Watching the vid - literally just pressed play. However, feel I've got to share this revelation... It's taken an embarrassing amount of time to realise this. Had a issue with a mix, couldn't see why. The audio tracks had all been EQd already. They sat nicely and played well with each other. Good start. 👍 As I started things still good, the low end compression for the kick drum - good, meaty but not overbearing. High hats fizzing nicely in the mix... Guitars and vocals again good - not pin point perfect, but good enough at this stage. Then we get to the meat of it... The main music (all digitally created, with a few analogue samples) and there was the issue. Much of it sank into the mix without a trace. I wasted a chunk of time (not client time - just mine, so not a disaster) with filters, EQ, compression, exciters, bass booster and so fourth. Everything fell short. I then, out of desperation put it through a spacial image visualiser. And had a shock. Pretty much everything in the mix,aside from effects (looking at the dB info) was from the effects such as delay. Was literally set to center. So, went back to the mix - put a widener on a few stereo tracks, set to full (100% wide), medium and narrow (25%). It was like a different mix - everything that got lost was suddenly there. Some aspects were too bright , so a bit of HF roll off but it's cool as I could now HEAR what was going on. Never ignore the stereo image. It gets messy
You dont need a video. If sounds clash move them to a slightly different position on the frequency spectrum by using EQ filter making sure they are not the same and make sure you pan your sounds taking advantage of stereo for a wider sound.
im going to make a tutorial to help people not make the mistake of using Cubase.....cakewalk.. blah apps....., rather use cr@cks then Cubase....sounds ok....but the trouble is not worth it, price is even worse.😁
@@britishboxer6875 Cracked software often comes with built in boots or viruses. Also if you use cracked software then you dont have a license and cant sell your music without if being illegal. You might not get caught but you might.
Dom, I love your truth! This is not about science, but this is about using your knowledge and knowing what you're doing and what you want to achieve... Thanks for this video!
If sounds clash move them to a slightly different position on the frequency spectrum by using EQ filter and make sure you pan your sounds taking advantage of stereo.
My favourite channel! Dom is very engaging and really loves what he does. His energy and focus really motivates me. Thanks again Dom!! You rock!!! 👍🏻🤟🏻
Excellent advice. Thank you for sharing. I knew about a few of these 7 tips, but many of them I had not considered before.These tips can spare us all from so much wasted time, effort and disappointment.
Dom you are such a pro. Putting in the work for years and being fortunate or good enough to make a living at it, yields a unique and mature perspective. Bravo Maestro!
I went through this list proudly checking off each reason. It feels good to know what I'm doing when I mix and it's mostly attributed to the YT community at large but I'm particularly grateful to Dom. Wish he would put together a course (using Cubase as the DAW)...
You're the Cubase guru Dom! I learn so much from these videos. It's insane how long I've not understood, for instance, inserts vs sends. I still don't completely get it, but way way more than I used to. Thanks!
Many thanks! Your video on gain staging changed the game for me on my current project, and the other 6 points are going to be helpful too. I'm not to the mastering stage yet, but I'd definitely watch a video on the process if you make one.
Hi, I am new to the party and started a week ago with mixing/homerecording etc. I found this channel by accident and wanted to give my two cents on this: 1st: This channel is so underrated, I am learning so many things just alone from this video and I appreciate how much in details you go (in every vid/guide), 2nd: You talked about, that if someone doesn't feel secure in mixing to let made done by a professional. This so true. Nowadays with TH-cam every one can become a photograph, sound engineer, video editor etc. But there's a reason why in some countries these professions are done during an apprenticeship and you then can earn a title, like let's say "master of sound engineering". I don't want to say that there aren't talented people out there who did a lot by self-study but when you have done an apprenticeship for a job you know how much more and detailed input you get by that. That leads me to a question, do you actually apprentice students? 😁 And last but not least: thank you so far for sharing your knowledge with us, I can speak for myself and say it really helps me a lot and I appreciate the afford you put in these guides and tips.
I love your point about sound selection and why that is so critical to getting a loud mix. Many times we always start talking about mixing solutions, effects - clippers, saturation - what not, before actually looking at the sounds. Reality is that I personally tend to unfortunately pick sounds in isolation to one another - great sounds on their own, but too great together. So I think professionals have this uncanny ability to use sounds that blend in the right way and create the right psychoacoustic effect when everything is put together.
