1) 0:25 Remove the sub bass frequencies from every sound except the kick and bass 2) 1:34 Build a freelance mixing business 3) 3:02 Use a reference plugin to compare your mix to a professional mix 4) 6:21 EQ your reverb 5) 8:18 Balance in mono 6) 9:37 Don't mix your song the same day you made it! 7) 10:28 Consolidate layered instruments 8) 12:04 Mix a song of yours and then hire a pro to mix she same song 9) 13:04 Invest in studio monitors or studio monitor headphones 10) 14:15 Mix for other people - even if you have to do it for free for a while
Life is so crazy. I’m sitting here emotional because this whole time I thought I didn’t know how to mix or what I was hearing… But I’ve been doing most of these things recently in the last year. This video is confirmation that I’m always moving in the right direction!! Amazing video 2 years later! 😭🙏🏾
"Don't mix your songs the same day you made it" This one, I feel really hard. Once I've spent a few hours working on something, it genuinely feels as if I can't tell what sounds good anymore. It is surreal how different the song sounds to me from this point, and the point that I come back to it a day later
Yep, producers block sucks real bad. I tend to do hour on hour off. You dont realise how much you over-do yourself with production until you hear back the next day or after 2 - 4 hours of rest.
I learned this the hard way. And I used to not use reference tracks too. And I wondered why nobody took me seriously even though I put hours and days into everything.
My man...my dude...you've got it all Nathan. You might like to ad "on point", "thanks for the heads up" and or "bro" a little more in future, ok? Keep it up.
Hi @Alex_Rome, all this above mentioned was happend after replying You and Nathan's collab video. I am very depressed by this issue. No offence Rome, I am just telling so that others won't become victims like me.
holy.. these are ACTUALLY all priceless tips. i been doing music a long time and so i know 90% of the advice i see around is clickbait garbage but these are all genuine and amazing tips.
This is by far one of the most honest mixing video tutorials I’ve ran across. The tips are genuine! Thanks man👍🏽you deserve it all for your hard work and dedication.
Hi Bro, cutting the reverb means putting a EQ in the mixer chain After the reverb or there are ways to cut the reverb Just by tweaking some features in the reverb plugin itself ?
@@iAmJoshC most reverb plugins should have a "high cut" and "low cut" feature - if yours doesn't, I suggest switching to something else. there are a lot of really nice freebies out there, just have to do some digging :)
@@AshrZ It's true but especially when you are still learning it's helpful to actually visualize what are you cutting . I might be wrong but usually many reverbs have a knob but it's not like a surgical EQ in specific frequencies. The knob usually does a generic LowCut / Highcut
Dont start doing it on everything now, be careful, new technics are addicting.... only cut if needed, Filter Slopes cause aliasing and phasing or something. I heard anything more than 6db slope causes phase (canceling/loss of energy dip) ....Learn what you can do (tools/mixing), then only do what you need/want to. Lots to learn
I really needed this. I've been at this game since the early nineties back when you could still get reel to reel tape at Radio Shack, and I knew most of these tips. But as I got older, burned out, started a family, etc, I stopped cold turkey for a few years and my studio brain muscle atrophied. When you record and mix every day, it's like walking the same path through a jungle. It gets easier, better, faster as you create a beaten path. Your gear works, everything is compatible, the creative juices are flowing, and all your vast knowledge is right there at the front of your brain. But when you stop walking that path, the jungle takes back over and covers the path. You can literally get lost going someplace you used to be able to go blindfolded. These 10 tips are waking up a dormant part of my brain.
Hey everyone. I may have breezed over some topics without explaining them well enough as I was trying to keep the video short and digestible. If you'd like me to clear up any of these tips, reply here with your question and I'll get on it!
@@BeatsByEverest mostly cold calling and emailing artists and small recording studios. I also had a small following here on TH-cam and Instagram from which I got a lot of ghost production and post production work.
@@jbettellJust asked the same question? I am not a big fan of that idea, especialy in todays music. I agree that the kick should be in mono but for other instruments....
every reverb does *not* have an EQ module, however you can create your reverb as a send/aux track and process the reverb on its own which is very useful even when the reverb does have filters or an EQ
@@TheRealMacAndCheese Well most DAWs literally call it a send function afaik, but you're pretty much correct, yeah. You create a channel with nothing on it except for a plugin chain, and you send the dry audio (or processed depending on your goals) into it, so you can manually mix it, duck if necessary, widen up only the reverb etc
Another tip with the reverb… use as a send and side chain the reverb to the audio your using the reverb send on… it helps let the sound punch through before the reverb kicks in… gives more control and sounds super clean👍
THAT IS CALLED PRE DELAY, almost. all delay has a pre delay knob, no need for side chain. But if your reverb is suuuper long sidechaind + pre delay + eq is a good idea.
I learnt the majority of these tips over many years but you are doing gods work in this one video. This is so helpful for anyone just starting out and they may not even realise it.
I'm not really experienced with mixing or mastering, but I do think I have a good tip for people. When you're mixing, close your eyes and try to mentally isolate every instrument. If you can't hear all of them, there's an issue with your mix.
Great tips ! A/B comparison is king. Personally, the main thing that I learned from mixing is that it is always good to plan 3 or 4 mixing sessions for a single song, with enough time between each to be able to "forget what I've done". 😄
Just a few comments, when mixing with reference track, you have to take into account that the reference track is probably also mastered, if you match your volumes pre-master with the mastered reference, when you hit the mastering stage with compression and limiters, that mix will go off mainly on high end and low end. I recomend doing that process with at least 1 compressor and 1 limiter set on desired lufs on your master chain, and then you compare and adjust, that will give you a sense of what it will sound like when squashed like the reference track. The other thing is that ATH-M50 headphones are definetly not flat, to make your headphones really flat you have to use Sonnarworks plugin.
