Understanding Basic Mixing
Mixing a song is the art of carefully blending all of the different sounds and musical textures into one cohesive, balanced piece of music. Arranging regions in separate tracks is easy once you get the hang of itin fact, you've been arranging songs since you started this book. Mixing takes a little more practice. It also takes some ear training.Ear training means being able to listen beyond the basic music to analyze the full panoramic scope of a song. Chefs train their palates so they can taste food beyond the basics. For instance, an Italian chef can taste the full array of spices in a marinara sauce, from oregano to fresh ground pepper. Some chefs can even tell you what type of tomato was used and how ripe it was. It's great to be able to taste the spaghetti sauce and know whether you like it not. It's even better if you know why.Throughout this lesson, you'll be training your ear, so that by the end of the exercises, you too will be able to hear beyond the music and notice the subtle elements within the mix of a song.Let's start by listening to the finished song titled Highway Bound.
