I'm trying to get a handle on this mixing thing, and would like to hear step-by-step what your basic process is. Here's what I'm doing at the moment:
1) Throw a lowcut EQ around 50 Hz (sometimes lower or higher) on every track.
2) Get a rough levels balance across the tracks. Usually I start with the drums/percussion (do a submix of these).
3) Compress tracks which are spiking enough to get master bus overloads
4) Refine level balance of tracks.
5) Up the master 2-bus gain until it sounds "loud enough", throwing on a limiter/bus-compressor to keep things from clipping.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to tell when instruments are clashing in frequency areas and therefore when to use EQ to sort that. Any tips here?
Describe your mixing process
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- KVRian
- 622 posts since 14 Jun, 2006 from Finland
My music making and mixing is pretty chaotic so I can't really give any step by step guides, but I can try to answer the last question of yours.
Spectrum analyzers like Voxengo Span are very useful tools when battling with the clashing frequency problem.
Example 1: check the dominant frequency range for the kick sound and attenuate that range for bass sounds. Example 2: check the dominant frequency of snare or clap and attenuate that range a little bit from hihat, cymbal or even lead sounds.
Doing these things can help to bring clarity and it makes kick and snare (and/or clap) punch through the mix more easily.
The day I started using spectrum analyzers is when my mixing skills took a huge leap forward.
Spectrum analyzers like Voxengo Span are very useful tools when battling with the clashing frequency problem.
Example 1: check the dominant frequency range for the kick sound and attenuate that range for bass sounds. Example 2: check the dominant frequency of snare or clap and attenuate that range a little bit from hihat, cymbal or even lead sounds.
Doing these things can help to bring clarity and it makes kick and snare (and/or clap) punch through the mix more easily.
The day I started using spectrum analyzers is when my mixing skills took a huge leap forward.
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- KVRAF
- 21196 posts since 8 Oct, 2014
I'm probably the last person who should be answering this but I learned so much these past 2 weeks that maybe I can actually help.
I decided to go completely out of my comfort zone and do my first Trance style track. I came here looking for help (You can see the thread in this sub forum) and when I posted my first effort, it was a train wreck.
That's when the learning began. And it was a crash course.
So, I will simply go through all the basic steps I went through without going into specifics related to the genre because I want to keep this as generic as possible. But make no mistake about it, the genre you're working in is going to have a big influence on how you go about this because every genre is going to have different requirements.
1. Checked every individual track to make sure the EQ was as good as possible. This might be the most important step. Bad EQ makes the track muddy, tinny, too bright or whatever. You can run into so many problems with bad EQ. This one step should be tacked up on everybody's mixing wall.
2. Checked the levels of each track. Make sure nothing was buried of stuck out like a sort thumb. Bring your sliders down to zero if you have to in order to start the process.
3. Check all my sends to make sure everything is set properly. You want these as clean as possible too. Mud can come from anywhere.
4. Download a reference track and check the SPAN of that track against yours. Do they match? If not, what's off? In my case, low end was almost non existent and too much between 400 and 600. Fix what's broken. Usually EQ alone is enough.
When I think back to the track I just finished, in general, that's all there really is. Naturally you may want compression or some other FX on the individual tracks and/or mix buss but that's all going to be genre specific. That's where the reference track comes in. Does your song sound like the one you're trying to emulate?
One last thing. If you don't know how to do something that you think you're going to need to do, go find a tutorial that teaches it. I can't tell you how many tutorials I watched to get done what I got done.
One more last thing. Don't try to do too much at one time. Take it one track at a time. Give your ears some breaks. After a while, it all starts to sound like chaos.
On final last thing. Ask for help if you need it and don't be like me. If somebody criticizes your track constructively, listen to them. They just might know what they're talking about. I had to learn this the hard way. Had I not ultimately listened to people who I was earlier screaming at, my track would not have ended up as good as it did. I learned a valuable lesson today because of this.
I normally finish a song in a day or two tops. Today was close to 2 weeks that it took me to put this thing together. It was real culture shock for me. I will definitely never go about mixing a track like I used to ever again. So this was a major turning point for me.
Please listen to somebody who did it wrong for way too many years.
Hope this helps.
I decided to go completely out of my comfort zone and do my first Trance style track. I came here looking for help (You can see the thread in this sub forum) and when I posted my first effort, it was a train wreck.
That's when the learning began. And it was a crash course.
So, I will simply go through all the basic steps I went through without going into specifics related to the genre because I want to keep this as generic as possible. But make no mistake about it, the genre you're working in is going to have a big influence on how you go about this because every genre is going to have different requirements.
