Most Important Mix Trick You Have Learned

PhonoquO · 10th December 2005

What is the most important mix trick you all have learned and the ways to achieve it mixing in the box?

Personally, would have to say running the channel levels low, ie hitting only in the green, with a really low -18 to -15 stereo bus ouput. I trim all my channels prefader to -8 to compensate for any innacuracies in metering in the channels and plugins. From what i have read on this board in another thread, the architecture of most daw sequencer platforms supports 32 bit, but when u sum all your channels, although you might not be maxing out this headroom, the end result sum of the channels has to be downsampled to 24 bit to support the dac of the soundcard. What can result are rounding errors which results in a less defined stereo field and a muddier bottom end (especially the low mid). I tried this trick and it made a world of difference in my mixes. I make up the gain on the stereo bus with the limiter. Cause the channels have already been summed, the added gain you make at this stage doesn't effect anything perceptively.

Peace

cajonezzz · 11th December 2005

For me, it was simply mixing quietly, and only checking at volume.
That keeps the ears "open".

Also, taking ear breaks- often. Helps me stay objective.

importing reference mixes into the session: be they previous mixes from the same album in progress, or similar artists. Just to keep perspective.

I don't mix any hip hop, but i can't imagine it would be any different.

SparkyCanada · 11th December 2005

For me - it's knowing when to quit.

It comes from spending hours on something - only to realize the next day - the thing you did initially was/is better than what ya got sitting in front of you now...

I use the following motto @ work: Any fool can persist - but it takes a wise man to know when to quit.

SparkyCanada

JonCraig · 11th December 2005

mix into the 2 buss comp... don't just slap it on towards the end. and bypass it regularly to see whether or not it's helping.

pull the vocal fader up first... then mix around it.

those are the ones off the top of my head.

--jon

Dave Martin · 11th December 2005

Turn up the good sounds. Turn down the bad ones.

Don't use processing (outboard gear, plugins, and especially plugins) just because you have them. Use them only when you NEED them.

Methlab · 11th December 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Martin

Turn up the good sounds. Turn down the bad ones.

Don't use processing (outboard gear, plugins, and especially plugins) just because you have them. Use them only when you NEED them.

very tru..dont mix using rules. adjust your compressor or whatever until the track sounds good, use the ears not the eyes.

thethrillfactor · 11th December 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhonoquO

What is the most important mix trick you all have learned and the ways to achieve it mixing in the box?

Peace

Mix to the song and not to a technique or trick.

filterayok · 11th December 2005

mix to the song is 100% correct----------------------and then i find a song just like it and REFERENCE!!!! to me, A/Bing to an already proven great mix is so key---and usually i don't aim to beat that mix, just match it perfectly, cause "my mix bangs harder" just means your kik is too loud, or too bottom endy----also, when you got a mix you think sounds good, but your gonna "tweak" it out the next day, better have that original mix ready to reference, so your sure your making it BETTER then it was --i'm no mix engineer though

Methlab · 11th December 2005

yeah, i forgot to say A/Bing is huge. That's a big help for me in getting levels..but I also take into account the CD i have in is mastered, so I don't listen for volume, as much as overall tones and levels in the mix.

ill Factor · 11th December 2005

A cool little trick i stumbled across is A mastering plug-ins by Stienberg called: "Free Filter" This basically reads and copies an EQ curve off anything and you can paste it onto your 2-track mix... I use this to kind of get an idea of the balance in my final Eqing... its kinda handy... Any cubase users could also try haveing the standard VSt puncher plug-in top of the chain and set the effect to somehting like 48-55% and then run the stereo expander after that seems to do a tight job but whateva!! its all up to the Vibe you put into the track really... If you can make it sound good with a branch and apple suace well then rock it.

-ill Factor

Jason Poulin · 11th December 2005

automation and rides.

keeps the song big and interesting

ps: that avatar is hullarious!!!

Jason

Disco D · 11th December 2005

one great thing i have been using a lot of lately is MondoMod by Waves - I use it as a type of autopanner with the AM and FM settings off and the mix level down to between 10 and 40 percent. I usually put the spread between 70 and 100 and do varying bpms in conjunction with the song. I have been putting Mondo Mod all over everything on my tracks lately including hihats, delays and reverbs. an aux reverb and delay set up with filterbank F2 rolled off around 250 hz at bottom and 10-13 khz on top combined with mondomod sounds great and gives you a real nice wide sound on your verbs and delay without being overpowering

PhonoquO · 12th December 2005

Disco,

I could have sworn i heard mondomod on the sample in ski mask. Funny you mention that plug, i just started messing with it last week, first time since i ditched house music! Imma try that mondo on my auxes fo sho.

Peace

Marky

Tibbon · 12th December 2005

1) Never bump up the bass just because the client wants you to.

2) Never over/re-over compress tracks that someone ripped off and brought in.

