The Concepts of Audio, Engineering
Garrison Katz
The Concepts of Audio, Engineering
“The most important thing about audio engineering is to understand the concepts of mixing. Since there are so many concepts finding the best one in general will be hard, I myself don’t think it exists yet”(May). From the dawn of time mankind has had music and every song since the first one is known as the infinity remix. By that I mean that the first concept of the second song is a remix of the first and every “new song” from that point is a remix of the first. With so many genres to day the concepts of creation and mixing had to evolve over the centuries and become better to keep the listeners satisfied. So the perfect mixing style, well cannot be simply explained, it can only be searched for, played, tested, and fade away like all of its predecessors.
An amateur mix would not have contrast, is without a focal point, cluttered or noisy mixes, lack of clarity, hardly and intimacy/ feeling inconsistent levels and or dull uninteresting sounds. Through trial and error some mixing styles have been eliminated from the music business regardless if they were popular at one point. As mixes change the genre of music either adapts or evolves into a new one. For instance, rap music once used snare drums, guitars, and fast passed monotone lyrics. Over time, the meaning of the lyrics changed and with that the “beat” fallowed. Rap changed from party time, to violence, to being gangsta, to something that cannot be defined, so naturally an undefined mixing style occurred, losing its edge, becoming less popular. The three most popular styles of mixing are: the London style, the New York style, and the LA style. The London style uses perspective, putting each instrument in its own distinct sonic environment. One’s musical arrangement is very important in mixing but even more so in the London mix. The LA style takes a musical event and instead of altering it they augment it, but only slightly. The New York style of mixing
The Concepts of Audio, Engineering
“The most important thing about audio engineering is to understand the concepts of mixing. Since there are so many concepts finding the best one in general will be hard, I myself don’t think it exists yet”(May). From the dawn of time mankind has had music and every song since the first one is known as the infinity remix. By that I mean that the first concept of the second song is a remix of the first and every “new song” from that point is a remix of the first. With so many genres to day the concepts of creation and mixing had to evolve over the centuries and become better to keep the listeners satisfied. So the perfect mixing style, well cannot be simply explained, it can only be searched for, played, tested, and fade away like all of its predecessors.
An amateur mix would not have contrast, is without a focal point, cluttered or noisy mixes, lack of clarity, hardly and intimacy/ feeling inconsistent levels and or dull uninteresting sounds. Through trial and error some mixing styles have been eliminated from the music business regardless if they were popular at one point. As mixes change the genre of music either adapts or evolves into a new one. For instance, rap music once used snare drums, guitars, and fast passed monotone lyrics. Over time, the meaning of the lyrics changed and with that the “beat” fallowed. Rap changed from party time, to violence, to being gangsta, to something that cannot be defined, so naturally an undefined mixing style occurred, losing its edge, becoming less popular. The three most popular styles of mixing are: the London style, the New York style, and the LA style. The London style uses perspective, putting each instrument in its own distinct sonic environment. One’s musical arrangement is very important in mixing but even more so in the London mix. The LA style takes a musical event and instead of altering it they augment it, but only slightly. The New York style of mixing
Cited: I have my works cited saved on the student drive at school.