Instrument Tips

With the understanding of the broadest groups of mixing, now we’ll move into individual instruments and how one might work with them. Know that these are only very general recommendations, and the best method of mixing for your particular situation is almost assuredly not mentioned here, but hopefully I can give you a good place to start from.

In all of this, an important thing to remember is: “If you can’t do it with an SM57, you shouldn’t be doing it.” Even when specific microphones are mentioned, or specialty microphones are mentioned in general, you can still get good results with whatever you have on hand. The aforementioned Shure SM57 is one of the most common microphones in existence, both because of its durability and versatility, and the quote above is a constant reminder to keep things simple. When it comes to mixing, the tools are just the tools — it’s what we do with them that’s important.