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AngeFragile wrote:A simple thing which hasn't been mentioned...Your ears are always a 'morning person', they are most sensitive earlier on. The later it becomes in the day the more you'll be tempted to turn in more high throwing your mix off balance.
That's a good point. The longer I mix the brighter I make it. Absolutely force yourself to take breaks

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AngeFragile wrote:A simple thing which hasn't been mentioned...Your ears are always a 'morning person', they are most sensitive earlier on. The later it becomes in the day the more you'll be tempted to turn in more high throwing your mix off balance.
Some people when they are tired are more sensitive to the high end to the point where it becomes irritating and they start cutting the high end.

A head cold can wreck your perception as well.

Drink and being in an altered state can lead one astray as well. Even a head cold can wreck your perception.

Your masterpiece can sound very different the "morning after".

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how bout this one:

try to do things in few steps as possible.

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camsr wrote:Don't polish a turd, distort it.
Or automate it and call it dubstep.
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---Salon on internet trolls attacking Cleveland kidnapping victim Amanda Berry

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faun2500 wrote:Get it right in mono.
OH YES!

This is incredibly important as it is one of the keys to recording and mixing.

I check that all my waveforms are starting off positive from the 0 line that bisects the waveform.

A kick drum that is positive and a bass that is lined up and go in a negative direction will eat up or destroy the dynamics. Flip the phase on your bass and you get the punch back immediately.

Plug-ins can play with phase as they transform your sounds, the only real way to check is bounce or record to another track and zoom in to see the delay and if the phase got 'flipped" or "inverted.
If the phase is flipped check it against any drums or percussion to get everyone lined up and taking off in the same direction.
Your song will have the dynamics it deserves.

Recording Guitars, voices, and/or any source, even triggering samples should be checked zooming in, aligning the timing as tight as possible (this is a matter of styles and taste), and correcting the phase by making sure the initial crest are positive.

If you have a way of "summing to mono" through the master output, do it from time to time, train yourself to hear what is disappearing.

Keeping your instruments mono with mono treatments is the easiest way of avoiding phase problems.

Ask yourself why an instrument is Stereo, if you don't have a good reason cut one side out, your mix will be as punchy as hell.

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I am pretty sure, but not certain, positive phase pushes the speaker out?

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camsr wrote:I am pretty sure, but not certain, positive phase pushes the speaker out?
Depends on how the terminals or "input wires" are plugged at the rear.

In any case, it isn't as important as the displacement either in or out.

The more air you push, the louder the speaker is, the faster the response time the more dynamic it is.

But we were talking about the phase relationships of the music itself.

When two elements are out of phase with each other, it is like the speaker is being told to move in two different directions at the same time and you lose the loudness and the dynamics.

And your mix lacks power and clarity, despite all your hard work.

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