Thanks for joining me! Wish I could have answered all your questions!! But it would have gone 5 hours or more 😅 If you want GUARANTEED answers to your questions: ✅Become a channel member here ua-cam.com/channels/qEKv3KIZoZrjv2LymD3iMg.htmljoin ►🎚Mixing Breakthroughs: mixingbreakthroughs.com ►🎛Compression Breakthroughs: compressionbreakthroughs.com ►🎧 EQ Breakthroughs: EQBreakthroughs.com ►🔊Mastering Demystified: MasteringDemystified.com
I don’t often comment but this is an incredible discussion… as someone who has tried to watch UA-cam to learn mixing/mastering, I learned more in this video than I have in a long time. Keep it going my man
I enjoyed the sample rate discussion. Fun fact - it's actually pretty common that I end up gently low-passing just below 20k regardless of sample rate. It often sounds better to me.
Under-compressing/EQing... that's something that has held me back for years. My productions were sounding alright before I heard this 'rule'. But after I became scared to compress and eq with bold moves, my productions got significantly worse. I am still trying to get rid of that irrational fear. I have learned so much from UA-cam producers/engineers, but I must continue to be weary of some of their advice. I think the worst part about subtle compression/eq is... how the heck am I ever gonna learn/hear what EQ and Compression sound like if I'm making such small adjustments?!?! Bold mixing is something I definitely need to implement more.
You are not alone! Don’t get me wrong: sometimes the best EQ is no EQ. And sometimes you don’t have to compress a lot. But what you are saying is so spot on! Even when it makes sense to take a light touch, the best way to get there is by overshooting in the direction you think you should go, in order to confirm that you should be going in that direction. Then, reel it back. Over compression and over EQing can be a problem too. But in my experience coaching and mastering for countless clients over the years, I have found it to be the less common problem than under compressing and under EQing. Honestly, anyone who gets good goes through a phase of doing both! But because the phase of underdoing it usually comes first, the phase of overdoing it is usually shorter. -Justin
_"I'm a Mastering Engineer. Ask Me Anything"_ Where are my scissors, not the ones from the kitchen, but the good ones, the ones with the orange handles ?
They got put in the kitchen by mistake. Look in the drawer under the microwave first, and then have a chat with other members of the household about how these are NOT the kitchen scissors and therefore, should stay out of the kitchen. Hope that helps! -Justin
Justin, thanks so much for answering my questions on the livestream! I enjoy and appreciate your videos/podcasts. Glad to hear I don’t “have to” use outboard gear to get a glued mix… though I would eventually like to add in some nice preamps, compressors, etc… What I hear you saying is don’t be afraid of “overprocessing” and that lots of compression might be a key to achieving the glue. This is what I suspected but I’ve been wondering if there is some magic technique or gear that only the “pros” use that the makes it “sound like a record.” Glad to hear that’s not the case. And I do consider myself new to mixing, though I did my first “mixing” and “producing” years ago… Now I’m back at it for the last few years and trying to make some “real” recordings. 😂 Thanks again.
I never managed to record quickly "just to get some ideas out" and then re-record all the parts, without thinking that I performed better on the first takes. There is this energy and mood that just gets lost with re-performing. But that might just be me, being not professional enough.
Thus far, I think you and Joel Zimmerman of Deadmau5 are my favorite music production teachers. I gotta get your full course on mixing. Is it okay if my mix OCCASIONALLY dips to -7 on tracks primarily hoovering around the -8 or -9 zone? I primarily do EDM and metal, so I've found -8 to be the sweet spot. I'm gonna get this course. I need to get the full course.
Absolutely, -9 or -8 with dips to -7 can work great in those genres. For EDM, it's not uncommon for releases to be louder than that. For metal, sometimes it gets pushed hotter than that too, but I find the diminishing returns kick in sooner for metal than EDM. For EDM, I find a lot of it is more like -8 to -5 integrated LUFS, and can sound good there. For contemporary metal, -10 to -7 is a good range for me for integrated LUFS, depending on style, but it's not unheard of to reach -6 and still sound powerful if done right. Hope that helps, and hope you enjoy the courses! -Justin
I missed the live show. I still have a question if you see this and want to answer. I have some recordings where a few elements in the mix I am mastering are not in phase. I am wondering if phase can be adjusted in any degrees or if you can only totally flip it. The recording actually sounds pretty good, but you can definitely tell it isn't right. Remixing is not out of the question, but tricky. It is a 4-track recording. The drums and guitars are together on track 1 and 2 (for stereo). The drums are fine, but the guitars are out of phase.