First off - Dom love your channel, best tutorials on TH-cam IMO. However - I think level matching most/all changes as a beginner is a good thing to do. Otherwise you make a change, it's louder, sounds better and so you go with it, regardless of whether it was actually the correct move or not. When you're developing your ear, you really need the level matching to actually hear whether something is better or not. That will also help you determine whether the correct move is actually just turning up the fader vs. putting a CLA 2A on, getting 4dB of gain and getting the volume that's needed but now having more midrange and compression than it needed. Thanks for the video!
Absolutely. When you're experienced, you know your gear/plugins and know what you're doing, you can get away with not level matching, but it's bad advice for beginners. That's like a racing driver teaching someone how to drive and telling them to be brave and adventurous by driving as fast as possible and powerslilding around corners! A skilled driver can do that safely but it's very dangerous for a novice. I can't tell you how many times I've improved a sound with a plugin, then level matched it and found that it made hardly any difference or even sounded worse. Often it does sound better, but a novice can't be sure of that without level matching. Later, once you've trained your ears and know your plugins well, then you can drive like a madman!
Lately, I've found that Tonal Balance Control and LCD-MX4 give my super accurate mixes and masterings. Sean Divine channel also taught me how to make perceived louder music, one of the methods is the using of multiband compressor on the mid-range during mastering.
Hey Dom, thank you for your video. Regarding the fourth chapter ("being overly conservative"), we all know that mixing is about emphasizing the emotional impact of a musical piece hence every action you take should improve the piece you are working on. From my experience and the way I learned, the 'bypass' button is one of the most important buttons in every plugin and you should always bypass and compare the changes you do to each track in order to be sure that you did improve the song by this change and not the opposite. Also, we all know that our ears tend to fool us and they would always prefer the 'loud' version. Having said that, I think that level-matching is a key to be sure that you are doing a fair comparison and not fooling your ears into thinking that you improved something while you actually just made it louder. I would be happy to hear your opinion about that.
As a producer and mixer. I say always choose the best sounding sound, the sound that is as close to how you want it so sound in your final song....you can always tweak it and modify it in many ways, but the closer to perfection it sounds from the beginning, the better. Also pay attention to how it fits with sounds you've already chosen. A good sound depends a lot on the genre, and on what sounds are around it. A great kick drum for one song night be bad for another track. So consider the big picture, the vision, the goal, the purpose and role of the instrument, and the context
I'm very new to this and your videos are exceedingly helpful! I am adding drums to classical music and I am struggling with making my drums sound good. I know that I'll get there but I wanted to thank you for doing what yo do here!
Thanks for the level match plugin thing, am kind of obsessed by it and what u said here just clicked something in my mind. I hope i break free from it soon couse its making my mixes take to damn long... Thank u 😊😊😊
Good to know the first two to come to my mind were your first 2 which are key. Gainstaging was a key moment for me awhile back - I didn’t even realize the difference between input and output on Cubase metering which definitely is necessary lol!
Thank you for making this video. Mixing has been one of my challenges and your tips are extremely helpful. I’ve been trying to mix one of my tracks for the last two weeks and I feel that it still sound muddy. I have so much to learn. I really need a mentor on this. By the way, love your energy, your passion and wisdom that you put into making your videos.
Thanks Dom - fantastic content as always. Appreciate your passion for sharing what you have learned through trial and error. (...and yes you have converted me into turning on the Control Room button and using that as a basis for experimenting with the sound.....caution out the window). Thanks.
Thanks for your realistic words about mastering engineers. Unlike with game music, for Pop/Rock-Music I never got into the luxury to work with professional clients only, and so quite often my work is writing "suggestions and issues" lists when songs come in instead of turning any knob. I always tell my clients that mastering is not a one-way road. I thinks that sums it up. When doing mastering for AAA titles, I'm sometimes simply a last QC, a bunch of additional ears to make sure everything works well, and sometimes I don't apply anything but levelling. For other clients... well... there might be a lot of discussion, and yes, I sometimes refuse to master stuff if the mixing engineer is not willing to cooperate.
Absolutely! This is exactly what I experience too. I don’t want to accept a master if I feel that the mix is problematic. Unless we accept this fact and still decide to go on! These suggestions and fixes are sometimes more valuable and critical than the actual mastering process itself! Mixing tends to be way more expensive than mastering so artists tend to perform it themselves sometimes so suggestions coming from a mastering engineer are of the utmost importance!
You deserve 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 ♾️ subscribers i love to learn with you you are the biggest mentor in music producrion love from pakistan
Great video Dom. Sometime I'm having a hard time explaining to clients who generally have no experience in recording why working levels are so low. The "magic" happens during the last stage.
One of the kindest men on youtube! Thanks for your knowledge
I really like your videos,because you know what you are talking about!I know!👌😜
Watching the vid - literally just pressed play. However, feel I've got to share this revelation... It's taken an embarrassing amount of time to realise this.
