Some questions about mixing and post production

[Tom-D]

Hi

Im totally confused with the way I should mix and "master" my songs.I would appreciate some help.
There are a lot of tutorials showing how to use impulses, making a bass sound good or making nice drum patterns with samples.But they dont show what to do after recording all this stuff.For example, I have an identical fx chain for the guitars as in the videos.But it sounds very dry.So I guess that you should apply some additional fx to really pump it up and maximize it to the limits.At least thats how I see it when I listen to these songs.The guitars are really upfront there....Anyways.Lets say I have all my instruments recorded and EQ-ed to my liking.Now I want to mix it.Ive got a lot of questions but lets break it into parts.So my question about the beginning of the mixing process is:

Levels - I should start with the kick drum, right ? So at what level it should be set ? I have to set it using the fader of the kick drum track or the master fader ? I should leave the master fader at this moment or whatever ?
Then add bass and the rest of the instruments.I should do it by ear or really pay attention to the peaks ? After doing it, at which level I should leave it(peaks of the whole mix)?

 

[bryan_kilco]

Start by setting your kick drum so it peaks around -18 dB, you can go higher but don't let the kick track clip (red)!!

Let the Master fader at default, 0.0 dB.

Work from there. Get all your levels set so that your Master is peaking anywhere from -6 to -12 dB. You want to let a little headroom for the mastering stage.

 

[Mjespo125]

Mixing is for clarity and brilliance. Mastering will give you your loudness.

When mixing you need to make all of the components of the song "fit" together, and you do this by using signal processing. Don't try and make each instrument sound good soloed, nobody is going to hear the song that way, the mix is a composite. Try and get your sounds when listening to multiple textures. I'd say the best way to start your mix is to get your bass to peak at -18 db, and leave it (then structure the mix around this level, if the bass gets buried by drums and guitars, turn the guitars and drums down, ect.). Also, If -18 db is too quiet, turn up your monitors.

Don't touch the master fader. Your recorded signals should be coming in at about -18 (0 VU), this is the level that your plugins were generally designed work at (can vary however). If you are finding that you have to bring down the master fader to achieve the -18 peak, then you may have tracked too hot. Remember by bringing down the master fader you aren't creating headroom, and that audio is like a steak in the sense that it is always better to "undercook" it, as in keep your levels quieter, because you can always "cook" a steak more, but you cannot "uncook" it, if that makes sense.

Mastering is what will give you your final loudness after your clarity has been achieved through mixing. Theres tons of tutorials on how to "pseudo" master, on this forum.

 

[RedDog]

In short, How do mix music? ¯\(°_o)/¯

Maybe you should get a bit more practice in. I'll give you the generic response to your question that most people here will tell you.

Use your ears. No magic plugins or fixes. Presets are no-no. Cut before boost. Years of practice. Firstborn child. Andy Aneap. Eternal soul. All along those lines there.

Kick needs headroom, at least 6 dB or so, try not to boost the low end so much. You'll usually find a lot of thud around 60-80hz or so.

Oh, and roll off the lows in your guitars, don't compress em. Hard pan left and right your rhythms. Bass goes in middle, you might want to compress that.

Jeez, explaining mixing is about three xanax away from impossible.

Where's what's-his-face with the in depth explanation on mixing that I read last week? I'll try to dig that up and post it here or lead you to his post.

EDIT: Found what I was looking for, but it was on "Loud Punchy Drums"

One of the first steps before you start experimenting with clipping and such is to make space for the drums. Find a good, healthy frequency balance. Make sure the snare attack and body frequencies aren't too masked by other instruments, decide which low frequency range you want reserved for the kick and which for the bass and so on. If you have everything happening everywhere, you're in mud city and nothing sounds punchy or clear.

Example situation:
You crafted a nice drum sound. Your snare has some nice attack at around 5-6kHz, some upper-end snap at 8kHz and some pretty huge body at 200Hz. Your kick has a fat OOMPH at around 80Hz and some nasty, wet click at 8kHz. Shit sounds awesome when you solo the drum groups. However, when you bring up the rest of the instruments, all you hear is the snare's high frequency snap and the kick's clickyness with some uncontrolled bass frequency rumble.

