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Your mixdown procedure...
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| pactdonkey |
Okay i have done a search on this and it doesnt come up with much!
I have been producing for around 6 months and musically i do like the stuff i make, however i still cant get it sounding good dynamicly..
I think a good thread to start would be for producers/sound engineers to do a quick list of the procedure they go through. I think for me and certainly other noobs could go through it and see if what they are doing is right/wrong and if their missing anything drastic!
I know alot of people like to keep it secret but for those who dont mind what do you think?
ill start,
1. Arrange the song,
2. Bounce down each track into Wav
3. Open a new project and put Wavs into tracks,
4. EQ each track,
5. Put compressors/Expanders/Multipressor on tracks to increase volume/power
6. For Kicks/bass and other tracks that need more volume i send them to a aux and increase the volume
7. Put a limiter on the output1-2
8. Put a mulit pressor on the output1-2
9. Eq the output 1-2
10. Bounce.
Hopefully people can pick at that and tell me that im doing some thing wrong that i can improve my sounds with!! |
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| Lolo |
You think your tracks sound bad?
IMHO that's because you're setting up an revert processing chain on each of your separate tracks. It's just a suggestion, as I have no time to listen to stuff at this moment.
First distortion/dynamics, then after that you can eq. Putting your eq before your compressor will exagerate some frequencies and squash your sound, except if that is what you want, definitley something to avoid. I know many people doing the exact same mistake. The sole compressor you can put at the end of your chain is the ducker (aka sidechain compressor).
At the very end on the master channel, it has to be the opposite, except that you shouldn't be using a multipressor if you don't know what you're doing to the sound, it's extremely dangerous to use this type of plug-in and I don't recommend it, nor do I use it, maybe I'm wrong, but hey I had master X from tc electronics, and to be honest, I have far better results with a single maximizer. In most cases, a good adaptive limiter/maximizer will be more than enough at the end of your chain as long as everything else is mixed down the way you want it.
Actually to answer your first question, I think many peepz here just build their structure and mixdown at the same time. Or am I wrong? |
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| djsphere |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lolo
Actually to answer your first question, I think many peepz here just build their structure and mixdown at the same time. Or am I wrong? |
i do it. |
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| pactdonkey |
Thanks for that, that was a good reply,
So i should sort out the dynamics before i eq it...So as i use logic 8, the blue plugins that appear under the eq box, are they in order of what the sound goes through? as in if the compressor is at the top does that mean the sound will go through that first?
May sound stupid but worth knowing!
Cheers |
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| pactdonkey |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lolo
Actually to answer your first question, I think many peepz here just build their structure and mixdown at the same time. Or am I wrong? |
ah so mix down the sounds/volumes in the arrange window? |
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| Subtle |
| quote: | Originally posted by pactdonkey
ah so mix down the sounds/volumes in the arrange window? |
Yeah. The best way to do it imo.
I never even got anything on the master channel, just export and import to Wavlab.. put a limiter and compressor on it and viola! |
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| lenieNt Force |
| quote: | Originally posted by pactdonkey
Thanks for that, that was a good reply,
So i should sort out the dynamics before i eq it...So as i use logic 8, the blue plugins that appear under the eq box, are they in order of what the sound goes through? as in if the compressor is at the top does that mean the sound will go through that first?
May sound stupid but worth knowing!
Cheers |
As a simple rule you can use eq before comp when you use eq for subtraction, and eq after comp when you use eq for shaping.
And yes the signal goes through one processor after another, in a given chain. |
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| EgosXII |
| quote: | Originally posted by lenieNt Force
As a simple rule you can use eq before comp when you use eq for subtraction, and eq after comp when you use eq for shaping.
And yes the signal goes through one processor after another, in a given chain. |
is there a way to drag the plugs without deleting then re-starting them?
what i mean is i've had it numerous times that i have for example the EQ first, all nice etc, then i realise i need the compressor on there...
i've set up my EQ so nicely, but when i try to just drag the EQ BELOW the compressor it won't work, so i have to delete the EQ, then spend time re-shaping it etc...
any ideas??
it's fine for EQ but when using really fine-tuned FX (i use camel-space a lot for example) i CBF re-making all my settings etc...
also, is it really necessary to bounce all the tracks after you've arranged them!?!
i just use the midi tracks, and all the other tracks as i originally composed them, in that same project, is it necessary to convert them all to wav or is that just personal preference?
cheers :) |
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| Zild |
| I try to get everything sounding nice and mixed properly as I'm going through and working on the track. When I think it is finished I will come back later and make a few tweaks and then render the entire song. I find that much better and faster than bouncing all your tracks and going back and mixing them again. |
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| djsphere |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zild
I find that much better and faster than bouncing all your tracks and going back and mixing them again. |
better could be....but not faster.
at the end of a project i find myself ditching almost half of the sounds i camed up during the production, so all the time i spend mixing those sounds in the whole track is lost time.
on the other hand if you do the mix at the end you only spend the time on the actual sounds that are gonna be in the final track.
of course you get to practice a bit more on your mixing skills :p |
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| Zild |
| quote: | Originally posted by djsphere
better could be....but not faster.
at the end of a project i find myself ditching almost half of the sounds i camed up during the production, so all the time i spend mixing those sounds in the whole track is lost time.
on the other hand if you do the mix at the end you only spend the time on the actual sounds that are gonna be in the final track.
of course you get to practice a bit more on your mixing skills :p |
How do you know what you want to actually be in the finished song without actually mixing those sound in first? In my experience you may have a bunch of sounds you like and want to use, but if you can't get them to sit in the mix properly it is worthless. |
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| Delroy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zild
I try to get everything sounding nice and mixed properly as I'm going through and working on the track. When I think it is finished I will come back later and make a few tweaks and then render the entire song. I find that much better and faster than bouncing all your tracks and going back and mixing them again. |
Likewise. I work on the dynamics while I am building my tracks so once my tune is complete there is only minor tweaks to deal with. |
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