Which production concepts/techniques have improved your production the most?

How to do this, that and the other. Share, learn, teach. How did X do that? How can I sound like Y?
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Realising that 90% of the mixing process is down to simple volume leveling.

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For me, it was realizing that good mixing starts from a good production. Much easier to mix a well produced song than have a "fix it in the mix" mentality.

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Write a song and then delete absolutely everything superfluous. IME, that can be almost all of it.

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Don't do things just because you think they should be done. e.g. I used to EQ pretty much every channel, because that's what you do, but these days I hardly use any EQ at all. And as swilow11 says, get rid of everything that isn't making a positive contribution to the result. Mute each track and decide if the song is really any better off with it in there. If you have to think about it for even a second, then you probably don't need it, so get rid of it.

Think MINIMALISM! Do only what really needs to be done and choose sounds that work in a mix with minimal effort. Don't make anything more work than it needs to be.
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Mdekoning wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 9:53 am Using References (for ideas and Inspiration)
Yes, learning how to properly use references was a game-changer for me.

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Understanding compression was huge for me. Also just listening to music I like very closely

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In the kind of music I produce (4/4 disco pop) - it was to make my kicks shorter. And I mean WAY shorter, sometimes even similar to closed hihats. I actually discovered that by myself quite a while ago, but was delighted to find confirmation in the following yt material - I am not affiliated with this guy in any way, but everything he says is spot on.

Do not be afraid to shorten kicks, sometimes radically. The moment you do so your mix will start to breathe. That lovely bass preset you so carefully crafted will sound in the mix equally fat, powerful and groovy like it sounded on its own. Dreamy arpeggios in the background, or pads, or whatever you put there will be blurred no more and this whole track will make your hair rise, get goosebumps and your creativity will be unleashed. You will start automating, layering, panning, reverberating and delaying everything like no tomorrow and will have a song ready in no time. And the kick? Don't worry, it will be there. Right where it should be. Your listeners won't care about the kick anyway. They will listen to the whole of your piece, will be after hooks, interesting sounds or melody lines that should make your music stand out.
Shorten your kicks. Do not omit any useful advice, like cutting lows on everything that should not be low, but do shorten the kick drum, to the extreme, if needed.

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Several things:

> freeze VSTi's to audio ASAP so you can see the waveform to assist the edit process and lower CPU burden.
> check the mix on a variety of speakers
> don't settle for mediocre VST instruments, go for the best ones if you can. If you can't afford them, try to use the demos anyhow.
> hardware is more fun than software so do everything you can do to make the software mixes powerful
> improve / change your workflow ASAP for better results (#1 improvement); a good DAW with a crappy workflow is less valuable than a medium good DAW with an excellent workflow

I started uploading my tunes again: https://soundcloud.com/909countyfair
Last edited by mjolnir on Sun Nov 03, 2024 6:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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One thing I've noticed with this thread is that, in 4 pages there have only been 4 people who've participated who actually have music to share with the rest of us, which has to call into question the value of the other's contributions, surely? Most of what's been written is common sense, not stuff I'd have thought needed to be shared, which makes it hard to know where people are at in their journey, and what advice is likely to be worthwhile.

That said. I'll reiterate my MINIMALIST mantra - only do what needs doing, don't do anything just because you think that's what other people do. Watch all the videos, experiment with all the tools, so you know what they do and how to use them, but only use them when you can identify a need and that tool is the solution.
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d'oh! OMG. my tunes haven't been visible! updating now! LOL

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SouledOut wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2024 7:54 am Do not be afraid to shorten kicks, sometimes radically. The moment you do so your mix will start to breathe.
That's an interesting one, particularly as the sub content translates very differently according to sound system/environment. I've been using Realphones as an aid, and the sub blooms so much in the club settings, it really demands cleaning up one way or another. However, on a typical home system that cleaned up kick sub can sound a little weak, and it can be hard to find a good compromise depending on the musical genre. I guess your approach necessitates kicks which pass rapidly through the mid frequencies during the sine sweep, which might be limiting if the track requires some mids in the kick?
Every day takes figuring out all over again how to f#ckin’ live.

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It's hard to say because I constantly learn so much throughout the years. But I will give an oddball answer and say learning the ins and outs of your DAW like the back of your hand is really a handy thing. Improves workflow and creativity drastically.

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It’s a game of small improvements (and I’m not fully satisfied yet), but gain staging was an important one. I’m not overzealous about it, I mostly look for a reasonable level (not to low of course, I still look for a quite high signal), but the concept of leaving some headroom had a positive effect on my work (both to allow further processing and because I would have to lower down everything to fit in the mix anyway).

Another thing that had an impact is thinking about what a sound/part will do in the mix when I’m writing. So, for example, I may have some sound/parts made just to provide a wide layer when I want the stereo image to get wide and big, without having to put effects (often with detrimental consequences?) on the important parts to get “that wide sound”.
The more I think about the way things will fit in the mix and I anticipate the problems, the less headaches down the line.
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sin night wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2024 10:51 pm Another thing that had an impact is thinking about what a sound/part will do in the mix when I’m writing. So, for example, I may have some sound/parts made just to provide a wide layer when I want the stereo image to get wide and big, without having to put effects (often with detrimental consequences?) on the important parts to get “that wide sound”.
The more I think about the way things will fit in the mix and I anticipate the problems, the less headaches down the line.
A testament to that lies in the sheer number of interviews you read where the artists say "Producer X made me do eleventy-one takes to use for doubling..."

Or Michael Boddicker's habit of stacking an insane number of synths on one line, each played in separately.

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there's so much good advice in here.
i like seeing other people who shorten kicks, too! LOL

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