance at a particular frequency, and I turned down the gain at that frequency to make it sound sweet again. Great tip!
However, a mixer with 3 band parametric EQ well exceeds my definition of "basic". So, what can you do if you only have a 2 or 3 band (non-parametric) EQ??
Without the abitlity to adjust the frequency that a knob is increasing/reducing there's very little you can.
I usually listen to each channel in turn and try to decide if I think it sounds trebly or bassy (or both) and turn those down if I need to.
Then play with the mid range up/down and see if I think any setting improves the sound.
@@SamanthaSinger In the end, you can only twist the knobs that are actually present 😃 Thanks for replying!
Hey I would like to know where you got ur case for the mixer
Ah yeah. My partner bought the case second hand and adapted it to fit the mixer. they are really expensive if you buy them new to fit a particular brand, aren't they!
My mixer dont have upper and low mid settings how to make the vocal like this?
Which mixer do you have?
Subscribed
Glad to have you on board Abner. 'Gain staging' (or 'Why the heck are there three different volume controls?') will be the next mixing video.
Thanks
You're very welcome. New video coming soon on how to sound check in under 5 minutes.
very informative 👌👌
Glad you found it useful, Anil.
thanx for shear the video it's really helpful for newcomers 🌹
work it girl! female engineers rock!
We
are a rare breed :).
Hi Samantha, I’m new to your channel and like your content. Can you tell me what is the name or type of mixer that you have ? Thank you
It's a Soundcraft EFX. It's considered old-fashioned now because it's not digital but I think it still does the job well. All Soundcraft mixers are good.
We have Italian stage and has no mids and the effects has a loud distortion on the delay and reverb.
SOrry, can't help with that :).
The best
Thanks.
can you show this test for mixer dynacord
I only have this one mixer, so, no I can't demonstrate with a DYnacord. However if your Dynacord has a 'Hi', 'Mid' and 'Lo' EQ knobs (e.g. 600 series) then you can't use this procedure. But if it has 'Hi,. 'MId', 'Lo' AND 'kHz' (1000 series and above) then you can use this procedure and it's identiacl to what I describe for the Soundcraft.
Thank you
Will this works on guitars and any other instruments?
Yes it should work on any sound. When checking for an instrument use a repeated 'typicla' chord in the middle of the guitar's range for a performance and make that sound best. It's not ideal because the sound will change a lot during a performance and what's best for hat 'typical' sound won't be best for all of the guitar's range. But it's the best you can do :).
@@SamanthaSinger Thank you so much.
I like it mam
Thanks Rakibul.
Really helpful ❤️❤️❤️
Glad you liked it. When someone showed me I thought it was useful too so I wanted to pass it on :).
@@SamanthaSinger please make a video on how to record over a instrumental track(any track from youtube)what we need focus on it🙏..
I just got interface next step laptop😁then headset like that I've to collect (buy)things like birds make nest 😂I'm making my lil studio
@@TurTlelyrics605 That's a really good idea! It's something I've done a lot and there are easy and difficult ways of doing it :). I'll do one so if you subscribe it should pop up soon.
@@TurTlelyrics605 Just googled 'home recording' and there are loads of videos that would help you. I'm not sure I could add anything that hasn't already been said!
@@SamanthaSinger yes their are plenty of video.I got about the vocal part but I want to know how can I enhance the musical track.think something 🙏🙄
How do you apply this in mixers that have high and low mid?
Exactly the same - you just do it twice - once with each mid.
@@SamanthaSinger thanks 😊
Good
Thanks - glad you liked it.
Nice voice
Aw, thanks Eddy :).
Oh Gosh I’m trying to learn this for the church mixer. The knob says -15 -+15 is that kilowatts. I understand the third know with -15 to +15 cut or boost the frequency. So I’m still try to understand the correlation between. Appreciated
Hey Thomas. The upper of the mid knobs is the centre of the frequency range the cut/boost knob will act upon. The width of the range and the highest and lowest frequencies that form the centre of the range varies from mixer to mixer. It's not really necessary to know exactly what frequencies you are dealing with. It's just an auditory process: sweep across the whole frequency range available and find the worst-sounding one and deal with that.
More expensive mixers sometimes allow you to vary the width of the section of frequencies you are sweeping over (if you see what I mean - it's hard to describe without diagrams!). Digital ones all allow infinite control, of course :).
