Top 5 Mixing Mistakes No One Talks About
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2024
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1.EQ with your Ears NOT your Eyes!
Always make EQ moves based on what you hear first, not what you see! Using EQs with Frequency Analysers can be such a rewarding thing when you’re looking for a frequency that’s bothering you, but relying on visual cues alone to make EQ adjustments will not give you great results. Just because there’s a peak doesn’t mean it has to be removed, that might the inherent characteristic of the instrument. When you hear something that bothers you and you need a visual cue to find it then a frequency analyzer is an amazing tool!
2.You Don’t Need to Compress Everything
Not everything needs to be compressed! So many virtual sounds, fat synth sounds and of course very heavy guitars will not benefit from compression and often sound much smaller with added compression. Live drums give you a wealth of not only different dynamics and uneven EQ based on how they are performed and so they require more compression than programmed drums that have been recorded in perfect conditions with very evenly sampled drum hits. Compression (especially vintage units or emulations) can be used for certain colours, adding saturation and even an EQ characteristic, however, as a dynamic controller you should focus using it on overly dynamic sounds like Vocals and other acoustic instruments, while using it sparingly on instruments that have a very limited dynamics range but may require some added colouration that compression may bring.
3.Not Everything Has To Be Stereo
When everything is in stereo, overheads, pianos, room mics, reverbs, delays, stereo recorded guitars, you name it, then nothing starts to feel wide! If you want width then be selective what you put in the sides! Hard panned guitars Left and Right feel great when the ambience is only opposite, as soon as it’s smeared in the stereo field then the guitar sound doesn’t feel focussed! If you make the overheads full 100% left and right then you set the limits of the width of your mix, try 70% or 80% panning of your overheads and room mics and then the hard panned guitars will start to feel like they are spilling out of the left and right speakers!
4.Don’t Start Processing The Tracks Until You’ve Got Basic Levels and Panning
Create what you think is a good sounding rough mix getting basic balances and panning on every track first. This will tell you so much more than just starting to mix using EQ and compression. Hearing the tracks back relatively balanced and panned, allows you to choose which tracks need extra EQ or high passing and/or compression. Ultimately the lesson is to always listen as a whole! We all solo, however making sure the changes you are making works in the whole song is of paramount importance!
5.Do Less!!
Professional mixers always say that when they get sessions to mix and the first thing they do is remove an enormous amount of plug ins on each track and suddenly the song starts to come to life! We can tie ourselves in so many knots by continually adding EQ and compression until everything instrument feels flat and lifeless! Soon the more you do the more you have to do! Take frequent ear breaks to gain perspective and always remember to listen to the song as a whole.
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What are some mixing mistakes you used to make? How did you fix them?
Produce Like A Pro Ha! As I type this, you are covering it in the video. I had a love affair with compression for a time. I compressed everything because I wanted to, not because I should have. I also compressed too much. Some of my early mixes got super dense but sounded really small. Its been a long learning curve but a necessary journey of experience!
You the best
Produce Like A Pro setting up my trigger and gate parameters, and then changing my compression threshold on toms for example. I started to notice missing or very dull sounding Tom hits. I realized I was blocking signal from going into my “Slate Trigger 2”
Love these videos man
Just recently fixed a long time mistake. I've been mixing with a subwoofer for years. I decided to take it out of the mixing equation just to see if it would help. Yep! It helped. So much easier to hear the low end and how it should sound in a mix. Getting rid of it has totally sped up things as well. Thank you for your videos Warren!!
I use to put plugins on the master track. Lol
The more I've learned about mixing, the messier my recordings have become. I went back yesterday to listen to a few songs from last year and I wondered why they sounded so good compared to my recent tracks. It was mainly because I knew less and mostly left the tracks alone.
Hi Darrell Robinson exactly!! Haha Number 5 do less! There’s far too much confusing information out there! I highly recommend listening to the mix that someone is doing when they recommend techniques!
@Darrell Robinson - Me too!
It is about being bold enough! You need to tie the knot on the package, and decide that this has to be sufficient. All sounds are somehow playing in the ballpark. Diminishing returns.
here's how I see it works. Your mixing is decent when you start, then you search for all this kowneledge and hear so much knowledge that probably doesn't even apply to you, you worry too much about the technical parts, over time you start to learn what works for you based off experiences and your mixes tart to come alive and sound better than ever. But some advice isn't the best, He says in the video "dont compress synths" that's gonna be a hard no for me. I will never ever put out a track with synths that have no saturation or compression on them. Its just needed in my genre
so true!!!!
Mistake number 1: picking up my phone too often; 2: scrolling through UA-cam; 3: watching incredibly well made videos of very affable English people doing what I should probably be doing rn instead 😆 4&5: repeat until I feel bad 😂
Elsif haha we are all guilty of these things my friend!!
