The Low Volume Mix Trick - RecordingRevolution.com
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
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One of the simplest things you can do to ensure your mix sounds good everywhere is to play with volume.
And I don't mean volume automation I mean checking your mix at different volumes. Specifically at super low volumes.
A lot of times a mix will fall apart when you pull the volume way down, say -40db. That's a problem.
In today's video, I share with you this simple little mix trick and the 4 things you need to listen for when checking at ultra-low volumes!
"Everything's always lying to you anywhere" This hit my soul
He's the only guy that doesn't tell us we have to buy a 400 dollar SM7B and an Apollo 8 interface to sound descent.Thank you.
Well, in fact he is not the only one
Sorry, have you heard of Produce Like A Pro? 🤔 lol
blackwaterthreat People need to stop overlaying their economic situations on top of other people’s economic situations. $400 is a LOT for ANYTHING for some of us.
@blackwaterthreat 400 IS a lot for someone who's kinda new to recording and producing.Sure its a great investment sometime in the future but do you really think that someone just starting out will gou out and buy such an expensive microphone.And also,is 80000 much for a car?Well there are 400000 dollar cars so does that make the 80000 one shitty?
@blackwaterthreat I can agree with everything you said in the last reply so I think we've found common ground.I also think that there is no need for insults. Cheers
My way of doing this to check levels is to listen from the next room through the open door. It also removes stereo and directionality.
When I turn the Master Fader all the way down to zero (volume down to total silence), my mix still sounds exciting! I must be one of the Greatest mixers out there!!!!!
What is this? A mix for ants?!
@@FlorianCalmer No, a mix for elephANTS (one of the best nature's radars out there... You can't here it, but they can) :)
What is this mixing sorcery 👹
Yeah but when you turn your mix down where you are, it starts a tornado in China.
I have actually been using this trick for some time already and came up with it all by myself. I feel kinda proud now :D
Try listening to music at the edge of your hearing, really quietly, and you'll be shocked at how much more information you take in!
Don't forget, your hearing evolved (sorry Christians) so you you could hear pray or things wanting to eat you. Your brain is extremely well developed at discerning where the crack of a twig came from - another reason to use flac files over mp3.
it's so funky and it's low volume
I use this trick on 100% of my mixes and it always always always solves problems I was having.
The kick is especially tricky because you have to make sure not only that you hear it but that the lows are present too, many times we hear the skin and think "yeah, the kick is there" but then it doesn't have any body. That's why this method is great to mix balance the kick at the beginning of the session as well!
God sent you for us (beginners).. You are always great... Great Video brother...
I was so shocked to realize how much my mixes improved when I mix at very low volumes
DON'T LISTEN TO THIS TRICK!
ALL MY TRACKS SOUND LIKE SHI- ...oh 😒
Experi Metalfan what?
Best comment 😂
I am trying this out today. Thank you for the tip.
85 db is industry standard and OSHA approved for 8 hrs a day. Treat your room so that all bass notes are even on your reference recordings and your mixes will be correctly balanced. That's how our forefathers did it and that's how we do it.
The Desert Lounge yes sir using -20 dB pink noise and a SPL meter set to C weighted
@@uptobatentertainment please explain, i am not sure if I know what you are talking about but want to know more.
Brought down the volume of this video to almost zero, and it still sounds good!
This is great advice. Thank you for posting this. My mix definitely needs work. I also tend to have my drums WAY to loud. 👍
This little tip has already helped me balance levels more than the countless number of videos I've already watched, thank you so much!
Big ups for just stock plugins and still getting a great mix!!!🔥🔥🔥
hey, i think it would be really useful if you made a video showing a kind of arrangement checklist. Meaning, we get so much mixing advice on UA-cam but I'm starting to realize more that the arrangement is even more important than the mix, if you could show like making sure all frequencies are covered, creating space and fullness basically everything you need to get right in the production to be able to then get a killer mix
You are aware that adjusting the master fader in pro tools only adjust the volume of the mix going into the plugins on the master right?
Bruh when you said I just love drums to smack me in the face I realize I need to mix at low volumes I have that issue thanks for your video I'm def inspired to take my time with my mix
i have a dim button, i use it a lot ... :-)
Excellent mixing strategy, Graham!
