How do I get my mixes to sound good in ALL systems..

[sdp530]

I have been mixing hip hop on and off for a couple of years and it feels like I have reached a barrier. My mixes always sound OK but I just can't break through to that next level. Whenever I compare them to mainstream hip hop mixes, I can't, its just not comparable. You can pop in a professionally mixed cd anywhere and it sounds great. I am not looking for any miracle fix, but I am lookin for a few tips that will help me on my future mixes. I have attached a sample of one of my recent mixes so check it out if you get a chance.

Beware their is some explicit lyrics so please don't listen if this offends you.

-C

[Bdiggy]

Have your mixes mastered by a seasoned pro. That's a start.

Also the track you posted doesn't have a kick drum that's slamming.
You need to have that kick and snare really pushing the meters when you mix.
The kick you used is amost like a simmons drum sample,
very wooshy (showing my age). Both kick and snare need
to SLAM! Put a limiter on both if you need too. Find better
samples if you can. Shouldn't be hard. To be fair I kinda just
got schooled on this myself by fellow GS's.

My .02cents

[drakewire]

Its actually not that bad at least through my Jbl studio monitors. It sounds a bit squashed like you were using a preset from a Mastering Program like Izotope or T-racks
Overall the mix seems pretty good, just needs a mastering from a seasoned pro like BDiggy said

[woomanmoomin]

I have definitely heard stuff much, much worse!! Whether you're happy with the direction this is taking in terms of the genre you're interested in is a different matter. There are parts of this like the piano that don't exactly sound bad but aren't exactly slamming either. Then again, there are some elements that do sound pretty hard. I'm not going to be too tough on this, anyway.

I'm not in a position to look at this very closely right now, but there are a few little things that come to mind that you may or not have thought about along the way. For one thing, if you rely on bass/kick to drive your tracks, it's probably a good idea to make sure it's not completely pinned down into a very limited frequency area all at the extreme low end. Now, I'm not really sure what frequency area the thuddy sound in your mp3 occupies, but if you play it back on some piece-of-cr@p little CD radio thing that doesn't do much below about 150 Hz, that sound may not seem very heavy. You may be left with a mix that sounds a bit too synthy or techno-ish for your purposes. Now, there's only so much heaviness you can get from a cheap CD radio thing like that anyway; with bass guitar, probably most of what you hear on the radio is harmonics, because the fundamental tones tend to be too low for the speakers to reproduce them. A super-clean bass tone therefore doesn't always translate well to cr@ppy little speakers, and that's probably worth bearing in mind.

Also, if you want a big sound on all possible systems, it's best to use reverbs etc. that translate well to mono. If you use a lot of stereo reverbs mostly based on phasing, for instance, the reverb and the whole sound of the instrument or voice in question are going to collapse if the thing gets played in mono (e.g. on a piece-of-cr@p radio), because there's going to be obvious phase cancellation.

These are kind of basic tips, but I figure there's no harm in saying stuff you probably know already anyway. I think you're being kind of hard on yourself, too. Still, if it gets results, keep doing it!

[thethrillfactor]

There is no bump in the arrangement and the entire mix is too narrow.

Everything just lays there flat. Also i don't know about having reverb on the kick...or just the one you've chosen. It really makes it lay back and feel distant.

The name of the game needed is a presence that grabs you and its just lacking.

[s0nguy]

Mastering....

-s0nguy

[Bob Olhsson]

If there's any secret, it's first getting the musical balance of everything between 400 and 4kHz. right and then nailing the low-end kick/bass relationship. You don't ever want to be dependent on signal processing just to make the meat of your mix work.


A great balance can be whacked all to pieces and still "work" musically. This is really more of a mix thing than a mastering thing.

[scottdominant]

I agree, this track could be much worse. I like the vox. As other members have noted, I would definitely work on your kick/snare. I don't know if anyone else mentioned it here, but aside from eq-ing your kick you can also try keying a tone generator. It does sound overall a little flat and I think some of the elements sound like they're in different spaces....the verbs and ambience don't match up. Also, as far as getting your tracks to sound good on multiple systems it's always a good idea to mix on whatever monitors you're using but take a 2 mix out to your car or listen to it on your home system to see how it translates. ....I think some of the levels were off too.

[drakewire]

Not bad at all... I think there is a crap load of reverb on the kick almost 80's hip hop sounding but not bad... I think that if you get this mastered it will sound just fine... Mixing and mastering are too very different things... Dont try both....

[a1studmuffin]

The biggest things I found helped my mixes:

- Buying good monitors. I upgraded from Alesis M1 520s to Mackie HR824s and the difference is unbelievable. You really do get what you pay for, it sucks, but that's life.
- Treating your room with some acoustic foam/basstraps. Evens out the dips/peaks in the room a bit, and gets the most out of your expensive monitors.
- While mixing down, be sure to check it at low, medium and loud volumes, and in mono.
- A/B your tracks with commercial ones at the same RMS volume level (ie. turn their tracks down and stick them in the sequencer with your project). This can be very revealing, and can help you learn about the character of your room.

Before I did these things, it was taking me about 4-5 mixdowns to get things sounding about right on various listening devices (ipod, car stereo, home stereo, monitors), and even then, when I finally had my track played on a club system, it didn't stand up *at all* alongside commercial tracks. It was a muddy washed out mess.

After I did/changed the things above, I'm now able to get mixdowns right in 1-2 gos, and even then, the changes between the first and second revisions is very minor.

Hope that helps.

[audioguynyc]

Originally Posted by sdp530

I have been mixing hip hop on and off for a couple of years and it feels like I have reached a barrier. My mixes always sound OK but I just can't break through to that next level. Whenever I compare them to mainstream hip hop mixes, I can't, its just not comparable. You can pop in a professionally mixed cd anywhere and it sounds great. I am not looking for any miracle fix, but I am lookin for a few tips that will help me on my future mixes. I have attached a sample of one of my recent mixes so check it out if you get a chance.

Beware their is some explicit lyrics so please don't listen if this offends you.

-C

the tail on the kick is so long that it makes the vocals cloudy.

I would cut it way short and put your own reverb on it for more control

[miro]

that "trancy" sort of synth playing 8th notes more in front (more mids and not so much in the back with the reverb). kick + snare a liiiittle bit more punch (maybe copy/route snare and/or kick to another channel without reverb and different settings with comp / EQ / saturation or whatever) all just IMO