1. Checked every individual track to make sure the EQ was as good as possible. This might be the most important step. Bad EQ makes the track muddy, tinny, too bright or whatever. You can run into so many problems with bad EQ. This one step should be tacked up on everybody's mixing wall.
2. Checked the levels of each track. Make sure nothing was buried of stuck out like a sort thumb. Bring your sliders down to zero if you have to in order to start the process.
3. Check all my sends to make sure everything is set properly. You want these as clean as possible too. Mud can come from anywhere.
4. Download a reference track and check the SPAN of that track against yours. Do they match? If not, what's off? In my case, low end was almost non existent and too much between 400 and 600. Fix what's broken. Usually EQ alone is enough.
When I think back to the track I just finished, in general, that's all there really is. Naturally you may want compression or some other FX on the individual tracks and/or mix buss but that's all going to be genre specific. That's where the reference track comes in. Does your song sound like the one you're trying to emulate?
One last thing. If you don't know how to do something that you think you're going to need to do, go find a tutorial that teaches it. I can't tell you how many tutorials I watched to get done what I got done.
One more last thing. Don't try to do too much at one time. Take it one track at a time. Give your ears some breaks. After a while, it all starts to sound like chaos.
On final last thing. Ask for help if you need it and don't be like me. If somebody criticizes your track constructively, listen to them. They just might know what they're talking about. I had to learn this the hard way. Had I not ultimately listened to people who I was earlier screaming at, my track would not have ended up as good as it did. I learned a valuable lesson today because of this.
I normally finish a song in a day or two tops. Today was close to 2 weeks that it took me to put this thing together. It was real culture shock for me. I will definitely never go about mixing a track like I used to ever again. So this was a major turning point for me.
Please listen to somebody who did it wrong for way too many years.
Hope this helps.
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- KVRAF
- 7624 posts since 21 Dec, 2002 from MD USA
why don't you just turn the volume down on the things are causing spikes instead of compress them? I would for sure mix at lower volume levels across the board. I use compression to create more space for everything in the mix but not solely to avoid clips. To me that is very wrong.
my music: http://www.alexcooperusa.com
"It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am." Muhammad Ali
"It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am." Muhammad Ali
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- Banned
- 1780 posts since 26 Aug, 2012
I have a different approach: to work backwards.
Get the mastering track on first, boost level to max and RMS as close to -4 as I can. If I cant then I do parallel compression for most of the tracks, squash the dynamics on master until I'm at -4 and the loudness matches some guide track.
Then I fix all the distorted tracks with eq and what not till overall level and RMS is right.
The only thing I do before the master track goes on is getting the soundfield right for each track.
So the EQing and multiband compression is done last but only as a means of fixing the distortion..ie frequency conflict caused by boosting.
Ive tried conventional ways with little success. This way seems more logical because your objective is to get every loud as possible so it's best to start there rather than try to end then go back to the drawing board.
Get the mastering track on first, boost level to max and RMS as close to -4 as I can. If I cant then I do parallel compression for most of the tracks, squash the dynamics on master until I'm at -4 and the loudness matches some guide track.
Then I fix all the distorted tracks with eq and what not till overall level and RMS is right.
The only thing I do before the master track goes on is getting the soundfield right for each track.
So the EQing and multiband compression is done last but only as a means of fixing the distortion..ie frequency conflict caused by boosting.
Ive tried conventional ways with little success. This way seems more logical because your objective is to get every loud as possible so it's best to start there rather than try to end then go back to the drawing board.
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- KVRAF
- 4590 posts since 7 Jun, 2012 from Warsaw
I eq tracks and apply basic effects (saturation, chorus) at sound design stage. Need to know if an instrument sounds right to begin with.
Actual mixing takes place after arrangement. I drop my fixed bus chains (sidechain, reverb, compression stages), then tweak settings it until it sounds right.
Then apply some extra panorama / distance manipulation with Panagement.
Then comes reality check - I drop a rack which cuts low and high end and collapses track to mono. I play everything from the begining and check if the mix does not fall apart.
Eventually render everything to pre-master. Quickly run it through tweaked master bus, then check final result. If something is not ok, I tweak it at mix stage. Rarely change any settings on master bus, except maybe final limiter level to get target loudness.
Actual mixing takes place after arrangement. I drop my fixed bus chains (sidechain, reverb, compression stages), then tweak settings it until it sounds right.
Then apply some extra panorama / distance manipulation with Panagement.
