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8
Chapter
Let's try to adjust each of the tracks
Turn the metronome off, and then give the song a listen. For a first attempt, it's not half-bad,
right? But, if you listen closely, you can tell that the sound level of the drums is too high. On the
other hand, the vocals can hardly be heard. This means that we should reduce the volume level
of the drums and increase the volume level of the vocals. One more thing, doesn't it seem like
there's too much echo being applied to the vocals? Let's adjust that as well. Performing these
adjustments is known as "mixing", just like what the professionals do! Cool, isn't it?
Use the mixer page to perform mixing
Because we're going to perform mixing, open the mixer page, the
screen that is designed for mixing. To open this page, click the
"Mixer Page" icon in the lower left of the screen.
• Adjusting the volume
Raise and lower the channel level knob to adjust each channel's volume. To try
this feature out, let's lower the channel level knob of the drum track (01 132
Drums) all the way to the bottom. You shouldn't be able to hear the drums at
all.
Listen to the song a number of times, adjusting the volume levels of the
different tracks until you find a suitable balance. You can tell that you've found
this suitable balance when you can clearly hear the sound of each of the tracks,
you can clearly make out the beat, and the leading
vocals can be heard in front. The volume levels of
the guitar and vocals are different depending on
how you recorded them, but take a look at the
balance shown in the figure as a reference.
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• Adjusting the left and right balance
People who have been to live band performances before probably know
this, but a band is typically arranged in a certain configuration: the drums
are in the center, guitars and keyboards are on the left and right of the
drums, and vocalists are centered at the front of the stage. In the same
way, by changing the position where the sound from each track comes
from, you can create the sensation of being at a live performance in an
open space. The parameter that is used to adjust these positions is called
the "Panner". It's also referred to as "pan" or "pan pot" (short for panoramic
potentiometer).
Currently, all tracks are being played from the center position, so let's adjust the pan of the
different tracks to give the impression that this is a live band performance.
Let's move the electric piano to the left (L) and the electric guitar to the right (R).
This should create a good deal of space in the left and right directions, which should make the
song sound much more like it is being performed by a band.
• Adjusting effects
The things that add effects to sounds are known as
"effects" or "FX". A reverb effect was added to the
vocals that we recorded earlier during the recording
process, but it kind of sounds like someone's singing in
the shower, doesn't it? Let's try to fix this.
We're going to adjust the vocal effect, so first click the vocal track to select it.
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