Had a issue with a mix, couldn't see why. The audio tracks had all been EQd already. They sat nicely and played well with each other. Good start. 👍
As I started things still good, the low end compression for the kick drum - good, meaty but not overbearing.
High hats fizzing nicely in the mix... Guitars and vocals again good - not pin point perfect, but good enough at this stage.
Then we get to the meat of it... The main music (all digitally created, with a few analogue samples) and there was the issue. Much of it sank into the mix without a trace.
I wasted a chunk of time (not client time - just mine, so not a disaster) with filters, EQ, compression, exciters, bass booster and so fourth. Everything fell short.
I then, out of desperation put it through a spacial image visualiser. And had a shock.
Pretty much everything in the mix,aside from effects (looking at the dB info) was from the effects such as delay.
Was literally set to center.
So, went back to the mix - put a widener on a few stereo tracks, set to full (100% wide), medium and narrow (25%).
It was like a different mix - everything that got lost was suddenly there. Some aspects were too bright , so a bit of HF roll off but it's cool as I could now HEAR what was going on.
Never ignore the stereo image.
It gets messy
Thanks for this...and yes... please, make a video about sound selection :D
It would be awesome to see tutorials about mixing the midrange, with lots of guitars, synths and vocals. Thanks Dom!
You dont need a video. If sounds clash move them to a slightly different position on the frequency spectrum by using EQ filter making sure they are not the same and make sure you pan your sounds taking advantage of stereo for a wider sound.
im going to make a tutorial to help people not make the mistake of using Cubase.....cakewalk.. blah apps....., rather use cr@cks then Cubase....sounds ok....but the trouble is not worth it, price is even worse.😁
@@britishboxer6875 You want to make a video on how to pirate DAW software? I think anyone who wants to do that already knows how.
@@HOLLASOUNDS ask softube or pro tools programers, they are the best at it and cut their competitors out doing so
@@britishboxer6875 Cracked software often comes with built in boots or viruses. Also if you use cracked software then you dont have a license and cant sell your music without if being illegal. You might not get caught but you might.
I appreciate your expertise, Dom, but mostly I appreciate your passion for all things musical.
And Greg I appreciate you. I know I don’t tell you enough
One of the most important video for Mastering
truth after truth after truth!!! master of masters! Dom's word!
Please do a video about sound selection. Thank you.
Gain staging is everything. Dom is right to say that we should ignore people that say it doesn't matter.
Thanks loads for the real TRUE revelation of all this when the whole world misunderstands the basics.... 👍👍🥇
What an essential outline! Thanks Dom! You're the best!
Dom, I love your truth! This is not about science, but this is about using your knowledge and knowing what you're doing and what you want to achieve... Thanks for this video!
Oh yes Dom please hit us with the "how to select the right instruments" lecture☺ I'm sure many of us will need this lesson.
If sounds clash move them to a slightly different position on the frequency spectrum by using EQ filter and make sure you pan your sounds taking advantage of stereo.
My favourite channel! Dom is very engaging and really loves what he does. His energy and focus really motivates me. Thanks again Dom!! You rock!!! 👍🏻🤟🏻
Excellent advice. Thank you for sharing. I knew about a few of these 7 tips, but many of them I had not considered before.These tips can spare us all from so much wasted time, effort and disappointment.
Dom you are such a pro. Putting in the work for years and being fortunate or good enough to make a living at it, yields a unique and mature perspective. Bravo Maestro!
I knew as soon as you said headroom that’s why my final bass would not even be heard while playing the tracks. Makes sense, thanks
I went through this list proudly checking off each reason. It feels good to know what I'm doing when I mix and it's mostly attributed to the YT community at large but I'm particularly grateful to Dom. Wish he would put together a course (using Cubase as the DAW)...
even good arranging tactics helps to fix things in the mix. you're so right
You're the Cubase guru Dom! I learn so much from these videos. It's insane how long I've not understood, for instance, inserts vs sends. I still don't completely get it, but way way more than I used to. Thanks!
These lectures are a pleasant oasis in a desert full of emptiness.
Many thanks! Your video on gain staging changed the game for me on my current project, and the other 6 points are going to be helpful too. I'm not to the mastering stage yet, but I'd definitely watch a video on the process if you make one.
Love your passion for the rudiments of music production Dom, Real talk. Nuff respect dude
Dom, Thank you for your knowledge, charisma and time, Good Man!)
This is golden knowledge.
