why is it that every time i mix a track...

[Azamat Bagatov]

Well with mixing, a little goes a long way. I hardly ever touch a compressor. And its not just about not using something, but when you do use it, add a little bit compression so you're only getting 1-2 DB in compression. You shouldn't be able to clearly hear a difference. Trust me, use every tool you have wisely and eventually you will get that song you mixed that will make things make sense.

I went through the same thing as you. Its a constant learning process. And with every new trick you learn, it will take many tries till you get it right.

[TYPHY]

I stopped compressing kicks and snares a few months ago. In this era we usually have good ass samples already that don't need much compression. I usually just apply a litte bit of SPL Transient Designer on the drum bus for extra crack.

[Stackx]

Yup unless the dynamics are crazy there's really no need to compress that much at all. Most the time I add a compressor is just to bring the sample to life by shaping it with the compressor not actually doing any compression.

Also watch how you filter things. When you cut the lowend it shouldn't be noticeable unless your going for that effect. The point is to clear space without it being heard.

[DirtyMan]

Originally Posted by tdot

...it sounds worse than it did before it wasnt mixed

it seems like every time i compress something (kick, snare, etc) it just seems like it loses its rawness

and it seems like every time i filter something (instrument, vocals, synths, hats) to make way for the 'low end' it just seems to lose its...fullness?

i feel like every time i try to mix a production, it ends up worse

similarly, it seems like the more and more high end gear i buy and the more i track analog sources with high end gear, the brighter and brighter everything gets, which in comparison with early 90's tracks is not what i want... either someone EQed the shit out of the top end on doggystyle/the chronics vocals, or a u87ai+great river+burl b2 has WAY MORE top end then a u87 + SSL + tape.

i hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate mixing

It sounds like "to much of a good thing" just send the important stuff out to get mixed

[SeriousPancakes]

I literally laughed when I opened this thread.

[Rockinrob]

Try not to have a mentality that "I am going to use these types of effects on all mixes and that is my starting point". Listen to your tracks and decide what they need ahead of time before applying any processing. Agreed with the above that most samples nowadays are already compressed and sound great without any processing unless your desire for the song is to modify that sound to fit your creative needs. The worst thing you can do (and I know because I have done it) is to just have a standard set of processing tools that get thrown on a mix regardless of whether it is needed or not.

[zoahk]

If you're producing and mixing, don't focus so much on the mixing aspect of things, just focus on getting your track to the level of quality you want, by this I don't mean try get it sounding like your favourite record, I mean make it sound how you envision it, get your ideas down and use your energy to create a solid recording before even attempting to mix it all. Usually when composing you will use effects such as reverbs or delays, or filters to get a sound you want in your production, there is nothing wrong with this, it's a part of sound design and getting the sound you want, i've always found that when writing a track you will use signal processors quite excessively to improve the quality of certain sounds and make them more alive, and i've always found when it comes to mixing it's about using signal processors less and more minimal (just slight touches of reverb, rather than throwing your mix down a canyon), to improve the overall dynamics and quality of your entire production and get everything working together.

Just try to separate your mixing time and recording time. They are two different states of mind, and if you try to do both at the same time it can make life difficult, it's like having two different voices telling you many different things, and it can be hard to focus on anything you're doing. Leave your recording time to getting your ideas down as clean and solid as possible, and then afterwards, use your mixing time to do some critical listening to bring out the little details in the mix, little being a keyword, don't start large, or rely solely on presets (until you know exactly what that preset is doing and whether it is exactly what your mix needs).

I often send all my drum tracks out of my computer onto a cassette recorder, I find that cassette can work wonders on drum tracks, but i've never found them to sound too good with anything else.

[AudioRadar]

Depends on your compression settings, but if you use it to make the drums more punchy, you'll also kill the tailend a bit after the maintransient which means the drums will sound more punchy and tight but also more clean and less raw.

I noticed the same thing about filtering in my tunes, which is why i now tend to only filter out the very lowend (somewhere below 80-100hz) and remove the rest with splitband compression instead or just use a low shelf.

