There are three major mixing styles that started to emerge nearly a half a century ago; the New York Style, the LA Style, and the London Style. Although there’s less of a distinction between them nowadays, most of the recordings you hear, still fall into one of these three major mixing styles.
The New York Style
The New York sound is one of the punchiest, aggressive mixing styles there is, due to the amount of compression that is used. The rhythm section is typically the most compressed section out of the bunch; starting with sending all the drums into a stereo bus. The stereo bus is then ran through compression to your liking, and then you gradually mix in the wet compressed stereo bus drums into the mix along side the dry uncompressed drum tracks using faders. You can further augment the amount of wet compressed drums by boosting the high and low frequencies on the stereo bus track using EQ.
To listen to a few examples of the New York Style check out these bands listed below:
Goo Goo Dolls – Better Days
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Nada Surf – Always Love
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The LA Style
The LA sound has a naturalistic sound that resembles that of a live performance. It can still contain compression, EQ, reverb, and more; but anything that is mixed in with the original recording is added to develop its original sound rather than remodeling it into something its not.
To listen to a few examples of the LA Style check out these bands listed below:
Eddie Vedder – Guaranteed
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Billy Joel – Vienna
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Don McLean – American Pie
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The London Style
The London sound style is an intensely constructed musical performance that uses multiple effect layers to achieve it. By using multiple effects layers, it allows each effect or instrument for that matter to hold its own perspective, or in other words its own sonic environment within the sound scape of the song. This can enable specifically chosen effects to come in at different points in the song and completely change the dynamics of the sound from that point on.
To listen to a few examples of the London Style check out these bands listed below:
The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
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Fatboy Slim – Praise You
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Other Styles & Beyond
Since the late 80’s or so there has been a homogenization of the three major styles due to the technological advancements in audio production. This has allowed audio engineers the freedom to record, mix, and master practically anywhere he or she pleases. But that ability has only existed for a couple of decades. Before the late 80’s the three major styles influences practically all music that was recorded; meaning you would be able to identify where the music was recorded simply by listening to it. The technological restrictions and the monopolization of the record industry for better or worse controlled the studios and therefore the engineers; which is why it was normal to see most studios with house engineers; these engineers typically worked full time at one specific studio for most of their career.
Today, the audio production market is predominately driven by freelance engineers that travel from studio to studio, city to city, and therefore interchanging styles along the way. The once regional sub-styles that existed in areas such as San Francisco, Philadelphia, Ohio, Miami, and so on have succumbed to one of the three major styles, because of this. This expanding homogenization and diversification is not only done by freelancers interchanging styles from one location to the next. It is each individuals musical tastes, cultures, philosophies, past mentors, innovations, and so on that truly bring us to new alterations of the three major mixing styles and beyond.
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