Like, there's spill from an instrument in one track that's cancelling out the other? Or do you have two tracks of one instrument that don't sum correctly? Not sure exactly the issue, but there ARE vsts like "mda roundpan" that can rotate stereo placement, but I'm not sure how that will fix a phase issue. I'd be happy to listen to someone else's music for once, if you want to somehow share the mixdown.
@@LuxLucidOfficialI could do that. The problem was my fault, so I can tell you exactly what happened. An early project. I knew some about recording, but obviously not enough. Two of us doing a recording on analog 4-track. The guitar and drums were premixed through a board going onto tracks 1 & 2 in stereo. There were not enough tracks to do a second pass with the rhythm guitar, so I had the idea to double mic the amp, do one pass, and pan the two guitar mics out to the sides (one performance, but psuedo-stereo). I knew a little about phase so the mics were different distances from the amp speaker. The drums were mostly mono, but toms panned. Then bass on track 3 and vocals / guitar solos on track 4. The guitars are still obviously out of phase, which I did not notice while recording. I have tried delaying one channel by small varying degrees, which kind of works, but the Haas Effect makes one side seem louder and throws off the balance (and changes the sound a little). I could do that to just the 2 tracks, and then remix (1992 recording) and the other two tracks would be unaffected. It isn't terrible as it is, but obviously not right either. I could send a track if you are interested.
@@jefjaeger an actual traditional 4-track, huh? What a blast from before-my-past! If you have individual stems and the guitar tracks are still mono-splittable, I feel it should be possible to fix in a DAW. I could definitely listen, if you want!
@@LuxLucidOfficialThat is part of the problem. There is a guitar hard to each side on tracks 1 and 2. But the drums were also recorded on those two tracks. The bass drum and snare are in mono, but the toms are panned at least a bit off to the sides. Cymbals are probably in mono. I don't remember. So, the double-miked guitar and all mics on the drum kit were premixed on a small mixer, and the stereo outputs were recorded onto tracks 1 and 2 of the 4-track. So messing with the phase of those two tracks could fix the guitar, but mess up the drums. I did place the guitar mics at different angles and distances. So it actually sounds okay. But if you move or turn your head while positioned in the center of the stereo field, the phase issue becomes obvious.
@@jefjaeger Ah ok, I should've gathered that. If the drums are pretty mono you should be able to split them from guitars via something that controls mid/side. But, yeah delaying l/r would flam up any percussion still audible.. but would allow more precise EQ. Actually a good EQ should have the ability to EQ mid/side individually... Tokyo Dawn has one for free, with some really cool other features. And EQ affects phase shift so it could fix the issue (maybe in connection with a linear phase eq). Just spit balling, I like a challenge lol I assume you're against stem separating it; seems like a crime to do to a 4 track recording haha... but FL studio comes with a really impressive separator (I could separate the track for you if you want, there's probably sites that will do it free, not sure how good those are tho). Do you have a SoundCloud/ Bandcamp/UA-cam with the song up?
love your podcasts.........I check my mixes on my iphone in Google Drive. They are always quieter than audio on UA-cam. Is this due to further compression and limiting that UA-cam applies when uploading audio or is it my mixes are just too quiet....hope the question is clear. Thanks.
UA-cam does not apply additional limiting. But it will normalize tracks up to near 0dfbs if it's not there already, if the level is quieter than -14 LUFS. If your mixes have max much lower than 0dBFS, it would sound quieter than material of a similar average level that has been normalized to 0dBFS. Also, most commercial material you're comparing against has been mastered, so it's much louder than -14LUFS. Even after automatic volume normalization turns such a track down, it can sound louder than an unmastered track. I hope that makes sense! -Justin
Heres a question. Can you please leak some famous multitracks under an anonymous alias? If you ignore this comment i will assume you answered the question. Grunge would be cool.
Thanks for joining me! Wish I could have answered all your questions!! But it would have gone 5 hours or more 😅
If you want GUARANTEED answers to your questions: ✅Become a channel member here ua-cam.com/channels/qEKv3KIZoZrjv2LymD3iMg.htmljoin
►🎚Mixing Breakthroughs: mixingbreakthroughs.com
►🎛Compression Breakthroughs: compressionbreakthroughs.com
►🎧 EQ Breakthroughs: EQBreakthroughs.com
►🔊Mastering Demystified: MasteringDemystified.com
my man looks like he mixes/masters during the day and goes superman in the eve 🤣. love your videos justin - helped me a bunch !
Awesome to hear, thanks for tuning in Barce!