@@torchbearer3784 the point of a reference isn’t to just copy the mix lol. you’ll see few very few mixing or mastering engineers not using a reference. Saying “I don’t use references cuz it’s someone else’s song hurr durr” just shows you don’t understand what they are even for and that somehow putting yourself at a disadvantage because of misguided principles makes you feel superior. Which you know, more power to ya. All of his other tips were pretty good but that’s not how you really use a reference track. You’re using it to check your frequency response and RMS across the entire spectrum which is particularly useful when mixing for a certain sound and doubly so for mastering, when you want to compare the actual real world levels and bring a song up to commercial standards in terms of loudness without destroying the mix. Side note I absolutely love the rampant attitude of “well actually I know how to do it right” or “you should and shouldn’t do x y or z” that exists in the music production community coming from people that do not and never will be paid for their audio work telling people that do in fact get paid for their work how to do things. The irony is amazing. It’s similar to how people talk about cooking. Mfers that can’t scramble an egg always want to tell people what is and isn’t the right way to make a dish or how to prepare food lmao.
Having flat headphones or monitors doesn’t really matter. Either your setup is perfect or it isn’t, with pretty much no in between. Whatever gear you know the best is the best gear for you. A shitty pair of $10 headphones will yield an infinitely better translating mix than reference monitors if you know those shorty headphones inside and out and how to compensate for their frequency response. People constantly parrot the “use flat monitoring” thing ad nauseam but leave out the fact that learning and adjusting to a flat response takes a lot of time. It’s the same reason why a lot of professionals can bang out a near perfect mix with a pair of normal AirPods on a noisy plane. They know those AirPods, how to compensate for their frequency response, and how to make mixes translate well from them. No I’m not saying don’t use or worry about having reference gear, I’m saying most people parrot that sentiment without understanding why or what is actually best or most practical in application. If you have 2 sources of reference no matter what they are you can make a good mix with skill and knowing those sources well. The best mixes I’ve personally ever done were with ab old turtle beach Xbox headset with bass so loud mids so muddy you’d think you were listening to literal mud. I also had them for like 12 years and knew them perfectly. Even to this day with only 1 driver working in them I still pass every mix I do through them despite having a pair of adams and several reference headphones. You’ll notice a lot of professionals have a poopy but well internalized set of cans or speaker to test mixes and it’s probably a pair they’ve had or decades
8:27 this right here. I didn’t realize how good it can make your stereo mixes until I had to do mono mixes of a couple of our tracks. After I bounced it I put it back into stereo and pressed play. Aside from some percussion it sounded fantastic. Mostly because to bring the character back to the sounds, I had saturation on almost every track and group.
a no-frills, informative, neutral, and incredibly informative and helpful video regarding improving one's mixing skills--AND you're the like, ONLY other musician i know that uses Logic?!?!? AHHH!!!!!! subbed IMMEDIATELY.
About equalizing reverb: Not always, but it's generally a good idea to send the wanted signal to a reverb "bus" or "aux" channel. In a digital audio workspaces this will enable you to process the reverb any way you like since you can insert anything into that bus. It also makes it pretty handy to automate the effect. Now back to EQing the REV. In the insert chain, you might want to put an EQ plugin before the reverb. With this EQ you want to do everything Alex here said, HPF and LPF around those frequencies. But with reverb there might occur this phenomenon called "the double attack". This is usually something you might not detect while listening to a single track + rev, but if you have a mix full of reverbed stuff, it will affect the clarity of the mix. So basically what any reverb plugin does, is that it "copies" the signal, processes it and plays it back. And since there is always a delay involved, the "attack area" which varies around 5kHz depending on the sound source, gets doubled AND delayed, so you might want to EQ down the Attack area from the reverb too. This is something you usually can't do from the plugin itself, so that's why a separate channel for REVS and delays etc are not a bad idea.
Thanks for listing your gear man, I can remember when CASSETTES had artist equipment usually listed after the lyrics and what not. CD’s sorta slowly started leaving that stuff out until it was gone, just MP3’s now or Lossless
You have taught me more in 20 mins than the last 10 years. Seriously. I just make music at home for myself but always had issues with the final mix. Thank you! Subbed immediately!
I would like to add a couple of rules to this already awesome video: 1. Save often! This will keep you from losing tons of work from a system crash or freeze. You can't rely on the DAW's recovery feature alone. 2. Save a different version of un-consolidated tracks before you get down and dirty. Comes in handy for mistakes and also for poaching stuff I did from one song to help in the production of another. 3. Make personal presets. I have been able to make my own custom starting points because I tend to use the same tricks. This will also save you time for Rule 1 of this video. Having a low cut already sorted at 32hz lets me just plop it on my channel and drag away! Great video!
DAMN! so many gems in this one. Thanks a ton Alex, these advices really opened up my perspective. I'll be sure to keep these in mind moving forward :) Thanks again!