I suffer from this too. It's actually a thing in psychology called the "information bias"
"Mix that you would be happy with" - what is this holy grail you speak of?
I understand! It something we continually strive for!!
@@Producelikeapro If you shoot for the stars you might only get to Mars.
The idea of not everything needing to be stereo had a huge positive impact on my mixes. I've started bringing overheads in to 50/50 and then playing with a mono vs stereo set of room mics on drums lately. In the verse or anywhere where the guitars are smaller or single tracked, I'll use the stereo pair of room mics panned far left/right to give a nice big drum sound where the drums are more exposed, but then in the chorus or any areas where I have big left/right stereo guitars I'll switch to just a mono room mic in the center. The result in the mix is that those stereo guitars suddenly sound much wider simply because the drums sound narrower. For years I struggled with how to make guitars feel wider, and I always felt widening plugins just make stuff sound weird and phasy. Turned out all you really need to do is make everything else in the mix feel narrower than the thing you want to feel widest. It's pretty simple once you realize it. It's all about context and relationships. If everything in the mix is panned wide then the mix SOUNDS narrow, but if your ear can hear the difference between a narrow sound and a wide sound, all of a sudden the stage opens up.
Mat Abercrombie this is a great point. Thank you
Center panned mono is something I avoid. Unless there is a center speaker.
It's still amazing to me, how you share all these incredible ideas, carved out of years of experience, FOR FREE on UA-cam... thanks man
EQ instruments in solo mode, compression on everything, reverb on everything. These are my major mistakes that I made in the early years of trying to mix music. Through trial and error and a lot of listening to CDs in my wife's car. I figured out that I was doing something wrong what that was unclear to me. One day I took one of my mixes that I had not added compression EQ reverb to and I thought wow this sounds great.
Always trust your ears!!! I'm sure we've all made the mistake of making minute adjustments on an equalizer until the instrument sounded perfect! Then discovered it was in bypass! Lol. (More than once)
That happened last week
At one point, I gave myself a limit of 2/3 plugins per track, no more.
If I got to a point where I couldn't get something sounding right, I would go back and rethink it.
It really helps you LEARN your plugins. Suddenly you're not using an EQ, tape emulation AND compression... you're selecting a single compressor based on the tonal changes it gives you.
Chris Norris that is GENIUS! Trying that right away
@@zachary963 I wouldn't go that far! But it forces you to train your ears. I didn't find it a quick process either. I would say I only began to reap the rewards a good year or so in. Totally depends on how many hours you put in to it of course!
Wish I thought of that and had the self discipline, I have resorted to a Tascam DP32 so ALL I can do is basic eq, LCR and volume. I figure I can move to pc for further mixing if necessary. So far I am happy with what I get.
Love the advice. You’ve improved the way I record, again. Thank you.
Great stuff, thanks Warren. Love your vids.
Hi Warren, thank you for all the great advice, it really helps, all the best.
So many tips and so much useful advising. Thanks !
Thank you, Warren. Great stuff, always!
always start with a good sound source. instead of EQ, move a mic until you get a better sound
Absolutely!!
@@Producelikeapro sounds like a guy with a few years of live mixing under his belt.
Very nice explanation and directly to the most important points. Thank you 🙏🏻
Warren.. everything you said in this video just rings so true. Thank you for being so open and passionate about this topic. I must re-watch and take notes.
You're super helpful, thank you. We never stop learning 👌
Yet another one! Fabulous and practical advice. Thank you Warren.
Thanks Warren for all your advices and teaching!!!!
Thank you, sir! The first 2 advices are amazing! Mixing for me makes so much sense now!
It's the second, third video I watch on your channel and I'm hooked! I love how passionate you are, not to mention that your tips and advice are among the best I've found on UA-cam.
Ahh this was great and the timing when I landed on this is perfect. I'm right in the middle of putting together a remix / alternate mix of a song and your point about use of mono and just focusing on levels and pan first make complete sense to me. I can see how both of those will change the approach in an immediate, positive way. As always, thanks you to you and your team!!
This might easily be one of the best and most important videos I've ever seen on the subject. Thank you sir!
Great advice and reminder to keep it simple. Thank you Warren.
Thank you for your hard work making these videos and talking to us! Very good! :) God Bless!
Brilliant lesson, Warren; thank you!
Thank you for this simple information. Going back now to start from scratch keeping all these points in mind.
Thank you Warren ! Thank you very much.
Man, you're a treasure to someone like me just trying to learn about mixing to make my little selfie UA-cam vids sound better. Thanks for what you do!
What a fantastic episode! Thanks!