-Justin
I don’t often comment but this is an incredible discussion… as someone who has tried to watch UA-cam to learn mixing/mastering, I learned more in this video than I have in a long time. Keep it going my man
So awesome to hear, Nick! We’ve got a lot more like it, so I hope to see you around.
-Justin
This was awesome! Some very insightful answers and solutions, thank you
Awesome to hear! Glad to be of help.
This content is AWESOME!! Thank you Justin!
Awesome to hear Todd! Hope to see more of you around the channel.
-Justin
I enjoyed the sample rate discussion. Fun fact - it's actually pretty common that I end up gently low-passing just below 20k regardless of sample rate. It often sounds better to me.
Yes! There are a lot of ironies like this in that conversation sometimes :-)
Thanks for tuning in, and for the comment.
-Justin
First I’m seeing one of your vids. Really enjoyed this!
Glad to have you tuning in! Hope to see more of you around the channel.
-Justin
Under-compressing/EQing... that's something that has held me back for years. My productions were sounding alright before I heard this 'rule'. But after I became scared to compress and eq with bold moves, my productions got significantly worse. I am still trying to get rid of that irrational fear. I have learned so much from UA-cam producers/engineers, but I must continue to be weary of some of their advice. I think the worst part about subtle compression/eq is... how the heck am I ever gonna learn/hear what EQ and Compression sound like if I'm making such small adjustments?!?! Bold mixing is something I definitely need to implement more.
You are not alone!
Don’t get me wrong: sometimes the best EQ is no EQ. And sometimes you don’t have to compress a lot.
But what you are saying is so spot on!
Even when it makes sense to take a light touch, the best way to get there is by overshooting in the direction you think you should go, in order to confirm that you should be going in that direction. Then, reel it back.
Over compression and over EQing can be a problem too. But in my experience coaching and mastering for countless clients over the years, I have found it to be the less common problem than under compressing and under EQing.
Honestly, anyone who gets good goes through a phase of doing both! But because the phase of underdoing it usually comes first, the phase of overdoing it is usually shorter.
-Justin
I love this.
Love that you are loving it!
-Justin
_"I'm a Mastering Engineer. Ask Me Anything"_
Where are my scissors, not the ones from the kitchen, but the good ones, the ones with the orange handles ?
They got put in the kitchen by mistake. Look in the drawer under the microwave first, and then have a chat with other members of the household about how these are NOT the kitchen scissors and therefore, should stay out of the kitchen.
Hope that helps!
-Justin
@@SonicScoop OMG! The microwave's gone.
Justin, thanks so much for answering my questions on the livestream! I enjoy and appreciate your videos/podcasts. Glad to hear I don’t “have to” use outboard gear to get a glued mix… though I would eventually like to add in some nice preamps, compressors, etc… What I hear you saying is don’t be afraid of “overprocessing” and that lots of compression might be a key to achieving the glue. This is what I suspected but I’ve been wondering if there is some magic technique or gear that only the “pros” use that the makes it “sound like a record.” Glad to hear that’s not the case. And I do consider myself new to mixing, though I did my first “mixing” and “producing” years ago… Now I’m back at it for the last few years and trying to make some “real” recordings. 😂 Thanks again.
Thanks so much for joining, and for sticking around for the answer!
-Justin
I never managed to record quickly "just to get some ideas out" and then re-record all the parts, without thinking that I performed better on the first takes. There is this energy and mood that just gets lost with re-performing. But that might just be me, being not professional enough.
gold record looks so cool man
I agree :-) I should have a platinum one coming very soon to put up next to it. 🤞
-Justin
Legend
Thus far, I think you and Joel Zimmerman of Deadmau5 are my favorite music production teachers. I gotta get your full course on mixing.
Is it okay if my mix OCCASIONALLY dips to -7 on tracks primarily hoovering around the -8 or -9 zone? I primarily do EDM and metal, so I've found -8 to be the sweet spot.
I'm gonna get this course.
I need to get the full course.
Absolutely, -9 or -8 with dips to -7 can work great in those genres.
For EDM, it's not uncommon for releases to be louder than that.
For metal, sometimes it gets pushed hotter than that too, but I find the diminishing returns kick in sooner for metal than EDM.
For EDM, I find a lot of it is more like -8 to -5 integrated LUFS, and can sound good there.
For contemporary metal, -10 to -7 is a good range for me for integrated LUFS, depending on style, but it's not unheard of to reach -6 and still sound powerful if done right.
Hope that helps, and hope you enjoy the courses!
-Justin
@@SonicScoop Omgoodness, you're awesome. I'm getting all these workshops.
Awesome, hope you enjoy them!