[tdot]

Originally Posted by zoahk

If you're producing and mixing, don't focus so much on the mixing aspect of things, just focus on getting your track to the level of quality you want, by this I don't mean try get it sounding like your favourite record, I mean make it sound how you envision it, get your ideas down and use your energy to create a solid recording before even attempting to mix it all. Usually when composing you will use effects such as reverbs or delays, or filters to get a sound you want in your production, there is nothing wrong with this, it's a part of sound design and getting the sound you want, i've always found that when writing a track you will use signal processors quite excessively to improve the quality of certain sounds and make them more alive, and i've always found when it comes to mixing it's about using signal processors less and more minimal (just slight touches of reverb, rather than throwing your mix down a canyon), to improve the overall dynamics and quality of your entire production and get everything working together.

Just try to separate your mixing time and recording time. They are two different states of mind, and if you try to do both at the same time it can make life difficult, it's like having two different voices telling you many different things, and it can be hard to focus on anything you're doing. Leave your recording time to getting your ideas down as clean and solid as possible, and then afterwards, use your mixing time to do some critical listening to bring out the little details in the mix, little being a keyword, don't start large, or rely solely on presets (until you know exactly what that preset is doing and whether it is exactly what your mix needs).

I often send all my drum tracks out of my computer onto a cassette recorder, I find that cassette can work wonders on drum tracks, but i've never found them to sound too good with anything else.

oh don't worry about that. I've recorded 3 whole albums over the last maybe 5? years. the production may have taken 1/2 months total, the tracking usually a week, and then I try to mix the shit for a year and then give up. mixing/recording time is definitely separated.....

I just can't mix anything to the point where I think its decent.
I also never use presets - maybe I'm just bad at taking things in context, because while I'm mixing I think all the decisions DO sound better, until I compare the final product with the original. it just ends up sounding...even more clean and processed when I wanted the opposite.

but I know I can't just make everything sound as huge and thick as I can, because I really don't think that will work either.

I sometimes think I mixed better when I DIDN'T know what I was doing with a compresor/eq/effects

[tdot]

Originally Posted by AudioRadar

Depends on your compression settings, but if you use it to make the drums more punchy, you'll also kill the tailend a bit after the maintransient which means the drums will sound more punchy and tight but also more clean and less raw.

I noticed the same thing about filtering in my tunes, which is why i now tend to only filter out the very lowend (somewhere below 80-100hz) and remove the rest with splitband compression instead or just use a low shelf.

exactly what I find. sometimes I like really making a snare pop with compression, but it seems to me the higher the attack, the cleaner it sounds and the more high end pokes through (try sweeping the attack up on vocals with cl1b....it sounds brighter and brighter and brighter....)

I've only started to realize cutting the low end of vocals sounds 'more' like what I hear on commercial tracks than boosting the high end, but then it still doesn't seem right to me...

I just think after spending years trying to figure out how to mix I still have no idea what I'm doing. let's not even get into width and space

I think I should seriously consider someones suggestion of mixing to a reference track to figure out wtf I'm doing wrong...

[tdot]

Originally Posted by TYPHY

I stopped compressing kicks and snares a few months ago. In this era we usually have good ass samples already that don't need much compression. I usually just apply a litte bit of SPL Transient Designer on the drum bus for extra crack.

maybe ill try this transient designer on one of my snare tracks I just can't seem to get right

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by TYPHY

I stopped compressing kicks and snares a few months ago. In this era we usually have good ass samples already that don't need much compression. I usually just apply a litte bit of SPL Transient Designer on the drum bus for extra crack.

I use much less compression during mixing overall. Compression is where most newbies to professional mixing go wrong. It gets overdone way too much. A lot of people also use sound libraries off the internet with drum sounds etc., that have been sampled from an existing piece of music, meaning there is a chance that the sound is already compressed.

IMO, the trick to doing good mixes is actually learning what to listen for. The reason people mix is to ensure that their work sounds consistent regardless of where it is being played and what it is being played back on. To a further extent, people like to use mixing as an opportunity to put what they're hearing within a certain "atmosphere", basically taking a more artistic approach. That is advanced stuff though, and you should really concentrate on mastering the basics for just making things sound consistent.

This is a whole other topic but being able to get a consistent mix means you also need to be working within a reliable mixing environment, or at least have tools that you know so well, that you can make the right adjustments regardless of your environment.

