FOH Mixing

The course has a solid foundation for understanding different processes and their reasoning in the mix. A lot of content comes from a time proven old-school techniques used by leading modern mixing engineers. This course provides all the sufficient knowledge to achieve a great result using the simplest tools like panorama, EQ and compression, as well as an advanced mixing methods. Course assumes that we want to recreate original studio sound, but due to the real world limitations, it is not possible, so a lot of attention is given to adaptation of studio sound to live sound environment with respect to limitations of live sound equipment, PA design, monitoring and workflow. This course might be valuable not just for the beginners, but also for the experienced engineers.
Class duration is 4 days, 8 academic hours each. Participants count is usually 10-15 people. Students share one mixing console between 2-3 participants. All exercises are done using a same multitrack recording sent to all the consoles.

Here are the main topics discussed during the class:

Mixing styles

General approach to the mix
Balance
Elements of arrangement
Arrangement rules
What to start your mix from
Gain structure
Methods to set up levels
Panorama
Binaural localisation mechanisms
Tricks to maintain musical balance while panning
Frequency representation
Equalization goals
Magic frequencies
EQ methods
Golden rules of equalization
EQ difference between cutting and boosting
Goals of creating the space
Space as permanent element of the mix
Space as an effect
Equalizing reverbs
Layering effects
Calculating delay time
Dynamics
Compression goals
Universal method for setting compressor parameters
Vocal exciter with de-esser on any console
Bus compression (parallel compression)
Gating goals
Method for setting gate parameters
Interest – difference between good and great mix
Microphone according to monitor layout
Miking distributed sound sources
Loudness
Fletcher–Munson curves
Threshold of pain
Hearing system adaptiveness
Frequency masking
Big sound and physical sound perception
Importance of PA tuning
Preparation and Workflow