All Professional Level Engineers: Tear my mixes apart and tell me how to improve

[oxygenbeats]

I'm really hungry to improve my mixing and be able to make my music knock on a professional, industry level. I have been working hard almost every day for over a year now and I have definitely improved my mixes in this time, but they are nowhere near where they need to be. My main issue is getting things to sound warm and big, especially the low end. I’m using Logic 9 as well as the waves mercury bundle.

Briefly, my general process is this: Eq and compress each drum sound individually, bus compress all the drums together with some light compression. Next I will eq and compress the bassline, sample, any other instruments in order from most important to least important. Then I apply reverb to my snare and maybe a few instruments. I then use an imager to try and place each instrument in the stereo field. Finally I will parallel compress my drums and bassline to try and get them to sound bigger. Finally, I’ll put a limiter on the stereo out and set it to taste.

My main issue with my mixes is the low and end and getting things to sound big and warm. I make it a point to spend a lot of time eqing the bass and the kick to get it to sound right, but even when it sounds ok on my monitors, it sounds faint and distant in the car and other stereo’s. I’m using the KRK’s which I’m sure are not the best monitors but I know a few of my favorite producers use them and in my eyes if they can get there music to knock the way they can mixing on the KRK’s, I should be able to as well.

Another thing that has been bothering me my with my mixes is just the overall loudness of them. Even when I mix and apply a limiter set at 0db, my mixes don’t sound nearly as loud as industry level stuff. A lot of times even, the limiter will kill the low end of the beat, even if it boosts the overall signal a little bit.

I have recently been studying mixes from my favorite producers, and even putting them in a frequency analyzer to see what they look like. I don’t know if anyone is similar with the producer illmind, but he recently released, along with his instrumental album, all of the sounds he used for the album. One thing I realized when studying these sounds in the frequency analyzer, they all are well below 0 db, yet sound incredibly loud. When I mix and eq things, my sounds will almost always be peaking over 0db (at which point I just turn them down on the fader), but at a certain point, they loose their warmth in a way, its hard to explain.

I’ve had some people tell me it’s because I don’t have the “big” studio hardware, but I don’t buy that for a second. I’m sure that stuff helps, but I can name a couple of my favorite producers who have said in interviews that they use nothing more than pro tools and the waves plugins to mix their stuff. Also, it’s always the brain behind the music and not the equipment, which makes the most difference. I’m just saying this to preface any body who wants to say “its just the expensive hardware that makes a difference,” because I know its not.


Anyway I just wanted to post up some of my mixes, explain what I have been doing and what I am trying to do with the hopes of getting more opinions and input and how I (as well as everyone reading this) can improve their mixing. Please be harsh about anything I’ve said as well as my mixes, I just want to improve. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks for your time.

Download mixes.zip from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

Here is a zip file with the three most recent beats I mixed

[co-signer]

First step is to read and post here: The Official "Please Check Out My Mix/ Music" Thread

[Petros]

I'd like some advice on this as well! Hopefully some of yall can chip in some guidelines on this thread...please!

[jrides]

Originally Posted by Petros

I'd like some advice on this as well! Hopefully some of yall can chip in some guidelines on this thread...please!

No More "Mix My Music" or "Check Out My Music" Type of Threads

[theDAWstudio]

Originally Posted by Petros

I'd like some advice on this as well! Hopefully some of yall can chip in some guidelines on this thread...please!

First of all, if you want people to listen to your mixes use the link posted above. Mixing advice is hard to give over a forum, but I teach at a University with a lot of "beat makers" and can give advice based on what they are always lacking.

First, if you are living under the idea that you can just keep working on your mixes by yourself with a little feedback here and there and figure out how to do what professionals who have read books and mentored under seasoned mixers can do, think again. You may eventually figure some of it out for yourself after years of trial and error, but educating yourself will get you there a lot quicker.

Second, you need to listen to full quality music (not mp3s or youtube) to train your ears to a professional standard with good speakers in a good acoustic environment. Your idea for what mixes should sound like is probably based on listening to music way too loud through crappy sound systems or ear buds. Don’t take it personally. I didn’t realize what professional music actually sounded like until I listened to stuff in a real studio.

