In this free video extract from pureMix Jacquire King discusses the different monitoring levels he uses during mixing.
What Is The Best Monitoring Level To Use During Mixing?
Unsurprisingly there isn’t one “best” level. Listening loud helps you feel the music, it’s good for getting an emotional response but listening lound is fatiguing, too loud is dangerous and it’s not good for critical listening.
The research done by Fletcher and Munson in the 30’s first revealed the fact that our sensitivity to different frequencies changes with level. Quiet mixing has a lot to recommend it and one of the most useful points Jaquire makes in this video is the use of an SPL meter on his phone wit which to measure his monitoring level. Calibrated monitoring is useful and widespread amongst the post production community but is less common among music mixers. Referring to an SPL meter regularly to get a sense of what 70dB sfeels like compared to 80 or 90 is enormously useful. Give it a try and you’ll see what we mean.
To hear how Jacquire mixes up his monitoring levels head over to the PureMix Blog.
See how Jacquire King:
Sets the guitar balance in the track
Adjusts the balance between microphone to help each guitar part fit the overall picture
Spreads multi-amped guitar parts across the stereo field to add width
Sets up the PSP Vintage Warmer 2 on the guitar bus and explains his approach
Balances the additional keyboards
Discusses listening levels while mixing
Demonstrates the sonic differences between the 1176 REV E and REV A
Breaks down his vocal effect chains and explains his approach to reverbs, harmonizers, using Sugar for top-end enhancement and more
Sets up a parallel compression path for the vocal bus
How Do I Watch Jacquire King - Mixing Part 3
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