Yet another great video!! I start with my mixing in mono. Took me a while to get used to it, because it sucks and I didn't like the way sounds. Then I really fell in love with it. I just remixed an old song I did 2 years ago with a friend of mine and I got rid of every single plug in, effect and set all of the faders all the way down, then rebuilt the track all the way up in mono first. All in all, I simplified a lot of stuff and the result was night and day. It was a hell of a lot better than my original mix.
Thank you Warren! In the arc of my mixing "path" I think it's important to keep coming back to lessons like this that really help us take a step back and really simplify things.
you are an inexhaustible source of inspiration :)
TNX!
Hi MilosVukelic Official thanks ever so much my friend!!
I just recently experienced #4 in person. We were doing one of those quarantine collaborations where we each record separately then I would put them all together. I did my guitar and vocals, then next I got the drums. So since I didn't have the whole track yet I just started tweaking the drums. It was a stereo track of the full kit so I didn't have individual control. The kick drum had a certain resonant frequency I didn't like, so I EQ'd it out and got the kick drum sounding way better to my ears. Then I got the bass part and put the whole song together. At that point, I felt like you couldn't hear the kick enough. I thought maybe I'd try a compressor on the bass sidechained to the kick, so the bass would duck out of the way a bit when the kick hit, but I wasn't happy with how that sounded either. On a whim I took the EQ off the kick, and suddenly everything fell in to place and sounded great. That "ugly" frequency that I didn't like on the soloed kit, was apparently just perfect in the context of the whole mix.
This is great! Thank you Warren! Saving this one!
Once again Warren great video!! Thank you !!
Thank you so much for this amazingly informative video! A real eyeopener! I love your videos and your passion.
Thank you for the great tips. It's always great to be reminded of the basic tips when you are so focused on advanced overediting ^^
Warren, great video. Great job explaining the ideas and concepts without getting super technical. Subscribed 👍🏻
Warren, this was brilliant. Perfect advice.
Thanks ever so much!
Absolutely love your channel! Thanks very much :)
As brilliant as always, Warren! Thanks!
I need to re visit this video everytime when I start a new mix, thank you Warren
Just love your channel. I have written down and organized the information in chechlists in my OneNote. It helps me so much checking myself during mixing. Also when I don't know how to proceed I can always go back to those and get some quick tips. Thank you so much that you provide all that knowledge for free. Looking forward to record and mix a song with my band!
You just confirmed everything I find out and learned when I did my last mixdown. Thank you so much!
Sitting here in sunny Dorset and learning a lot of good stuff. Many thanks.
Spot On. Thank you Warren!
Warren you are such an incredible teacher! You present things in their conceptual whole in a way that others sometimes don’t. Thank you for all the amazing content!
Keep up this amazing work, my friend!
Thank u my friend Warren for this amazing topic 🥰🥰
I use to use too many plugins in an attempt to make my ITB mix like an OTB mix. I needed this today. It was confirmation that I'm not where I want to be but not where I use to be. Thanks Warren, you're a true inspiration.
Thx a lot Warren for all your videos !
Thanks Warren... Great stuff as always.
Good advice. thanks for sharing!
You’ve offered so many valuable resources and a legit UA-cam education most Universities couldn’t offer. Definitely worth picking up a mix course or two. Thank You Produce Like A Pro Crew. Much Respect. 🔥🤘🔥
Such simple advice, but soooo foundational! I'm a long-time viewer, and IMO this is one of your best videos... should be required viewing before jumping into your other videos, esp the ones demoing compression and plugins. Thanks for all you do, Warren.
This is all good advice, and at the same time seems so obvious to me.
I’m always amazed when I’m in a recording forum and someone asks “what’s the best settings for vocal compression?” I’m always saying “use your ears!” Same with EQ or reverb or whatever.
These same people complain that their CPU is overloaded because they have a reverb plug-in on every channel instead of using a bus.
Hi Warren, that 's definitely one of your best posts. Very timely advice to hear and spoken about with such passion too. So many of us are trying too hard to get wide mixes using stereo enhancers and triple tracked guitars when often all we really need is strategic panning. Also great to be reminded of spot mono verbs& delays underneath instruments and vocals. Many thanks from Peckham, sarffff London!
All great tips....good job mate!
Wow, your channel is pure gold. I watched quite a couple videos and applied the insights. What a difference it makes. Thanks a ton! 🔥🔥🔥🚀🚀🚀🚀🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️
Are those 8 tracks of songs in the key of life? stinkin awesome!
Thank you for your wisdom! Appreciate you G dawg.🙌🏼🙌🏼
Thank you, super real world advice. Amazing value.
Wow.. tons of information in this video! Going to have to watch it more than once to absorb more of it. Thank you!
Just your down to earth way of sharing your thoughts and knowledge helps me alot! Sometimes I think to much instead of taking the time to listen closely what happends in my mix. My biggest enemy is that I think that my mix is finished and the next day I enhance the mix with a suttle cut.