3) Speed is key. Many of these guys book 2-3 hours at most, and want to get 3 songs done in that time. I have had ONE artist that didn't do this (a fellow GS) and recorded real instruments. He was a rare pleasure to work with and I wish that every client had been like him.

rickrock305 · 12th December 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tibbon

1) Never bump up the bass just because the client wants you to.

yes, NEVER do what the client wants!!!!

senor roboto · 12th December 2005

take every track and cut hard below 120 hz, mix, then add back in selectively below 120.
I find doing the levels and EQing easier without all that mud down there.
I am also not a mix engineer.

jonnyclueless · 12th December 2005

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is listening really loud on big speakers. Not saying you shouldn't ever do this, but it should be for enjoyment, not critical listening. I think using small Auratones is much better. If you can get everything hittin on them, then it's going to sound all the better on the bigs. Sure it's easy to get a lot of bottom on the bigs, but does ti translate to the small speakers where most people will be listning from in their cars/portable radios, etc?

That's the most important mix trick I have learned (and am still learning).

illynoise · 13th December 2005

Mix with headphones.

Nah, but really, I've been mixing with ST-6's from KRK as a replacement for my NS10's (when the tweeter took a year to get from Yami), and I haven't turned back since! Always have a good inexpensive set of speakers.

BaseJeezy
Illynoise

espasonico · 20th December 2005

I don´t know if it´s a trick or something else but I try to hear the mix in my brain before doing anything. Once I know how I want it to sound it´s easy to get there. I have to know how I want it to sound to sound like, otherwise I´m lost.

Cheers!

BigAl · 20th December 2005

Check out the mix in mono. Your be surprise.

Power Supply · 20th December 2005

1.To really listen, take my time and not be afraid to take chances.

2.Don't believe the latest hype.

3.Make sure the EQ is not in bypass before you start deluding
yourself something's changing!

ILL · 20th December 2005

Use the right compressor.

Billy Palmier · 20th December 2005

eq and place

eq:
In the beginning I always used to think: a bit more that on the bass, a bit more here, there… and you always start boosting your eq on one or another thing… now it happens more that I use levels and cutting in eq to get things in it's place… it makes the mix more balanced… more controlled…

place:
Not trying to get everything too filled… leave space… but the right thing in the right place at the right time… the magical combination… And this just keeps getting better every year… the more you do it, the quicker you hear what's wrong with the mix, what's missing. it's all about finding the ballance between the different elements…

10th December 2005	#1
PhonoquO Lives for gear Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: North of Toronto Posts: 1,172 Thread Starter	Most Important Mix Trick You Have Learned What is the most important mix trick you all have learned and the ways to achieve it mixing in the box? Personally, would have to say running the channel levels low, ie hitting only in the green, with a really low -18 to -15 stereo bus ouput. I trim all my channels prefader to -8 to compensate for any innacuracies in metering in the channels and plugins. From what i have read on this board in another thread, the architecture of most daw sequencer platforms supports 32 bit, but when u sum all your channels, although you might not be maxing out this headroom, the end result sum of the channels has to be downsampled to 24 bit to support the dac of the soundcard. What can result are rounding errors which results in a less defined stereo field and a muddier bottom end (especially the low mid). I tried this trick and it made a world of difference in my mixes. I make up the gain on the stereo bus with the limiter. Cause the channels have already been summed, the added gain you make at this stage doesn't effect anything perceptively. Peace

11th December 2005	#2
cajonezzz Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Carlsbad Ca. Posts: 1,765	For me, it was simply mixing quietly, and only checking at volume. That keeps the ears "open". Also, taking ear breaks- often. Helps me stay objective. importing reference mixes into the session: be they previous mixes from the same album in progress, or similar artists. Just to keep perspective. I don't mix any hip hop, but i can't imagine it would be any different. __________________ http://recordingdrummerproducer.com http://socaldrumsociety.com http://ProCraftMedia.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

11th December 2005	#4
JonCraig Lives for gear Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 1,800	mix into the 2 buss comp... don't just slap it on towards the end. and bypass it regularly to see whether or not it's helping. pull the vocal fader up first... then mix around it. those are the ones off the top of my head. --jon __________________ "My job is to make music sound great and to not whine too much." --George Massenburg Learn PT Techniques from Multi-Platinum Engineers. Click Here.

11th December 2005	#5
Dave Martin Moderator emeritus Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 3,152	Turn up the good sounds. Turn down the bad ones. Don't use processing (outboard gear, plugins, and especially plugins) just because you have them. Use them only when you NEED them. __________________ Dave Martin Java Jive Studio www.javajivestudio.com Nashville, TN

11th December 2005	#11
Jason Poulin Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Sudbury, On. Canada Posts: 1,769	automation and rides. keeps the song big and interesting ps: that avatar is hullarious!!! Jason __________________ If it don't sound like a record... don't press record

11th December 2005	#3
SparkyCanada Gear addict Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Saskatoon SK, Canada Posts: 346	For me - it's knowing when to quit. It comes from spending hours on something - only to realize the next day - the thing you did initially was/is better than what ya got sitting in front of you now... I use the following motto @ work: Any fool can persist - but it takes a wise man to know when to quit. SparkyCanada

11th December 2005	#8
filterayok Lives for gear Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 1,465	mix to the song is 100% correct----------------------and then i find a song just like it and REFERENCE!!!! to me, A/Bing to an already proven great mix is so key---and usually i don't aim to beat that mix, just match it perfectly, cause "my mix bangs harder" just means your kik is too loud, or too bottom endy----also, when you got a mix you think sounds good, but your gonna "tweak" it out the next day, better have that original mix ready to reference, so your sure your making it BETTER then it was --i'm no mix engineer though

11th December 2005	#9
Methlab Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Orlando Posts: 3,642	yeah, i forgot to say A/Bing is huge. That's a big help for me in getting levels..but I also take into account the CD i have in is mastered, so I don't listen for volume, as much as overall tones and levels in the mix.