-Justin
I missed the live show. I still have a question if you see this and want to answer. I have some recordings where a few elements in the mix I am mastering are not in phase. I am wondering if phase can be adjusted in any degrees or if you can only totally flip it. The recording actually sounds pretty good, but you can definitely tell it isn't right. Remixing is not out of the question, but tricky. It is a 4-track recording. The drums and guitars are together on track 1 and 2 (for stereo). The drums are fine, but the guitars are out of phase.
Like, there's spill from an instrument in one track that's cancelling out the other? Or do you have two tracks of one instrument that don't sum correctly? Not sure exactly the issue, but there ARE vsts like "mda roundpan" that can rotate stereo placement, but I'm not sure how that will fix a phase issue. I'd be happy to listen to someone else's music for once, if you want to somehow share the mixdown.
@@LuxLucidOfficialI could do that. The problem was my fault, so I can tell you exactly what happened. An early project. I knew some about recording, but obviously not enough. Two of us doing a recording on analog 4-track. The guitar and drums were premixed through a board going onto tracks 1 & 2 in stereo. There were not enough tracks to do a second pass with the rhythm guitar, so I had the idea to double mic the amp, do one pass, and pan the two guitar mics out to the sides (one performance, but psuedo-stereo). I knew a little about phase so the mics were different distances from the amp speaker. The drums were mostly mono, but toms panned. Then bass on track 3 and vocals / guitar solos on track 4. The guitars are still obviously out of phase, which I did not notice while recording. I have tried delaying one channel by small varying degrees, which kind of works, but the Haas Effect makes one side seem louder and throws off the balance (and changes the sound a little). I could do that to just the 2 tracks, and then remix (1992 recording) and the other two tracks would be unaffected. It isn't terrible as it is, but obviously not right either. I could send a track if you are interested.
@@jefjaeger an actual traditional 4-track, huh? What a blast from before-my-past! If you have individual stems and the guitar tracks are still mono-splittable, I feel it should be possible to fix in a DAW. I could definitely listen, if you want!
@@LuxLucidOfficialThat is part of the problem. There is a guitar hard to each side on tracks 1 and 2. But the drums were also recorded on those two tracks. The bass drum and snare are in mono, but the toms are panned at least a bit off to the sides. Cymbals are probably in mono. I don't remember. So, the double-miked guitar and all mics on the drum kit were premixed on a small mixer, and the stereo outputs were recorded onto tracks 1 and 2 of the 4-track. So messing with the phase of those two tracks could fix the guitar, but mess up the drums. I did place the guitar mics at different angles and distances. So it actually sounds okay. But if you move or turn your head while positioned in the center of the stereo field, the phase issue becomes obvious.
@@jefjaeger Ah ok, I should've gathered that. If the drums are pretty mono you should be able to split them from guitars via something that controls mid/side. But, yeah delaying l/r would flam up any percussion still audible.. but would allow more precise EQ. Actually a good EQ should have the ability to EQ mid/side individually... Tokyo Dawn has one for free, with some really cool other features. And EQ affects phase shift so it could fix the issue (maybe in connection with a linear phase eq). Just spit balling, I like a challenge lol
I assume you're against stem separating it; seems like a crime to do to a 4 track recording haha... but FL studio comes with a really impressive separator (I could separate the track for you if you want, there's probably sites that will do it free, not sure how good those are tho). Do you have a SoundCloud/ Bandcamp/UA-cam with the song up?
love your podcasts.........I check my mixes on my iphone in Google Drive. They are always quieter than audio on UA-cam. Is this due to further compression and limiting that UA-cam applies when uploading audio or is it my mixes are just too quiet....hope the question is clear. Thanks.
UA-cam does not apply additional limiting. But it will normalize tracks up to near 0dfbs if it's not there already, if the level is quieter than -14 LUFS.
If your mixes have max much lower than 0dBFS, it would sound quieter than material of a similar average level that has been normalized to 0dBFS.
Also, most commercial material you're comparing against has been mastered, so it's much louder than -14LUFS. Even after automatic volume normalization turns such a track down, it can sound louder than an unmastered track.
I hope that makes sense!
-Justin
@@SonicScoop Thanks for replying!
🎉❤🎉
What does the sound of Universe's Engine sound like in 7th-order Ambisonics?
Are the SSL fusion plugins worth it or would the hardware a much better choice?
Bra is Clark Kent n Superman
So I've been told.
What's my kryptonite?
-Justin
You know to much to give a one size fits all answer
Heres a question. Can you please leak some famous multitracks under an anonymous alias? If you ignore this comment i will assume you answered the question. Grunge would be cool.