@@SamanthaSinger Thank you samantha for the kind replay. I just look at the pic I took from the mixer the HM and LM both has different frequency range like u said the mixer we have is Allen health GL 2400. So when u begin testing is there a position to start with for example I can start from 12 0 clock position. Last service I was getting some feedback from the system. I believe EQ play a role ? Any suggestions to fix the feedback issues. I will try to do EQ for each singers with their voice. Last questing did u ever did facebook live from the mixer to the iPhone any suggestions on that ? I tried doing quarter inch to phone jack didn’t help heard about IRIg also someone says there is an apps which can use as an interface. Thank you so much.
@@thomas9469 I always start from extreme anti-clockwise to extreme clockwise (about 7 o'clock to about 5 o'clock). But it doesn't matter as long as you cover the full range of frequencies to identify the worst frequency and reduce that. If you push the top knob of the pair as high as you can until just on the point of feedback you will most easily find any dodgy frequencies.
Regarding feedback, I guess you have done the obvious and made sure none of the mics are facing (or can pick up anything coming out of) a speaker. You can buy EQ boxes specially designed to plu into a single channel or the overall output to kill a narrow frequency that is feeding back. But I don;t like those - I like to remove the problem at source. The best way I've found is to use speakers and mics of equal (ideally high) quality. If you have excellent speakers and a cheap mic (to me that's anything under £300) then the mic is likely to cause problems. And vice-versa. My mic is £850 and my speakers and subs are £4000. I have never had feedback in 10 years since I bought them! Even if I put the speakers behind me!! Obviously not every situation justifies that expenditure, though. But it's an example of how the better the equipment, the less likely is feedback.
I'm afraid I have no knowledge of using phones as a broadcast method - I've only done that by laptop - so I can't help I'm afriad.
@@SamanthaSinger Thanks again the headset wireless mic is a cheap one we have the priest using I got a feeling that cause the issue also the the feedback speaker sitting on the side of the alter but someone standing front of it. Quality mic is important. Also use the method you show on the video when setting both high mid and low mid correct.
@@thomas9469 Yeah definitely tackle the speaker/mic placement first.
What’s the name of your Mixer ? Thanks!!
It's a Soundcraft EFX. It's considered old-fashioned now because it's not digital but I think it still does the job well. All Soundcraft mixers are good.
What If you only have 1 Button in mid not 2 ?
That's a good question. If you just have one button for the mid-frequencies then it means the manufacturer has decided what frequencies that button controls and has fixed them so you have no flexibility with it. You can only use it like the high and low frequency knobs - turn them up or down and see whether you like the change in the sound.
please, I want to ask. if i have a personal monitor mixer behringer p16 and i have an analog mixer but i do not have a direct out . So what should I do ?
i have only two aux
What is your mixer make/model?
@@SamanthaSinger yamaha Mg 166 c
@@peteryousef5177 I don't know that mixer or the Behringer P16. But I can see that your mixer doesn't seem to have a 'mono out' - which is a shame. Is your output from the mixer mono or stereo? If it's a band, the sound is often the same in bith Left and Right channels to the main speakers. If that's so, then it's easy - just take one of the monitor outs (below the XLR STereo Outs) and use that. Otherwise I'm not sure. The four Group Out sockets might all be stereo> Send every channel to Group 1 and use that? Beyond that I can't advise a simple solution. Of course an I/O box like the Behringer UM2 will take two stereo jack inputs and send them out as mono - but that means spending money :(.
@@SamanthaSinger i did not get you ?
@@peteryousef5177 I'm sorry, I don't understand.
💕💕💕💕
What mixer is this ?
Soundcraft EFX8
was i the only one on the edge of my seat, waiting to hear who had taken netherfield park?
Haha. Glad you watched to the end.
Spoiler alert! ... it's a single man of large fortune and he will be in possession by Michaelmas.
How do u do this for a three band eq mixer?
If you have more than one mid-sweep function on a mixer the process is the same. Start with any mid-sweep and find the sour spot. Cut that frequency then move to another mid-scweep and find the next-worst frequncy and cut that (probably cut that less than the one first frequency that you found to be sour). And so on depending how many mid-sweeps you have. I hope that was clear!
@@SamanthaSinger no I only have a low mid and high. I essentially have a British eq mixer. So no low or high mids
@@jasonjellie9342 I'm not quite clear from that what you have. The simplist arramgement is a single knob for low frequencies, abother for mid and another for high. The next level up is the same except that the mid frequency knob has another one associated with it (like my video shows) to alter the part of the mid range upon which it acts. The next level above that is two mid frequency pairs of knobs. if you have the simplist type then there's nothing clever you can do except adjust each knob up and down until you think it sounds best (not very helpful, I know). There are suggestions on RUclips and elsewhere about adjustments that certain people think work best for certain instruments but that takes a lot of research and it varies with every venue and particular instrument so best of luck sorting all that out :). Personally I find it doesn't make much difference unless you find the need to strongly boost/cut the highest or lowest frequencies. For example, I have a very trebly voice so I cut the high end severely. But the low end makes no noticeable difference on my voice.
