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Creating a professional quality mixdown.

I am wondering if anybody has some tips as to what common problems can lead to a non-professional quality mixdown. No matter how hard I try, even after the mastering process from a professional engineer, my tracks simply don't sound near commercial quality. I am just looking into some new insights and preferably EQing tips you guys use to create a more commercial sound. Here is a sample of a track I created just as an experiment for mixdowns. Don't mind the song, I only created it for mixdown purposes. around the 3 minute mark is the area i really want to focus on. This track has been mastered by the way.

http://soundcloud.com/dj-stokstad/i...k-were-in-texas

Thanks for any advice!

I think its more to do with your sound choice, 3min mark the drop just hasn't got enough tension or impact.
To me it sounds nice and clear thou, listening through headphones thou.

Your not trolling are you?

no not trolling. just getting frustrated. Really need some different perspective. Because I feel like i have applied most of my useful knowledge but i still never get a satisfying final sound. there is that final line between commercial sound and non commercial. I am trying to find out what makes that difference. Also if anybody knows some DVD's about mixing id love to know. Books dont work as well since they dont ever provide enough relevant audio files.

My shit doesn't sound pro...let's get it mastered.

Still doesn't sound pro...must be the mixdown!

Still doesn't sound pro...must be the sound design!

Still doesn't sound pro...must be the sound selection!

Still doesn't sound pro...it really couldn't be the composition...must be the mastering engineer!!!

quote:

Originally posted by alexw7070 even after the mastering process from a professional engineer, my tracks simply don't sound near commercial quality.

mastering ≠ awesomeizing

Re: Creating a professional quality mixdown.

quote:

Originally posted by alexw7070 my tracks simply don't sound near commercial quality.

Every brush stroke has to be good. Every sound decision you make, I mean every last one, has to be super precise if you want that top - tier sound your'e aspiring to.

I watcxh this TV show called masterchef. It's funny before each heat you get the contestants saying how determined they are, how they are gonna make it happen, how they will deliver the best dish possible, and week in week out 99% of them fail.

Why is this do you think?

I like to break such a Human process down into the smallest possible chunks. If you do this what you find is the same thing over and over. Those that end up frustrated by thier delivery are making small but critical bad decisions - so for example they don't leave the meat to rest long enough so they end up marked down because blood seeps into thier plate of food. Tiny little wrong decisions.

Now I'm no master producer but I do think the top people are just like the top chefs. They just make better minute to minute decisions on thier ingredients and how they treat them.

So taking that arpy leed of yours - you made decisions that lead to that sound, but tbh it's just a plain bad cheesey sound. Go take 3 days on and off to make a killer lead and DONT RUSH!

music is very immaculate these days with sound design, yet i can go back 10 years and listen to those tracks over and over again, its not amazingly mastered(there are even some holes), but it doesnt matter. i dont care for that, it doesnt annoy me at all.

your mixdowns will only come as far as your ears experience and knowledge of your tools have.

there is no real easy solution: only work, work, and more work.

i advise you to mixdown on fresh ears though, it makes all the difference.

Re: Creating a professional quality mixdown.

quote:

Originally posted by alexw7070 I am wondering if anybody has some tips as to what common problems can lead to a non-professional quality mixdown. No matter how hard I try, even after the mastering process from a professional engineer, my tracks simply don't sound near commercial quality. I am just looking into some new insights and preferably EQing tips you guys use to create a more commercial sound. Here is a sample of a track I created just as an experiment for mixdowns. Don't mind the song, I only created it for mixdown purposes. around the 3 minute mark is the area i really want to focus on. This track has been mastered by the way. http://soundcloud.com/dj-stokstad/i...k-were-in-texas Thanks for any advice!

Use smexocope that can help with things a lot i find

while mixing your song, flick to a comparison song every now and then, all pro mixers and mastering guys have done this at one point or another (some continue to). It helps keep a fresh perspective on things and it also lets you hear how a good mix should sound in your room on your monitors, through your system.

Also, volume plays a big part, I tend to mix at very low volumes but every now and then I crack it to hear the bottom end more accurately, I take note of where the bass gtr/synth fader is then I'll pull it all the way down, then, close my eyes and bring it back up until it sounds right, if its sitting more or less where it was before cranking teh volume then you should be ok.
I read once that this technique has to do with how the human ear perceives bass at low volumes and high volumes.

hope this helps,

quote:

Originally posted by Nightshift i advise you to mixdown on fresh ears though, it makes all the difference.

This, completely. I spent 4 hours working on a track last Saturday, thought it sounded amazing.. booted it up again on Monday and wondered what the fuck I was thinking. Spent another 20 minutes adjusting levels and it sounded so much better.

The thing with mixing is, there's no "trick" to it. It's the most difficult aspect of EDM production, those who can make crystal clear mixes didn't get where they are by referring to some list of secret mixing techniques that you're not familiar with. Even if someone does explain a technique to you, and explains when you should use it, you still need to have the intuition to know what to listen for.

It takes practice, that's all there is to it. That's never the answer anyone wants to hear, but it's usually the answer to 99% of the questions asked around here. Just keep at it and you'll see results eventually.

So you mean to tell me mastering WONT fix my mixdown? This is madness.

best tip I can give you is use the search function (or Google) on mixing and mastering and you will get a wealth of topics from the last 5 years or so discussing exactly this. you might have overlooked that since you're only just registered. Also read about Sidechain and Low Cut.

If you comprehend all of the above you're ready to read about DJRyan.

lol

quote:

Originally posted by Artois lol

lmao

Just few tips from the way I'm dealing with this issue (but I'm not close to what or where I would like to be):

1) try to get different sounding instruments so they don't fight for the same sound space in your ear (if you know what I mean).

2) play different chords with different pasterns so you don't have this massive sound overlay at the same time.

3) use sound which is pleasant to your ear (and listeners)

Only few to mention at this time to get you moving at the right direction.

Cheers,

Darek

EQing will have a lot to do with it as well. If your sounds are fighting each other then you are f cked from the start. Each sound NEEDS to have its own place, I use and EQ on 95% of my sounds to get them to sit right in the mix. Once they sit right frequency wise then you can adjust the volume. You can have 3 sounds that are using a range of 1,000Hz to 4,000Hz but EQ them right so they compliment each other. As one person has stated it is down to your ears and experience.

Tips & Tricks That Helped Me - #1 Mix Balance (Updated)

I wrote the following article yesterday outlining some of the things I've noticed and learned.

Tips & Tricks That Helped Me - Mix Balance

I've included feedback it received from Matt Lange, Jono Grant and Cramp.

Waiting for some opinions from Steve Duda, Dennis Ferrer and Andrew Bayer.

try to listen to your mixes from different sources including your monitors, car, computer speakers and specially in a club, if you don't dj and hence don't have the chance get in contact with the club manager/dj and try to get your track played, preferably with the venue empty , acoustic dynamics vary with zero noise and without the sound reverbering on the crow and definitely most clubs don't fit the minimum standard but that should get you an idea of how your records sound when played by other djs in arenas, big rooms etc...

Your achievement should be that your mix sound great in the car with a mediocre subwoofer/amplifier, in the computer speakers (mid range/high detail) and without a muddy bass in big clubs, i can tell you from my experience that a -3db kick can work very well in a techno track while probably overpowers all the mix in a bad way in a melodic progressive house track. Play with it, kick & bass is 70% of the mix in my opinion.

read and practice, but mostly practice

Add another to things to consider. Proper gain staging. I was floored at the difference this can make on the sound of a track. There a number of tuts on it around the net.

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