The short tips thread

[AudioGeekZine]

don't mix too loudly. You can get free or cheap SPL meter apps for your smart phone to give you an idea of the levels you are working at. 75dBSPL works best for me, find what works for you.

 

[Trevoire520]

Mix faster.

More than once I've got a quick rough mix going, then spent loads of time working on it, only to find that it sounds worse than the rough!
At a certain stage you're just tweaking for the sake of it. 90% of the audience aren't going to notice the minute changes you're making in the mix anyway because they're too busy listening to the song!

 

[xFkx]

use siense and podfarm

 

[Arsenu,]

I have a short tip... huh... huh

you should be considering a career as a comedian rather than an AE. way more chicks are into fart jokes than guitar tones.

 

[Mashreef]

dont compress if you dont know how too!!
dont limit every fucking thing
eq what is to to be needed

 

[lanky noob]

dont compress if you dont know how too!!

Call me padantic but I think a better way to word this would be "Learn about compression before you use it, and don't just put it on everything, learn when and where it needs to be used, and be conscious of what you're doing and why you're doing it"

Also, listen to everything in the mix, don't process a snare for example, with the snare track solo'd, it might sound great on it's own, but in a mix it could sound dead and drowned.

 

[Mashreef]

much better

 

[nialldoran]

When i ask a mentor of mine for advice he always gives it but ends with "there are no rules" usually followed by "use your ears"

Everything else i would've suggested has been said in here already,

 

[nezvers]

Cut before boost!

 

[Star Ark]

Listen to everything except what you are adjusting. By that I mean if you are messing with the snare, listen to what the adjustments do to the rest of the arrangement. Adding or subtracting eq could also have an effect on another track being obscured or even revealed too much for example.

 

[mickrich]

Star Ark is right.
Before pushing a fader up try cutting EQ on another track.
For example, instead of turning up the snare, first try a medium q cut on the guitar bus and see where the snare cuts through.
This way you are gaining headroom.

Also be aware of how your ears react to high and high mid cuts.
When you make a sound darker, you may think it now sounds dull.
Have a coffee break then come back and listen to the EQed sound then bypass EQ and you will be amazed how shrill and piercing it was before.

Seek and destroy resonant frequencies on all tracks with narrow cuts before starting a mix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kBFqHo2z9Q

Set meters to pre-fader and make sure your signal flows at -12dBFS through your entire mixer.
Satson channel is great for this job.

 

[szymon]

(...)Also be aware of how your ears react to high and high mid cuts.(...)

(...)Seek and destroy resonant frequencies on all tracks with narrow cuts before starting a mix.(...)

This

The video you linked is amazingly inspiring in a way. It's great "use your ears" reminder


A short one from me about reverb:
If you're after a coloured/different-than-usual reverb, try sending snare to aux channel (call it "to reverb" or sth), insert a distortion plug (or any other you like) and then turn the fader all the way down. Next, send it pre-fader to a reverb bus and adjust to taste. You can get some nice dense/colored reverb tails.
Less extreme variant is to have samples just to trigger the reverb.

 

[LBTM]

• Get it right in the source.
• If it doesn't sound decent with no effects on it don't bother mixing it.
• If you're not familiar with EQs just high-pass. You can go really wrong with adding weird cuts or boosts if don't know what you're doing.
• If you're not familiar with compressors set it to something like 3.5:1 ratio, fast atack and auto release and don't compress more than 4-5dB.
• USE YOUR EARS!
• Don't spend more than 25 minutes mixing at once. Take breaks.
• Don't try to copy someone else's sound.
• Don't compare your mixes to the pros If you're a beginner.
• Don't overuse reverbs, delays and choruses.
• Use only a limiter in the master bus.
• Learning mixing takes much time and frustration.
• If it doesn't sound good consider that the composition is bad and play around with it. Sometimes adding a higher octave guitar fixes everything.

(Keep in mind these are some noob focused tips)

 

[Machinated]

try not using a compressor on the snare, a lot of the time it doesnt need it.

practice using a reverb, learn them inside out. try using really short/small reverb types on instruments to give it more of a sense of space, especially when close micing.

only do what needs doing, and make sure everything is in context.

spend time getting your drums in phase. worth the time during tracking, and also make sure during mixing. this especially goes for samples.

monitor at different volumes. try and mix at quiet volumes too if you are in for the long haul.

dont be a bedroom guy. always aspire to improve and learn as much as possible. dont corner yourself.

 

[LBTM]

The are some great tips Machinated. Most of the times a clipper on the snare will work. For reverb download different reverbs. Each one sounds different. Waves RVerb and Magnus Ambience (free but it doesn't fucking save settings so I have to bounce) are a must. You can make your mix sound much bigger just by adding just a little bit on most of the tracks. It's easy to overdo it though so be careful. A little bit can make a difference. Also learn the plugin inside out. Presets won't work well and it's easy to learn how each setting affects the sound. Some times doing more than needed can get you some good result by experimenting. Phase check is a MUST on recorded drums. You can get them to sound much better.

 

[Revson]

When you're mixing and it's just not coming together, start fresh. Get rid of all your plugins, zero out the mixer, and redo everything from the ground up.

 

[LBTM]

Sometimes it's useful to record instruments with more than one mic. For example on vocals sometimes I record with both a condenser and a dynamic and each one ends up being used for different parts of the mix (ex condenser on the clean parts and the dynamic on the wall parts or screams). Same thing applies with everything. Likewise remember that each mic will sound different in the mix and sometimes comparing them ahead and choosing one won't work that well. It happened to me many times, comparing ahead, reamping guitars and afterwards realized another microphone would fit better in the mix. Same goes with every instrument. Each microphone will give you different sounds. Also it's good having a variety of microphones instead of getting for example 3 sm57s. They're great microphones but a different microphone will probably be more useful. There's many good other options in this price range like the AKG D5, Audix OM 2S, Senhnheiser E845 or the mighty TC-Helicopter MP-75. Each of these sound different and you can get them for as much as the sm57.

 

[Deuteronomy]

Go for the character.
No need to copy other techniques or to use similar samples,and similar blueprints-i mean by purpose to sound like the rest.

 

[szymon]

(...)
Satson channel is great for this job.

You can also use Sonalksis FreeG instead. I use it a lot, and its free

 

[egan.]

When i ask a mentor of mine for advice he always gives it but ends with "there are no rules"

I hate this answer b/c it's not helpful. Generally when someones asks for rules they desperately need some basic guidance. Despite the cliche there are a shitload of rules and basic techniques. If you know and understand them (academically or instinctually) you'll know when and how to break them to achieve your goals.