MIX masterclass

Creative filtering can both spice up and finesse your mix. Let’s check out some of the best ways to apply it

With Jon Musgrave

#22

Jon Musgrave Jon is a London-based platinum award winning mixer, producer, composer and club remixer with a diverse CV that spans dance, pop, rock and music for media. He’s also a long term contributor to Computer Music. Jon usually handles final mixdowns, which is why we’ve got him to share some of his pearls of mixing wisdom here

Mixing is a combination of technical and creative decisions, and some of these decisions such as creative filtering can have a big impact on both the clarity and impact of your mix.

Filters are one of the most powerful mixing tools we have, and none more so than when we’re using them to create tailored or sectionspecific effects. What’s more, with effects ranging from small snippets of a telephone voice to full on filter sections and beyond, you’ll find creative filtering can be both bold and subtle, and is regularly used across many different music genres.

In the analogue domain, different filter circuits are an important part of synth design, and you’ll find plenty of corresponding software filter emulations, if that’s the sound you’re after. That said, when it comes to mixing there are many flexible EQ plugins capable of delivering all manner of clean precise filter effects that can be further brought to life using their own integrated modulation or simply using regular parameter automation. So, often we don’t need to use a specific filter plugin as the EQ filters are good enough.