how to add clarity and shine to your mix?

[osiris]

I think people don't realize and try and mixdown at what it's going to sound like when you have all your fx on the Master. So, when you do get everything set up on the Master, it's a hot, distorted mess and you have to go back things down. Less is more. Sculpt with Eq. Higher Rates better sound.

[Giusmex]

I think people don't realize and try and mixdown at what it's going to sound like when you have all your fx on the Master. So, when you do get everything set up on the Master, it's a hot, distorted mess and you have to go back things down. Less is more. Sculpt with Eq. Higher Rates better sound.

perfectly agree on that; i am perfecly aware of the fact that mixing stage is the most important thing; my question was just aimed at understanding if NOW, IN MODERN ELECTRONIC MUSIC, there is a particular technique to add some sheen and clarity on your songs

My intention was NOT to open a thread on the usual "subtractive", "less is more" issues, although they are correct and obvious.

take the limiter, for example; in the past, it was not so used like nowadays; take the distortion plugins; in the past, it was not so obvious to use them, for example, in a drum bus to make drums "thicker" ; this is a recent concept .

Take the compression; i bet that in the 80s it was not used so frequently like nowadays;

in fact, as the OP, i was asking about something that is "usually currently" used for adding sparkle to a mix; i use to highpass the non bass parts ( for example) at 100 Hz; I ALREADY DO THAT. I try not to boost frequencies unless there is a specific reason for that; and i try from the beginning to choose sounds that fit well together

so, my quesiton was aimed at understanding if there is a particular technique to add sparkle to mix, or a particular technique you use. Aural Exciter, for example; it should exist for a reason, right?

So my question is aimed at understanding what you use for that "final touch" of clarity

[t3toooo]

notch notch notching on heavens dooooor...notch notch noootching on heaveeeens dooooor.....

[osiris]

I guess the only answer is the pros can afford to have their mixes pro mastered. I think there are things you can do in a hardware control room that is just out of reach of the 'bedroom producer'. The line is fading fast though.

[lotus2035]

....

..and this guy can mix.

[lotus2035]

Might I suggest pebbles around your usb cables?

Yes but make sure they are Monster pebbles.

[monopoli]

so, my quesiton was aimed at understanding if there is a particular technique to add sparkle to mix, or a particular technique you use. Aural Exciter, for example; it should exist for a reason, right?

So my question is aimed at understanding what you use for that "final touch" of clarity

Aural exciters were invented and later overused (the 80s) in an era where it was a "solution" to a "problem". When you recorded a lot of tracks to tape with the noisy gear of the time it was easy to loose a lot of the high frequencies and get a slightly muffled/whooly (are those words?) sound. Exciters were supposed to add some sparkle (higher frequencies) back into it.

With digital the problem for a lot of people was/is that it's to clean and there too much high frequency content.

[highkoo]

Everyone edit your posts to just say "Ozone".

[xh3rv]

2) why remove 300 hz? to remove muddiness i suppose, there are not types of instruments which could instead benefic from increasing 300 Hz level?

I like ~300hz cuts on drum bus for sure ... nearly everything will have content at 300hz. For instruments - lower octave stuff it's the low-numbered harmonics, for higher octave stuff it's closer to fundamentals. For percussion most stuff really doesn't need 300hz for definition.

It's also an inflection point for loudness curves - below 300hz we're less and less sensitive to changes in amplitude, so when balancing the lows just with faders it's a not-so-linear effect around and above 300hz. In alternate terms cutting at 300 makes lows more defined, as well as adding nice air.

Anybody else like the BBE maximizer plug? It's my only 'secret weapon'. I read some post on another site about doing an EQ->compressor, set for extreme effect but very subtly mixed, in parallel as the Ampex 'thing' but I'm sure there's a little more to it (that routing and variations are really nice though!)

[hibidy]

notch notch notching on heavens dooooor...notch notch noootching on heaveeeens dooooor.....

haha!

[Dean Aka Nekro]

xh3rv Yes, I like the BBE sonic maximizer on bass guitar, kick and snare mostly/usually when I do use it (I do not like it on electric guitar but some do and there are no rules anyway ). I do not have the plug-in version just one of the oldish rack numbers but yeah agree it is another good bit of kit in my humble opinion. I must try the plug version as they have a 'harmonic maximizer' also which could be really handy, Thanks for inadvertantly reminding me about that

[metalifuxx]

Baxter EQ on the master?

It makes my mixes shine so bright I need sun glasses

[metalifuxx]

1:Notch notch?
2:Who's there?
1:Eek.
2:Eek who?
1:EQ!
2:Eek! It's you!

Notch out what you don't really need, and boost the fundamental tone of what you want to be heard in individual instrument tracks. Don't rely on a pretty GUI's fancy number and graphical readout, use your ears first when sweeping through boosted frequency ranges.

Tone = Volume, and Volume = Tone

I forget this sometimes when I'm only thinking about tone shaping, and then suddenly the instruments in my mix are clear and not muddy anymore.

[Tricky-Loops]

Now I don't understand what a maximizer has to do with adding sparkle to a mix??

I don't know some secret sparkle generator. You have to add some instruments with high frequency content first, and then you can sculpt them with exciters, enhancers, EQ, filters or multiband compressors. It depends on the mix.

Maybe some super producers like Timbaland come to KVR and tell the ultimate, never known sparkle-adding technique. But I think that every mix is different and they will use different techniques.

In digital times there is rather too much sparkle than too less...

[aciddose]

take the distortion plugins; in the past, it was not so obvious to use them, for example, in a drum bus to make drums "thicker" ; this is a recent concept .

no it isn't. perhaps it is for you.

this seemed obvious to me (distort, filter, blend) for boosting when i first had access to the tools to do so.

i implemented a "bass boost" plugin in 1999 using this plus some compression.

if you have a "good ear" you can identify this in music dating back to the 50s.

what's old is new again.