I summarised this in my notes to learn and apply to my own music and am going to share it here: 1. Cut all sub freqs on everything (except kick and sub) - Don't need to change perceivable sound - Too many instruments with this sound create mud and lack of head room 2. Build a freelance mixing business: - Advertisement, but good advice 3. Reference the mix - Reference with a song with similar dynamics - Can micromanage frequencies to perfection - increase workflow by using plugin 4. Eq Reverb - Low-cut - high- cut the hiss 5. Balance the mix in mono - Sounds are usually louder in stereo - mono more accurate - helps +++ with drums 6. Don't mix the song in the same session - Exhaustion leads to bad decisions 7. Consolidate layered instruments - better for work flow - simplistic to look at 8. Mix yourself and then compare to a pro - direct comparison to a professional on the same project - seemed like an ad - good advice for obvious reasons 9. Purchase studio monitors/headphones - Commercial are for listening to music and will automatically have a filter/ they don't deliver true sound 10. Mix for other people - When you mix your own music you have bias. you obsess over details that no one hears, mitigate this and make better decisions and learn more efficiently. Great video thank you for the advice :))
Very good video man. I was just blazing through my morning studies watching this. Great breath of fresh air when youve been heads down working in smoky studios for weeks. Artists can have you forgetting the simple things. Money's coming in and work is stacking up it's important to remember to stay true to your quality and work ethic.
Focusing on little details in your own mixes that don't bare any true significance to other listeners of your music was what really made me think about getting my tracks mastered elsewhere! Thanks a lot for pointing that out to me! Great video, man! Cheers!
Make sure you have any tracks you consolidate correctly processed before you do. I also tend to save the whole mix with a note in the save file name like ‘cnsld hh’. That way if i need to go back again to something I consolidated, i can go back 1 generation before that note & pull out the old tracks i need. Saving many versions and giving yourself clues to what you did can be hugely helpful later on.
Great tips dude! I definitely agree with Tip #7 to consolidate layers or create stems, however you like to work. My one added advice to anyone doing this is to make sure to either create a separate "save as" or project alternative (in Logic Pro X) for when you start doing mixing or stem bouncing that's separate from your production session. Especially if you're going to delete the original tracks like you showed in this video because you can't get those back if you end up needing to make changes later one. You can always go back to the production session or you can simply hide the tracks and make them inactive in whatever fashion your DAW provides for that.
Awesome tips! One more great tip I learned is to make sure your song is sound great on mobile phone speakers or airpods since most people will use those to listen to it. I had a moment when my song sounded great on my Audio Technika studio headphones but then on airpods it was very average.
i usually only watch will darling’s EDM tips channel, no one else seems to compare. but MAN this is a great video, super insightful. really appreciate you putting this together! subscribed!
Great info, brother! Your number one tip is my ultimate number one mixing technique that I use and teach on occasion in both live and studio mixing scenarios. I'll even go much farther than 80hz, reducing each instrument to it's most effective range. This I find helps to place each object in its proper place in the overall sonic painting. Subscribing now!
Thank you Alex for always sharing the best tips, you’re truly a lifesaver. Gonna go mix this beat I’ve been working on and this video is just what I needed.
Alex my man, your second tip alone might’ve just given me the confidence to change my life forever. I’ve never met you, but yet you’ve impacted me massively. Much love, best wishes ❤️
I find it more productive in my writing to write the idea one day. I will literally listen to the song on repeat throughout day, writing down what I want to change and fix. Then the next day I rewrite and start on mixing. Great video!!
A lot of great advice. Especially regarding low cutting everything. It really allows a thick, tasty bass to cut through. And I'll definitely try the balancing in mono trick. Thankfully Reaper has a 'MONO/STEREO' button on the master fader panel.
Alex Rome. Alex Rome. Alex Rome. Repeating it three times so I remember it. That as absolutely brilliant. A gift. Just what I needed at just the right moment.
Life changing tricks for me were: -Try to get the balance in mono, it's easier. -Try not to use the Solo button, the whole picture is what matters. -Get it mastered by another studio. -Rise the prices (a lot) and give your 100% on every project.
Exactly what I needed to give me a mixing advantage. I get overwhelmed with tools, but you have narrowed that down for me very much! Subscribed brother 👍🏻 thank you!
The tip about mixing a day after you’ve made the song is so true, the last song I mixed took me 11 mixes to get right and I still think it could improve. But hey, it’s a learning curve and a fun one at that. Patience is key 🔑
Used to think references wouldn't be useful in terms of overall volume, never thought about using it solely to listen for specific parts/instruments within a mix. For example bringing the hihats out in your mix really improved it and I mean drastically. Thanks for this, really gonna have to start using this from now on :)
That’s because the recording he recieves has already been treated with a high-pass filter at the time of recording. Either way, cutting low-end from instruments that has nothing relevant there is a well-known practice. Everyone does it, and I bet you misunderstood CLA and his statement. But go ahead. Add all the bottom end. Good luck.
LOL the part where you're just like 'so here's a song I completely ripped off, I'll just be matching my mix with this'. If you've made something remotely original unlucky I guess
using references applies to entire genres. Even if ur doing something extremely dumb like mixing Lofi with Riddim, u can just use 2 reference tracks and find a middleground
With the low end, it’s really important to have a logical fx chain. If the chain doesn’t make sense, you lose a lot of character if your sound, but you can maintain it with a proper chain. And we can also side chain the low ends if we want to keep them for character. In my experience, cutting to much can make it sound thin, but by cutting the sweet spot can make it sound richer.
so glad I'm at a level where I knew exactly what to do to get that original sounding like the reference - maybe a concept for a future video about developing skills as a producer? great tips here Alex, appreciate the pace/edit of this video as well, seen so many other mix videos that get caught in the weeds a bit
People have been saying the “hi-pass everything” tip for years. But what nobody says is that those steep EQs apply a phase shift to every track. You end up with a more artificial, less natural, sound. It’s better to just track it without gunk or use a gradual slope low shelf (much less phase shift).
