Kniferide wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 7:24 pm
Nate Dort wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 11:57 am
Yes, this is why stereo analog summing boxes for DAWs are a thing. Digital summing isn't great.
I've been summing through a mixer and definitely prefer it, but listening out of the console through speakers sounds so much better than listening to the console mix played back as a stereo file. It's pretty frustrating. I get a mix going that I like, and then it sounds so much smaller as a stereo file. Even if I am monitoring out of the DAW directly into speaker, it sounds good, then I bounce... sounds like someone turned down the "good" knob. I agree with Brian about drums too. By the time I get them in the mix they sound puny. Mixing sucks.
Part of this is perception driven by volume. When you spread out tracks, or even a few stems across a board the headroom of your desk allows for a lot more power in your listening environment. The playback of a stereo mix down is limited by the headroom of the two channels you're playing it on. I suppose a way to either test this idea, or work around it if it's true is keep two settings on your control room volume knob, a lower one for summing, and a higher one for playing back your mix down.
I've been trying to spend more of my mix time with a lower over-all volume the majority of the time. I think when I'm mixing something big and energetic I tend to subconsciously get all of those "This rocks!" brain chemicals firing by steadily monitoring at higher levels throughout the session without noticing. At a quieter level my responses are almost more clinical, which is less fun, but more practical. We naturally think anything louder in the room sounds better.
