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This gets asked allot, so I thought I'd post up a thread dedicated to it, if you have something to add post it up and i'll update this post...
Before you start your mixdown (if you do it seperatly to arrangement), its important that you have EQ'd properly, thats the number 1 issue I hear in most of what I hear, just one or two bad resonant points can screw the mixdown , mainly because we try to compensate by making things to loud in the mix. Heres a few things you should watch out for...
Snare Crossover - most people know to be careful of kick crossover, but snare crossover is just as important, not just on the bass, but all your other sounds aswell, i think its one of the most common reasons for snares being to loud in the mix
Kick, Bass Crossover - even if you have high-passed a pad at 150hz, it might be throwing out more volume @ 150hz than you realize, same with stabs or any other sound in the mix. dont just rely on side-chain compression to give your kicks space
Notch EQ is a really good way of learning how your sounds interact with each other, its worth spending time sweeping thru the freqz of every individual sound in the mix to see whats going on, after a while it will be instinctive and you will have less and less eq to do
Mixdown Refrences
If you can, give your ears a break before starting your mixdown, it takes about 20-30mins for your ears to adjust
Start mixing down at Very Low Volume, loud enough for you to clearly hear the sounds, but not booming out at all, your ears will get tired and your mixdown will suffer
There are a couple of really quick ways to check your mixdown, its important you get as many refrences as possible, on as many diffrent speakers as you can get your hands on...(all of this will become instinctive aswell as you practise)
Mono Master output - quick and nasty way to show up imbalances in your mixdown, things that are to loud will stick out a long way. Mono will also show up any phase problems you have in your bass
Headphone check - headphones are a great refrence tool, have a quick listen to your track on your headphones aswell
Laptop speaker check - someone recomended this on another forum, i dont do it myself, but the more refrences you can get, the better. the lack of Low end of laptop speakers will probly help you hear how well everything is sitting
Car, HiFi, mini speaker stereos, etc - another great way to show up problems in a dodgy mixdown
The Mixdown
By now you probly have a fair idea of whats wrong in your mixdown, or at least you know somethings not quite right (unless it is, then woo! you can stop reading)
First Step - Set all your channels to -Inf volume. Be careful if you are using sends or FX routing which will change significantly because of this, for Eg Side-Chain Compression, take a note of anything that will mess up so you can adjust it to correct it
Second Step - Bring in your base break and make sure it sounds tight and big
Third Step - Bring in your bass, make sure it all fits together perfectly, ensure all of the sound is clear from top to bottom, careful that the sub isnt overpowering the rest of the mix, or getting lost into the mix, it should be pumping along nicely with the kick. if you find that your snare seems to jump out of the mix with tiny volume changes, then most likley you have some EQ to do on the bass.
Fourth Step - add the rest of your sounds, one at a time, do it gently, and keep things balanced, close your eyes and get a feel for the soundscape, every single sound should be clear, if its not, have a look thru the rest of the mix and very gently tweek your channels, trust your ears. Ensure your precussion and Bass are still pumping nicely with every sound you add
Fifth Step - stop the music, rewind to the begining, make a cup of tea, turn it up (not to much), sit back and listen...as a listener, not a producer, dont tweek anything, just listen till the end...if anything needs tweeking then go back to step 4, remeber to turn the volume down again
By now hopefully your mixdown is sounding better, nothing is clipping, bass and precussion are sitting tight and your synths and soundscape are bouncing around just right. Get more refrences from diffrent speakers for a last check, dont worry if you find yourself constantly going back to the mixdown to tweek, it takes practise, but the more refrences you take, the faster your brain will learn to pick up on the problems.
Take regular breaks, do a draft mixdown, then come back to it after a few hours, or 24hours if you can stay away that long, at least sleep on it, tired ears become more and more useless as the hours ware on
Once you feel your mixdown is as close as you can get it, you may want to add a touch of compression to your master output, this will help bring out the details, all those wobbles and bends will really come to life, a ratio of 1:3 will probly do, bring the threshold down slightly until it starts to flicker, make sure there it doesnt add any distortion espcially to the bass. If you want to add limiting, bring the volume on the compression down a few db, then add a Limiter, turn the volume up on your amp/speakers (so you dont suffer from louder is better syndrome which often leads to massivly over-limited/compressed music), then slowly adjust the threshold of the Limiter, max 0.5db at a time, adjust it to taste, but remeber the more you limit, the more dynamics you loose, and louder isnt always better
a flicker of limiting is more than enough most of the time imo
Eventually all this stuff will happen naturally as part of your arrangement process, the steps above are just to get you started so you can see whats going on and how things interact with each other and cause imbalances
Hope that was useful
This gets asked allot, so I thought I'd post up a thread dedicated to it, if you have something to add post it up and i'll update this post...
