Mixing for vinyl

[Front End Audio]

Does anybody still mix for vinyl if so what are some mix procedures you follow when mixing a project that is to be cut to vinyl?

Cheers,
Nicholas

[Nick Sevilla]

Does anybody still mix for vinyl if so what are some mix procedures you follow when mixing a project that is to be cut to vinyl?

Cheers,
Nicholas

Hi,

I was recently at Capitol Records in L.A., where they have a great vinyl mastering suite, along with one of the nicest vinyl ME's I have ever met.

He mentioned mixing with more dynamics, because transferring mixes meant for CDs or radio are particularly hard.

He has to LOWER the volume on all the very limited and compressed mixes, in order to be able to cut the grooves properly. Sometimes by as much as 4-6 dB!!!

This means the vinyl cut is 4-6 dB lower in levels than the same mix on a CD.

He said that the best way to be able to have a good sounding mix across many formats is to leave the mix with as much dynamics as possible, ie to not compress nor limit the mix buss if possible, so that the ME for each media can do their job the best way possible.

Cheers

[@?,*???&?]

All the usual stuff:

1. Try to avoid stereo low frequency sounds.

2. Pay especially close attention to sibilance and high frequency content such as cymbal crashes. Don't send sibilant mixes to be mastered for vinyl.

3. 12 inch vinyl sounds better than 7"vinyl. And the area closest to the outer edge of the disc sounds best on a 12".

4. Reference your mixes in mono to point out problems too. The mastering engineer may have to bring in the stereo image slightly to make the cut more accurately.

5. Don't send a 'level maximized' mix to mastering. Send a unity gain mix with normal buss compression.

6. Consider sequence of songs. The end of an album side is typically quieter by 3 to 5 db than the first song on a side. Stylus tracking gets worse toward the center of a disc. Keep important singles or dense songs toward the beginning, not the end of a side. Dense material suffers depending on the disc level the mastering engineer goes for.

7. Accept vinyl for what it is and don't expect it to sound like a CD.

8. While you're mastering engineer may do this too- try an HPF at 20 to 30 Hz across your stereo buss first in the chain to eliminate rumble in your mix BEFORE the lacquer.

[Gregg Juke]

As far as I know, the only time you _really_ have to mix bass and bass drum dead-center is for vinyl. The needle won't stay in the grooves otherwise.

I've never mixed for vinyl, but I've mastered a compilation from vinyl sources, and I'm old enough to have appeared on a vinyl LP...Different world.

GJ

[Gregg Juke]

P.S.-- If you're mixing something that is coming out on vinyl, you may want to get in touch with Bob Olhsson, a mastering engineer in Nashville that used to mix and master for Motown in Detroit.

He's extremely knowledgeable, and a very approachable guy. You could check the WOMB &/or the Gearslutz forums...

GJ

[chris harris]

As far as I know, the only time you _really_ have to mix bass and bass drum dead-center is for vinyl. The needle won't stay in the grooves otherwise.

Dang... somebody should have told this to the artists of the 60s. They made a lot of apparently unplayable records.

[Waltz Mastering]

Main culprits to watch out for is an over sibilant high end, keep the low end on the conservative side, and no hyper limiting on the 2 buss. I think this has already been mentioned...

[lefthanddoes]

http://mixonline.com/recording/intervie ... f_emerick/

Geoff Emerick says some stuff here about what it was like trying to get some low end onto vinyl without skipping.

[Gregg Juke]

Subatomic Pieces wrote:

>>>> >>Gregg Juke wrote:
As far as I know, the only time you _really_ have to mix bass and bass drum dead-center is for vinyl. The needle won't stay in the grooves otherwise.<<


Dang... somebody should have told this to the artists of the 60s. They made a lot of apparently unplayable records.<<<<

Well, like I said, I never mixed or mastered for vinyl, but I've heard that from more than one source. I did not pull out every record I have from the 60's to confirm or deny that thesis.

As to the 60's, maybe you're right:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbad22CKlB4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skU-jBFzXl0

GJ

[Matt C.]

i've been warned several times by mastering engineers about how i should keep low frequency content panned center at all times. but, i also know that a lot of cutting lathes are designed to take everything below a certain frequency (my guy said switchable between 150hz and 300hz with his particular machine) and sum it to mono, which i would expect would clear up most this problem. he also said that panned bass isn't necessarily impossible to cut for vinyl, it just means the overall level of the cut has to be lower.

all that said, the one time i actually wanted to do panned bass on a record, i wimped out and ended up centering it because the guy who was "pre-mastering" it freaked out.