Mixing: What does changing levels do to a mix?
Think about
- How can I mix music by changing the levels (volume) of different parts of a recording?
- How can producers or audio engineers be creative with the levels of various tracks?
- What does changing the levels of tracks do to a mix?
Get Started
Do some creative mixing by changing the levels of the different parts of the following recording: (Check how to do this below)
1. Open mix.js
2. Look for the white Look for the white blocks (Impress people by calling these blocks faders)
3a. Listen to what happens when you move the block (fader) up or down (it might help at first if you only listen to the part of the recording that you are adjusting by clicking the “s” above the knob. It is easiest to hear what happens by using earbuds or headphones.)
You are changing the levels of the different tracks when you do this.
3b. Experiment with listening to different levels of the parts of the recording set in different ways. Then, listen to all of the tracks leveled in different ways.
4. What do you notice?
5. Experiment with listening to the different ways you can change the way the music sounds by adjusting the faders.
5b. What happens when you change the level of a track over time? In other words, instead of having the level stay the same throughout, make it get louder or softer as it plays
Think and listen like a producer
6a. Imagine you are hearing the music live on a stage.
6b. How loud would each element be coming at you looked at the stage?
7. Make any adjustments you want to the way you leveled the music.
8. Copy and paste the URL of your produced mix! You will need this later.
Go Further
Learn more about levels and faders by watching this video
Share What you Learned
Copy and paste the url of your mix.js mix with the faders set to the way you want your music.
Describe how you set the levels of your music and why you made some of the decisions.
Level up!
Now try changing the levels of some tracks in a digital audio workstation (DAW).
