It all comes with experience , im no master at it myself im still learning but its like anything the more you do it the easier it becomes , you should play with panning and try not to have to many sounds occupying the same frequency area , also try not to overdo too many synth sounds in your mix , remeber less is more. I think i recall Steve Helstrip (thrillseekers) saying that Ferry Corsten only uses a few sounds in his mixes but hes very good at making them occupy there own area and still the mix sounds big with few sounds so i think that says it all.

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Originally posted by LoveHate so yeah i thought id make a post to try and gain more insight on this subject because im still pretty novice.. so say in art..if you choose..a green and a red...the green makes the red look brighter becase they compliment each other..same can be said with purple and yellow..etc etc.. so now i am just trying to apply this to music...choosing sounds that work together...ie a heavy bassline...with a kick that isnt too punchy...i take it ..it would be way easier on the mixing stage to.. so can anyone who has knowledge of this..share some info...thanks.

A big part of it is to get sounds that don't step on each other's toes so you don't have a ton of different sounds occupying one part of the spectrum. Deciding how full/clear your mix to be comes down to taste as some people want a wall of sound(think intense DnB track) and other's want everything extremely clear(think Thriller). There are a lot of presets that have a shitload of candy fx and layers(Nexus) to make them sound louder and more impressive. If you plan on adding in additional sounds, you have to judge the preset in the context of everything else. Somethings might sound thin and weak on its own, but with everything else it might fit perfectly.

Picking sounds is also about using different sounds with different envelope types and timbres to make each sound distinct from each other. Different timbres work harder to differentiate themselves in the mix compared to sounds that are similar. Things that are short and punchy take up less space in the mix, where as giant sustained leads take up a lot of space and need more consideration.

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Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

It's also worth remembering that sidechain ducking can be transparent (ie - not pumping) but still allow space for the all important kick, or even other parts.

A lot of it is what you leave out rather than put in.

And of course, experience and practise plays the biggest part.

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Originally posted by tehlord It's also worth remembering that sidechain ducking can be transparent (ie - not pumping) but still allow space for the all important kick, or even other parts. A lot of it is what you leave out rather than put in. And of course, experience and practise plays the biggest part.

whats your best method for sidechain transparency ?

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Originally posted by Stephen Wiley whats your best method for sidechain transparency ?

For me it's really just a case of tweaking the attack and release of the compressor so that the sound being ducked is removed just enough to allow room for the kick. I always use a trigger channel with a very short, snappy trigger kick too as that allows you far more control over the volume envelope. The trigger channel remains silent throughout. It's really about the attack and release, both would be fairly short. In my current WIP I experimented by sidechaining virtually everything to the kick trigger channel, including the main leads and percussion. It's really only the pad sound that's obviously sidechained in that track as the release is fairly slow.

I'll sometimes use the vocal channel to subtly duck a pad sound if they happen to be playing at the same time as they tend to occupy a lot of the same frequencies.

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I really think that putting the right sounds together right is what its all about to be honest. But its a very hard thing to master, there's no formula for how to make sounds fit together well.

I think its mainly about getting the right filters and oscillators, then gettings the levels pans and reverbs right, then finally getting a bit of compression over the top. But its also about getting the phrasing right too. If you get the sounds right then the track will mix itself and won't really need much extra compression or EQ I think.

I think its the hardest part of production, because it touches on all the other skills you need. And its usually the part that people get wrong, but don't realise they're getting wrong. Most people who come on here asking whats wrong with their drums or mix should have a look at this thread first, it probably answers their question.

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