✅Join the channel to get access all the premium courses: bit.ly/2SNX8bx ✅Bella Kelly's Single/Video Throat: bit.ly/3dxeJOf ✅Book David for Mix & Mastering: bookinghfs@gmail.com ✅Free Plugins & Discounts: bit.ly/2ORlOPL ✅More Mixing Courses: bit.ly/2MxUJ54
David is the only one who actually cares about helping others. The amount of advice, details and examples he gives us is humbling. I’ve been subscribed for about 3-4 months now and he’s helped me more than my own school. Thank you David, you are truly a blessing to us.
Seriously, only mixing channel that gives CONCRETE advice. Thank you so much for your videos. May I also suggest everyone makes sure they EQ the 1k range properly, even on grouped auxes. I think you mentioned in one of your other videos how crucial this range is. Too much and everything will be harsh, too little and not enough clarity.
If we look back at audio equipment history , companies had and still have the tendency of creating instruments and audio gear with so much high end. The best example microphones. Everything was done for compensating that high end lost when recording to tape.Now when digital came to the recording environment everybody notice the high end, the real sound. No wonder why people used to say " digital is harsh". So this is why a lot of engineers went back to analog and a lot plugin companies started making so called " analog emulations" and of course everybody that never had used real analog equipment before is gonna say " wow sounds like analog". without knowing in reality whats analog and how affects the sound. Great video btw
So simple, but this took me ages to understand. But it’s like that - if you listen to the best mixes from top charts you will realize so many tracks in the background are dull sounding, on purpose. It makes the subject of focus - usually vocals these days - really pop out and it will save space for pushing the track louder in mastering. Also, love the fact that you describe the history of analog recordings as the reason why this is a modern issue.
I was aware of this trick for the low end -- only letting a few critical things occupy the bottom so the bass is tight... But it's brilliant to do this for the high end, too! This absolutely solved my harshness issue. Outstanding advice. It seems so obvious after trying it, but I never thought to do it with the high end! Thanks for this video!
More Gold. I'm saturating my mixes as per advice in your other more recent videos and stuff is sounding so much better, but I did fall into that harsh trap. Extra thumbs up for saying 'psycho-acoustic perception'!
I tried this on a track I've been struggling with that has a harsh top-end. Just as you suggested can happen, this song has mostly synth-type digital instruments, including the drums. My crispiest elements were two fizzy synths and my ride and crash cymbals. Even just by rolling off the synths a bit with a low-pass, everything started working better immediately. I also ended up EQing the cymbals and the snare just a tad. Thanks for this tip, David! Brilliant, as always. Even your advice from several years ago is paying dividends. Very much appreciated, man!
Damn, every video I check out of yours is simply awesome. Doesn't even matter if you're discussing obvious things, I still find it absolutely informative. Just wanted to say thank you for making these and thanks for being straight to the point and avoiding bullshit. You fucking rock dude
You and Michael White are for me the best about teaching the Art of Mixing around the internet. Love your no-bullshit approach, good and common sense explanations. Thanks!
This is probably what i need to do in the end before i make my mixes loud, there's always some highfreqs somewhere that annoys the ear. Keep up the good work, eventhough i'm behind on your videos I do appreciate many of your tricks! Stay awesome!
Brightness is similar to sweetness. Once you chew a sugary bubble gum, all jellos become "flavorless" not only "unsweet". Thank you very much for another great vídeo!!!
so as an Audio engineer, i never tried something like that before but i need to say " It Works" !!! You are totally right and it is the same with Muddyness on the Lows and Mid Lows you do also Equing around it... so you're tip is a huge help to me ! Thx mate *thumbs up*
Whoa- so easy and so effective. Still plenty of hi end even after I rolled off what felt like a lot of high end- but my mix sure mellowed out, and felt nicer on the ears!!
I came in with very low expectations but this material is right. Delighted that you are explaining the background/psychology as well. This is what makes it useful. :-)
Your advice is Always welcome.....there's so much to learn from you, it's almost embarrasing! ( I've been recording and mixing for over 30 years)....and you have a lot of Very interesting ideas to try, knowledge, wisdom......and Everything for free!! Thank you very very much.
Several articles/books/videos/mixingschools/plugindevelopers advice people to boost the high-end using high-shelfs like Clariphonic, maag, luftikus etc, "brings out the air", "its the modern sound".. No wonder why some of my previous mixes sound harsh compared to the mixes/masters. In solo the tracks sound great, but the mixes are harsh. First I though it was because I used too much lowcuts and boosted too much the highend in the mixbuss track, but now I see that I should use highcut with a gentle slope too on individual tracks. It makes sense. I already EQ intensively with Fabfilter Pro-Q on every track but without highcuts - that is now about to change for sure. Thanks for this incredible valuable video.