11th December 2005	#10
ill Factor Gear nut Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Miami Posts: 130	A cool little trick i stumbled across is A mastering plug-ins by Stienberg called: "Free Filter" This basically reads and copies an EQ curve off anything and you can paste it onto your 2-track mix... I use this to kind of get an idea of the balance in my final Eqing... its kinda handy... Any cubase users could also try haveing the standard VSt puncher plug-in top of the chain and set the effect to somehting like 48-55% and then run the stereo expander after that seems to do a tight job but whateva!! its all up to the Vibe you put into the track really... If you can make it sound good with a branch and apple suace well then rock it. -ill Factor

11th December 2005	#12
Disco D Gear addict Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: NYC / Sao Paulo Posts: 391	one great thing i have been using a lot of lately is MondoMod by Waves - I use it as a type of autopanner with the AM and FM settings off and the mix level down to between 10 and 40 percent. I usually put the spread between 70 and 100 and do varying bpms in conjunction with the song. I have been putting Mondo Mod all over everything on my tracks lately including hihats, delays and reverbs. an aux reverb and delay set up with filterbank F2 rolled off around 250 hz at bottom and 10-13 khz on top combined with mondomod sounds great and gives you a real nice wide sound on your verbs and delay without being overpowering

12th December 2005	#13
PhonoquO Lives for gear Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: North of Toronto Posts: 1,172 Thread Starter	Disco, I could have sworn i heard mondomod on the sample in ski mask. Funny you mention that plug, i just started messing with it last week, first time since i ditched house music! Imma try that mondo on my auxes fo sho. Peace Marky

12th December 2005	#14
Tibbon Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Boston/MA Posts: 4,774 2 Reviews written	1) Never bump up the bass just because the client wants you to. 2) Never over/re-over compress tracks that someone ripped off and brought in. 3) Speed is key. Many of these guys book 2-3 hours at most, and want to get 3 songs done in that time. I have had ONE artist that didn't do this (a fellow GS) and recorded real instruments. He was a rare pleasure to work with and I wish that every client had been like him. __________________ David Fisher (aka tibbon) What is Noise, Blog (DIY, gear, tech, etc) Follow me on Twitter imVOX- Voice for Gamers WTB: Moog Theremin Signature Edition

12th December 2005	#16
senor roboto Gear interested Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 22	take every track and cut hard below 120 hz, mix, then add back in selectively below 120. I find doing the levels and EQing easier without all that mud down there. I am also not a mix engineer.

12th December 2005	#17
jonnyclueless Lives for gear Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 799	I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is listening really loud on big speakers. Not saying you shouldn't ever do this, but it should be for enjoyment, not critical listening. I think using small Auratones is much better. If you can get everything hittin on them, then it's going to sound all the better on the bigs. Sure it's easy to get a lot of bottom on the bigs, but does ti translate to the small speakers where most people will be listning from in their cars/portable radios, etc? That's the most important mix trick I have learned (and am still learning).

13th December 2005	#18
illynoise Lives for gear Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 1,665	Mix with headphones. Nah, but really, I've been mixing with ST-6's from KRK as a replacement for my NS10's (when the tweeter took a year to get from Yami), and I haven't turned back since! Always have a good inexpensive set of speakers. BaseJeezy Illynoise

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20th December 2005	#19
espasonico Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 663	I don´t know if it´s a trick or something else but I try to hear the mix in my brain before doing anything. Once I know how I want it to sound it´s easy to get there. I have to know how I want it to sound to sound like, otherwise I´m lost. Cheers!

20th December 2005	#20
BigAl Gear maniac Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 275	Check out the mix in mono. Your be surprise.

20th December 2005	#21
Power Supply Gear addict Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Music City Posts: 392	1.To really listen, take my time and not be afraid to take chances. 2.Don't believe the latest hype. 3.Make sure the EQ is not in bypass before you start deluding yourself something's changing! __________________ "Polishing turds is worlds cheaper today but it's really hard to call that progress."-Bob Olhsson

20th December 2005	#22
ILL Gear maniac Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 150	Use the right compressor.

20th December 2005	#23
Billy Palmier Gear nut Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Brussels Posts: 78	eq and place eq: In the beginning I always used to think: a bit more that on the bass, a bit more here, there… and you always start boosting your eq on one or another thing… now it happens more that I use levels and cutting in eq to get things in it's place… it makes the mix more balanced… more controlled… place: Not trying to get everything too filled… leave space… but the right thing in the right place at the right time… the magical combination… And this just keeps getting better every year… the more you do it, the quicker you hear what's wrong with the mix, what's missing. it's all about finding the ballance between the different elements…