However, your way of explaining helps me alot. Thanks so much!
Always a pleasure listening to your insight. Learned a lot, but also, it's a relief to find that i've been doing SOME things correct!
I appreciate you!
When you say "get the panning right", you'll just end up with a mono song on the right side?
OK enough with the bad jokes, thank you again for the great advices!!
man, you are a brave guy for writing that joke... A For Effort 😂
@@dulla8469 haha thanks mate!!
Thomas Tran Dinh hahaha geez! I’m so glad to be able to help! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Dulla Bills haha yes, indeed!!
@@Producelikeapro @dulla bills thanks for the appreciation ahahaha made my day
A major part of my philosophy in mixing... And recording for that matter. Thank you Warren for pointing out the important stuff yet again!
This was the best ever advice on mixing.
Keeping things simple, amazing how universal this wisdom is.
Phenomenal advice. For a complete newcomer, number 5 is almost a relief to hear. The whole world of mixing and music production can be so overwhelming where you feel you have so much to learn just to be able to produce a single track, that it could almost put you off entirely. Hearing that you don’t need to do as much as you think you do is positively refreshing.
I've been mixing since 1985, and I can tell you this is all really good advice. Nice job man.
Great thoughts. Thanks for sharing them with us, Warren. I'm very guilty of over using deep, surgical EQ cuts, especially on vocals.
this is basic, yet absolutely brilliant advice that is clearly explained. One of the best 'mixing' advice videos I've ever seen
Hi spencechicago thanks ever so much my friend! I’m so glad to be able to help! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Excellent reminder! Thanks
Aobaprod thanks ever so much!!
Great Advice!!. I also find putting background vocals to the left or right of the main vocal slightly helps them sound more live.
really really great hints. Thank you so much!
This man explained these concepts in half an hour. The school I went to took 3 months. It's all about the willingness to spread knowledge. Mixing is an art and we should treat it like its art. You have a like and a sub from my side and hope you get a lot more. I may purchase your yearly subscription soon.
Always suck great advice! Thank you. Most of this I knew, but some of it turned on the lights really nicely.
Thank you Warren!
Much love from México, we here know you are one of the best Mr Warren! Keep it up
This is my favorite of your videos, so far.
Learning so much from these videos. Love them!!
Thanks ever so much
I’ve been producing music for nearly 5 years now and this has to be one of the most insightful videos I’ve ever seen. Thank you, Warren. We’re all the richer from your great advice.
Hey Warren. Great tips. Thanks
I love your videos. You always get me inspired to just mix. I just recorded and mixed a 2 song demo which the client absolutely loved and I actually got two more referrals from it. I now want to go back and redo those mixes and apply what you just said to make them better. Thank you Warren
Amazing advice... You definitely inspired me to explore the things you mentioned and work more (or actually less and smarter) on my mixes! A big thank you!
I’m glad to be able to help! Thanks ever so much
What a great lesson! #3 answered a LOT of questions for me about panning, especially managing stereo sources. This whole mix concept really makes sense too. Thanks, Warren!
ANOTHER CLASSIC!
I highly encourage every producer and mixing engineer, to watch this video quarterly or at least a few times per year.
Sure, it's information that many of us have been taught, but it's also information that reminds us to keep it simple, less is often more and don't over complicate a mix, if it's unnecessary.
EXCELLENT episode!
this is so good!! , thank you so much!
Beautifully Said...Thank You 😊
I have been mixing some live concert audio and everything you mentioned is exactly what I have experienced..Less is more and Automation with less compression with and a touch of parralel verb really lets the performance "BREATH" 😉😁😁😁 Thank You Thank You Thank You 🤗
That was fantastic advice Warren
I am mixing and mastering already for a few years and even though I learned again a lot from you Warren. Thank you so much for the tips :)
Another amazing lesson...everything you say makes perfect sense.
Thanks ever so much!!
Thank you for these reminders that are so valuable to engineers out there at all skill levels! 🙏🏻
Been doing upright mono piano for a long time on denser tracks. Wide stereo piano can sound weird anyway. No one sticks their head inside a piano while someone is playing it, (hopefully lol),. If it was up on stage, most all the stereo would be reflections. So I send a bit of it out to a stereo reverb or space of some kind. Often mono drum overheads too. Solves so many problems and just works. You can always put a pseudo stereo plug on mono sources when it's really needed and that offers yet a different flavor of width. Cheers.
I'm in the middle of mixing an album of hawaiian syle acoustic music. Without drums, it's been difficult to make the songs bounce with dynamics. Your techniques are bringing me back to the basics in a genre I haven't mixed before. Thank you.
This is the only channel I go to to not hear the same old stuff regurgitated over and over again. I don’t know how you make so many videos at the value that they are, but you have a gift sir.
This video is AWESOME, thanks so much