DDs : How do you handle the blend ?

A

Atmos-Fear

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Here's an example :
I have 2 tunes and double drop 'em with crossfader at the center, both faders at max and all EQs at 12 o clock.
obviously, there's going to be different kind of clashes : starting with the basslines, the gain, and most certainly on the top end as well.

My question is : how do you handle the blend ? Do you use the crossfader ? filter ? EQs ?
do you have a rule of thumb for your double drops ?

Anytime I try to reproduce someone else's DD, I just can't get it to sound as pleasant as I want to.
same when I try to come up with my own DDs.

I've been experimenting with different stuff, but couldn't come with a decent solution
 
Atmos-Fear said:
Here's an example :
I have 2 tunes and double drop 'em with crossfader at the center, both faders at max and all EQs at 12 o clock.
obviously, there's going to be different kind of clashes : starting with the basslines, the gain, and most certainly on the top end as well.

My question is : how do you handle the blend ? Do you use the crossfader ? filter ? EQs ?
do you have a rule of thumb for your double drops ?

Anytime I try to reproduce someone else's DD, I just can't get it to sound as pleasant as I want to.
same when I try to come up with my own DDs.

I've been experimenting with different stuff, but couldn't come with a decent solution
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First thing i learnt when experimenting with double drops is how important proper eq'ing is. It does help to have a mixer like the xone 92 with some decent filters, but its not essential.

Im no way good enough to be an authority on the subject whatsoever so If you gave a well known example of a double drops your trying, im sure people would find it easier to help you get the hang of the theory behind it.
 
rule of thumb ... don't do what you have mentioned.

1st of all leave cross fader in the middle - dont touch it again. use the channel faders.


lets say your playing one track and all eq's are on 12 o'clock, the gain is adjusted so it does not redline. thats great ur sounding fresh.
if you play another track the same .. where is the volume on volume going to go? its going to distort because there is nowhere for it to go.

if you put a car on top of a car its not going to be one car, its gonna be a car on a car.
you need to take the doors off one and add it to the other
same with the boot and the same with say the windscreen.
does that make sense?


here's a basic guide to how i use eq .. always use it subtractively.

bass
never have 2 on 12 o'clock at the same time. when producers make tracks they didn't forget to apply enough bass so adding more is gonna be wank.

having track A's bass on full and track B's bass on min will work fine for most bass line mixes.
sometimes track B might need a lil bass just so some of its sound can poke through. you can notch it up from min just a lil. to compensate for this take track A's bass down a tiny bit.

trebble
a section where many people fail to use.
full trebble on trebble will sound tinny and gash. when ur mixing you may want 1 of the tracks trebble range to be more dominant than the other so take the other tracks trebble eq down a lil bit. sometime even as far as 9 o'clock.

mid
this controls how much mid range noise is playing.
obvious i know. instead of using the volume fader if you lower the mid. this will lower the volume. it all depends on the sounds your playing as to what you wanna do with this eq. sort out ur bass and trebble first then use this to see where u can improve whats left.
after adjusting the mid, you may need to go back to the other 2 eq's for some minor tweaking.


record your mixes trying out different ways of eqing. listen back and see what you think is best. do this and i guarantee it wont be long till you have mastered it.
 
Great stuff as always Teddy!

I usually focus on the lows(bass), for example one track dropping with 8 o'clock and the other(the one you want in focus) at 2-3 o'clock or something. But if one of the tracks has vocals or a nice little melody, I will raise the mids on that one, and lower it on the other one. Maybe the one with bass at 8 o'clock has some great vocals that I want to go with the bassline at 2-3 o'clock. In that case I will lower the mids on the bassy track, so the bassline will be in focus, and raise the mids on the track with the vocals.

All about playing with the EQ's really, and that is also why you can spend so much time behind the mixer. It's so fun to dig out new DD's, and just try different stuff.

One thing that I will have to improve on a lot is the highs(or the trebles as Teddy calls them). Haven't used that function enough.
 