I agree that when we mix our own songs, we add too much bias, but I don't think putting too much emotional thought into your own songs is ever a bad thing. If your ideas are good enough to feel strong emotions about, mix them in such a way that other people will feel those emotions too. Little details rock, and good listeners will notice them. Feel those emotions and use them to improve your mix rather than to distract you. AND you are right about mixing for other people, it's a lot easier to simply mix when you're not emotionally invested. Keep those little details in mind however.
I think you have to be quite smart to realize what this guy is giving you for free in this video, this free stuff, free information is GOLD! Even if i knew all you presented in this video, i want to thank you in the name of all peoples that learn something today from you!
My name is also ALEX & I am an upcoming Dj who works at a Honda (auto dealership). I've been mixing for a year and have been feeling so discouraged because of my lack of knowledge and experience in the bts process. This video inspired me to keep researching and experiencing. THANK U
Wayyy back in the old analog mixing board to tape days, the first "real studio" I got to record and mix in had a small, cheap mono AM radio that was sitting on the board, set to receive the mix from the board. SO HELPFUL... the two biggest takeaways were A. Mono is your friend B. Always have a known reference system to check against, but listen to your mix through a wide range of systems; cars don't sound like earbuds which don't sound like near field monitors, etc.
This IS Definetly what i've been doing all this years and i do really get very nice mixdowns because of every single thing you said, i never took the time to make a video explaining it like this but im REALLY really happy this exists, thanks for this Alex, im shring this video to everyone, everyone should too..
Excellent tips! I would offer this for discussion: there are producers out there who say nobody has fresh new ideas and everyone sounds the same BECAUSE of reference tracks and presets.
All good tips for those learning to mix music, thanks! Two thoughts from a mastering engineer. When you listen to a commercial track as a reference, remember that you're not listening to the studio mix, you're listening to the final master. And it's important to remember that if your room or headphones are attenuating or boosting certain frequency ranges (which I guarantee they are) you'll hear your reference track incorrectly and your mix will have the same deficiencies. That's why a mastering engineer in a studio designed for mastering (mix and mastering studios have different requirements) will make the final adjustments and put some polish on your great mixes!
I do not understand English language well, but good teachers teach with their hearts, not their tongues, so i learned a lot from you. Thank you very much
This video is great for not just beginners, but those on the intermediate level and are looking to move on up! Thank you, and you have won yourself yet another subscriber!
props on not pulling up a bunch of 100+ plus plugins.. every other mixing video I watch I'd be out a few hundred just to follow along. I just purchased reference 2 because its only 30$ and looks INCREDIBLY useful. Thanks for the awesome guide!
1) 0:25 Remove the sub bass frequencies from every sound except the kick and bass
2) 1:34 Build a freelance mixing business
3) 3:02 Use a reference plugin to compare your mix to a professional mix
4) 6:21 EQ your reverb
5) 8:18 Balance in mono
6) 9:37 Don't mix your song the same day you made it!
7) 10:28 Consolidate layered instruments
8) 12:04 Mix a song of yours and then hire a pro to mix she same song
9) 13:04 Invest in studio monitors or studio monitor headphones
10) 14:15 Mix for other people - even if you have to do it for free for a while
You saved me time thank you 😇
Jeez I’ll stop watching now thanks. Lol
GOAT
should have a mention to panning though can't do much without understanding how a soundscape works to a degree especially for live let alone studio
@@harrythompson6977 most people mix in mono live.
Life is so crazy. I’m sitting here emotional because this whole time I thought I didn’t know how to mix or what I was hearing… But I’ve been doing most of these things recently in the last year. This video is confirmation that I’m always moving in the right direction!! Amazing video 2 years later! 😭🙏🏾
aint it dope when it clicks and you finally realize that youre on the right path!
"Don't mix your songs the same day you made it"
This one, I feel really hard. Once I've spent a few hours working on something, it genuinely feels as if I can't tell what sounds good anymore. It is surreal how different the song sounds to me from this point, and the point that I come back to it a day later
@dj Kplus you're still going to have to mix the entire song at the end.
I usually run a 1-2 hour timer to remind to get off, do smth else for a bit and return again, switch audio outputs and have a listen
@dj Kplus that's what I do. It's something about hearing it improve as I record it
Yep, producers block sucks real bad. I tend to do hour on hour off. You dont realise how much you over-do yourself with production until you hear back the next day or after 2 - 4 hours of rest.
I learned this the hard way. And I used to not use reference tracks too. And I wondered why nobody took me seriously even though I put hours and days into everything.
My wifi was acting up and not showing the thumbnail, so I clicked on this thinking it was about alcohol
🔥🔥🔥
My man - appreciate that these are not just little hacks but are more about principles. Solid stuff my dude.
I agree! It’s also great to see other producers encourage each other in the comments section. So refreshing
My man...my dude...you've got it all Nathan. You might like to ad "on point", "thanks for the heads up" and or "bro" a little more in future, ok? Keep it up.
Hi @Alex_Rome, all this above mentioned was happend after replying You and Nathan's collab video. I am very depressed by this issue. No offence Rome, I am just telling so that others won't become victims like me.
@prod lucas Are you a mask wearer Lucas?
Damn anything nathan is hyped on must be good!!
holy.. these are ACTUALLY all priceless tips. i been doing music a long time and so i know 90% of the advice i see around is clickbait garbage but these are all genuine and amazing tips.
This is by far one of the most honest mixing video tutorials I’ve ran across. The tips are genuine! Thanks man👍🏽you deserve it all for your hard work and dedication.
Wow, cutting unnecessary low end and reverb has already been a huge difference on my one song I've tried. Thank you!
Hi Bro, cutting the reverb means putting a EQ in the mixer chain After the reverb or there are ways to cut the reverb Just by tweaking some features in the reverb plugin itself ?
