5 Tips for Getting Better Mix Balances
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- Опубліковано 13 лип 2024
- ► Want more? Learn to mix better than ever before with our FREE workshop, "The Top 5 Habits of Truly Great Mixers": sonicscoop.com/MixHabits ◀
Justin Colletti is back on the SonicScoop video blog with some quick tips on getting your mix balances right and keeping your perspective throughout a mixing session.
One of my favourite tricks for setting levels is to turn my headphones/speakers right the way down until I can just about hear it, and then set levels and ensure I can hear everything independently in the mix. If it sounds balanced quiet, it will sound balanced loud.
Absolutely Luke! 100% agreed. I go into this idea (and a ton more) in some pretty serious depth in our new course.
Nice !
I am the same way. When I was starting out I use to mix loud. My mixes sounded AMAZING, only when folks listened to them loud as well. Once I started mixing at lower volumes, my eats started lasting much longer, felt better, and my mixes sounded great at all levels.
Yeah although you have to make sure that you don’t overcompensate on the bass. On low levels the bass will fall away because of the way our ears are designed
@@RaphyJmusic Yes, this is very true. Same thing with the kick. Also, as somebody mentioned above, when do you eq and compress? Before or after setting levels? My guess is it would depend on the quality of initial recording. If you have a good recording to start out with, chances are your eqing and compressing won't be too radical. But if the recording is poor, you might need to do some major surgery and that will throw your levels off, so you'll have readjust them once your done.
you're easily my favorite teacher on youtube. keep up the great work
I love how logical your tips are always clear and make sense, almost simple! Thanks for all the help so far looking forward to more videos!
Good tips again!
Your editing is way better this week too.
really well made videos. clear dependable advice. Thank you for your hard work, we all appreciate it!
These videos are very helpful and not boring like most other presentations. Thumbs up!
Great Stuff again, Justin! Thanks for all your efforts!
Your last point about "changing scenary" during mixing is well taken. I've been instinctively doing that; you are the first person I've heard mention it. Good insight. Thanks!
Really like that last tip. I always notice obvious things that need to be fixed when I'm listening to a master in the car or headphones away from my DAW. Then I can't wait to go fix it later! Great vid.
Clear and very useful, I will try a mix tomorrow with your tips tomorrow, cheers.
3:50, the annoying thing is, you can have all the levels perfectly balanced, and once you start eq'ing and compressing individual tracks everything changes and you're definitely gonna have to go back and re-adjust. Although I guess you could adjust the gain settings as you EQ and compress so that there's no noticeable jump in volume (which is good for A/B ing what you're doing anyway to make sure your plug-in settings are making things sound better and not just louder)
1 year late, but that's gain staging/checking, making shure your processing doesn't make your sound louder.
This is excellent. We need more. PLEASE
Dude, man, why are you so EPIC? THANKS
this channel is fantastic! best tipps on youtube
Loving your videos Justin!! Thank you :-)
Bravo for everything you said in this video.
Excellent tutorial! Thank you.
can't wait for those mixing courses!
awesome tips mate! thanks a lot!
Awesome tips🙏
great tips dude, thanks!
Oh that's are unusually good advices, thanks!
Really great tips, tnx man! :D
#1 Prepare first so that you can fully engage in mixing as opposed to doing edits (composition or arrangement-wise)
#2 Start with your most important elements
#3 "Hone in" on the right balance, consider using compressor or other ways of reducing the dynamic range on the individual track
#4 Mix into your bus compressor (not exactly sure what he meant by this)
#5 Give yourself headroom
#6 Mix when you're not mixing. Listen to your mix away from the computer and take notes.
John Doe #4 is about setting up your bus compressor before you begin mixing. That way you're mixing through the plugin instead of adding the plugin after establishing levels.
I needed to hear this thank you
Great tips, very cool stuff
Man, these are really good
You've just earned new subscriber, thanks ! ;)
This kind of advice is much more helpfull than specific techniques. Principles first!
True ! I have a friend who's new at mixing. Each time he struggles on a mix he send it to me and say stuff like ; "I've used parallel distortion and multi-band compression on the quad recorded guitars, and a side-chained exciter on the kick and snare." But every time he sends a mix, the balances are totally wrong.
What is the point of using advanced mixing techniques if the volumes aren't right at first ?
Gotta start with the basics !
cool tips as always
those tips are gold! 2020
Yup, they still work! Thanks for stopping by :-)
Great advice. Wish a watched this video a few years ago when I began self-recording.
thank you for this video!