As much as the bass rule is crucial, don't underestimate the impact of the right EQ'ing of trebbles and mids, a tiny turn of any correction can do a miracle and can make the blend sound so much better :)
 
Fallen.GeMiNi said:
As much as the bass rule is crucial, don't underestimate the impact of the right EQ'ing of trebbles and mids, a tiny turn of any correction can do a miracle and can make the blend sound so much better :)
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Exactly. I would start with the bass EQ'ing though, just seems like a very natural place to start with dnb mixing, especially if you enjoy the techier stuff. :)
 
I never have the bass past 12. Gets muddy after that. Only 1 bass up at a time turn a mid down if necessary. I'm relatively new to mixing (7months) but that's what sounds good to me and it depends on te tune I'm playing. If its got loud mids I turn it down to about 10 if it is in the background
 
I usually go for this kind of EQ'ing: dominant tune - bass 12 o'clock, mids 10 o'clock, trebbles 12 o'clock x subordinate tune - no bass, mids 12 o'clock, trebbles 9 o'clock. Of course this changes often, depending on tunes I'm trying to blend.
 
Fallen.GeMiNi said:
I usually go for this kind of EQ'ing: dominant tune - bass 12 o'clock, mids 10 o'clock, trebbles 12 o'clock x subordinate tune - no bass, mids 12 o'clock, trebbles 9 o'clock. Of course this changes often, depending on tunes I'm trying to blend.
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I see quite a few people take the bass out of a tune completly, im not sure i like doing it, its takes too much of the punch out of the mids out too i find.
 
Dedbult said:
I see quite a few people take the bass out of a tune completly, im not sure i like doing it, its takes too much of the punch out of the mids out too i find.
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Agreed. I find that putting two bass lines together and getting them to work together is the funniest part of DDs. A lot of techy tracks are quite empty too, almost like they are made to be dropped with another bass line(which has to be the case for most of them), so yeah most of the time I don't take out the bass completely, but if the bass lines do not fit, of course that is the only way out and I will do it.

But it is awesome to discuss this, really feel like getting in the mix again with all of this in my head.
 
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Dedbult said:
I see quite a few people take the bass out of a tune completly, im not sure i like doing it, its takes too much of the punch out of the mids out too i find.
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Here here! I leave the gains unless there's a problem (usually with two similar bass lines colliding) and I wouldn't ever touch the mids...
 
Mikkandro said:
Agreed. I find that putting two bass lines together and getting them to work together is the funniest part of DDs. A lot of techy tracks are quite empty too, almost like they are made to be dropped with another bass line(which has to be the case for most of them),
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Some tunes are quite empty for a reason and dont need bass from another tune. If youve got two bass lines coming in it will sound shit like its overloading or something
 
ye bass frequencies dont work well together...all kinds of distortion, phase issues etc. just sounds weak and horrible. occasionally you may get away with having a tune just above -infinity if it needs it but as a rule of thumb I have one bassline on 12oclock and one on nothing at all
 
Mikkandro said:
Agreed. I find that putting two bass lines together and getting them to work together is the funniest part of DDs. A lot of techy tracks are quite empty too, almost like they are made to be dropped with another bass line(which has to be the case for most of them), so yeah most of the time I don't take out the bass completely, but if the bass lines do not fit, of course that is the only way out and I will do it.

But it is awesome to discuss this, really feel like getting in the mix again with all of this in my head.
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Yeah man, im pon the decks trying out some theories. Just tried snapcase and heavyweight. Sounds quality, even with both basses up.


danwell said:
Some tunes are quite empty for a reason and dont need bass from another tune. If youve got two bass lines coming in it will sound shit like its overloading or something
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I spose thats where track selection comes in. Some tunes basslines go really well together, and you can leave both in, maybe with one at 12 o clock, the other at 11 or whatever.
But i really dont think its necessary to take a bassline completly out. Takes too much from the track, sucks the life out of it if you know what i mean.
 
I see what you're saying but I don't agree. I'll never have both basses up unless in a breakdown/intro where it works. Give me an example of 2 tunes you'd leave both basses up in
 
Believe me, as much as it could sound good in headphones or PC speakers, when you hit the club setup with both basslines up, you'll blow up everybody's ears and the setup aswell. The only case I do not turn down one of the basses is when the tune has mid-bass melodic part (N3GUS - Fill Yer Boots for example), in this case I'm going for 9 o'clock bass on both tunes basically. And touching the mids is really esential to give your tunes a space to breath I'd say.
 
Fallen.GeMiNi said:
Believe me, as much as it could sound good in headphones or PC speakers, when you hit the club setup with both basslines up, you'll blow up everybody's ears and the setup aswell. The only case I do not turn down one of the basses is when the tune has mid-bass melodic part (N3GUS - Fill Yer Boots for example), in this case I'm going for 9 o'clock bass on both tunes basically. And touching the mids is really esential to give your tunes a space to breath I'd say.
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Yeah i agree, what im saying is cutting the low end out completly takes the life out of the track. Thats all im saying lol.
 
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