@@iAmJoshC most reverb plugins should have a "high cut" and "low cut" feature - if yours doesn't, I suggest switching to something else.
there are a lot of really nice freebies out there, just have to do some digging :)
@@AshrZ It's true but especially when you are still learning it's helpful to actually visualize what are you cutting . I might be wrong but usually many reverbs have a knob but it's not like a surgical EQ in specific frequencies. The knob usually does a generic LowCut / Highcut
yeah, totally fair
Dont start doing it on everything now, be careful, new technics are addicting.... only cut if needed, Filter Slopes cause aliasing and phasing or something. I heard anything more than 6db slope causes phase (canceling/loss of energy dip) ....Learn what you can do (tools/mixing), then only do what you need/want to. Lots to learn
I'm a rock guy. But the tips you give in this video are cross-genre and applicable to all styles of music. Thanks for sharing these great tips.
I really needed this. I've been at this game since the early nineties back when you could still get reel to reel tape at Radio Shack, and I knew most of these tips.
But as I got older, burned out, started a family, etc, I stopped cold turkey for a few years and my studio brain muscle atrophied. When you record and mix every day, it's like walking the same path through a jungle. It gets easier, better, faster as you create a beaten path. Your gear works, everything is compatible, the creative juices are flowing, and all your vast knowledge is right there at the front of your brain.
But when you stop walking that path, the jungle takes back over and covers the path. You can literally get lost going someplace you used to be able to go blindfolded.
These 10 tips are waking up a dormant part of my brain.
"I got older, burned out, started a family" UH OH STINKY LELELELELELELELE
welcome back
Hey everyone. I may have breezed over some topics without explaining them well enough as I was trying to keep the video short and digestible. If you'd like me to clear up any of these tips, reply here with your question and I'll get on it!
How did you start the mixing freelance business?
@@BeatsByEverest mostly cold calling and emailing artists and small recording studios. I also had a small following here on TH-cam and Instagram from which I got a lot of ghost production and post production work.
@@AlexRome Thank you so much for the response!
Hey. Appreciate the vid! If you balance in mono will this not then make the sound overpowering when listening back in stereo?
@@jbettellJust asked the same question? I am not a big fan of that idea, especialy in todays music. I agree that the kick should be in mono but for other instruments....
The reverb point is really informative. I really was struggling 1 night before this video
every reverb does *not* have an EQ module, however you can create your reverb as a send/aux track and process the reverb on its own which is very useful even when the reverb does have filters or an EQ
Yeah, it's a great way to get some really creative sounding reverbs too. Or to gate them.
i prefer to always send my reverb to a send incase i wanna add more layers to it. for sure helps
Sorry, noob question but what does sending a reverb to a send mean? Literally putting it on its own channel and side chaining to it?
@@TheRealMacAndCheese Well most DAWs literally call it a send function afaik, but you're pretty much correct, yeah. You create a channel with nothing on it except for a plugin chain, and you send the dry audio (or processed depending on your goals) into it, so you can manually mix it, duck if necessary, widen up only the reverb etc
@@radiofloyd2359 OH OK, so putting the reverb literally on its own channel and mixing from there.
Another tip with the reverb… use as a send and side chain the reverb to the audio your using the reverb send on… it helps let the sound punch through before the reverb kicks in… gives more control and sounds super clean👍
THAT IS CALLED PRE DELAY, almost. all delay has a pre delay knob, no need for side chain. But if your reverb is suuuper long sidechaind + pre delay + eq is a good idea.
@@dhruvalance1323 side note we are talking about reverb not delay
figured this out on my own i feel so smart
@@dhruvalance1323 pre delay and side chaining are very different
@@FreshBagelz yes they are!
#11: quit wacking off during mixing.....unreal how much a difference this can make.
BRO THIS MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD MY SOUL LEFT MY BODY💀💀💀
Lol
Dead ass though 🤣🤣
my man
omg 😂😂
Bro actually gave the best tips that I gotta write down now
This was extremely informative, thank you! 🙏
Ok I've been producing for almost two years now and this is one of the best music production videos I've seen. Thank you so much!
I learnt the majority of these tips over many years but you are doing gods work in this one video. This is so helpful for anyone just starting out and they may not even realise it.
I'm not really experienced with mixing or mastering, but I do think I have a good tip for people. When you're mixing, close your eyes and try to mentally isolate every instrument. If you can't hear all of them, there's an issue with your mix.
Great tips ! A/B comparison is king.
Personally, the main thing that I learned from mixing is that it is always good to plan 3 or 4 mixing sessions for a single song, with enough time between each to be able to "forget what I've done". 😄
gonna give this a shot! Thanks!
absolutely correct
I do this exact thing as well. You get tunnel vision when you mix for too long. The next day you hear your mix and think "wtf" lol
okay chester LOL
A/B everything!!
Great tips I made sure to bookmark this page so I can come back to it every now and then. Love and respect from Jamaica
I love how simple u are, stright to point and approach that non boring. Your channel is golden bro ! Im learning A LOT from you
Just a few comments, when mixing with reference track, you have to take into account that the reference track is probably also mastered, if you match your volumes pre-master with the mastered reference, when you hit the mastering stage with compression and limiters, that mix will go off mainly on high end and low end. I recomend doing that process with at least 1 compressor and 1 limiter set on desired lufs on your master chain, and then you compare and adjust, that will give you a sense of what it will sound like when squashed like the reference track.
The other thing is that ATH-M50 headphones are definetly not flat, to make your headphones really flat you have to use Sonnarworks plugin.