[Parker Paeon]

you can aways bypass an effect and A&B between the processed and unprocessed channel/track. So if your compressing something and it sounds horrible compared to the original then don't compress it. Or tweak the paremeters until it sounds better. Try parallel compression on the drums if you haven't and mess with the dry/wet signals.

Subgroup more & compress the group bus. Add some slight saturation or light distortion to the subgroup. If it sounds too clean you could even add some background noise/texture to the track. find some singal noise or ambience in some other song that you really like and edit it into yours and use it like a background room mic track. you could try layer your sounds like the snare with a texture.

best advice is keep trying different things. try try try and experiment. get weird and creative. Then make sure you monitor and listen to your mixes on a few different reference monitors.

[AudioRadar]

Originally Posted by tdot

exactly what I find. sometimes I like really making a snare pop with compression, but it seems to me the higher the attack, the cleaner it sounds and the more high end pokes through (try sweeping the attack up on vocals with cl1b....it sounds brighter and brighter and brighter....)

If you are worried about this, again use multiband/splitband compression. E.g. let the compressor only compress the low frequencies and leave high ones alone or vice versa. Or use heavy splitband compression on the lowend, followed by a normal compressor just gently removing 1 -2db off the snare.

[DirtyMan]

Start going through presets you might find something that works or is close and they might help you learn your plugs better. Also without hearing what you got going it's going to be hard for anybody to give and real advice as of right now we can just guess at what your issues might be

[LeoLeoLeo]

Originally Posted by PettyCash

IMO, the trick to doing good mixes is actually learning what to listen for.

you should really concentrate on mastering the basics for just making things sound consistent.

the static blend is key... level & pan, listen. Than make educated guesses on which tools and tricks to use for what you are hearing, and not hearing.

[Big Zimm]

Originally Posted by tdot

and it seems like every time i filter something (instrument, vocals, synths, hats) to make way for the 'low end' it just seems to lose its...fullness?

If you throw a high pass filter on a track to make room for other tracks it shouldn't be noticeable. Try and solo the track and slide up the high pass filter until you can hear it kill the original sound. Then back it off so that when you bypass the high pass filter you can't hear a difference.

Don't think you need to throw eq and compression on every track. Only add effects if it's needed. In general I usually use compression on vocals and bass, and that's it. Sometimes I'll run some parallel compression on my drum tracks but only if the drums really need some extra punch.

If you use the right mic and place it properly you shouldn't need to do much mixing.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

[3rd Degree]

I have to make the disclaimer that I am not exactly where I want to be in terms of mixing. However, I have improved tremendously in the last few years, now that I am actually doing a lot more vocal tracking for more serious projects.

One major thing was to back off of effects. As a beat maker, especially one who samples, you can often find your self using crazy amount of eq, filtering, and on occasion, very heavy compression. I was trying to mix songs like I mix beats.

I started to basically mix my songs in stages. I don't need to do it like that anymore but its simple and was effective for me. First, I mix a track using very minimal plug ins. I only use a compressor, for example, to actually control dynamics, not to make anything louder or any other reason. I only eq for corrective reasons, if need be. I then only cut things that really need to be cut.

I would come back and then feel it out. Do I need more separation of instruments through cutting/eqing? Usually, but I have had a really good listen and taken mental notes so I know exactly where to go. Does something need to be "subdued" by compression? If so, start that.

My 3rd stage is trying to maintain what I have with a more "polished" mix. I already like my mix at this point (or like well enough) but it's likely too raw, or too dull, or both. Now I try to add more processing to get each element to shine more. Because I am somewhat happy already, an more importantly familiar, it keeps me from going too far.

Even though I learn something new every mix and I am not planning to mix anything past mixtape level myself, I really feel like this process helped me improve a lot. Take a full week to mix a song, but for every hour or two you work, stop and just listen to where you are at. You find flaws earlier and over time, you recognize them more quickly. Then you don't need to continually revisit things as you progress.

[Jesse381]

It sounds like the original version is the sound you want, so what's the problem? Just go with the original. Apparantly the song doesn't need compression/EQ, or else would sound better with it, not worse. So don't use it. They are just optional effects. If it doesn't soud good with them, then don't use them.

[smoke]

When you start questioning your results, it means that you're getting better. Your ears have surpassed your skill level. It's only a matter of time before you raise your skill level, and start the doubt cycle again.