Here's what might've happened:
You have a shit-ton of presence going on in the guitars in the snare's attack area. The bass guitar has lots of 200Hz in there, and the guitar's palm mutes have a nasty peak at the same area. Also, you have boosted the bass at 80Hz to give it that full, round, bassy tone and went overboard with it. It's taking away from the kick's low frequency power and making things a mess down there.

How to approach fixing it:
Decide what you consider the main, important elements for the instruments. You love the snare sound, so you want to keep it that way. Cool. Sweep around with an EQ to find where the key frequencies of the snare are. When you find them, start sculpting some room for them in the other instruments. Try to find a way to cut the guitars a bit around the same regions to make way for the snare. You have to use your ears here. If you feel it ruins the guitar tone, you need to make a different decision. The changes don't have to be drastic. Try to find the right frequency balance where things just kinda snap together, cut through and sound like a whole, full mix. One thing you might want to try (IF you just can't get the right results with EQ) is taming the guitars' 200Hz boom with a multiband comp. It doesn't need to be C4. You can even use a single band compressor with HP/LP sidechaining perfectly fine. All right, what about the kick, then? Consider dividing the low end a bit. You really like the bass tone you have going, so start from there. Try to find a better frequency for the kick's low end power. For an example, you might find a nice balance when focusing the bass on the 70-80Hz area and the kick around the 100-120Hz area, cutting them both to make room for the other.

Now, don't take these as magic numbers or anything. I pulled them out of thin air, so they might be totally off in your case. Experiment, listen, and learn to make the right decisions. It's a never-ending learning process. But at least it's fun

Now apply everything here to every other instrument and try to get them all to play nice with each other with only two speakers.

 

[Tom-D]

Thanks for the answers.One thing I forgot:OK, when I have the mix peaking at -6db I export the whole thing to a stereo file.And during "mastering" I was always just raising the overall volume with the master slider and just before it started clipping I was adding a limiter or whatever.Is this proper way to do it ? Or should I add some dbs with the master fader to about the 0 point and then add additional dbs with the limiter ?

 

[bryan_kilco]

No no, don't move your Master fader. You want to apply FX to your Master track such as comp and limiter. You get your volume with FX, not moving the fader.

 

[Tom-D]

Oh.So it seems that the master fader is on 0 the entire time ? In the mixing and mastering process.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Oh.So it seems that the master fader is on 0 the entire time ? In the mixing and mastering process.

Yes.

 

[ahjteam]

Where's what's-his-face with the in depth explanation on mixing that I read last week? I'll try to dig that up and post it here or lead you to his post.

See my sig

 

[Tom-D]

OK.Lots of useful information, thanks.One last question and I think Im set.Ive got my stereo file with my mix hitting -6.How to push it really hard ? Ive added 12db with gclip and when I A/B with commercial songs it definitely lacks volume.The meter is hitting at +6 right now but Im not blown away with this.Any recommendations for a signal chain for the master track ? Ive got some limiters and compressors but obviously Im not very good in using them in that final stage.

 

[DestroyTheColossus]

OK.Lots of useful information, thanks.One last question and I think Im set.Ive got my stereo file with my mix hitting -6.How to push it really hard ? Ive added 12db with gclip and when I A/B with commercial songs it definitely lacks volume.The meter is hitting at +6 right now but Im not blown away with this.Any recommendations for a signal chain for the master track ? Ive got some limiters and compressors but obviously Im not very good in using them in that final stage.

Do you have a spectrum analyzer and a way of checking your RMS levels? If not I recommend getting Voxengo's Span as it is free. The RMS level will give you an idea of how loud your master will sound, and the spectrum analyzer will help you spot any trouble spots in your mix balance. You shouldnt rely totally on these things for mix decisions, but referring to them could help you learn to improve your work. If you shoot for -10db RMS and a fairly flat mix balance it will get you a lot closer.

 

[Tom-D]

Yeah, Ill look for an analyzer vst, maybe theres sth free.Another question that came to my mind.When I have my mix peaking at -6... you said that the master fader stays all the time at 0.So can I increase the lvl using the track fader ? Or Im only able to use vsts on the master and thats it ?

 

[MondoLikeMetal]

You may want to mix your song yourself, but there are mastering houses online that master songs starting at only $20 per song.