How to Listen for (and Fix) Problems in Your Mix
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- Опубліковано 11 гру 2019
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#Mixing #Drums
Two things really started making mixing “click” for me. Number one (and still most important) was reference tracks. If you go for three hours on something, you always need a “palate cleanser” on standby to make sure you’re not going off the rails. There’s no shame in it...it’s done at every “level” from big name mixers to bedroom guys. I do it every time and I’ve gotten MUCH better as a result. The second one is a little more esoteric. Once your ear starts to automatically identify “whistles” and “mud”, your stuff becomes much cleaner. For example, “oh weird, there’s a funny little whistle that pops up whenever the guitar hits an A chord...ooo, I see...1.7k is really popping at that point”. BOOM...you’ve solved a major issue and made your track sound instantly better with 30 seconds of work.
As a post-script to all of this, I think that “energy levels” are another concept that it takes a while to grasp. For instance...your kick, your bass and a couple of synths are super heavy between 50-200hz. That is a LOT of energy built up in the bass. Something has to go, something else needs to “win”. Low frequencies carry a lot of weight and not only will that muddy your mix up, it’s gonna plow every compressor downstream with massive amounts of unwanted energy. Understanding how to correctly populate your frequency ranges is huge. Otherwise, there’s no distinction, no clarity. Nothing sounds right.
I appreciated this comment! Do you ever worry having a good ear for bad mixing is killing the magic of listening to music? Just a thought.
@@88kylesperhour I'm commenting from my work computer lol but, as a lover of music, someone who identified music as a love at a young age, identified my favorite genre at a young age, picking up a guitar at a young age, and continuing with music in bands, songwriting, performing, singing, listening, exploring and all-around being a musician and now a teacher, I have begun truly diving into the world of recording, mixing and production as of the past couple years. I have been "recording" since I was like 18 but like at the most basic level. Mic to amp, play guitar parts, pan them, same with bass, then sing into the mic, program some ghetto goofy sounding preset drums from my old keyboard, no mixing and that was it. I'd balance the levels and think cool! There's my song! Had no clue about EQ and everything else.
Let me tell you, in my experience 15 years later, REALLY learning and studying mixing and applying what I learn to the music I create, I enjoy the music I grew up on 100x more, and I can hear everything I used to do wrong in my own old mixes and giggle at how far I've come. Because now I appreciate the work on the back end, I hear the guitar tones, the drum sounds, the balance of the bass, how they got that vocal quality with compression, reverb and delay and I find myself going OMG THE WAY THAT 1176 HITS DERYCK'S VOICE TO CAPTURE THAT BREATH IS SO NICE! The way they EQ'd that kick to punch so hard is amazing! I'm finding another bunch of layers beyond just listening passively which allow me to fall in love with songs I've long forgotten all over again! Sorry for the long comment. But learning to mix, and improving my ear for bad mixes vs good mixes has made the listening and enjoyment experience, for me, so much more fun! Theres more to tickle the senses. You listen to music harder than the average person! They say, "Wow, I like that beat!" We say, "Wow, the high pass filter, combined with the attenuation in the 10kHZ range, and a boost in 5k really clear things up and make that kick PUNCH! I LOVE THIS BEAT (AND HOW THEY MADE IT SICK)" Haha end rant!
Yes, PLEASE do more of these ear training things, it's been one of the most valuable things I think about mixing. I can press the knobs, but it's hard to know what direction with my ear to go
Dude, I think you really made something click inside my brain about EQ and I cannot wait to try it out on my mixes. Thanks Joe! Wonderful advice!
Finding the right teacher for yourself on youtube is always so lovely
This guys just improved my ear so much in literally 30 minutes
You answered my novice question: what am I listening for? You have my gratitude.
Another absolutely AWESOME effort, brother! You've really got a fantastic way to break things down into very simple concepts and terms, but back it with good practice. I can't even say I learned much if anything about the subject (but many, many will), but your delivery, with just simple, well paced, well placed lay-terms can give damn near ANYONE a nice refresh, and simplification to remember why we do this stuff. I get your dork-ass humor, too, we'd probably have fun together, especially after a couple beers. Well done!
These kind of videos are for me the soul of your channel. Very illustrative, one can see why and how to make changes and take decisions.
Thanks Joe, very informative and as usual, very enjoyable to watch.
Thanks Joe, it is always great to watch over someone's shoulder to confirm or re evaluate if you are on the right track. Greatly appreciate the video. Cheers!
