The Dreaded 125Hz Range

[UMF]

I know its not the best thing to solve the build up issue, but if you always have the same problem with any mix that you do in that area, then take an eq and boost that area before starting your mix and put that on your masterbus. Before Mixdown, bypass it. Not the best thing but if it helps............. trying and trying and trying different things........... Thats's MIXING.
Imo there is no wrong or right.....

 

[Loki Laufeyiarson]

Put panipulator and voxengo span (in that order) on your masterbuss and from time to time run a referencetrack through it and analyze what's going on and then compare it to your own mix. Might help a bit as well.
And start soloing two instrumentgroups together and just cut the dreaded area on one and see if that improves how you hear the other. Then think about which instrumentgroup you feel absolutely needs it and cut it on the other. Make choices.

 

[gfactor]

I ran into issues with the same area and here's how I go about finding issues at specific frequency ranges:

Grab a freq analysis like span for the master bus, I like to use Ozone for this because the match EQ will generate and average curve which makes problem areas more obvious. When you see an boomy frequency that sticks out use ctrl+click in span (alt+click in Ozone) to listen through a sharp band pass filter at that frequency. Through the filter it should be obvious which instrument(s) are causing the issue, make an EQ cut on those tracks and see if it helps.

Ozone's match EQ is also good to compare to other tracks for reference. Obviously don't just try to copy the eq from another song, but look at the curves the match eq generates for your track when compared to 5-6 similar commercial tracks. If you see cuts around 125hz in every match then that area could probably still use some work. I find this useful for when the room can't be trusted.

 

[Delitzsch]

You guys are great. Thanks for all this information. I'll try this stuff out tomorrow when I get some slack time.

 

[DavePiatek]

I like using a multi band comp on my master bus to tighten up the lows and make it a little less boomy. It's not a magic bullet, though, and if you're doing more than a dB or 2 of gain reduction, you've probably got other problems in the mix to be sorted.

 

[UMF]

I like using a multi band comp on my master bus to tighten up the lows and make it a little less boomy. It's not a magic bullet, though, and if you're doing more than a dB or 2 of gain reduction, you've probably got other problems in the mix to be sorted.

I would love to have some starting points on that matter(Crossover, release, attack) cause I always seem to make things worse with multiband compression.

Could you give me a hint when it comes to low end tightening ?

 

[Delitzsch]

I ran into issues with the same area and here's how I go about finding issues at specific frequency ranges:

Grab a freq analysis like span for the master bus, I like to use Ozone for this because the match EQ will generate and average curve which makes problem areas more obvious. When you see an boomy frequency that sticks out use ctrl+click in span (alt+click in Ozone) to listen through a sharp band pass filter at that frequency. Through the filter it should be obvious which instrument(s) are causing the issue, make an EQ cut on those tracks and see if it helps.

Ozone's match EQ is also good to compare to other tracks for reference. Obviously don't just try to copy the eq from another song, but look at the curves the match eq generates for your track when compared to 5-6 similar commercial tracks. If you see cuts around 125hz in every match then that area could probably still use some work. I find this useful for when the room can't be trusted.

Excellent advice. I've been wanting to get Ozone 5 ever since I bought Ermz's mixing guide. So, I finally went ahead and snagged it. Now to learn how to use it.

 

[Star Ark]

Whenever I use multiband it somehow enhances the mud but I'm using it to control mids in a buzy mix.