Hi, I am new to the party and started a week ago with mixing/homerecording etc. I found this channel by accident and wanted to give my two cents on this:
1st: This channel is so underrated, I am learning so many things just alone from this video and I appreciate how much in details you go (in every vid/guide),
2nd: You talked about, that if someone doesn't feel secure in mixing to let made done by a professional. This so true. Nowadays with TH-cam every one can become a photograph, sound engineer, video editor etc. But there's a reason why in some countries these professions are done during an apprenticeship and you then can earn a title, like let's say "master of sound engineering". I don't want to say that there aren't talented people out there who did a lot by self-study but when you have done an apprenticeship for a job you know how much more and detailed input you get by that.
That leads me to a question, do you actually apprentice students? 😁
And last but not least: thank you so far for sharing your knowledge with us, I can speak for myself and say it really helps me a lot and I appreciate the afford you put in these guides and tips.
Thanks so much, Dom! It's a joy to learn from you. 🍻👍
The best video of 2022! lol! Brilliant advice, that’s opened my eyes on some things, and hopefully my ears now! 👏👏👏👏👏
dom is the future of a much bigger cubase community
I love your point about sound selection and why that is so critical to getting a loud mix. Many times we always start talking about mixing solutions, effects - clippers, saturation - what not, before actually looking at the sounds. Reality is that I personally tend to unfortunately pick sounds in isolation to one another - great sounds on their own, but too great together. So I think professionals have this uncanny ability to use sounds that blend in the right way and create the right psychoacoustic effect when everything is put together.
Dom, This is GREAT Info... I wish you were still teaching because Id take your courses...Keep em coming!
A big thank you Dom. I am learning every day......also from your videos. I love the way you explain things.
First off - Dom love your channel, best tutorials on TH-cam IMO.
However - I think level matching most/all changes as a beginner is a good thing to do. Otherwise you make a change, it's louder, sounds better and so you go with it, regardless of whether it was actually the correct move or not. When you're developing your ear, you really need the level matching to actually hear whether something is better or not. That will also help you determine whether the correct move is actually just turning up the fader vs. putting a CLA 2A on, getting 4dB of gain and getting the volume that's needed but now having more midrange and compression than it needed.
Thanks for the video!
Absolutely. When you're experienced, you know your gear/plugins and know what you're doing, you can get away with not level matching, but it's bad advice for beginners. That's like a racing driver teaching someone how to drive and telling them to be brave and adventurous by driving as fast as possible and powerslilding around corners! A skilled driver can do that safely but it's very dangerous for a novice. I can't tell you how many times I've improved a sound with a plugin, then level matched it and found that it made hardly any difference or even sounded worse. Often it does sound better, but a novice can't be sure of that without level matching. Later, once you've trained your ears and know your plugins well, then you can drive like a madman!
Every of your videos helps always. Thank you Dom! I cannot wait for your full mastering video :)
Of course we want "how to select propere sound" tutorial Dom. You are making good work. Keep doing.
Super helpful, Dom. You hit The right spot. Thanks so much
thank you dom... you helped me on so much through cubase 12 pro and it so easy when I though it was so hard. thank you
Thanks Dom about filtering the reverbs. I had purchased the spaced out effect plugin after seeing your demo so im trying to do that into the mix..
"Mastering is not for everyone". That totally made me laugh out loud.
Lately, I've found that Tonal Balance Control and LCD-MX4 give my super accurate mixes and masterings. Sean Divine channel also taught me how to make perceived louder music, one of the methods is the using of multiband compressor on the mid-range during mastering.
Said like a true Master! Salute 🫡
Hey Dom, thank you for your video. Regarding the fourth chapter ("being overly conservative"), we all know that mixing is about emphasizing the emotional impact of a musical piece hence every action you take should improve the piece you are working on. From my experience and the way I learned, the 'bypass' button is one of the most important buttons in every plugin and you should always bypass and compare the changes you do to each track in order to be sure that you did improve the song by this change and not the opposite. Also, we all know that our ears tend to fool us and they would always prefer the 'loud' version. Having said that, I think that level-matching is a key to be sure that you are doing a fair comparison and not fooling your ears into thinking that you improved something while you actually just made it louder. I would be happy to hear your opinion about that.
As a producer and mixer. I say always choose the best sounding sound, the sound that is as close to how you want it so sound in your final song....you can always tweak it and modify it in many ways, but the closer to perfection it sounds from the beginning, the better.
Also pay attention to how it fits with sounds you've already chosen. A good sound depends a lot on the genre, and on what sounds are around it. A great kick drum for one song night be bad for another track. So consider the big picture, the vision, the goal, the purpose and role of the instrument, and the context
definitely agree! this is what I find works the best
Great video Dom. Thanks
Outstanding Dom, thank you very much!