Every few days ill rewatch a ton of your videos... i always find something new i previously missed or finally get what i didnt understand before. seriously joe, since i started watching your videos ive gotten exponentially better and i cant thank you enough!! if youre ever looking for a thank you though... listen to any of my newest tunes and know that they sound as good as they do because of you!! thanks for everything and i cant wait for more :)
That was great! Would love to hear and see more of this kind of walk through.
Sometimes a little down time emphasis is the way to go to fully understand the frequencies moves needed.
Thanks for everything you do.
Thanks for this, Joe! I've already been listening critically to pro mixes of bands I love and trying to compare. Still figuring out how to fix it lol. I'm saving up for the pro package on your site. You're my favorite person for learning this stuff
Hi Joe, Great video! Thanks for reminding us about how some of the fundamental building blocks can set the stage for a better overall mix. Sure would love to see you do another "Mix Together" series! I really enjoyed and benefitted greatly from the ones you've done! Thanks!
thankyou so much for all these videos Joe 😊 just wanted to express my appreciation and gratitude ❤️ thanks a lot, this is a lot of value to us 🤘🏼
Fantastic stuff, as usual! thanks so much for all the great content
Such a great video Joe. Thanks!
Watched the whole thing. Great content. Thanks.
Awesome video! Really enjoyed this! The Q&A part of the instructional, where we try to find things that stand out, that you're already focused on is excellent for learning! Not only do we get Joe Gilder, but we get a glimpse into the mind of Joe Gilder! Looking forward to more vids like this!
you articulate your process really well, in a way that I feel empowers people to experiment and try figuring things out with their own ears. I am really excited to get to mixing!
As always great info I have noticed I am hearing more now than I did because I heard before you pointed it out what the problem was with the drums. I have never mixed drums before but I have started to listen to them more in context more and I’m learning what sounds good and what is not. I would just like to say that I have improved a lot by listening and acting on the information in your videos Joe, you are a great teacher in that you speak in laymen’s terms and not always in the technical terms. Those that don’t find you information great is plainly not listening they are just hearing or are completely deaf. Keep up the great work and thanks so much for all you do for us. Joe Broadway
Thanks, Joe. You make life (and mixing) so much better
I watched the whole thing! That assignment to listen to three commercially released songs on the same speakers I mix with was right on. And the exercise with adjusting the EQ - you taking it through step by step like that demystified it. This is the first time I've really heard the difference. Thank you for the excellent video.
I watched mixing tutorials for the last 6 years and this is the best one yet. Incredible vid, m8
Thank you so much, this video was pure value for me. :) If there was an award for UA-cam's most educational video of the year I would vote this one. I've watched lots of EQ videos, and learned a lot from them, but there was always a "grey area" about what they were doing. In this one, you've raised the bar of clarity about what EQ is about, it doesn't get any clearer (I felt a bit like the first time I got to see one of those "Magic Eye" pictures, if you remember...)
You've saved me hours of frustration and trial and error in the dark. Of course, practicing to train my ears is up to me, but now I know what to look for... Thank you for taking the time, your great analogies (the "parental mode" cracked me), and not skipping steps...
(Also, this remembered me of the times when I listened to "Ask Joe", except now with pictures! You have a great radio-like voice...) Best wishes and thank you for your great work.
Thanks Joe, great video! I have been following you for a few years and really relate to your style of teaching. Personally, it's really nice to watch your videos and learn something but also gain confidence through anticipating where your heading (and being on the right track). I was super stoked after the listening exercise because the whole time I was thinking "Man that kick is falling short... I hope that's where he's going..." Can't wait for the next one, nice work!
Exactly what I needed. It has been frustrating when you or someone says you find the problem and fix it, but don't show the fix. This is really great.
Excellent, very clear and intuitive
Very clear and helpful and even entertaining. Thank you!
That was so clear. Awesome video Joe........ Made it to the end too.
You are a fantastic instructor!
Enjoyed that joe, keep them coming learning so much.
I made it to the end and it was helpful. Very helpful! More, please
Definitely extremely helpful, thanks Joe!
Excellent training. Clearly presented and I loved all the bunny trails you went down, I found them very helpful.
Watched til the end, flipped over to Spotify to hear Smells like... and then to The Pretender (they really know how to nail the drums as well!), then back to you, then to my own bass drum, then back to you, then back to my snare and so on through to the end. Very help-full! Super stoked. Just what I needed, just when I needed it. And I've got a lot more practice and ear training to do!
This is a lesson and a half! My mixing went from 25 to past 80 by just applying these tips...Thank you
Excellent, thanks!
Well done. I learned to listen. Thanks, Joe G
I recently bought studio one 5 pro, man all of your vids have been super helpful and easy to understand. Thanks so much can't wait to put these methods into practice!
