Just read a very informative article from the great guys are Home Tracked offering some excellent but really simple tricks and tips to improve your home recordings. You can read the full article here: Improve Your Recordings and Mixes, on the Cheap.
I just want to mention a couple of the tips that really do work (we use them every day) here at The Sitting Room. Whether we’re recording or mixing bands, finalising post-production audio for film or TV, or producing a radio ad, these tricks really do make a huge difference!
One great point is to listen to your mixes on multiple systems. In the recording studio we have two main sets of monitors that we use on every mix. Both sets of monitors (set of KRK V6s and a set of Tannoys) have quite different frequency responses and so make a great combination for judging a mix. If the mix sounds great on both then I know I’m really getting somewhere. Even with this great monitoring set up I still always take mixes away to listen in the car and at home and I often tell bands to do the same. It really gives you an insite in to different aspects of the mix that work or need attention.
Another point that is absolutely true is to be ruthless with your mix. The temptation is alwasy to keep EVERYTHING that you recorded in the mix. Why? Because it’s there and you put time into recording it! But, most of the best mixes I listen to only have a few ideas or motifs occuring simultaneously. Once you go beyond a few elements the mix begins to sound crowded and messy and becomes a total dog to mix! So be ruthless – decide what is important at any given time and give it room breath and be heard. Cut out the chaff!
Last point. Mix when you’re not mixing. In other words, listen to songs you hear on the radio, on your iPod, in friends cars, or in supermarkets and evaluate them for what is good, what works and what sucks. You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn simply by listening to your favourite (and least favourite) mixes. Ask yourself, what makes this mix tick, what are the critical elements, relative volumes etc etc. Then take what you learn back to your mixes.
The article has a bunch of great tips you should check out but thats what really stood out to me. Main thing is, have fun, keep experimenting and keep learning!