Instrument Mix Notes
You are reading this page because you are playing an instrument and you have received (or are expecting) a mix with the recording of your instrument at a concert. This page explains what is in the mix, where it comes from, and what you could take away from the recording.
Mix Layout
Normally, your instrument is in the left channel and the melody reference is in the right channel. The reference is usually the piano (or all of the pianos that are playing melody). The reference is mixed somewhat quieter overall than your instrument.
Most importantly, if you pan the track all the way left (or listen to the left earphone only), what you are hearing is what your microphone is picking up at that time.
Song Times
Some concerts have published song times within the full recording. Find your concert in Audio Setup then go to "Concert Order". See, for example, 12/09/23 concert. The "start" and "end" columns indicate when a song starts and ends. If the end value is missing, use the start time of the next song.
Most mixes should be trimmed from the original recording to remove the silence/banter before the concert starts and after the concert ends. Underneath the concert order there may be a Cut note which shows the range of the cut, and the resulting length. If the file you receive matches the cut length, your mix is made from the cut, otherwise it's made from the entire raw recording. Use the "Apply" link after the cut times to adjust the start/end times of the song for the cut.
Intelligibility
If you listen to the left channel only and you are not hearing your instrument clearly, neither is the audience at the concert. Common issues are:
- The other instruments are louder in your mic than your instrument. This could be because the mic is too far away from your instrument, is too far off axis (sound coming from the instrument is passing perpendicularly to the mic body and not parallel, mics are less sensitive this way), or you are actually not producing much volume when you are playing.
- Sound is distorted. This is most likely an issue with gain setting in the mixer. See Preamp Gain.
- Sound is missing altogether. This is likely due to a bad connection between the mic and the mixer.
Preamp Gain
Normally you shouldn't need to worry about preamp gain, as it is set by Oleg during the concert and then verified to be reasonable. However there are two exceptions:
- If you are playing an electric instrument, you may need to adjust the output level of your electronics because output which is too hot can overdrive the input stage of the mixer and produce poor sound quality even if the mixer's sensitivity is reduced.
- At a concert with many instruments, if you are asked to play at maximum volume for Oleg to set the preamp gain, you need to play at maximum volume. Really. Otherwise the gain will be set wrong and all of your audio will be distorted due to overdriving the mixer's input stage.
Technical Notes
Gates
All instrument microphones generally have gates on them for the live performance to control the noise during quiet moments. The gates are not present in the instrument mix.