@@SamanthaSinger so all my mixer has on each individual mic input is an volume control fx sends, low, mid and high, and gain control. I believe the music industry commonly refers to it as British eq coz it doesn’t have a low mid or a mid high in between the high and mid ranges like the one in your example
@@jasonjellie9342 Ah OK. So like I said, there's not much you can do except experiment, listen and see what sounds best to you.
Thanks Samantha, but I still need your help.
If you have a question - fire away :)
@@SamanthaSinger I do Samantha but my mixer isn't as great as yours. I had quite a few questions actually...but I dont want to take much of your time so will just ask one. Im getting the boys around for a jam tomorrow... can I connect a Microphone into the 1/4" input as one end that connects to the mic is XLR and the other end 1/4". Its for my friend to do backing singing, hes not very good anyway. The reason I cannot use the XLR inputs on my Mixer is (I only have 4) they are all taken for guitar 1, guitar 2, bass, main vocals...thanks Samantha.
@@number1Don Important question! Usually the 1/4" jack inputs are for 'powerful' inputs such as guitars and keyboards where the signal the mixer gets is already fairly loud. Whereas the XLR inputs are for quieter inputs such as microphones which send a very weak signal to the mixer. So you will be better off, if you can, putting guitars and bass into jack inputs and both vocals into XLR inputs (if you have enough of each type).
@@SamanthaSinger Dont worry Samantha I wouldn't waste our time asking you an unimportant question! ;) Thanks for your response....all our guitars go into a DI box so we just usually go XLR female (DI box) to XLR male on the mixer. However as he wants to sing its ruined everything. So what I will do, is put the 2 x MICs XLR to XLR on mixer, 2 instruments XLR to XLR and then one instrument XLR to 1/4 jack (TRS) on the mixer. If you are curious I have a Alto ZMX122fx. Not bad for my first mixer...(I think). I have a second question if thats okay. The mixer has main out (PA) and CTRL room out (Monitors). So as far as I understand, the CTRL Room out just does what the main out does except the monitors face the band instead of the audience. However, as the singer I want to hear what I sound like....so do I use the AUX out to connect to either in ear monitors or a monitor wedge to then kind of increase the vocal level and decrease the other inputs so I can hear myself sing? Thanks
@@number1Don Yes, exactly that for the Aux. I find with my band that I can use aux for the whole band monitors and my own. Even though the mix is set to my preference as the singer, it seems to give the band better sound to listen to in their monitors than just hearing a copy of the front-of-house sound. But if you find FoH in the band monitors and a different Aux balance for yourself works better then that's fine too - just a different way. Of course the big set-ups have many aux outputs and then each band member can then have their own preferred mix!
Honestly, Alto is a budget brand so I'd upgrade when you can afford it. The worst thing to happen is for your mixer to pack up during a gig! I use my Soundcraft for gigs but I always carry a spare (cheaper) one in the car just in case. You can around most other failures but not a total mixer failure.
ayo y u starin at me like that
Hello
Calculus
Thats a lot of knobs.
This good tech girl I need a girl who knows like you
:)
inputs outputs set models installings 😛😛😛😛😛😛😛
good job..but you are basically manipulating the function otherwise known as "Q"
My understanding of 'Q' is that it's the width of the frequency range that is going to be affected when you increase or lower that section of the bandwidth.
So a low Q on the mid-section would mean then when you tweaked it the effect would be applied to a wide range of frequencies whereas a high Q would apply the effect to a narrow range of frequencies (or maybe the other way round?). That control is only on more sophisticated desks.
My example is more basic - the Q is fixed - the only thing I'm varying is what the central frequency is that I am adjusting. It's the same width of frequencies being affected, just centred on a different part of the range.
Not easy to discuss in words - so much easier with pencil and paper :).
No it’s not.
It’s sweeping the frequency 150 hz - 3.5 kHz at a set Q of 1.50.
@@michaelquinn8498 Yes, I wasn't clear in what I wrote. There's no control over Q with that mid-range function on a basic mixer like this. It's sweeping the frequency range but not affecting the Q.