Joe: "This is going to be a 15 minute video or so."
Also Joe: *uploads 30 min video"
Identifying problems in something I've done my best to get right at the source has been difficult. The excitement of sticking a mic in front of something and hearing what I've recorded can blind me to assessing whether it's good or not. Knowing how to objectively asses what I've just captured is the struggle and you addressed that perfectly in this video. Thank you!
Finally, someone shows a sensitive effort to peek in our shoes and help in our misery. Thanks, Joe you're the first sensitive UA-camr I met to think like this, I like how we understand, great video it helped a lot.
Awesome info Joe! Thanks
“Where do you get all these mixing tips?”
“Joe”
“Who’s Joe?”
“Joe Gilder”
This is my kinda comedy
Yeah, loving the closer look and the “why I do this” vids. I’d like to see some multi-mic balancing like in/ out/ sub kick and even top/ bottom snare. Guitars too! What I’ve been doing is processing each one so it adds a specific sound or feel and then bringing them together for the whole picture but not sure if that’s a good way to go about it. Thanks!
Thanks Joe. Super helpful!
You're a wizard! Thanks Joe!
Best advice I've heard... "Listen critically to professionnal mixes to get better at mixing" Thank You Sir!!!
made it to the end! super helpful, thanks joe!
I just watched your video and tried to replicate it and wow what a difference that makes in the drums! Thank you so much for this video, it taught me a lot!
Joe, you are unbeliavable, i love the way you explain everything, excelente job, i bought some classes from you in the past, awesome stuff about Eq and compression, i will support you more if i can!
Thanks Joe for giving enough time to make your methods clear! Too many fly along way too fast and leave out a lot of important.."how did you do it" moments. As a new Studio 5 artist user of not quite one year..I am learning much from your videos. I am one of the guys in the recording room at the keys and arrangingfor about 40 years now..but like a kid behind the console now and loving it! Thanks again..for spending the time with us!
Great vid!! Very helpful!
Appreciate the video! Definitely have a better understanding of EQ I think! Excited to try and utilize it!
Nice work!
love these
I will say in reference to the comment about you can eq and compress kick in and kick out, or snares etc.. separately or on a bus. A few weeks ago another youtuber suggested strongly about bus method, not eq-ing independently and it solved a bunch of frequency issues on my drum mix, which really is my first drum mix. The more independently processed mix, there was way more frequencies fighting each other. It really helped.
I am a beginner and Joe, there couldn't be a more likely candidate for a person that feels so far behind on the level most videos instruct from. It took months to even figure out what a bus was or how you create and use one, and I know you have a great video explaining it. Thanks a lot!
Very helpful, thanks a lot!
It was encouraging to see that I picked out most of the things you identified just listening. Hopefully with more practice, I can gain a greater intuition around how to fix those things.
amazing tutorial. respect Joe...
Excellent gonna try this now in my mixes 🤘😎👍
This is so incredibly useful and helpful. i'm extremely new. just kind of a noodler, but this helps so much. thank you!
Totally got it. One of the best instructional videos I’ve ever watched
Thanks joe!
Love your analogies 😂👐 helpful as always Joe
Hi Joe. I pop in every now again and this did not feel like 30 minutes...like watching a good sitcom. Nice!
Great video Joe. I think you should definitely do a video about balancing drums during the static mix - what are you listening for when you add each piece of the kit in? Is it just a matter of bringing the fader up until its sounds 'about right'? Or are there specific things you are listening for in a balance sense? How do you choose the amount of overhead or room mic to use vs hihat or crash?
Cool Drum Video. Thanks
Man, the subjective perception of sound, as you said, is key. Sometimes I think it´s all about building the right vocabulary so we can say to each other "here....too much bright, too boxy, too strident"... things I usually see some friends from classical singing classes commenting about theyr own timbers.... fascinating video, the initial concepts and the demonstration in the second half. Thanks a lot.
Thanks a lot for the gems in this video
Perfect...very nice
I love your channel
I think I’m doing well hearing what I want in a mix, especially in my drums, but always good to hear (and see) where and how others are listening to and cleaning up there mixes. Thanks Joe! Only wish you had moved into where the drums and bass then vie for positioning in a mix and sitting well without fighting each other to be heard without stepping all over each other. I’m getting it now after working with these similar frequencies for a while but it could definitely be helpful for those venturing in for the first or 100th time.
Cool drums .. bet the song is killer!
