Basic Audio Mixing Techniques
A guide for teachers and students in music production
Anyone can now record and mix audio to a high quality.
All you need is a decent space to record in, a computer, possibly a good microphone and interface, and some skills!
This book has been written for the following groups:
- Teachers who make their own tutorials
- Music and film students who are recording their original compositions, songs
and film audio - Podcasters
By the end of this book you will have the basic knowledge to create good quality audio recordings.
The Course Guide PDF includes 10 videos and other helpful links, as well as audio files for recording shown in the videos.
Basic Audio Mixing Techniques
Course Overview
An overview of the course is provided below, and you can click on the video players to preview the video content for the course.
The course is best enjoyed watching the videos in conjunction with reading the course guide and practising with the multi-track audio files, both available from the links above.
Course Introduction:
Hear from Duncan as he explains the Basic Audio Mixing Techniques course, intended to help music teachers and their students get the best results when recording and mixing their own productions at school.
Capturing Audio:
Acoustics
Learn about the importance recording in a good acoustic environment, and some tips about how you can make the most of the space you have.Â
Capturing Audio:
Microphones and DI boxes
Duncan explains the different types of microphones used in recording and gives some suggestions for makes and models of good sounding microphones for a school budget.Â
Capturing Audio:
Types of Recording Interfaces
This video looks at audio interfaces used for recording and explains the common features and considerations for school recroding set-ups.
Capturing Audio:
The Recording Process
Duncan takes you through the workflow of the recording session from recording the whole band to capture the best take, then overdubbing instruments and recording the vocals.
Mixing:
Balancing Faders
This video discusses the importance of starting the mixing process with a good musical balance of the instruments, using only the faders to set the right overall level for your mix.
Mixing:
EQ
Learn about using EQ in your mix and some valuable pointers about simplifying the process. Duncan demonstrates how to find which frequencies you want to control.
Mixing:
Compression
Learning how to use compression effectively is one of the hardest parts of learning how to mix. In this video, Duncan demonstrates a quick way to get most of the way to good settings for common instruments, by following some basic tips.Â
Mixing:
Reverb
Learn about adding some depth to you mix and creating natural space around your instruments, which has the effect of gluing your tracks together.
Further practice:
Training opportunities
In this final video, Duncan talks about further training opportunities for teachers to hone their skills and build their confidence when it comes to recording, mixing and helping students produce their original compositions.Â
About Duncan Ferguson - creator of Learning Ideas
Duncan Ferguson is the Head of Music at St Andrew’s College in Christchurch, New Zealand and the Managing Director of Learning Ideas Limited. He established Learning Ideas to provide ear training and Music Technology resources for New Zealand schools, and now offers courses for teachers in Australian schools. Â
Duncan runs online six-week music technology courses for teachers at Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels for teachers around the world.Â
You can read about the latest Music Technology educational trends in his blog.
At St Andrew’s College he is known for producing the viral hit of Stairway to Heaven (over 1.5 million views across the various social media platforms).