It is called Sonarworks Reference 4 and removes unwanted coloration from your speakers and headphones
I never use refence tracks. They are somebody elses mixes and songs.
@@torchbearer3784 the point of a reference isn’t to just copy the mix lol. you’ll see few very few mixing or mastering engineers not using a reference. Saying “I don’t use references cuz it’s someone else’s song hurr durr” just shows you don’t understand what they are even for and that somehow putting yourself at a disadvantage because of misguided principles makes you feel superior. Which you know, more power to ya.
All of his other tips were pretty good but that’s not how you really use a reference track. You’re using it to check your frequency response and RMS across the entire spectrum which is particularly useful when mixing for a certain sound and doubly so for mastering, when you want to compare the actual real world levels and bring a song up to commercial standards in terms of loudness without destroying the mix.
Side note I absolutely love the rampant attitude of “well actually I know how to do it right” or “you should and shouldn’t do x y or z” that exists in the music production community coming from people that do not and never will be paid for their audio work telling people that do in fact get paid for their work how to do things. The irony is amazing. It’s similar to how people talk about cooking. Mfers that can’t scramble an egg always want to tell people what is and isn’t the right way to make a dish or how to prepare food lmao.
Having flat headphones or monitors doesn’t really matter. Either your setup is perfect or it isn’t, with pretty much no in between. Whatever gear you know the best is the best gear for you. A shitty pair of $10 headphones will yield an infinitely better translating mix than reference monitors if you know those shorty headphones inside and out and how to compensate for their frequency response. People constantly parrot the “use flat monitoring” thing ad nauseam but leave out the fact that learning and adjusting to a flat response takes a lot of time.
It’s the same reason why a lot of professionals can bang out a near perfect mix with a pair of normal AirPods on a noisy plane. They know those AirPods, how to compensate for their frequency response, and how to make mixes translate well from them.
No I’m not saying don’t use or worry about having reference gear, I’m saying most people parrot that sentiment without understanding why or what is actually best or most practical in application. If you have 2 sources of reference no matter what they are you can make a good mix with skill and knowing those sources well.
The best mixes I’ve personally ever done were with ab old turtle beach Xbox headset with bass so loud mids so muddy you’d think you were listening to literal mud. I also had them for like 12 years and knew them perfectly. Even to this day with only 1 driver working in them I still pass every mix I do through them despite having a pair of adams and several reference headphones. You’ll notice a lot of professionals have a poopy but well internalized set of cans or speaker to test mixes and it’s probably a pair they’ve had or decades
8:27 this right here. I didn’t realize how good it can make your stereo mixes until I had to do mono mixes of a couple of our tracks.
After I bounced it I put it back into stereo and pressed play. Aside from some percussion it sounded fantastic. Mostly because to bring the character back to the sounds, I had saturation on almost every track and group.
a no-frills, informative, neutral, and incredibly informative and helpful video regarding improving one's mixing skills--AND you're the like, ONLY other musician i know that uses Logic?!?!? AHHH!!!!!! subbed IMMEDIATELY.
About equalizing reverb: Not always, but it's generally a good idea to send the wanted signal to a reverb "bus" or "aux" channel. In a digital audio workspaces this will enable you to process the reverb any way you like since you can insert anything into that bus. It also makes it pretty handy to automate the effect. Now back to EQing the REV. In the insert chain, you might want to put an EQ plugin before the reverb. With this EQ you want to do everything Alex here said, HPF and LPF around those frequencies. But with reverb there might occur this phenomenon called "the double attack". This is usually something you might not detect while listening to a single track + rev, but if you have a mix full of reverbed stuff, it will affect the clarity of the mix. So basically what any reverb plugin does, is that it "copies" the signal, processes it and plays it back. And since there is always a delay involved, the "attack area" which varies around 5kHz depending on the sound source, gets doubled AND delayed, so you might want to EQ down the Attack area from the reverb too. This is something you usually can't do from the plugin itself, so that's why a separate channel for REVS and delays etc are not a bad idea.
Big THANK YOU for all that game fam
Thanks for listing your gear man, I can remember when CASSETTES had artist equipment usually listed after the lyrics and what not. CD’s sorta slowly started leaving that stuff out until it was gone, just MP3’s now or Lossless
You have taught me more in 20 mins than the last 10 years. Seriously. I just make music at home for myself but always had issues with the final mix. Thank you! Subbed immediately!
I would like to add a couple of rules to this already awesome video:
1. Save often! This will keep you from losing tons of work from a system crash or freeze. You can't rely on the DAW's recovery feature alone.
2. Save a different version of un-consolidated tracks before you get down and dirty. Comes in handy for mistakes and also for poaching stuff I did from one song to help in the production of another.
3. Make personal presets. I have been able to make my own custom starting points because I tend to use the same tricks. This will also save you time for Rule 1 of this video. Having a low cut already sorted at 32hz lets me just plop it on my channel and drag away!
Great video!
I love how baby muppets voices are now considered to be the "lead vocals" in music.
Haha well said
Excellent tips! Youre the goat for giving them out for free!
DAMN! so many gems in this one. Thanks a ton Alex, these advices really opened up my perspective. I'll be sure to keep these in mind moving forward :) Thanks again!