Third, turn the volume down when you are mixing. It's OK to turn it up sometimes, but do most of your mixing with it at a level where you can talk over it. If you learn about the Fletcher/Munson curve you'll find out that when you listen at low levels the mid range is more apparent. At louder levels the highs and lows become more apparent covering up many mixing problems in the mid range. If you mix at low levels, you can hear and fix all of those mid range problems. When you turn up the volume it will sound even better.

Fourth, get some mixing books and dig in. There is no formula to mixing, but there are a bunch of guidelines that can help you move in the right direction. This will help you understand why you should EQ this or compress that.

Fifth, take a song to a real mixer to have it mixed. This can be a very valuable experience and is worth every penny. Think of it as paying for a mixing lesson. Ask questions and maybe have the mixer explain everything they do. Make sure they are good, patient and that you are paying them per hour. You might improve your mixing more in one session like than in a whole year of mixing your own stuff and getting constant feedback.

Sixth, separate mixing and mastering when you are trying to compare your stuff to the pros. If you start compressing and limiting the master to get it loud like professional stuff without knowing how to master or having the tools to do it well, you will just make it sound worse. Try to not worry about the level difference when comparing. Turn the pro mix down so that it is the same level as yours. Then you can compare them on a somewhat even playing field.

I hope this helps.

[Petros]

Originally Posted by jrides

No More "Mix My Music" or "Check Out My Music" Type of Threads

Bro! the guy has posted a few paragraphs of sincere questions, other than the link at the end...I don't see this strictly as a "check out my mix" thread (although yeah, I agree he shouldn't be posting links anywhere but in the "mix thread"). If peeps have a little bit of tolerance and discernment than they can, just utilize the text in this thread to share some knowledge and answer some questions, instead of whining that dude posted his beats at the end...just sayin'

[Mr Jonas]

Good luck to you on this one mate, I've tried starting similar threads but everyone seems to get upset.

I'm no pro engineer but I'll defo give ur tracks a listen when I get home and offer my brutally honest opinion. Makes a change getting other peoples opinions sometimes, I just get all my mates and family telling me my tracks sound perfect when I know they sound far from perfect.

[JoRillo]

To those of you who take it personally when we post the link to "No more mix threads" - or - "The Newbie Section"

No one (well most of us) wants to just be a--holes for the fun of it. This section of the forums gets this same question in new forms everyday, and it gets really old really quick. We would love to help you out - post that same paragraph with your music at the bottom of the "Check my mix" thread and you'll get a lot better feedback. What you guys don't realize is that since we are the rap forum, we get everyone and their mother who sags their pants and knows how to wear a crooked hat coming in here and posting questions that have nothing to do with Rap, just simply getting their "Mbox working with cubase" - shit like that can easily be answered in the newbie section, what does your music taste have to do with that? We would all love to be making new threads every time we make a new song or album, but ya know what... it is against the rules, and only dirtys up the forums, keeping away the professionals and keeping us from getting good responses on ACTUAL AUDIO PRODUCTION QUESTIONS.

I hope you learned something in that paragraph - this forum will help you learn so much if you learn how to properly use it. This forum is like the ocean, lets not pollute it, ok?

[oxygenbeats]

Hey sorry if I posted this in the wrong section, clearly I'm new to the forum. I'm going to go ahead and repost in the right section if the mod's want to delete this. And thank you to everyone who responded so far.

[Audio Child]

If dude started a mpc thread their would be a 100 posts!

[JoRillo]

Originally Posted by oxygenbeats

Hey sorry if I posted this in the wrong section, clearly I'm new to the forum. I'm going to go ahead and repost in the right section if the mod's want to delete this. And thank you to everyone who responded so far.

No need to apologize - your new so it's cool. I wasn't even directing my statement at you, people tend to complain about people posting the Check my Mixes thread and the Newbie section threads, so I was just making an open statement.

[DAH]

Originally Posted by Audio Child

If dude started a mpc thread their would be a 100 posts!

fukkin ROFL. so true!

[oxygenbeats]

Hey people, I put the music up on soundcloud because it is much easier and quicker to check out. Let me know what you think!

mixingtests's sounds on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free