My personal favorite way to prevent clipping the master bus is finding where in the mix I'm trying to make "the loudest" or the emotional apex of the track, and set my rough mix levels there, (aiming between a peak level from -6 to -10) it almost always ensures that you'll never get into a battle of adding too much gain and clipping the master fader/ overloading your bus compressors. great tips.
We love u! 💛
Another excellent video. Thanks! (It's "home in" or just "hone".)
Tanks a bunch 4 the tips😉
How dare you put good mixing advice on Utube that is so helpful! (sarcasm)
The best mixing advice ever. Great video.
One thing I began to do some weeks ago is to "wash" the tracks first, before even balancing.
That means hi-passing, low-passing, and removing the annoying ringing or muddy frequencies on every tracks that needs it.
This way, you balance with sounds that are already a bit cleaner.
What I included in my mixing process is now mix prep. :P
fantastic..
thank you for sharing your tips. I do the same techniques too...
you a legend bro
If you're liking Justin's instructional videos here on SonicScoop, you might like his new video course on mixing, called
"Mixing Breakthroughs". Check it out at mixingbreakthroughs.com
Really well articulated tips. Thanks for these! I too often find myself wanting to wear many hats at once and it, unsurprisingly, doesn't work lol
very cool man
super cool! liked - Subscribed
Such great advice! On my way to google the music you have mixed/mastered. Thanks! Cheers!
You are a commuter bicyclist?! haha! that's awesome! Aside from being an educator and well rounded engineer, you are just an all around quality human being. So I glad I found you on youtube. thanks again for these wonderful videos. :)
Does nobody here want to comment that he resembles clark kent aka superman? its really cool
+Max Creack Nope! Nobody! :)
Vic Demise well i just did xD
We already did this on another video. He's clearly not Superman because he wears glasses was what I said.. And now I've said it again.... *Up, up, and AWAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!*
AudioSuperMan...LoL
He kinda does, yeah :D I knew there were something familiar just couldnt put my finger on it :D
MAAAAAAAATE!!!! U ARE THE BEST I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS THEY BEEN HELPING ME A LOT THANK YOU VERY MUCH SIR!!!
what bus compression settings should we use? as in, what's a good range or a good way to go about deciding your setting choices
that last tip is soooooo on point!!!!!!!! i often catch myself sitting in front of daw and making tons of stupid decisions and when i listen for example in headphones with eyes closed i be like what the fuck did i just made the mix sounds trash and i can find solution to it. i also dont recompensate for the eq level changes or after compressing and my mixes are total mess so thank you for that vid it really made me realize that i have to be very organized and efficient
When you say put buss compressors on early, are you talking about Master Buss compressors or individual buss compressors such as the guitar buss or drum buss?
Gr8 tips.. tnx a lot :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Hey Justin I really love and appreciate your videos,I found your lessons very clear and useful!!I wanted to ask you something:I've learned that in the recording stage is good to maintain a -18 DBFS(24 bit)level,what about the full track or mix?What level do you advice for that??I hope you're gonna reply and wish you a great day!!!
marco ciuschi That's -18 dbfs RMS (average level not peak). And never peak beyond -6dbfs.
If you've recorded all your tracks at the formentioned level and your master faders is at zero you will find your mixes will be averaging around -12dbfs rms. You will have tons of headroom.
For 24 bit recordings mastering engineers need at least 3db of headroom, but would prefer 6db. That's 6db of DR, not max out the mix until the meters are jamming at zero and then normalize the track down to 94 %. As long as your master faders never peaks beyond -6dbfs you will make your mastering engineer very happy. If you are mastering it yourself (unless you have full range monitors or at least a good pair of audiophile full range home speakers i.e. B&W, Energy, etc. don't do it) leaving -6db of headroom in the mix is a good idea.
Tip: With replay gain, volume normalization used in all satellite radio and Web music streaming services; and all radio stations using compressors and heavy limiting the LOUDNESS WAR IS OVER. And has been for awhile now. And as for the dance floor - when the DJ does his cross fade he will bring the new song up to the level of the last one. Mastering is to make your songs sound better not louder.
