Fish(er) Tales

You might be astonished by how little volume changes have a big impact on a track and a mix. Sometimes the difference between a sound effect or a background sitting in a track or sticking out can be a minuscule volume adjustment. Don’t become frustrated when it seems as if you can’t find the right balance. Keep fiddling with volume until you find the right fit.

Consider this advice from award-winning music recording and mixing engineer Ed Cherney (Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and Bonnie Raitt). Although he mentions vocals and song here, just substitute dialogue and your soundtrack mix for those words:

Listen to what’s there, see where the song is, [and] eliminate things to find the heart of the song. Placing the vocal is the hardest thing to do. I start dry, not using any effects or EQ. See where the vocal frequency is and try to carve out a space in the mix. Listen to the vocal on a lot of different speakers, too. Don’t give up on the song. I get in there and dig and get everything out of it I possibly can. I mixed Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Thing Called Love’ three different times to finally find the pocket and emotion in it. Ultimately, mixing is about heart, not equipment. Nobody leaves a session dancing to what kind of gear you used.

Dynamically mixing sound levels as they rise and fall allows you to smoothly direct attention to what’s important. It’s a critical skill to learn and an important adjustment to make with every element of the project. When yo pull it off, that leads to real Soundtrack Success.