When it comes to EQing and compression... I have no idea where to start

[StereoBit]

I can make a track, get my musical ideas out...but a lot of the time everything sounds flat. I side chain, get the volumes where I want them to be, etc.

But everything sounds muddy. Mainly because I have no f**king idea how to mix properly.

I know the basics, like make sure bass frequencies aren't fighting, cut out the lows from most things so they don't interfere with the sub, etc. But everything is still pretty muddy. I try to deal with overlapping frequencies by cutting out notches in one instrument to allow room for the other...but now it just sounds thin.

And I don't even use compression. I know how it works and I've watched more than enough "compressor explained videos" to write an essay... But I still can't for the life of me figure out how to EQ and compress properly.

I would love to be able to take my songs and get a nice, clean, punchy but cohesive mix. But I have no idea where to start or how to even practice that.

Any suggestions?

[vurt]

what kind of music are you making?
and are you doing it all itb, or recording external stuff?

[StereoBit]

Electronic, House, Pop mainly. All within my DAW (Ableton live)

[StereoBit]

what kind of music are you making?
and are you doing it all itb, or recording external stuff?

Electronic, House, Pop mainly. All within my DAW (Ableton live)

[vurt]

reading your op, you say you cut notches and it then sounds thin, are you cutting too much?

compression will also help with a punchy mix, beefing up drums or using sidechains to duck the bass for example.

and as for muddy mixes, are you using too many channels?
some people often layer things, forgetting that the more you add the denser it will be when its all going.
are you using quality samples? for the drums i mean?

[StereoBit]

I'm definitely using quality drum samples, for sure. I also use abletons drum buss on the group, which is sort of a compressor, saturator and transient shaper all in one.

With EQing, I feel like when I cut too much, each instrument starts to sound very thing. But if I dont cut enough, everything stays a muddy mess.

[vurt]

are you using too much in the low mids?
your bass and drums tend to fill most of this, with the kick and low toms.
if you then add a thick pad too low in freq it will fight for space.
if you feel the need for a pad down low, really bring the fader down so its barely there.

if your pad is a little higher up, but still sucking energy and causing it to sound muddy, bring that down a few db too. pads dont need to be in your face and loud, they work just as well down low(volume) and with fewer notes.

it sounds like you do know what you need to do, its just practicing and time will get you there.
how do you feel about sharing a piece at this stage? do you have a soundcloud?
it would be much easier to point you in the right direction, if we can hear something.

[aevang]

Hey - one thing you might want to look into to help muddiness is dynamic EQ. Something like fabfilter Pro-Q3 can do it, but so can other plugins (Waves F6, etc.) It can help pull down energy in that mud region (200-500 Hz) when there's excess energy there. A fun tip - you can also side chain the dynamic EQ band. So for instance, put a dynamic EQ on the bass, and set the band to listen to the kick drum. when the kick hits, it will duck the bass, but only on that region you specify. Hope that helps and gives you a way to fix some muddiness.

[legendCNCD]

TDR Nova is free HQ DynEQ

[lfm]

and as for muddy mixes, are you using too many channels?
some people often layer things, forgetting that the more you add the denser it will be when its all going.

This. +1

Carefully picking which instruments, and also which octave they are playing is part if making the mix full without overlaps.

Some instruments can be omitted in a time range and then come back
- will leave room
- will also create drama and more interesting to listen to

Bass and drums can also omit notes and work together creating an interesting groove. More syncopated playing one could say.
- kick can have a strict pattern
- but bass play around it, not on same down stroke

[sjm]

A lot of this is in the arrangement. This is kinda alluded to above. If you're using synths - which it sounds like you are, as opposed to guitars etc. - you get so much control in the patch design that there's no reason for the mix as a whole to have multiple elements all competing. You can just go with patches that share the load as needed. I think that exercising more judgement earlier in the process and picking the right sounds will probably solve half your problems. Sure, you probably still want to do some eq, but the right sound choices are half the battle.

[imrae]

In recommend the book by Mike Senior "Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio".

It will take you through making the mix as good as possible with faders, then bringing in compression, EQ etc with purpose.

[funky lime]

I was struggling to EQ a rhythm guitar part. No matter what I did, it just wouldn't fit. Realized, the problem wasn't EQ or compression or levels or any of that; the problem was that the chord voicing was too much. Switched from barre chords to just using the three highest strings, and suddenly I didn't even need EQ at all.

Well-composed, well-arranged, well-performed, well-recorded music (as opposed to "meh, we'll fix it in post") seldom needs a heap of processing to sound right—at that point, it's more about "spice" than about trying to "fix" things. If I find myself making huge corrective EQ moves, that's my cue to take a step back, put the EQ away, and solve the problem at the source.

With that said ... Melda MDynamicEQ is currently free

[DrGonzo]

Adding a hipass filter on every track, cutting away all lower frequencies on tracks that are just messing things up, is one of my simplest and easiest way to fix a track. Sometimes that's all I do.

[Psuper]

Adding a hipass filter on every track, cutting away all lower frequencies on tracks that are just messing things up, is one of my simplest and easiest way to fix a track. Sometimes that's all I do.

Truth.

Less is more, especially when you have good takes.