Warning: Most professional engineers will substantially reduce the cloud (90-250hz). Bringing down the mid and/or upper bass allows for a louder track. But the cloud is where most of the bass detail is and cutting it 5 to 8db will rip the heart out of your mix. This is why a lot of classic rock albums that have been remastered after 1998 sound weird: Most of them have had the mid bass sucked from them. i.e. The remaster of Fleetwood Mac's, Rumours: - 5db @ 150hz @ Q of 1. There was more damage done in mastering but that is just one eq change out of 5 dreadful alterations. Now if your mix is too cloud heavy, that's different. Trust me if you are bringing your tracks to a Professional mastering engineer tell them to leave the cloud alone. Cutting at most 2db is O.K. but don't let the mastering engineer or anyone else talk you into severely cutting the cloud (mid and upper bass 90-250hz) with the exception of your track being way to cloud heavy.
Sorry for going on so long but I have been in this business for a while and I can't stand idle and watch the denigration of someone's songs by a over enthusiastic mastering engineer.
Keep mixing....
what db do you wanna be at or around when youre done the mix and ready to master?
Start with the most important element. (Vocals/Guit...) Then fit everything else around it.
Set all Levels for Everything Purely (with no effects, eq’s...)
Mix INTO the Bus Compressors.
What to do first , set my levels , or send tracks to reverb ?
My mixes sound good on my monitors but not on my Bose wireless box. Then differently on car speakers. Balance issues. Other wise sounds good. Maybe this information will help me. Thanks Justin. I'm always willing to learn new things.
The car is indeed the ultimate test for me, especially for the low-end since I mix on Yamaha HS5 !
nice :)
How much should be headroom? -6 db? thx:)
tip#6 works best when you have a notepad..
True story!
Is fundamental. How we know what need processing if dont have the context of a well balanced mix? Without context, any processing is just wrong.
I have a mix of 4 tracks
double bass electric guitar sax and drums
they all sound great now and everything is sounding good but the overall frequency balance is boxy on phone headphones
theres a problem in the accumulative midrange
It is a jazz mix
I will have to sacrifice in bass and drums with eq
but not sure it will suffice
none of the tips covered the problem
thanks
So by tip 4 You mean to mix with bus compressor on?
Does anyone has any idea on what specific headroom number should i get as a starting point on my first thing first important element to start my balancing?
Justin talks about this in some detail in the Mixing Breakthroughs course (mixingbreakthroughs.com) but here's a fair rule of thumb:
Averaging lower than 0VU on analog meters or -18dBFS on digital meters for the first element can be a good place to start. But it depends a bit on the frequency content of the first thing you bring in, and how hard you like to drive your mix bus.
A lot of people seek for the whole mix to average around -14dBFS before mastering. (Anywhere between -22 and -12 is a pretty common target for average levels, in order to leave room for peaks before limiting.) So your first elements want to come in at or a little lower than your target level for the full mix.
Hope that makes sense! There are even more specific details in the course, and maybe we can ask him to do a podcast episode on it sometime.
Those two ancient monitors in the background make my eye twitch every video...
9/10 times I end up changing the drum sound after all the other instruments are mixed because the drums always end up eating way too much of the eq and dynamics. But I'm also producing death metal.
Good points, but tip # 4 can be dangerous for some peoples workflows or genres that have more dynamics than typical pop music. Nevertheless thanks for the suggestions
use Pink noise to mix
Definitely not a good idea
How does this guy sound so 10000000% like Norm Macdonald?
iThing 🤣🤣🤣
I really wouldn’t recommend mixing into buss compression unless you’re pretty experienced mixing. Buss comp can destroy your ability to perceive the correct level if you aren’t used to how compression sounds on a 2 mix.
Sure, you should learn to hear compression before mixing into bus compression.
The catch 22 is that one of the best ways to learn to hear compression is by mixing through it.
For people who want exercises to learn to hear compression fast, I created compressionbreakthroughs.com
But yes, mixing through compression is an intermediate to advanced skill. But so is getting good sounding mixes! :-)
-Justin
Dont get me wrong! I appreciate your work, but I dont like lecturing
I will not except that pronunciation of 'aesthetic', it simply won't do.
Dave Lordy - I think you meant to write that you will not ACCEPT that pronunciation…it simply won't do.
@@davelongenecker649 Damn ! You're right, owned by my own post ! I'm not even going to edit my original post, I deserve the shame 😃
@@davelordy No shame at all, and I meant it all in fun! Cheers, and have a great day!
the zero ambience on your voice is distracting
It is a REALLY nice studio :)
Don’t talk do practically and show
There's always some idiotic no content hack like you out there that can only bring down a thread by criticizing the good work of others. Just stop.