Mixing an album: how get a cohesive sound
Mix a cohesive album that holds your listener's attention. From using effects to keeping your ears fresh, these tips help mixes sound like a collection of songs that belong together.
You’ve just finished recording an album and now it’s time to start mixing. With several songs to mix ahead of you, how should you approach the mix so that the album sounds consistent? These tips will help you with some technical and creative approaches to mixing an album that not only sounds consistent, but tells a story and has emotional impact.
Follow along with this tutorial using iZotope Music Production Suite, a comprehensive suite of mixing tools that can enhance your workflow and dial-in your sound.
What is the mixing process of an album?
Mixing is the art and science of balancing the individual elements of a song so that nothing is too loud or too quiet, that everything works well together, and tells a story. Some elements can compete for attention in a mix such as kick drums and bass sounds. Mixing helps carve out space for these so that they compliment each other rather than compete by using EQ. Mix engineers use compression to control dynamics, bring out nuances of a performance, or to add color. Creative effects such as reverb and delay are also added in mixing. Whether it’s a technical decision or a creative one, the goal of the mix engineer should be that the music has the intended emotional impact. For more on what a mix engineer does and how to get started, check out the basics of how to mix music.
How do you make an album sound cohesive?
Let’s talk about what consistency is as it relates to an album. Consistency means that over the course of listening to the album, nothing jars the listener out of the experience. This could be as simple as making sure each of your songs has a similar amount of bass so that one song doesn’t overwhelm compared to others. Sequencing or arranging the tracks so that the album has a story arc and natural flow goes a long way in making an album sound consistent as well. Let’s get into some common things to watch out for as you mix an album!
1. Identify the key elements of the album
The key elements of an album range depending on genre and the artist’s style. The key elements could include the lead vocal, a certain guitar sound, or in more electronic genres the samples that are used could be a key element. These elements should sit in each of the mixes similarly to make each track sound like part of a collection. For example, a lead vocal might have more or less reverb depending on the mood and tempo of each song, but to sound consistent, it should have the same amount of brightness and volume relative to the instrumental bed from track-to-track.
2. Create a palate of effects to use throughout the album
The instinct might be to use the same reverb and delays for each track to sound consistent, but if each song on the album has the same effects, they lose their impact. Rather than copy and paste the same reverb from song to song with the same amount of reverb applied to each track, try using the same type of reverb but tweak it. For example, try using the same spring reverb but adjust the amount of space to fit the tempo and mood of the song. In the example below, I’ve uploaded the last chorus of two songs that have quite different instrumentation and moods. For both mixes, I’ve used Neoverb and have the lead vocal as my key element from Tip 1, so the songs sound like they go together. The songs are "Eagles" and "One More Time" by Charlie Graff.
3. Set up mix buses
Setting up mix buses can help glue your tracks together and save your computer some processing power at the same time. Buses make your workflow more efficient by allowing you to route several tracks to one effect track such as a quarter note delay for both a guitar solo and to punctuate certain vocal phrases. You can import these effects tracks and routing to your next mix, saving some session set up time. Just don’t forget to tailor the effects to the mood of each song!
4. Pay attention to your meters
Nothing says “inconsistency” like having to turn the volume up and down as you listen to an album. A song with only piano and vocals should sound quieter than an arrangement with a full band, but they shouldn't sound so different that the listener is reaching for the volume controls. I like to start an album by mixing the loudest, most full arrangements first. Then, it’s easier to mix the other songs relative to that.
Dynamics are all about context so loud is only loud when we have something quiet to compare it to. If everything on the album is max volume, it’s not very interesting and can be fatiguing to the ear. Having some ebb and flow is a good thing, but keep it within a dynamic range that doesn’t jolt the listener out of the song. Metering plugins like Insight 2 can help you figure out where your levels are peaking and what your dynamic range is, making consistent but still dynamic mixes easier to achieve.
5. Listen in different environments
People listen to music in all sorts of different environments and on different systems from mono all the way up to immersive. Having a mix that translates well is one of the trickiest things about mixing. Mixing in the environment that you normally listen to music in will help you get to a final mix quicker because you have an expectation of what music should sound like in that environment, but you should still check your mixes out on different systems. Loudspeakers highlight different frequency areas of a mix so listening on different speakers might uncover a problem in the mix that wasn’t heard on another system. Most often, this exercise reveals inconsistencies in bass levels and in vocal de-essing.
6. Use references to keep a fresh perspective
After a couple of hours of mixing, it can be hard to know if you’re making improvements or going in circles. Ears become fatigued and hard to trust. Taking frequent breaks and having some reference material handy will help keep you feeling fresh in a mixing session. I recommend taking a 10-minute silence break, then recalibrating your ears by listening to some reference material before diving back into your mix.
Reference material can be songs you love or songs that you’re trying to make your mixes sound like. Swapping between references and your mix while mixing is a palate cleanser. Our ears have a short term memory so pausing to listen to a mix done by someone else keeps the differences in mixes top of mind. It’s easier to get where you’re going if you have this mental map. For a more literal map, Audiolens collects data on key sonic characteristics of reference material, giving you a way to visualize, compare, and match your favorite reference tracks and sounds.
Start mixing albums with a consistent sound
The mixing engineer’s job is to deliver the emotional impact that the artist is aiming for, using production tools to do so. Unexpected changes in volume, big shifts in EQ, and changing how key elements sit in each mix are all things that can jolt the listener out of their experience. By keeping an ear out for these things and by keeping a fresh perspective with the use of references, we can get to a final mix quicker and with less frustration along the way.
