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Smooth mixing techniques

Does anyone have any good techniques for mixing basslines together really smoothly? Its really dificult to get around that bang bang bang noise when you introduce the next record into the mix,theoretically the loudness of the kickdrum should not increase or decrease during a transition but achieving this is very difficult,especially when the incoming tune has a sharp "slapping" bassline.Ive tried allsorts and have come to the conclusion that the only thing that can change the volume of the kickdrum is the volume fader.I work mainly on the eqs during the mix,is it better to work mainly on the volume and less on the eqs? or vice versa? or what??

Basslines? You meant 'drumlines'. Basline is the low, driving and rolling melody in the background. It is common that these two are mixed up.

To the main issue. I have track 1 playing and i'm about to mix track 2 in. I usually set track 2 off at the beginning of a new 64 beat segment of track 1. Somewhere arround beat 32 i bring the mid -channel in abit but leave the low and high very low. When track 1 reaches beat 64, i bring the low channel up and almost at the same time kill or at least lower the lows of track 1. Now you have track 1 and 2 playing on eachother, 1 having almost no lows but still mid and high normal. Now it's up to you how you want to bring up the mids and highs of track 2 and kill corresponding on track 1. This is very hard to explain, but if you want, i can record a demo.

Ask if something was left unclear

well, the very "pingy" sounding kicks hold mos tof their frequencies in the mids, and their tails live in the lows. SO it would make sense then to bring in the mids later than the lows. Take advantage of the fact that humans hear highs and lo-mids much louder than extreme lows and highs. you can drown out a pingy kick with highs and mids from the previous or next track... whichever doesn't have he "pingy" kick.

the only other way to do this is to swap the bass kicks really quick, either using the lows, or with sharper fader moovements

quote:

Originally posted by SgtFoo well, the very "pingy" sounding kicks hold mos tof their frequencies in the mids, and their tails live in the lows. SO it would make sense then to bring in the mids later than the lows. Take advantage of the fact that humans hear highs and lo-mids much louder than extreme lows and highs. you can drown out a pingy kick with highs and mids from the previous or next track... whichever doesn't have he "pingy" kick. the only other way to do this is to swap the bass kicks really quick, either using the lows, or with sharper fader moovements

Yeah, well i forgot to mention it depends also on the track.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris d(-_-)b Basslines? You meant 'drumlines'. Basline is the low, driving and rolling melody in the background. It is common that these two are mixed up. To the main issue. I have track 1 playing and i'm about to mix track 2 in. I usually set track 2 off at the beginning of a new 64 beat segment of track 1. Somewhere arround beat 32 i bring the mid -channel in abit but leave the low and high very low. When track 1 reaches beat 64, i bring the low channel up and almost at the same time kill or at least lower the lows of track 1. Now you have track 1 and 2 playing on eachother, 1 having almost no lows but still mid and high normal. Now it's up to you how you want to bring up the mids and highs of track 2 and kill corresponding on track 1. This is very hard to explain, but if you want, i can record a demo. Ask if something was left unclear

Yes...I'd like a demo...

I find if you're mixing one track with a really sharp kick over another with a duller, thudding kick, you're best to introduce the sharp kick rapidly at the start of a measure. If you try to move it in gradually, it still stands out from the thudding kick and just sounds unsure of itself

quote:

Originally posted by tubby I find if you're mixing one track with a really sharp kick over another with a duller, thudding kick, you're best to introduce the sharp kick rapidly at the start of a measure. If you try to move it in gradually, it still stands out from the thudding kick and just sounds unsure of itself

Very good advice, and very true -- I've found the same pretty much goes for really loud or really layered highs.

Re: Smooth mixing techniques

quote:

Originally posted by Dizkojockey Does anyone have any good techniques for mixing basslines together really smoothly? Its really dificult to get around that bang bang bang noise when you introduce the next record into the mix,theoretically the loudness of the kickdrum should not increase or decrease during a transition but achieving this is very difficult,especially when the incoming tune has a sharp "slapping" bassline.Ive tried allsorts and have come to the conclusion that the only thing that can change the volume of the kickdrum is the volume fader.I work mainly on the eqs during the mix,is it better to work mainly on the volume and less on the eqs? or vice versa? or what??

Assuming you are talking about drums rather than basslines it sounds to me as if you may need to start mastering your volume levels as well as EQs.

Learn to start using the gain control to take away that thumping effect and use the EQs to blend tracks together musically.

When it comes to gain, it's always better to start too low with the incomming track rather than too high. Especially when working on a club system. Then you can start working it in with the gain (Assuming your mixer has it).
This does get easier when your beatmatching becomes like second nature because then you will find yourself with more time to think about these sorts of things.

I always use the channel fader more like an on/off switch. All the way up or all the way down and start fading in the the gain which usually is down quite low to start with. Low EQ also all the way down.
I seldom mess around with the high and mid as I find it f*cks around with the overall sound a little too much and can sound really awful if done wrongly.

This is just my way of doing it and you get a lot of guys who do it differently. I also have other ways of doing it but this is a good place to start.

Cheers
Nem

Re: Re: Smooth mixing techniques

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 I always use the channel fader more like an on/off switch. All the way up or all the way down and start fading in the the gain which usually is down quite low to start with.

agree with that

I learnt many years ago to ether have the fader open or closed.
Occasionally i may have it at 50% or 75% with bass+treble killed but mid boosted max to keep a vocal sample in or something, but 99% of the time its either full or nothing.

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