Mixing and Mastering Advice

[Sanova]

1. TRUST YOUR EARS. Thinking you can't mix well will result in just that. I've been in quite a few situations where a very very experienced engineer will be pushing the wrong fader, thinking he's actually boosting it. And his ears trick him; he actually hears it louder. All I'm saying is: even with the best engineers, the mind comes into play. So think, therefore you hear.

Good point!

This is almost inevitable if you're mixing for a long period of time (which most likely is the case), a good way to catch yourself is to take a 10-15 minute break and go wash the dishes or anything else.

Give your ears a rest and come back to it, it might sound totally different. A few times I was quite disgusted when I came back.

 

[Formant024]

define a developed ear for me...

practical stuff; flip to mono, make a beat(i do mean finish it) and mix it a week later again, check what needs to be mono in the mix, check if your send/aux fx are fully wet, no stereo enhancers if possible, no loudness enhancers, crappy head aka squasing the mix? -> leave more headroom on the 2track (dont peak at -0,1dB).

 

[Hypnotist]

Ive had clients in the studio who had a good vision, but not necessarily the best pair of ears, and theyve been sat behind me saying, you know what, I think you need to brighten that snare....can you add some at around 2.5k?....so i've grabbed an EQ pot on an empty channel, tweaked it some, nodded my head, and said yeh I think you're right....the client stood behind immediately proclaims 'thats it, much better, I thought thats what it needed'

Haha hell yea. I did some live sound and my teacher taught me to have an "asshole fader". I laughed as I marked it "AF" on the masking tape, and luckily I only had to use it once, as Mr. Drunky told me how much the guitars needed to come up.

And to reinforce the first part of Hypno's 4th point about A/B'ing.....make a CD of 20 second clips of your fave mixed tracks, and listen to them back to back. Having this relative perspective, not only will you realize that some are mixed nowhere near as well as you thought, but it will help you learn how mixes should sound in your room, and give you a reference point for your own mixes..
B

Hell yea man. You ever listen to Golden Ears? I met that guy Dave Moulton (I think that's his name). Gave me an entirely new perspective to what I can do with my mixes. In my early days I never thought of snippets; always mixed entire songs back to back in alt mixes. But then I discovered just bouncing the hook and then the verse like 5-8 times. BUT I also had to learn the hard way to make sure I kept a track list of which mixes were in order!!!

Awesome comments on here...

Sanova, I hear you man... I used to sit for HOURS mixing, then I'd come back to it the next day and it would sound HORRIBLE. But then it only took an hour or two to tweak it from there at least.

Formant, that's a great point. A lot of people get caught up in the stereo world early, and then wonder why the right side is peaking so much. Mono is always a good place to start, especially with composition. However, sometimes it's good to hear an effect or a hard pan while you're composing to get certain effects.

 

[eldiablo]

welcome!

 

[subvertbeats]

mods - any chance we could move this to The Lab forum?

 

[Chrono]

Welcome to Ill and Great Thread.

I suffered for years jumping into production/mastering without the least idea of the fundamentals. This affected my writing and overall enjoyment of working with music. In the begining I almost hated working on beats because it was totally hit or miss for me. I did not understand processors, not to mention the use of tempo.

Anyway, over the years I bought a few books and spent time studying processors and techniques. I am still a green pupil of the science but finally understand enough of the basics to create tracks with predetermined energy and environment, on the basic level.

Therefore, I appreciate this topic and the time you've given to it. Discussion's like this make this site what it is.

much respect,
-Chrono T.

 

[subvertbeats]

Hi Chrono

Thanks for the warm welcome.
Things are pretty busy at the mo, so cant guarantee I'll always be able to replyu too promptly but I'll do my best!

 

[eldiablo]

subvert i just checked out your mastering prices, and i think there pretty reasonable. i will be bringing you some work here soon.

 

[subvertbeats]

subvert i just checked out your mastering prices, and i think there pretty reasonable. i will be bringing you some work here soon.

Thanks eldiablo, look forward to it

 

[Haze47]

props on the King Cannibal stuff mate... really really big sound you got there....

does that mean you were instrumental in the saving of Ninja then?

 

[gballin123]

Always nice to just add another person with some knowledge who is helpful. Look forward to learning some good mixing tips.

 

[eldiablo]

props on the King Cannibal stuff mate... really really big sound you got there....

does that mean you were instrumental in the saving of Ninja then?

so whats been going on with the nTune?

 

[DJ EThical]

When discussing vocal mixing and arranging what would you consider the best software. I currently use Acid pro 7 and im in the market looking for something different.

 

[dacalion]

When discussing vocal mixing and arranging what would you consider the best software. I currently use Acid pro 7 and im in the market looking for something different.

DJ EThical, you probally should have started a new thread with your question but anyway, heres an option... Pro Tools is the best by far in my opinion but you will hear tons of others say otherwise, funny thing is that I used to use Acid Pro also.

dac

 

[Persistent_VS]

I totally agree with Subvertbeats, it's all about fun and perseverance...