- Oct 6, 2012
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How much louder do you guys have your drums than your guitars; your guitars than your bass; your snare than your kick; etc.?
Sorry for shitty english...
Sorry for shitty english...
Volume differences between instruments
- Thread starter Flow Of Time
- Start date
heshian46
Member
...and then take that, cut it in half, and double it. You should have a nice balanced mix.
- Oct 6, 2012
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I'm not asking for exact settings here, and I know there is no "way to go for every mix" setting.
I just need some rough values to start from, since I'm pretty new to mixing.
I just need some rough values to start from, since I'm pretty new to mixing.
mairomaster
Member
If you mean values in dB, it's not quite possible to specify one. It depends too much on the certain track. Just listen, everything should sound glued together. You shouldn't have difficulties to hear every single instrument clearly.
Well, your question is useless imo just because the sound of each instrument and their role in the arrangement will affect your perception. I think you could start by listening to some productions in the same style of your current work and analyze them. Then go back to your stuff and "compare" - I mean try to point at the main defaults of your work. I think that trying to imitate a mix that you like is a great exercise. You'll never reach the same sound, etc. Never. But you'll learn a lot about your listening skills which is essential.
Try to fix your mix by USING YOUR EARS + using some very specific info you can find here for example. Compare again. Repeat this around 10000000 times
Proceed step by step. It will take years. There's no exception so be patient, search infos of all sort and work hard.
Try to fix your mix by USING YOUR EARS + using some very specific info you can find here for example. Compare again. Repeat this around 10000000 times
Proceed step by step. It will take years. There's no exception so be patient, search infos of all sort and work hard.
Sloan
Sounds like shit!
Turn your monitors way down low, when you can hear everything clearly, then you should be pretty close.
- Oct 6, 2012
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Thanks for your answer. I never thought about imitating a mix, but it seems to be a pretty logical approach to learn things
Thanks, I'll try!
It really depends on the instruments and the frequencies they occupy. Everything has to cut through the mix. Generally, you don't want a lot of sounds on the same part of the spectrum cause they tend to create a mess.There are standard volume differences but they vary depending on what you use on your projects. Experiment and you will find what sounds right to you.
- Oct 6, 2012
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I know this is kind of offtopic now and would belong into the practice room subforum, but I just tried sloan's trick to optimize a mix I finished yesterday (DIs and Midi from this thread), and it seems to be very helpful.
Could anyone give a short feedback if this is going into the right direction?
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/3u3mhj7ppmee2nm/24.10.12 - Torque - Enhance Our Burial Practice.mp3
Could anyone give a short feedback if this is going into the right direction?
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/3u3mhj7ppmee2nm/24.10.12 - Torque - Enhance Our Burial Practice.mp3
medic999
Member
- Jun 16, 2011
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i think a lot of it is practice and personal taste. i always wondered that same thing then i realized some producers have a lot of one thing (ex. machine and his overheads) where others dont. it just depends on what you want it to sound like. also consider that louder you listen to something, the more bass frequencies you will perceive without making any changes to those frequencies. so if u listen quiet, and the bass sounds about right, when you turn it up you might have the bass being overbearing.thats why some people listen at or close to 85dB spl. thats when things start to even out. thats fucking loud though int the dining room of my apartment... i just a/b with a song that i feel has the right amount of bass for my song and try to get close.
Nimvi
Member
Not a bad start. I'd turn those guitars down some more. I'm guessing you are mainly a guitarist. We usually have the tendency to turn guitars louder than they "should" be at first (altough the exact amount is ofcourse a matter of taste).
My personal startingpoint in a mix nowadays are the drums. They are a perfect framework in a lot of ways. They provide the punch and flow of your mix for a large part, and they occupy the entire frequency- and stereospectrum with their individual pieces. Because of this, they can be a great reference for setting the volume and general colour of the rest of the instruments.
For example, I usually use my cymbals as a reference for how much presence other elements in the mix should have. If the cymbals are dark, I will make the mix dark and vice versa. Makes mixes sound pretty coherent imo.
Another tip for setting levels and EQing: try setting your mastertrack to mono when doing so. Often makes it easier to tell if something is too loud or soft, or when elements of your mix are masking eachother.
And I agree with Medic999. I like to mix pretty quietly, but I set the basslevel with the volume a little more up, because if I can hear it clearly when I am mixing quiet, it's probably a bit too loud when turned up. When I listen to things quietly, I want to hear the kick, snare and vocal/lead loudest.
Sloan
Sounds like shit!
^i 100% agree with checking levels in mono from time to time. also check on headphones you are comfortable with.
yea this is a hard question to answer because not only do you have your volume faders but you also have the frequency volume all along the spectrum. i agree with low volume mixing. it will always get you in the ballpark the fastest and then maybe turn it up for the more sensitive stuff but i normally wont make big changes with the volume up.
HCL
Holy Crap! Lions!
If I have to choose between one being louder than the other (ideally they'd be perfectly balanced) it would always be the drums!