Then comes reality check - I drop a rack which cuts low and high end and collapses track to mono. I play everything from the begining and check if the mix does not fall apart.
Eventually render everything to pre-master. Quickly run it through tweaked master bus, then check final result. If something is not ok, I tweak it at mix stage. Rarely change any settings on master bus, except maybe final limiter level to get target loudness.
Last edited by DJ Warmonger on Mon Oct 22, 2018 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Tricky-Loops wrote: (...)someone like Armin van Buuren who claims to make a track in half an hour and all his songs sound somewhat boring(...)
Tricky-Loops wrote: (...)someone like Armin van Buuren who claims to make a track in half an hour and all his songs sound somewhat boring(...)
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- Boss Lovin' DR
- 12620 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
I am probably a very bad person as I like to do it as I go along, a process of constant tinkering with smaller incremental steps until it sounds right to me. There is no real 'mixing' stage for me.
Two things I would say.
All the eq/compression etc in the world is no good if your source material is shite (learned this the hard way over time with acoustic guitars). If you're layering stuff then ask yourself is it really necessary, or just to mask that the original sound is a bit crap? The less you have going on in terms of instruments is better generally - less work for any master bus processing etc, and more clarity, so try and get the sounds as good as you can before any eq etc.
The most important things are your monitors. Sounds trite to say, but you read about people spending massive amounts on plug-ins, then they're mixing on hi-fi speakers. If you've got some monitors you implicitly trust, then you'll have the confidence to make bold decisions, knowing that they work. Again, one speaks from experience of doing it the wrong way...
Two things I would say.
All the eq/compression etc in the world is no good if your source material is shite (learned this the hard way over time with acoustic guitars). If you're layering stuff then ask yourself is it really necessary, or just to mask that the original sound is a bit crap? The less you have going on in terms of instruments is better generally - less work for any master bus processing etc, and more clarity, so try and get the sounds as good as you can before any eq etc.
The most important things are your monitors. Sounds trite to say, but you read about people spending massive amounts on plug-ins, then they're mixing on hi-fi speakers. If you've got some monitors you implicitly trust, then you'll have the confidence to make bold decisions, knowing that they work. Again, one speaks from experience of doing it the wrong way...
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- KVRAF
- 2753 posts since 5 Jun, 2011 from Preston, England, UK
Donkey tugger is spot on! Source material, monitoring and mixing in MONO. Get them right first. I repeat, mix in mono 
.
.The inner workings of vurts mind are a force to be reckoned with.
music is a need in my life...yes I could survive without it but tbh I dont know how
myfeebleeffort
https://paulroach2.bandcamp.com/
https://hearthis.at/83hdtrvm/
music is a need in my life...yes I could survive without it but tbh I dont know how
myfeebleeffort
https://paulroach2.bandcamp.com/
https://hearthis.at/83hdtrvm/
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- KVRAF
- 1511 posts since 26 Jun, 2005
I describe it with a movie title:
for they don't know what they do.
for they don't know what they do.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3980 posts since 20 Feb, 2004
Lots of good information here, thanks folks. 
Kinh, your approach sounds like a refreshingly novel perspective; I'll bear it in mind as I progress down the road.
Kinh, your approach sounds like a refreshingly novel perspective; I'll bear it in mind as I progress down the road.
A well-behaved signature.
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- KVRAF
- 2564 posts since 2 Jul, 2010
This is horrifying. Music deserves to breathe.Kinh wrote: ↑Sun Oct 21, 2018 5:45 am Get the mastering track on first, boost level to max and RMS as close to -4 as I can. If I cant then I do parallel compression for most of the tracks, squash the dynamics on master until I'm at -4 and the loudness matches some guide track.
Then I fix all the distorted tracks with eq and what not till overall level and RMS is right.
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- KVRAF
- 2564 posts since 2 Jul, 2010
On the topic of EQ I tend to EQ in two steps: 1. remove problems 2. Shape tone. This may use two different EQs, or say a dynamic EQ to remove problems and then shape with vintage-style EQ. While it can make sense to solo the track for step 1, step 2 should primarily happen while listening to the full mix. Which EQ moves help lift the part where needed and avoid creating new conflicts?
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Distorted Horizon Distorted Horizon https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=392076 - Banned
- 3882 posts since 17 Jan, 2017 from Planet of cats
Neutron 2 is pure gold when mixing..
Instances talk to each others so you can see where you need to dip the freq's etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tQJ8EzN_6s
Instances talk to each others so you can see where you need to dip the freq's etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tQJ8EzN_6s
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- addled muppet weed
- 105800 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