I summarised this in my notes to learn and apply to my own music and am going to share it here:
1. Cut all sub freqs on everything (except kick and sub)
- Don't need to change perceivable sound
- Too many instruments with this sound create mud and lack of head room
2. Build a freelance mixing business:
- Advertisement, but good advice
3. Reference the mix
- Reference with a song with similar dynamics
- Can micromanage frequencies to perfection
- increase workflow by using plugin
4. Eq Reverb
- Low-cut
- high- cut the hiss
5. Balance the mix in mono
- Sounds are usually louder in stereo
- mono more accurate
- helps +++ with drums
6. Don't mix the song in the same session
- Exhaustion leads to bad decisions
7. Consolidate layered instruments
- better for work flow
- simplistic to look at
8. Mix yourself and then compare to a pro
- direct comparison to a professional on the same project
- seemed like an ad
- good advice for obvious reasons
9. Purchase studio monitors/headphones
- Commercial are for listening to music and will automatically have a filter/ they don't deliver true sound
10. Mix for other people
- When you mix your own music you have bias. you obsess over details that no one hears, mitigate this and make better decisions and learn more efficiently.
Great video thank you for the advice :))
Very good video man. I was just blazing through my morning studies watching this. Great breath of fresh air when youve been heads down working in smoky studios for weeks. Artists can have you forgetting the simple things. Money's coming in and work is stacking up it's important to remember to stay true to your quality and work ethic.
Focusing on little details in your own mixes that don't bare any true significance to other listeners of your music was what really made me think about getting my tracks mastered elsewhere! Thanks a lot for pointing that out to me! Great video, man! Cheers!
Make sure you have any tracks you consolidate correctly processed before you do. I also tend to save the whole mix with a note in the save file name like ‘cnsld hh’. That way if i need to go back again to something I consolidated, i can go back 1 generation before that note & pull out the old tracks i need. Saving many versions and giving yourself clues to what you did can be hugely helpful later on.
Thank you for this Alex 🙌🏻
Great tips dude! I definitely agree with Tip #7 to consolidate layers or create stems, however you like to work. My one added advice to anyone doing this is to make sure to either create a separate "save as" or project alternative (in Logic Pro X) for when you start doing mixing or stem bouncing that's separate from your production session. Especially if you're going to delete the original tracks like you showed in this video because you can't get those back if you end up needing to make changes later one. You can always go back to the production session or you can simply hide the tracks and make them inactive in whatever fashion your DAW provides for that.
Does creating a Track Stack not have the same effect as creating stems for the purpose of consolidating layers?
All great points, glad to see others on here that actually know what they're talking about.
Awesome tips! One more great tip I learned is to make sure your song is sound great on mobile phone speakers or airpods since most people will use those to listen to it. I had a moment when my song sounded great on my Audio Technika studio headphones but then on airpods it was very average.
i usually only watch will darling’s EDM tips channel, no one else seems to compare. but MAN this is a great video, super insightful. really appreciate you putting this together! subscribed!
Great info, brother! Your number one tip is my ultimate number one mixing technique that I use and teach on occasion in both live and studio mixing scenarios. I'll even go much farther than 80hz, reducing each instrument to it's most effective range. This I find helps to place each object in its proper place in the overall sonic painting. Subscribing now!
Bro ty so much you’re changing my life with this knowledge it’s not cheesy it’s real fundamental and important
Thank you Alex for always sharing the best tips, you’re truly a lifesaver. Gonna go mix this beat I’ve been working on and this video is just what I needed.
I've been doing home producing for years now strictly for myself. Clicked on this video on a whim and surprised how much I learned. Thank you sir!
Alex my man, your second tip alone might’ve just given me the confidence to change my life forever. I’ve never met you, but yet you’ve impacted me massively. Much love, best wishes ❤️
I find it more productive in my writing to write the idea one day. I will literally listen to the song on repeat throughout day, writing down what I want to change and fix. Then the next day I rewrite and start on mixing. Great video!!
A lot of great advice. Especially regarding low cutting everything. It really allows a thick, tasty bass to cut through.
And I'll definitely try the balancing in mono trick. Thankfully Reaper has a 'MONO/STEREO' button on the master fader panel.
Bro do you got an instagram or email
Alex Rome. Alex Rome. Alex Rome. Repeating it three times so I remember it. That as absolutely brilliant. A gift. Just what I needed at just the right moment.
Life changing tricks for me were:
-Try to get the balance in mono, it's easier.
-Try not to use the Solo button, the whole picture is what matters.
-Get it mastered by another studio.
-Rise the prices (a lot) and give your 100% on every project.
jesus i’ve seen 100s of videos on producing & mixing. this by far is the most informative and useful thank you for dropping this for free!! Love you
Exactly what I needed to give me a mixing advantage. I get overwhelmed with tools, but you have narrowed that down for me very much! Subscribed brother 👍🏻 thank you!
This is one of the bests summaries I have ever seen :)
The tip about mixing a day after you’ve made the song is so true, the last song I mixed took me 11 mixes to get right and I still think it could improve. But hey, it’s a learning curve and a fun one at that. Patience is key 🔑
This is very important video and I've probably watched more than 50 videos on mixing alone... Thank you Alex!
Used to think references wouldn't be useful in terms of overall volume, never thought about using it solely to listen for specific parts/instruments within a mix. For example bringing the hihats out in your mix really improved it and I mean drastically. Thanks for this, really gonna have to start using this from now on :)
Dude this is gold! And you’re a great teacher
Chris Lord Algie makes his living as a mixer and he doesn't remove the bass out of every instrument.
That literally doesn't mean anything despite you getting likes on your comment by other people just agreeing with your nonsense.
That’s because the recording he recieves has already been treated with a high-pass filter at the time of recording.
Either way, cutting low-end from instruments that has nothing relevant there is a well-known practice. Everyone does it, and I bet you misunderstood CLA and his statement.
But go ahead. Add all the bottom end. Good luck.
@@LodvarDude how do you know every recording he receives has a low pass filter?