Thank you so very much for posting this presentation. ;)
Another way to check mix levels. Thanks Mr. G
While this technique is useful when correctly implemented, it is flawed as presented here. You can plainly see 3 plugins on the Master Fader - the EQ7, D3 Compressor, and Air Stereo Width. As the EQ7 is a digital EQ, input gain will have little bearing on the EQ curves (as it might with an analog-modeled EQ), likewise the width plugin. However, when you lower the level on the Master Fader, that lowers the level going into the compressor, which will pretty DRASTICALLY change the dynamic of the mix (not sure what GC was thinking here). The correct way to do this would be to have a MixBus fader set up, run all your tracks and submixes into that, and then run the MixBus INTO your Master Fader, with NO plugins on the Master Fader. That way, you can decrease the volume on the Master Fader without any of the dynamics of the mix being affected. Either that, or just turn the output down on your I/F. As shown here, though - no....
ytnsanw Why not just use a Master VCA channel? Serious question not trying to be a wise guy or anything.
@@OgieMusic Sure - that's a good option too. So long as you don't do what GC has done here.
ytnsanw correct ... please use paragraphs b/c this is important info ...
@@uptobatentertainment As my post only expresses a single point in a single train of thought, I felt that paragraphic formatting was a little moot. And it's UA-cam.. :-)
Noob here jumping on an old comment, what does L/F mean here?
Yellow jelly make me smelly now I’m hot like tater tots
I do this!😁👍🏽
Thanks SO much for this amazing video, this a really helpful mixing trick!! Thank You!!!
I mix at a normal to slightly high volume in headphones - and always compare the mix at low volumes. BUT after a while, how do you tell or avoid the temptation that you're making it better instead of just making certain aspects like the bass louder?
Matt Bacon you should have your monitors calibrated to 85 dB SPL per monitor C weighted b/c the ear hears the flattest there ( fletcher Munson curve) that way you never touch the volume on your interface once it’s set. Then have acoustic treatment. Take breaks, use reference material, practice practice practice 😀
Up To Bat Entertainment yeah......but your missing the part about headphones only. It’s not at all possible for me to have a monitor set up in s treated room without spending tens of thousands of dollars remodeling my apartment. India is just too noisy
@@mattbacon285 He should have his eye sight calibrated!
I use the volume pot on my usb interface to perform this check. A good rule of thumb taught to me years ago was that for rock music, the vocals and then the drums should be last to disappear. Prior to that the guitars and bass should sound balanced. Just my 2 cents. Great video!!
Iam a little confused on this...ok about the master track volume but with audio interface-mixer? on what level we would adjust the gnob-fader?
Old Trick - but a GREAT one.
Thanks. Also protects your hearing as the years roll by.
All I could hear in that mix at low volume is that obnoxious CLAP sample, ugh! How can it be so loud at -35,2dB!?
Sounds like a pretty good peace of advice (ever listened at very low volume haha). But I have a practical issue using it : the problem is "how low is low?" I explain : I was watching and listening Graham's video on my laptop with K271 studio headphones plugged in. Since my "standard" listening level I am used to is really not loud, I hardly could hear when graham pulled the fader down... So, how can I figure out how low is "very low" ?
Many thanks Graham for your very interesting and usefull videos and tricks
Another trick - step outside your studio space - the mono trick. Fantastic trick too.
showing off there buddy. Amazing mix
This is what I do all the time. I thought I was the only one doing this.. I fade out and fade back in to notice what is standing out.. another thing I do is export the song and listen to it sped up and slowed down on a different software. This trick also helps you hear your song from a different perspective and you might even make some changes to the melody.
"Musicians who are frustrated with their music not sounding like the stuff on the radio" that's good enough as it is
To this day I still use the trim plugin on the mix bus for this, learned that from you
won't that just make you over-compress?
Great great tip Graham, great great tip!!! Thx
Turn up your ears! Great idea!
Is that a trick or a technique?
This works because you are only hearing the 3k range at that low volume. If you EQ to just hear the 3k range it’s the same effect without changing the volume.
Useful little trick!
Very good tip!
thanks for this
Will try it now
Great reference
thank you
TUrd lol jk 3rd
I don't hear anything at that low volume??
Hey Graham thanks a lot for all your content, I’ve been following your channel for a while now, great stuff. I have a question about this technique. Since you use top down mixing I assume that you have some sort of processing going on on the master fader. Let’s say that you have a compresor on that master fader, will the fact that you are lowering the volume of the master fader affect what that compressor is doing to the whole mix ? Thanks again for all your videos and courses.
I see a CL (compressor) and stereo width plugins, and looks like one more at least on top but can't make it out. I don't think that these are affected by master fader which is merely controlling volume of the speaker output - sort of pre-fader plugins. That said I might turn them on/off and test as well.
This is also a great technique when you get ear fatigue or at the end of a session or long day.
🙌🏾
Firstttt
wait a second!
So what...
second
It is a master fader, you are not lowering the volume alone but you are changing the tone but changing the compression on your mix bus.
wut
Thank you for your advice