How to balance Kick, Snare, Hats, Bass, Synths, Vox, etc ? please help....

[olevish]

Hello, I have a simple yet a very difficult question : how to balance it all in the mix ?
what's best and quick ways to make each instrument to sit on it's own frequency,
so the mix won't sound muddy and "too busy", how is it all done ?

thanks in advance

[AsPeeXXXVIII]

Drag the faders until things sound good. Use EQ if necessary.

[thecontrolcentre]

Use your ears, then adjust faders to suit ... there is no "quick way" to learn this stuff. It takes time.

[Forgotten]

Ask yourself why it doesn't sound good so far and ask a question based on that.

[olevish]

people, thank you for your replies, but it's not really helping .
like for example I have this SSLChannel Stereo vst, cool ? there's Bass, Kick, Snare setting so in "perfect world" it should send each to it's own place, yes ? but it doesn't sound right, some presets do what they're supposed to, but some (like Kick in there, it's too thin), I need help with finding some Vst like SSLChannel Stereo, but one that does the job without too much tweaking . thanks

[Mushy Mushy]

A) Think
B) Forget quick and easy
C) Think
D) What is the most important frequency range of each. Compare what isn’t important against other elements and cut accordingly.

[Mushy Mushy]

people, thank you for your replies, but it's not really helping .
like for example I have this SSLChannel Stereo vst, cool ? there's Bass, Kick, Snare setting so in "perfect world" it should send each to it's own place, yes ? but it doesn't sound right, some presets do what they're supposed to, but some (like Kick in there, it's too thin), I need help with finding some Vst like SSLChannel Stereo, but one that does the job without too much tweaking . thanks

No. You’re just being lazy and as you’ve discovered that doesn’t work.

[thecontrolcentre]

Employ a mix engineer if you're too lazy to learn how to mix yourself. There is no magic button or preset.

[Forgotten]

I have this SSLChannel Stereo vst, cool ? there's Bass, Kick, Snare setting so in "perfect world" it should send each to it's own place, yes ?

No, that's not how it works.

The presets will set parameters that are close to a typical channel described in the preset name, but it won't make your mix perfect.

There are a lot of things you can do to each channel in a mix, but at the minimum you need to shape the frequencies of the channel to fix into an overall mix, maybe tame some dynamics, and balance the level of each track (which might include some automation of volume, EQ, etc.).

Even when you have a mix you're happy with, it's not finished until you master it. Typically that will be a process to finalize a stereo mix down of your work.

There's no shortcut to any of this, and certainly no way to press a button and see a perfect end result spat out the other end.

[Passing Bye]

I need help with finding some Vst like SSLChannel Stereo, but one that does the job without too much tweaking . thanks

https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mix/neutron.html

[olevish]

bottom line, I think that's the #1 issue that kills any creativity, as instead of being busy creating, you're busy tweaking and EQing

[Mushy Mushy]

Create then tweak.

[olevish]

interesting, I'm checking it out as we speak, might be what I'm looking for, thanks

I need help with finding some Vst like SSLChannel Stereo, but one that does the job without too much tweaking . thanks

https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mix/neutron.html

[olevish]

Create then tweak.

well, I wish it was the case, as from experience - you have an idea, you start working on it, but after like 3, 4 parts, it's starting to feel "crowded", like "they" fight with each other, instead of working together, so then you're busy fixing this and while doing that, you're forgetting the original idea you had, so back to the drawing board . why can't these things just "play" together ? why do I need to be a technician too ?!!

[Unaspected]

why do I need to be a technician too ?!!

You don't have to be an engineer. They're available for hire if you're working on a serious project.

Hello, I have a simple yet a very difficult question : how to balance it all in the mix ?
what's best and quick ways to make each instrument to sit on it's own frequency,
so the mix won't sound muddy and "too busy", how is it all done ?

thanks in advance

The very first thing you'll want to do is to reduce resonances in your signals using a handful of peak filters. There are plugins that can assist with this but I think it would be better to learn how to EQ first.

I find the boost, sweep, cut method works best here:

For this task you want a nice, transparent, digital EQ - your DAW should have one.

Grab a peak filter, set the bandwidth so it is reasonably narrow, boost the level and sweep over the frequency spectrum whilst the sound plays - wherever it sounds worst / most harsh, that's where you want it. Park the filter there and then reduce the gain so that you are attenuating that frequency range, suppressing the resonance. You might also want to adjust the Q or bandwidth of the filter again in it's new context to provide balance.

It gets more tricky, the higher the frequencies but this is how you'll deal with some of that mud - so focus on the low mids first. Another tip, which likely won't seem obvious at first. Don't just strip those frequencies by pushing the peak filter as far into negative gain as possible. You'll need to listen to the balance of frequencies within the sound to arrive at a compromise that sounds most natural.

If you do this ahead of compression then you can be sure that the right frequencies are triggering the compressor. However, after any process which raises the noisefloor, such as compression or distortion, you will likely want to address any resonant buildup with an additional stage of corrective EQ afterwards - to keep everything clean and clear.