Next time I see him I'll ask him
Very good vid. Everything you stated seemed to the point and good solid information. Nice job.
LOL the part where you're just like 'so here's a song I completely ripped off, I'll just be matching my mix with this'. If you've made something remotely original unlucky I guess
using references applies to entire genres. Even if ur doing something extremely dumb like mixing Lofi with Riddim, u can just use 2 reference tracks and find a middleground
With the low end, it’s really important to have a logical fx chain. If the chain doesn’t make sense, you lose a lot of character if your sound, but you can maintain it with a proper chain. And we can also side chain the low ends if we want to keep them for character. In my experience, cutting to much can make it sound thin, but by cutting the sweet spot can make it sound richer.
Great video! I appreciate you for making this
One of the best production tips videos I've seen...I'm utilizing IMMEDIATELY
THE most helpful video I’ve seen in mixing.
This will never get old - really sound objective advice and help - wonderful - thank you
Dude these are literally the best tips I’ve heard from anywhere on mixing
Love Alex Rome tips and videos.He knows his stuff and i love how you can see how excited he gets by creating hot track or sound
I'm finishing up some recipes since about 4 5 hours ago and already the tips I've learned change tonight's sessions already. Thanks.
Tip #6 is a game changer
This man teaches like an older brother... god bless you man
so glad I'm at a level where I knew exactly what to do to get that original sounding like the reference - maybe a concept for a future video about developing skills as a producer? great tips here Alex, appreciate the pace/edit of this video as well, seen so many other mix videos that get caught in the weeds a bit
People have been saying the “hi-pass everything” tip for years. But what nobody says is that those steep EQs apply a phase shift to every track. You end up with a more artificial, less natural, sound. It’s better to just track it without gunk or use a gradual slope low shelf (much less phase shift).
Great tips, don't think I've ever thought to eq reverb before so that'll be on my mind 100%
Mate, I'm on 9.44 and you gave more valuable knowledge during this time, then hours of other tutorials. Appreciate you work. Thank you.
The reverb tip was such an eye-opener. I had never even thought about eq-ing that
Alex you don't hype or exaggerate , you're advice is the SH%T!
such solid advice, thank you!
I agree that when we mix our own songs, we add too much bias, but I don't think putting too much emotional thought into your own songs is ever a bad thing. If your ideas are good enough to feel strong emotions about, mix them in such a way that other people will feel those emotions too. Little details rock, and good listeners will notice them. Feel those emotions and use them to improve your mix rather than to distract you.
AND you are right about mixing for other people, it's a lot easier to simply mix when you're not emotionally invested. Keep those little details in mind however.
I think you have to be quite smart to realize what this guy is giving you for free in this video, this free stuff, free information is GOLD! Even if i knew all you presented in this video, i want to thank you in the name of all peoples that learn something today from you!
Man, this was HUGE! Thank you.
My name is also ALEX & I am an upcoming Dj who works at a Honda (auto dealership). I've been mixing for a year and have been feeling so discouraged because of my lack of knowledge and experience in the bts process.
This video inspired me to keep researching and experiencing.
THANK U
The SoundID Reference plugin and the translation output is pretty cool to hear your mix emulated on different speakers
This video was life-changing for me Alex thank for the packs and the knowledge broski 🙏🏻
Love this. Thank you! 🔥🤘🏼
Awesome tips man I definitely learned a few things!
Bro this is THE most helpful and straightforward video ive ever seen for mixing. Amazing bro, subbed!!!
this video was one of the most impactful mixing videos ive ever watched
Best mixing video I've seen, it makes others I''ve watched over the years seem like they just copy each other and and focus on trivial stuff
I love that you have a top 10 list...but then you actually demonstrate. Well done.
those are actually good tips. you were not lying when you said the title is cheesy but the content is solid.
Wayyy back in the old analog mixing board to tape days, the first "real studio" I got to record and mix in had a small, cheap mono AM radio that was sitting on the board, set to receive the mix from the board. SO HELPFUL... the two biggest takeaways were A. Mono is your friend B. Always have a known reference system to check against, but listen to your mix through a wide range of systems; cars don't sound like earbuds which don't sound like near field monitors, etc.
Wow what an amazing video I bumped into! Great stuff bro 😎
This IS Definetly what i've been doing all this years and i do really get very nice mixdowns because of every single thing you said, i never took the time to make a video explaining it like this but im REALLY really happy this exists, thanks for this Alex, im shring this video to everyone, everyone should too..
Excellent tips! I would offer this for discussion: there are producers out there who say nobody has fresh new ideas and everyone sounds the same BECAUSE of reference tracks and presets.
All good tips for those learning to mix music, thanks! Two thoughts from a mastering engineer. When you listen to a commercial track as a reference, remember that you're not listening to the studio mix, you're listening to the final master. And it's important to remember that if your room or headphones are attenuating or boosting certain frequency ranges (which I guarantee they are) you'll hear your reference track incorrectly and your mix will have the same deficiencies. That's why a mastering engineer in a studio designed for mastering (mix and mastering studios have different requirements) will make the final adjustments and put some polish on your great mixes!
I do not understand English language well, but good teachers teach with their hearts, not their tongues, so i learned a lot from you. Thank you very much
This video is great for not just beginners, but those on the intermediate level and are looking to move on up!
Thank you, and you have won yourself yet another subscriber!
props on not pulling up a bunch of 100+ plus plugins.. every other mixing video I watch I'd be out a few hundred just to follow along. I just purchased reference 2 because its only 30$ and looks INCREDIBLY useful.
Thanks for the awesome guide!
the helpfulness plus motivational speeches is exactly what I need in a video. Thank you!!