Man, what a class! Thanks for that. I know it´s not your main kind of music, but I´d really love to hear something about piano mixing. I recorded some jazz recently and I´m really happy about the bright on my melodic phrasing, but my comping chords on the left hand are still boxy, even after huge middle range cuts. Again, thanks for the class. Lots of clics going on here.
Super helpful.
Listenin' right till the end... and taking notes!
Thank you!
Great video Joe. I am a new user of Studio One and learning a lot from your video’s. Quick question is what to do with the bass guitar to have it not fighting with the kick drum?
thank you so much
The difference between 50 vs 100 htz was great stuff, amazing tutorial brother!
thank You very much and yes! absolutely useful. Please do not stop making videos of that specific nature, the deep, interesting, relevant pedagogic kinda videos where we seat down for half an hour and learn in depth with simple yet accurate words illustrated by the magic of amazing image quality, You just made a (could become) confusing subject crystal clear unlike thousands not to say millions of only "scratch the surface because can't teach for shit" videos we commonly find out there, so again thank you very much for your time Mister Master ;)
Thanks!
Great video with in-depth analysis Joe. How do you adjust the Q value on the EQ without clicking on the dial itself? Is there a shortcut or key combination for that?
These types of videos are very interesting, informative and often make you view mixing, eqing etc from a different perspective. If video length matters then people are too busy playing on flakeybook.
Hey Joe! Watched the whole way. I would have watched if it was an hour. Every now and then I feel like I'm starting to wrap my head around EQ just a little bit more. This video helped a lot! Thank you.
Man, this was definitely a great vid. Been trying to learn about mixing for the past month. Got three of my songs to the point where I THOUGHT they were ready to be mastered. And then played a professionally mixed song right after my mix and realized my mix wasn't that great at all. Even played it on 3 pairs of headphones and in my car. But when i played it on my soundbar...that's when I knew I wasn't done.
That being said, I came back to UA-cam mainly trying to figure out "HOW to listen" to my mix to figure out what's wrong. And that's when I came here. And I've noticed that my biggest problem seems to be how to hear these differences. My mixes sounded great to me until I heard a pro-mixed song RIGHT AFTER it.😁 That's when I noticed the instruments in my mix weren't really standing apart from each other. They seemed like they were all buried in the low end. Like everything seemed dark even though I brightened up some of the instruments.
One thing I really liked was demonstrating the differences in frequency jumps when comparing jumps from the low end to those of the high-end. I keep forgetting about that whole logarithmic thing. But hearing the difference between 50 Hz and 100 Hz was eye-opening.
I definitely have to figure out an approach for listening better. Because out of all of the videos I watch, it's always hard for me to detect many of the differences in the before and after changes. In this video they were nice and clear. But still don't know how you guys are able to hear these certain problem frequencies. I always have to wait for you to locate and boost them excessively before I can go "ah, that DOES sound like a problem!" But I can't do it right off of the bat.
All I know is that my mixes sound like trash. Not AS trashy as they did but still in need of work. Thanks for the video!
Thanks Joe for helping with this type of stuff, I'm just starting out with studio one and I need to work on it more. Can you recommend some free tracks I can mix? I need to spend more time doing this, my day job keeps me really busy. Thank you
We all should donate money to this man for these amazing tips
Great tutorial, really helpful. How would you suggest treating problems that are picked up when the whole mix is done? For example, the mix sounds constrained? Mix needs to open up? Lacks life? Methods of looking for what/why those problems are occurring. Thanks
the why is always important. I find this video very helpful. I would love to know how and why to tweak plugins in order to get a certain sound.
This is gold
I appreciate you bro.
I will never do any real mixing but your lessons are still very helpfull for video stuff i do.
Also i just like to watch and learn, so dont worry about repeating yourself. :)
Mixing is fun. There also is easy software and working without plugins. Try to get all track (perhaps of video and audio) aligned and to mix them. I like Sound Forge Audio Cleaning lab and Magix Samplitude Music studio. For video i like Vegas Movie studio. They all have vst and multitrack. I also play with Magix Music Studio for Magix loops.. Yes Studio One is great and really professional and for drums it is the best i think. But ...big step to start with Studio One. So try something easy to start. Sound of an audio recording place it under the sound of a video from your mobile. How to import it in software? How to export it? How to align it? How to use a plugin? How to mute the sound of your mobile and solo the sound of your audio recording? How to burn a CD? How to remove talk and applause from a concert? How to place tags? How to give tags a song name? How to edit your CD tags for burning?
great video
Thank you
Great vid sir. Sub’d and liked.
More like this my friend. :-)
I'm pretty sure this is "Flowin' Like A River" from my EP!
Thanks a lot
This is just what I needed
and yes i made it to the end lol