Yamaha digital mixing studio 01x Manuel D’Utilisation

01X   Owner’s Manual

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Garbage in usually means garbage out.  So make sure your 

source sounds are as clean and noise-free as possible.  Use 

quality cabling, check microphone placement, turn off the 

air conditioner or anything else causing hum, patch in a 

noise gate, or change the pickups in your guitar if neces-

sary. 

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If you can’t eliminate noise problems at the source, you 

can use the EQ on the 01X at this stage to cut it or mini-

mize it.  The EQ library (page 99) contains several preset 

programs for reducing hum, hiss, and noise.  If you’re after 

a natural sound, go back to the last step—it’s always better 

to try to correct the sound source itself rather than correct-

ing with EQ.  You’ll probably need to readjust the EQ 

when listening to all sounds in the mix, anyway.

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If your vocalist is alternately too loud and too soft, or the 

bass fluctuates too wildly in level, or the guitar doesn’t 

have enough presence—compression may be the answer.  

The Dynamics library contains a wide variety of preset 

programs for correcting, smoothing or enhancing the 

sound during recording, or after.

■ After Recording:

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This links adjacent input channels (1 and 2, 3 and 4, 

etc.)—making it easy to unify level settings for both chan-

nels, as well as EQ, Dynamics, and other settings (except 

pan and phase).

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Not only does panning allow you to create a more interest-

ing stereo sound field, it lets you create more sonic space 

for each instrument in the mix.  There are no hard and fast 

guidelines here, but generally pan to center the bass (which 

is non-directional anyway) and the lead vocal.  Anything 

you’ve tracked in stereo should obviously be panned hard 

left and right (such as keyboards, overhead mics on drums, 

etc.).

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Now you’re ready for the main task in mixdown—setting 

levels for each channel and getting the optimum balance.  

You may want to start with all faders at about 0 dB, and 

work down from there.  In other words, DECREASE the 

level of backing instruments and backing vocals until they 

blend well with the lead vocals and solo instruments.  Start 

loud and get softer—that’s better than engaging in an ever-

escalating battle of the faders.

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Now that all instruments can be heard together, you may 

need to redo some of your earlier EQ adjustments.  EQ is 

an effective way to clean up a mix and keep certain instru-

ments from clashing and muddying the sound.  For exam-

ple, you may want to cut the bass of a keyboard to leave 

more room for the bass guitar.  On the other hand, you can 

trim the high-end from the bass so that it doesn’t get in the 

way of the drums and percussion.  Also make sure that the 

overall sound is tonally balanced— the low, mid, and high 

bands of the audio spectrum should contain an equal 

amount of sound energy.