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Please help with clearing up this mix!
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| Brownsounds |
Hello all,
I've been tinkering away at this track for awhile but I can't seem to get a clear sounding mix. It doesn't have a shiny sound to it but I don't know what else to do! I've posted a 40 second loop to my soundcloud link below:
http://soundcloud.com/brownsound-2
Tips/suggestions please! |
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| sr126 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Brownsounds
Hello all,
I've been tinkering away at this track for awhile but I can't seem to get a clear sounding mix. It doesn't have a shiny sound to it but I don't know what else to do! I've posted a 40 second loop to my soundcloud link below:
http://soundcloud.com/brownsound-2
Tips/suggestions please! |
first things first, i really like the oldschool vibe of the song.
i'm not too good at the mixing thing, but i did notice a few things about your mix.
the main problem to me is balance of the mix, and the balance/relationship of the individual parts, then the eq'ing.
to me, you bassline is way too loud with relationship to the kick, and the whole mix in general. i would reduce the level of the bassline. i also felt the other elements in the begining of the track, the metallic synth sound, and the wah wa wah sound were a little loud, and interfered with the lead. so i would reduce the volume of those things too. i noticed that pretty much everything is panned dead center. i would pan the two elements i mentions that were too loud and interfering w/the lead off to the sides somewhere. since those two sounds kinda occupy the same frequency range, i would pan opposite to each other, one to the left and one to the right. i would probably pan them about 50% to the extreme left or right to start, that way they will not interfere with the bass or lead that would i leave in the middle. the acid line to me as way to peaky, you need to compress that pretty agressively to level out the volume on that part. i would pan your closed hat, and open hat off the side too. maybe not 50%, but atleast slightly off center, enough to be out of the way. the ride, i would pan off to the side too. probably in the opposite direction of the hats, or if you want them on the same side, i would pan farther way from the middle than the hats. i would reduce the volume of the ride, because it seemed a little too loud in relationship to the hats.
to sum that part up: fix levels. kick, bass, and lead in the middle. everything else off the sides somewhere.
i think just about everything in your mix could use atleast a little bit of hi-passing. especially the two elements i mentioned in the begining that were interfereing with the lead. try to get rid any un-necessary low end (and hi end for that matter), if you don't your mix will still sound muddy. you don't have to massacre your sounds. for starters just raise the hp filter, until you hear it cutting into your sound, then back off until you barely hear the effect. i like using brainworx clean sweep for this job, it's a freebie, and it has a gentle roll off.
to me, your sounds are taking up to much space in the mix (taking up more frequency space than necessary). now with everything panned and hi passed, things should already sound a bit clearer already. now you'll just have to do some eq'ing (not as much as would have to if everything was piled up in the middle). scoop stuff that's not necessary, and trim away as much excess possible. it's hard to give specific pointers, other than look for what sounds muddy, or masked and try to clean it up by either adjusting your levels, panning, or eq. notice i always mention eq last. for me it's always a last resort. if i achieve the separation i want by tweaking levels (with in reason of course), or panning i would rather do that, than and spend time trying to eq things together. also, it's usually more effective to cut things rather than boost things when eq'ing.
i used to have the same mixing problems as you do. two things that helped me out a lot was de-activate all the FX when mixing, and checking the gain staging. w/out any FX or compression activated, go into each VST, solo it, and crank every part as loud as it can go w/out clipping. if one note clips, then reduce the gain a little until it stops clipping. do the same w/every single drum sound if you have everything separated. now we're going to do what is called 'calibrating your mixer (channels)'. reset all your faders in you're daw's mixer. all faders at zero db. now solo each sound, and note where the sound peaks. i still do this the oldschool 16bit way. if i need to, i will increase the INPUT GAIN (not boost the fader) until the channel peaks as close as possible to 0db w/out clipping. -the same thing we did w/the VST's. (i understand that now we live in a 24bit world and you don't need to crank all the way till 0db... i guess a lot of people will peak each channel at about -6 to -3, i don't know... -that's a another discussion all together)
now when you playback the whole song, you master fader will be way to hot, and completely over loaded... now just take everything (your channel faders, not the sends/aux or master) down say -10db or so you are not clipping the master anymore.
now you need to set you priorities, or think about how you want the song sound like. your vision of the mix. this is usually pretty hard for me, because i'm the songwriter, the performer, the sound designer, and the guy that has to make all this crap fit together. it means somethings have to be quieter than originally intended. other things have get hi-passed, or hacked up w/an eq. this means making compromises, and deciding what is important, and what is not as important.
when you re-do your mixdown. turn off ALL the FX. no delay, reverbs, no phasers/flangers/chorus on the bass, leads, or anything else. I start mixing things down w/out any compression either. it's tempting to leave the FX on, but in my experience, it only messes my preception of placement, levels, and eq'ing. i always ended up with a total mess. i set the basic levels first, then take care of the panning, eq, compress what needs to be compressed, then start mixing in the FX. that's not to say that once i set the levels, that's it. i still go back and adjust levels if i notice that something get lost because it's too soft, or too loud. -same with the other steps.
it's practice more than that anything. with practice comes experience.
hope this helps, and good luck |
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| Atlantis-AR |
| quote: | Originally posted by Brownsounds
Hello all,
I've been tinkering away at this track for awhile but I can't seem to get a clear sounding mix. It doesn't have a shiny sound to it but I don't know what else to do! I've posted a 40 second loop to my soundcloud link below:
http://soundcloud.com/brownsound-2
Tips/suggestions please! |
:rolleyes: Not another one of those mixes... First, I recommend you look at FLAC to compress your file before uploading it. Also, you need to high-pass below about 50 Hz on the bass (not a general rule, but in your case) to remove any unwanted rumble. You also need to use a thing known as compression to reduce the dynamic range of certain instruments, after which bringing them into the mix at a louder volume.
I had an initial, longer reply written before, but I lost it. Either way, you'll have to work on your mixing to get this sounding fuller and more correct. Try to find a compressor you like the sound of use it as much as you can! |
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| Brownsounds |
| Wow thanks for the replies! I'll try to have an updated version in a soon. |
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| Brownsounds |
I did the mixer calibration as best as I could but a few of the synths had some erratic behavior. I did a completely dry mix with no high pass cutoffs, no panning, and no effects except for a little bit of filter automation and posted it on my soundcloud. It's the topmost mix called "Track3(clip2). Again, tips/comments please!
http://soundcloud.com/brownsound-2
Here are my fader levels:
Kick: -6
Bass: -8
Guitar: -9
Bubble: -13 (had some peaks)
Formant (high pitched string): -14 (also had some crazy peaking)
Acid lead: -9.5 (had some REALLY erratic behavior)
Rimshot: -10.5
Open HH: -15
Tamborine: -16.5
Closed HH: -19.5
Rolling snare: -10.9
Bright closed HH (in 16ths): -14.5
From here, I plan to work on panning, then high pass filtering everything, then compressing the bubble, formant, and acid lead. |
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| Brownsounds |
Posted my final draft! This one has eq, compression, reverb, and delay. As usual, the link to the my soundcloud is down below. The file is the topmost file called "Track3 (clip3)."
http://soundcloud.com/brownsound-2
Any comments, tips, suggestions wanted! |
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