Audio mixing techniques largely depend on music genres and the quality of sound recordings involved.[3] The process is generally carried out by a mixing engineer, though sometimes the record producer or recording artist may assist. After mixing, a mastering engineer prepares the final product for production.
In the late 19th century, Thomas Edison and Emile Berliner developed the first recording machines. The recording and reproduction process itself was completely mechanical with little or no electrical parts. Edison's phonograph cylinder system utilized a small horn terminated in a stretched, flexible diaphragm attached to a stylus which cut a groove of varying depth into the malleable tin foil of the cylinder. Emile Berliner's gramophone system recorded music by inscribing spiraling lateral cuts onto a vinyl disc.[4]
Electronic recording became more widely used during the 1920s. It was based on the principles of electromagnetic transduction. The possibility for a microphone to be connected remotely to a recording machine meant that microphones could be positioned in more suitable places. The process was improved when outputs of the microphones could be mixed before being fed to the disc cutter, allowing greater flexibility in the balance.[5]
Before the introduction of multitrack recording, all sounds and effects that were to be part of a recording were mixed simultaneously during a live performance. If the recorded mix was not satisfactory, or if one musician made a mistake, the selection had to be performed over until the desired balance and performance was obtained. The introduction of multi-track recording changed the recording process into one that generally involves three stages: recording, overdubbing, and mixing.[6]
Modern mixing emerged with the introduction of commercial multi-track tape machines, most notably when 8-track recorders were introduced during the 1960s. The ability to record sounds into separate channels made it possible for recording studios to combine and treat these sounds not only during recording, but afterward during a separate mixing process.[7]
The introduction of the cassette-based Portastudio in 1979 offered multi-track recording and mixing technology that did not require the specialized equipment and expense of commercial recording studios. Bruce Springsteen recorded his 1982 album Nebraska with one, and the Eurythmics topped the charts in 1983 with the song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", recorded by band member Dave Stewart on a makeshift 8-track recorder.[8] In the mid-to-late 1990s, computers replaced tape-based recording for most home studios, with the Power Macintosh proving popular.[9] In the mid-1980s, many professional recording studios began to use digital audio workstations (DAWs) to accomplish recording and mixing previously done with multitrack tape recorders, mixing consoles, and outboard gear.
A mixer (mixing console, mixing desk, mixing board, or software mixer) is the operational heart of the mixing process.[10] Mixers offer a multitude of inputs, each fed by a track from a multitrack recorder. Mixers typically have 2 main outputs (in the case of two-channel stereo mixing) or 8 (in the case of surround).
Mixing consoles can be large and intimidating due to the exceptional number of controls. However, because many of these controls are duplicated (e.g. per input channel), much of the console can be learned by studying one small part of it. The controls on a mixing console will typically fall into one of two categories: processing and configuration. Processing controls are used to manipulate the sound. These can vary in complexity, from simple level controls, to sophisticated outboard reverberation units. Configuration controls deal with the signal routing from the input to the output of the console through the various processes.[12]
Outboard audio processing units (analog) and software-based audio plug-ins (digital) are used for each track or group to perform various processing techniques. These processes, such as equalization, compression, sidechaining, stereo imaging, and saturation are used to make each element as audible and sonically appealing as possible. The mix engineer also will use such techniques to balance the space of the final audio wave; removing unnecessary frequencies and volume spikes to minimize the interference or clashing between each element.
The frequency response of a signal represents the amount (volume) of every frequency in the human hearing range, consisting of (on average) frequencies from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz (20 kHz.) There are a variety of processes commonly used to edit frequency response in various ways.
The mixdown process converts a program with a multiple-channel configuration into a program with fewer channels. Common examples include downmixing from 5.1 surround sound to stereo,[a] and stereo to mono. Because these are common scenarios, it is common practice to verify the sound of such downmixes during the production process to ensure stereo and mono compatibility.
The alternative channel configuration can be explicitly authored during the production process with multiple channel configurations provided for distribution. For example, on DVD-Audio or Super Audio CD, a separate stereo mix can be included along with the surround mix.[18] Alternatively, the program can be automatically downmixed by the end consumer's audio system. For example, a DVD player or sound card may downmix a surround sound program to stereo for playback through two speakers.[19][20]
Any console with a sufficient number of mix busses can be used to create a 5.1 surround sound mix, but this may be frustrating if the console is not specifically designed to facilitate signal routing, panning, and processing in a surround sound environment. Whether working in an analog hardware, digital hardware, or DAW mixing environment, the ability to pan mono or stereo sources and place effects in the 5.1 soundscape and monitor multiple output formats without difficulty can make the difference between a successful or compromised mix.[21] Mixing in surround is very similar to mixing in stereo except that there are more speakers, placed to surround the listener. In addition to the horizontal panoramic options available in stereo, mixing in surround lets the mix engineer pan sources within a much wider and more enveloping environment. In a surround mix, sounds can appear to originate from many more or almost any direction depending on the number of speakers used, their placement and how audio is processed.
An extension to surround sound is 3D sound, used by formats such as Dolby Atmos. Known as object-based sound, this enables additional speakers to represent height channels, with as many as 64 unique speaker feeds.[23][24] This has application in concert recordings, movies and videogames, and nightclub events.[25]
Some solid particles are heavy and sink to the bottom of the bucket quickly. Others are light and take some time to settle. But all of our glaze particles are heavier than water and will settle eventually.
In order for the glaze to fire as intended, the proportion of particles applied to the piece must be equivalent to the glaze recipe. Glaze recipes are formulated very carefully so the glaze will melt at a specific temperature and will appear a certain way.
The heavy particles, light particles and water must be mixed together really well so the glaze becomes homogenized. This means that every inch of the glaze bucket has the exact same composition. The top of the bucket is equal to the bottom of the bucket.
At 60 seconds the glaze is quite uniform from the top of the tile to the bottom. This is ideal. If you want variation with the thickness, you can do that intentionally using different application methods.
If you love learning about and discussing glazes, I'd like to invite you to my free social learning Facebook group called Understanding Glazes with Sue. The group is full of videos and discussions about firing, mixing glazes and fixing various glaze issues. Please join!
We just celebrated our 2nd birthday at the end of August! In celebration, we are choosing right now to begin our blog. I hope this blog will be educational in some small part, and personal in nature, so that you can begin to develop an understanding of who I am as a person, and a baker; it is in this way that I hope this blog will help enrich your relationship with Field & Fire.
We use so many great flours, and they all have their own aroma. My favorites are the organic stone ground whole wheat flour and the organic Michigan grown and milled whole rye flour. Both amazing! You can truly smell the grain in these flours, and smelling them connects me to the reason that these grains became food for us in the first place. They are packed with nutrition and deliciousness! We use a lot of whole grains in our baking, since we actively care about the health of our customers, but I guess that will be the subject of some future blog. Back to mixing. By hand.
On any given day we mix around 20 to 30 batches of hand-mixed dough. When you mix by hand, you have to keep the batch sizes small enough that a person can physically mix it up. French baguettes are one of our most popular products and generally we mix between 3 and 5 batches of that dough.
Hand mixing presents the baker with a difficulty: it is hard to develop a lot of gluten when you mix by hand! That is why bakeries use mixers. You can develop all of the gluten you need in 6 or 10 minutes of mixing in an electric mixer. By hand, you could struggle with the dough for 20 minutes and still end up with a gloppy mess. So, we approach the development of gluten differently. We mix the ingredients, then we let the mixture rest for 30 minutes. During that time, the flours moisten completely, the yeast and bacteria in the starters and preferments begin to look around for food, and a loose structure of gluten molecules starts to form on its own.
7fc3f7cf58