Really helpful ideas and good service nole explanation. Thanks!
I truly love this video, thanks Dom
10.37 😂crack up
Loving your videos. Learning lots. Cheers 👍
Another great video Dom, thank you! 16:09, Yes please! Do make one about mastering. Cheers!
Maestro, looking fresh! Happy new year!
I'm very new to this and your videos are exceedingly helpful! I am adding drums to classical music and I am struggling with making my drums sound good. I know that I'll get there but I wanted to thank you for doing what yo do here!
Thanks for the level match plugin thing, am kind of obsessed by it and what u said here just clicked something in my mind. I hope i break free from it soon couse its making my mixes take to damn long... Thank u 😊😊😊
Yes please do the video thankx❤
Loved the cutaway at 10:36 lol Thanks for grounding us on some of these mysterious points :P
This guy is good!!
Good to know the first two to come to my mind were your first 2 which are key. Gainstaging was a key moment for me awhile back - I didn’t even realize the difference between input and output on Cubase metering which definitely is necessary lol!
Thank you, Dom!
Thank You, great input!
Great, as always 🔝🔝
Excellent Advice Dom...... Agree with the RTFM.......I also had a fully printed Cubase Manual.....Took for ever to print.LOL
Great, Thank you so much!
Thanks, Dom. Learned again.
Thanks Dom . Very helpful 👍
midrange is magic !
Love all your videos thank you!
Sound selection, yes please
Thank you for making this video. Mixing has been one of my challenges and your tips are extremely helpful. I’ve been trying to mix one of my tracks for the last two weeks and I feel that it still sound muddy. I have so much to learn. I really need a mentor on this. By the way, love your energy, your passion and wisdom that you put into making your videos.
Thanks very much dom
Thank you so much Dom, you are incredible. Love from India. Please make a video about right sound selection and instrument selection.
GREAT video, Dom!
It was really helpful!
Thank you Dom .iam really learning a lot from you
Dom, Invaluable advice, much thanks. Love the intermittent dream sequences for effect, funny!
me too. I really lol
YES! sound selection please
Thanks Dom - fantastic content as always. Appreciate your passion for sharing what you have learned through trial and error. (...and yes you have converted me into turning on the Control Room button and using that as a basis for experimenting with the sound.....caution out the window). Thanks.
You're a gold, i wish to be part of your students❤
very good video, thank you!
U are the best teacher ❤❤
Thanks for your realistic words about mastering engineers. Unlike with game music, for Pop/Rock-Music I never got into the luxury to work with professional clients only, and so quite often my work is writing "suggestions and issues" lists when songs come in instead of turning any knob.
I always tell my clients that mastering is not a one-way road. I thinks that sums it up. When doing mastering for AAA titles, I'm sometimes simply a last QC, a bunch of additional ears to make sure everything works well, and sometimes I don't apply anything but levelling. For other clients... well... there might be a lot of discussion, and yes, I sometimes refuse to master stuff if the mixing engineer is not willing to cooperate.
Absolutely! This is exactly what I experience too. I don’t want to accept a master if I feel that the mix is problematic. Unless we accept this fact and still decide to go on! These suggestions and fixes are sometimes more valuable and critical than the actual mastering process itself! Mixing tends to be way more expensive than mastering so artists tend to perform it themselves sometimes so suggestions coming from a mastering engineer are of the utmost importance!
Thanks for an intresting video. Be safe and skilful. Pinge
This is a very very very good video 👍🏼
Ok, I get a 7/7 completely wrong. :D That was a great piece of advice!
Thanks, very good video 👌👍
Good video...
Great tips
Hey but Don jus look gorgeous in this video. Keep level up ❤️🔥
Just found your channel and it's awesome, thank you. I really hope you will make a video on mixing mid range, it would be incredibly helpful
Dom, Please make that video about sound selection, I would love to know on what criteria you do that, besides style.
You deserve 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 ♾️ subscribers i love to learn with you you are the biggest mentor in music producrion love from pakistan
Introducing I use the same exact trackball mouse! :)
Sound selection video 👍🏾
Great video!
Brilliant!~
i kinda like the slightly less scripted dom.....this was fresh
would love a video on sound selection!
Video ótimo. Obrigado pelas dicas!
I love your videos. You rock ^_^ x
Very insightful.
Great video Dom. Sometime I'm having a hard time explaining to clients who generally have no experience in recording why working levels are so low. The "magic" happens during the last stage.
Dom Sigalas. Respect 🫡