Critique My Tutorial 'Tightening up Low End'

[vindennl48]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAk2cCJkgQo&feature=share&list=UUPYGt7hraZ_m0auWyPGQWxg[/ame]

Hey guys, I decided to make a tutorial video on mixing the kick and bass drum together and wanted your input on if the information I gave is correct/useful, for future videos, and anything I could have done better/differently. I'm fairly new to tutorials so any feedback would be much appreciated. \m/

 

[Vicioushead]

I think it's good. The only issue I have is that you didn't explain what R Bass does to the sound.

 

[The StabbinCabin]

There was no before and after comparison and you're kind of just pulling those frequencies from your pocket on top of explaining the purpose behind R Bass. If the bass/kick was tuned differently the fundamental would vary. I was able to follow it, but if someone new to mixing saw that and just used R Bass and made those cuts, it wouldn't make sense or be/sound right. I don't know what you're doing on your master bus or if you're doing some slight side-chain compression or anything.

Just my .02

 

[Fox Mulder]

I'll have to take a rain check so would check out your video later. Here's an example of how I usually avoid clashing the bass with the kick:

If the lowest playable note of the bass is E, I'd tune the kick to D or so.

If the song's in, say, drop C - I'd still tune the kick to a D. It doesn't necessarily have to be a D but for modern productions we want the kick to peak through anywhere from 60-80hz.

http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html

It's all in the sources. Mixing comes later

 

[Nimvi]

There was no before and after comparison and you're kind of just pulling those frequencies from your pocket on top of explaining the purpose behind R Bass. If the bass/kick was tuned differently the fundamental would vary. I was able to follow it, but if someone new to mixing saw that and just used R Bass and made those cuts, it wouldn't make sense or be/sound right. I don't know what you're doing on your master bus or if you're doing some slight side-chain compression or anything.

Just my .02

This was my thought as well. It sounded like you had already decided where to cut all instruments before measuring/listening.

I understand what you are doing, because I've done it myself and know how you could end up with those frequencies, but to someone new this almost sounded encouraging to use these settings as a preset. You did mention that it's project dependent and a personal choice in the end, so I know you didn't want it to sound like that. It's just an easy beginners-trap to hear information like this and think that those chosen frequencies are somehow special.

For the coming videos you should probably add an audio example of you changing the parameter until it sounds good to you, and then A/B the difference. That way, it will click in a much more usable way for a beginner.

Additionally, I think that tightening of the low end goes hand in hand with compression techniques, so I was a bit surprised that it wasn't mentioned. That might be an interesting chapter to cover in a future video?

Thanks for your work though! I welcome any form of mixing lessons on youtube.

 

[vindennl48]

Thanks for the input guys! I'll be sure to be a lot more thorough in future videos. And I didn't have any side-chain compression, I mainly use a tube leveler and a multiband eq/compressor for the mastering track and figured that the whole mastering step should be left for a video on it's own so that's why I didn't include that, but probably should have gone more in depth with the compression side of it at least. And looking back, I also agree that I should have started with a non-mixed piece and worked with the viewer to get where I ended up at instead of showing the final product with no comparison. Again thanks for the information.

 

[ZanetheVocalist]

Kinda OT but I've thought about doing tutorials numerous times only to scrap them in frustration. I'm in this gig for sound, not video, but I still want my vids to be somewhat pro. Someone should do a tutorial on how to make tutorials. :Spin:

 

[vindennl48]

Well as a start, I use a program called "Camtasia Recorder" and if you tweak the settings you can get some pretty decent quality.