Before you start your mixdown (if you do it seperatly to arrangement), its important that you have EQ'd properly, thats the number 1 issue I hear in most of what I hear, just one or two bad resonant points can screw the mixdown , mainly because we try to compensate by making things to loud in the mix. Heres a few things you should watch out for...
Snare Crossover - most people know to be careful of kick crossover, but snare crossover is just as important, not just on the bass, but all your other sounds aswell, i think its one of the most common reasons for snares being to loud in the mix
Kick, Bass Crossover - even if you have high-passed a pad at 150hz, it might be throwing out more volume @ 150hz than you realize, same with stabs or any other sound in the mix. dont just rely on side-chain compression to give your kicks space
Notch EQ is a really good way of learning how your sounds interact with each other, its worth spending time sweeping thru the freqz of every individual sound in the mix to see whats going on, after a while it will be instinctive and you will have less and less eq to do
Mixdown Refrences
If you can, give your ears a break before starting your mixdown, it takes about 20-30mins for your ears to adjust
Start mixing down at Very Low Volume, loud enough for you to clearly hear the sounds, but not booming out at all, your ears will get tired and your mixdown will suffer
There are a couple of really quick ways to check your mixdown, its important you get as many refrences as possible, on as many diffrent speakers as you can get your hands on...(all of this will become instinctive aswell as you practise)
Mono Master output - quick and nasty way to show up imbalances in your mixdown, things that are to loud will stick out a long way. Mono will also show up any phase problems you have in your bass
Headphone check - headphones are a great refrence tool, have a quick listen to your track on your headphones aswell
Laptop speaker check - someone recomended this on another forum, i dont do it myself, but the more refrences you can get, the better. the lack of Low end of laptop speakers will probly help you hear how well everything is sitting
Car, HiFi, mini speaker stereos, etc - another great way to show up problems in a dodgy mixdown
The Mixdown
By now you probly have a fair idea of whats wrong in your mixdown, or at least you know somethings not quite right (unless it is, then woo! you can stop reading)
First Step - Set all your channels to -Inf volume. Be careful if you are using sends or FX routing which will change significantly because of this, for Eg Side-Chain Compression, take a note of anything that will mess up so you can adjust it to correct it
Second Step - Bring in your base break and make sure it sounds tight and big
Third Step - Bring in your bass, make sure it all fits together perfectly, ensure all of the sound is clear from top to bottom, careful that the sub isnt overpowering the rest of the mix, or getting lost into the mix, it should be pumping along nicely with the kick. if you find that your snare seems to jump out of the mix with tiny volume changes, then most likley you have some EQ to do on the bass.
Fourth Step - add the rest of your sounds, one at a time, do it gently, and keep things balanced, close your eyes and get a feel for the soundscape, every single sound should be clear, if its not, have a look thru the rest of the mix and very gently tweek your channels, trust your ears. Ensure your precussion and Bass are still pumping nicely with every sound you add
Fifth Step - stop the music, rewind to the begining, make a cup of tea, turn it up (not to much), sit back and listen...as a listener, not a producer, dont tweek anything, just listen till the end...if anything needs tweeking then go back to step 4, remeber to turn the volume down again
By now hopefully your mixdown is sounding better, nothing is clipping, bass and precussion are sitting tight and your synths and soundscape are bouncing around just right. Get more refrences from diffrent speakers for a last check, dont worry if you find yourself constantly going back to the mixdown to tweek, it takes practise, but the more refrences you take, the faster your brain will learn to pick up on the problems.
Take regular breaks, do a draft mixdown, then come back to it after a few hours, or 24hours if you can stay away that long, at least sleep on it, tired ears become more and more useless as the hours ware on
Once you feel your mixdown is as close as you can get it, you may want to add a touch of compression to your master output, this will help bring out the details, all those wobbles and bends will really come to life, a ratio of 1:3 will probly do, bring the threshold down slightly until it starts to flicker, make sure there it doesnt add any distortion espcially to the bass. If you want to add limiting, bring the volume on the compression down a few db, then add a Limiter, turn the volume up on your amp/speakers (so you dont suffer from louder is better syndrome which often leads to massivly over-limited/compressed music), then slowly adjust the threshold of the Limiter, max 0.5db at a time, adjust it to taste, but remeber the more you limit, the more dynamics you loose, and louder isnt always better
a flicker of limiting is more than enough most of the time imoEventually all this stuff will happen naturally as part of your arrangement process, the steps above are just to get you started so you can see whats going on and how things interact with each other and cause imbalances
Hope that was useful
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