The Official Mixing Thread

[Payroll]

aight man...

so there's this right: 5-24-20 87 =].wav

and there's this:

what should i be hearing and conceptualizing to bridge the gap


my beat is kind of just raw out the box (maschine forever) with not a lot more than just sidechain compression with the drums and other elements, but... still...

i do tend to have a lot of components and like echo's n shyt, but. need a bit of guidance, would love some direction pointing.

In the reference the drums have quite a bit of weight on them... The snare feels like it's sitting right up front....it's got a lot of that midrange pop and some reverb on it...which is being added in or is brought up by compression.

I would say think of using Parallel compression or layering to fatten up the drums and make sure your snare comes up and drives the groove...

The kick also sounds like it's low passed and taking up most of the really low sub stuff...while the bass takes the register up and drops in low on the down beat...

Delay on the fills are like a eighth note triplet...

I'll give it another listen in a minute.. and put up an analyzer.

 

[Payroll]

How high did you set the highpass on your sample?


edit - I would also cut some low mid on what sounds like a second low passed sequence and boost the mids on the same sample.

 

[Payroll]

Just demo'd DSEQ by TbPro Audio...

Shelved some 5k and up out, then fukked around wide bell in the highs at like 10... The boost was super smooth...

Real nice and you can solo and listen in the resonance being filtered out.

 

[CollaredShirt]

How high did you set the highpass on your sample?


edit - I would also cut some low mid on what sounds like a second low passed sequence and boost the mids on the same sample.

In the reference the drums have quite a bit of weight on them... The snare feels like it's sitting right up front....it's got a lot of that midrange pop and some reverb on it...which is being added in or is brought up by compression.

I would say think of using Parallel compression or layering to fatten up the drums and make sure your snare comes up and drives the groove...

The kick also sounds like it's low passed and taking up most of the really low sub stuff...while the bass takes the register up and drops in low on the down beat...

Delay on the fills are like a eighth note triplet...

I'll give it another listen in a minute.. and put up an analyzer.

sample has a bit of the extreme highs cut, running through a maschine s1200(L) emulator which is giving it the hissy highs i believe. usually don't do that but t*ts what i did

hear u on it all, appreciate it

 

[Payroll]

Fareed Salamah has some of my favourite mixes.... I want to chase that sound....

It's never bright as shyt....

But it's Soo clear

 

[head shots101]

I'm going ok with the eq'in, gain staging etc ....I added a baseline to my beat and that shyt is over powering my mix.....help a nikka out with mixing a baseline

 

[Payroll]

I'm going ok with the eq'in, gain staging etc ....I added a baseline to my beat and that shyt is over powering my mix.....help a nikka out with mixing a baseline

Use reference tracks to check your bass... Make sure the kick and bass have their own space...use a limiter to compress your bass and get the notes more even...pull lower midrange out the bass to make room for the fundamental of other instruments... Check your bass on smaller speakers, earphones to see it translates well.

 

[head shots101]

Use reference tracks to check your bass... Make sure the kick and bass have their own space...use a limiter to compress your bass and get the notes more even...pull lower midrange out the bass to make room for the fundamental of other instruments... Check your bass on smaller speakers, earphones to see it translates well.

I'm still trying to get the fundamentals of a compressor....I'm trying to understand when to use it

 

[Payroll]

I'm still trying to get the fundamentals of a compressor....I'm trying to understand when to use it

Tell me your workflow before you mix... And I'll try and help you with the practical application of a compressor..what are your first steps when mixing ?

 

[head shots101]

Tell me your workflow before you mix... And I'll try and help you with the practical application of a compressor..what are your first steps when mixing ?

Track my beat out from my MPC and load it up in my daw

I gain stage all my tracks,. If I have any kind of air or hissing on any tracks I load up my z noise plug in, after that I eq my tracks until I think they sound good.... This where I'm at now

 

[Payroll]

Track my beat out from my MPC and load it up in my daw

I gain stage all my tracks,. If I have any kind of air or hissing on any tracks I load up my z noise plug in, after that I eq my tracks until I think they sound good.... This where I'm at now

The first thing you do before you think of compression is set all your levels....

Decide where you want each thing to be on your soundstage (back to front)...Volume wise... More volume = upfront ... Less = further back...

Then loop a section where all the parts play....

And if anything moves drastically from the position you set it in... Meaning it falls back when it shouldn't or comes up front when it shouldn't ... And it feels like you need to touch the fader while the music is playing...

That's a sign that you need to control the Dynamics of that element.

If it falls back...you need to tame the Dynamics and bring up the overall level... With make up gain.. so bring everything slightly down so you can make all parts of the sound relatively louder..

And if it pops out too much you need to control the peaks...and even out the Dynamics...

It's also important to remember that boosting EQ before a compressor will make it more sensitive to the boosted frequency range...

So it's better to do corrective EQ before a compressor and creative after...

Although you could do it the other way for effect...

There are creative uses for compression and even things like upward compression which increase dynamic range...I'm just explaining the most practical application of it..

How deep do want me to go into attack and release times?

 

[Supa]

I'm going ok with the eq'in, gain staging etc ....I added a baseline to my beat and that shyt is over powering my mix.....help a nikka out with mixing a baseline

Did you gain stage before eq?

You lowered the fader on the bass?

The bass sound you're using might be have a wide frequency. Look at it and see if there's anything going past 200. Use a filter until it sounds better.

Check that it's not clashing with your kick.

 

[head shots101]

The first thing you do before you think of compression is set all your levels....

Decide where you want each thing to be on your soundstage (back to front)...Volume wise... More volume = upfront ... Less = further back...

Then loop a section where all the parts play....

And if anything moves drastically from the position you set it in... Meaning it falls back when it shouldn't or comes up front when it shouldn't ... And it feels like you need to touch the fader while the music is playing...

That's a sign that you need to control the Dynamics of that element.

If it falls back...you need to tame the Dynamics and bring up the overall level... With make up gain.. so bring everything slightly down so you can make all parts of the sound relatively louder..

And if it pops out too much you need to control the peaks...and even out the Dynamics...

It's also important to remember that boosting EQ before a compressor will make it more sensitive to the boosted frequency range...

So it's better to do corrective EQ before a compressor and creative after...

Although you could do it the other way for effect...

There are creative uses for compression and even things like upward compression which increase dynamic range...I'm just explaining the most practical application of it..

How deep do want me to go into attack and release times?

Am I setting the levels with the fader or when I'm gain staging? Elaborate on Dynamics if u can
shyt still trying master the very basics of compression lol. I think either u or someone else touched on it and I saved it in my notes

 

[head shots101]

Did you gain stage before eq?

You lowered the fader on the bass?

The bass sound you're using might be have a wide frequency. Look at it and see if there's anything going past 200. Use a filter until it sounds better.

Check that it's not clashing with your kick.

Yes that's the 1st thing I do

Nope I didn't touch the fader at all

Yea I believe it is? I should cut around there ?

If it is something needs to cut right? Also I'm using a drum loop on this particular beat

 

[Payroll]

Am I setting the levels with the fader or when I'm gain staging? Elaborate on Dynamics if u can
shyt still trying master the very basics of compression lol. I think either u or someone else touched on it and I saved it in my notes

With the fader... As in the balance of your mix... The actual final levels you want each track to be...

Simply ... It's the difference between the loudest and quietest part of a track. At a macro level between tracks and the overall song...

The less dynamic range you have the more squashed and even everything will be...

You want to retain it because it's a big part of musical expression...for example groove...or the punch of a kick drum...but you also don't want shyt to get lost in the mix.. and that's where compression comes in...

Think of compression as the fader automatically moving around to even things out for you ....