[DAH]

Measure the mixspot to ensure your monitoring is accurate enough. Room Eq Wizard is the tool, a free one. Move speakers\mixspot until you are in +-5-6 dB range. Then critically listen for your favorite records to understand how it sounds. Then try mixing your music and check if it translates in the outer world. When I found the right mixspot, translation improved immediately.

[dubmunkey]

Originally Posted by zoahk

If you're producing and mixing, don't focus so much on the mixing aspect of things, just focus on getting your track to the level of quality you want, by this I don't mean try get it sounding like your favourite record, I mean make it sound how you envision it, get your ideas down and use your energy to create a solid recording before even attempting to mix it all. Usually when composing you will use effects such as reverbs or delays, or filters to get a sound you want in your production, there is nothing wrong with this, it's a part of sound design and getting the sound you want, i've always found that when writing a track you will use signal processors quite excessively to improve the quality of certain sounds and make them more alive, and i've always found when it comes to mixing it's about using signal processors less and more minimal (just slight touches of reverb, rather than throwing your mix down a canyon), to improve the overall dynamics and quality of your entire production and get everything working together.

+1M

[dubmunkey]

Originally Posted by Chris Lago

I think it's because you don't know what you're doing, you're not a seasoned mixing engineer. That is all.

Well yeah that's almost as obvious as it is unhelpfu. a seasoned mixer is past the learning curve, this guy knows he is still learning

[tdot]

Originally Posted by dubmunkey

Well yeah that's almost as obvious as it is unhelpfu. a seasoned mixer is past the learning curve, this guy knows he is still learning

if i knew what i was doing i would like mixing

[tdot]

Originally Posted by Parker Paeon

you can aways bypass an effect and A&B between the processed and unprocessed channel/track. So if your compressing something and it sounds horrible compared to the original then don't compress it. Or tweak the paremeters until it sounds better. Try parallel compression on the drums if you haven't and mess with the dry/wet signals.

thats the funny part...sometimes I will play with compression (especially if I'm listening to a track soloed, which I know I shouldn't be) and I go WOW, now my snares pop like hell! sounds much better!

then I compare it to the original mix and it just lost something....

[smoke]

Originally Posted by tdot

if i knew what i was doing i would like mixing

If you're being honest, and you don't like it, then maybe he has a point after all. If you don't like it, you should do something else. Where's the motivation going to come from to want to get better?

Appreciate that it takes time to master a craft, and love the journey. But don't force it. Maybe you enjoy making your own music and not mixing someone elses ideas?

[dubmunkey]

Originally Posted by tdot

if i knew what i was doing i would like mixing

Same with a lot of things but going through the pain of learning is only true way of really knowing how to do things

Im not a great mixer but am at the stage of being able to recognise my mistakes, once ive learned how to not make these mistakes the process should be easier and the returns greater....wont happen overnight though

[tdot]

Originally Posted by zoahk

If you're producing and mixing, don't focus so much on the mixing aspect of things, just focus on getting your track to the level of quality you want, by this I don't mean try get it sounding like your favourite record

well what else do I really have to refer to? obviously different tracks I envision sounding different, but I always have some idea of some other track in my head that it 'should' sound like.

for most of these tracks, the sound I want it to sound like is something like Thug Life: Volume 1 - lo-fi'ish and slightly sloppy
doesn't help when most of my sources are clean as hell (though I actually love the ridiculous amount of noise on some of the tracks recorded from the MPC when compression brings it way up)

do people actually often cut some of the high end out out of instruments? whats a better way to 'soften' the brightness of synths/strings/brass and make them thicker and warmer without actually EQing the high end out? sometimes I like decapitator but sometimes it just ends up making things too muddy.

[tdot]

Originally Posted by smoke

If you're being honest, and you don't like it, then maybe he has a point after all. If you don't like it, you should do something else. Where's the motivation going to come from to want to get better?

Appreciate that it takes time to master a craft, and love the journey. But don't force it. Maybe you enjoy making your own music and not mixing someone elses ideas?

oh - I don't do this professionally. the only thing I would ever mix is my own music - you couldn't pay me to mix someone elses tracks (this is assuming I *DID* mix well) . I love production andcomposition and recording, and that's the motivation to want to get better. I want to get better so that I can actually release something I did and feel confident about how it sounds.