We've written quite a bit about how to get great electric guitar tone on recordings, whether you are miking an amp or going directly into your DAW and using software guitar sounds. But just as important is how you mix that guitar once you have it recorded.
The following are a few things to consider when you are ready to make sure the great tone you've worked so hard to get fits well with the other instruments in your song. These tips are primarily aimed at electric guitar tracks , though the underlying principles can be used on acoustic tracks, as well. In fact, the concepts here can be applied to nearly any instrument you are mixing.
Consider the Overall Arrangement of the Song
First and foremost, you want to think about what your guitar track is intended to do to help your overall arrangement. Typically, guitars fall into one of three broad categories:
- The primary instrument. This is where the guitar receives more focus than any other track other than the vocal. In these “guitar songs,” the guitar will be out front in the mix and will receive all the attention – so make sure that the aforementioned tone is the best it can be.
- The rhythm track. In this case, the guitar serves to help the rhythm and acts almost as a percussion instrument. In this case, you’ll want to make sure the track works well in conjunction with both the bass and drum tracks. This means that not only are the volumes of these three instruments set to work together, but that the recordings of all three are tight and form a good pocket for the song.
- The ambient guitar track. There also are many ways guitar tracks are used to create ambiance and additional noise on a track. Because of the wide variety of tracks, there’s no one way to mix these. Just remember to make sure these serve the song in the best possible way.
Make Panning an Important Part of Leveling
Getting the right level for your guitar track is a huge part of making sure your track sits well in the arrangement. But you also need to consider that panning is an extremely important part of getting the best sounding levels, as well.
For example, if you are mixing one of the aforementioned “guitar songs,” you want to give your track space to be heard without overpowering the vocals. One way to do this is to pan the guitar right or left to a spot in the mix where it can have its own space but is still out of the way of the vocals.
On the other hand, if you are mixing your guitar purely as a rhythmic instrument, you may want to pan it to the same position as, say, your bass track to create a more solid rhythm section.
Tone Settings Revisited
Remember that great tone you spent so long getting before you started mixing? Don’t be afraid to change it.
After you get the levels and panning right, you may find that the guitar that sounded so good on its own just doesn’t “sit” well in your new mix. This often has to do with certain frequencies from other instruments interfering with each other. This means that you’ll often want to play with the EQ and compression settings again after you mix, though beware that making drastic changes can throw off your levels. If you are using digital guitar sounds, of course, you may want to go back and adjust those, as well.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
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- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
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2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
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- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
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- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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