Awesome advice. I had been having problems with overly bright mixes for a long time because I had been basically boosting the high end on everything...This video was confirmation for me of just how wrong that was. I stopped doing that. Generally, I stopped compulsively processing EVERYTHING..only going after things that bother me or things that i want to stand out instead. Those few sounds that I want to stand out is usually where I end up boosting high end, either through subtle saturation or high shelf or combination of both. Took me a long time to understand the magic of subtlety too...There's hardly ever a reason to go crazy with processing. I've been having a mixing breakthrough lately, after years of getting inconsistent results my mixes are finally consistently sounding polished and professional. Your channel is a big reason for that. Thanks for helping us little guys out.
I’ve paid much attention to the low end, but only to the low end simply because most tutorials just mention to it. Now I know what to be careful of! Thank you.
This is exactly why I went back to using outboard gear again. Last week I purchased 2 Klark Teknik EPQ as per your recommendation and I run it in to the Focusrite Penta that I've had for 18 year which has a limiter in it then run that in to a CD recorder and print the track on CD THEN burn the track into iTunes. I just did a 1st test last night the high end roll of was natural and bcuz I used analog gear the track has more depth and width. I recommend everyone to buy some form of outboard gear and go hybrid
This video has saved my ass. Truly! Thanks David. I kept mixing to Ozone 8's Tonal Balance curve and yet everything kept coming out bright - especially on cell phones. That confused me. Anyway, after trying David's suggestion here everything started to fall into place. Using high pass (Baxandall filters especially) really helped cut the harshness out of the mixes - and again, especially on cell phones. And this made me also realize that I needed to tone down my mids a bit more. When I did this everything got way more balanced, sounded lots better and even looked good on Tonal Balance. It's funny how it's hard to see the forest for the trees sometimes. Using a low pass on the highs seems like a rather obvious thing to do but sometimes you need a slap on the wrist from someone to make you do it. This vid was my slap on the wrist and I appreciate it.
I'm finding more and more from this channel and others that if you look at your mix with the mastering technique of "feathering", a few smaller moves EQ or compression wise add up to a better more natural sum. Thanks for your knowledge and time buddy, it's greatly appreciated. This is a good one!
Another genius tip! I was just thinking about how Im starting to prefer the warmer darker mixes vs the super bright ones. Even if I want it bright, it sounds more official and professional when it has more life in the lower mid range. I realized this was the case while observing the frequencies of mastered music I liked. I also got clues from a tape plugin called VTM-M2 by CDSoundmaster(it forces me to either have my whole track become more warm or more bright and though I wanted it bright it made things way too bright for my trained ears and yet I didnt want to choose warm because "brighter is better" or so I thought...I quickly learned otherwise). Thanks again...now I know a new way of replicating the legendary sounds of the analog age of music(Ive been used multiband compression to try and replicate the effect but sometimes it only makes things more harsh).
This video is a Gem...Im struggling with this problem...since beginning..Then Started referencing track with my mix..understood they are doing this..thers top end doesn't sound too much bright like mine..Professional production have sliky smooth topend..and that can be done by simply usinf Eq while arranging the high percussion sectuons and other high frequency instrument... Thnanks a lot...Sir.
THIS IS THE MAIN REASON U CAN TELL THAT SOME ONE RECORDS IN THE BOX! ITS THE FIRST GIVEAWAY. ANALOG HAS LESS HIGH END INFORMATION. IT TOOK ME YEARS TO REALIZE U HAVE TO CUT A LITTLE HIGH END OUT TO MIMIC A ANALOG SOUND. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST MIX TIP VIDEOS GUYS TRUST ME!
Yes, cut a little high end on those tracks that you want contrasting the ones you don't cut at all (or less). This method is NOT about cutting EVERYTHING.
This is so stupidly simple, but it makes total sense. I never thought about creating contrast in this way. Gonna have to jot this tip down. Thanks dude!
Figured this out myself some time ago after listening some older mixes, which sound much warmer and without hyped high frequencies. WIthout using LP filter it's nearly impossible to mix all those modern samples, such a mess in the end.. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, easily one of the best channels i'm subscribed to!
One of my guide in mixing,,,,thank you so much ,,, greetings from Philippines Make sense since my make my three elememts to have a high top end information such as: 1).vocals 2).hi hats 3.)piano
You are an incredible man. So much experience helping us with valuable information. I personally have total respect for you sir. Thank you a million times. Great tutorial! 👍 I needed help with the harsh mixes I keep telling myself how is it possible to advance when I don't know what to look for.
Awesome, awesome advice. I’ve fallen prey to the “everything must be bright” syndrome, and this is precisely what I do. First, pull back on any brightening of the tracks I don’t consider essential to the openness of a mix. Then low-pass everything in that category by just a touch. Just as top end boost accumulates, so - sort of - does low-passing. A little on all but a few tracks goes a long way, and a gentle slope is almost always key (eg 6dB/octave). This technique is basically a free built-in “warmalizer” in your mix.
This makes so much sense, even though I haven't thought of it before the same way as I do with rolling off lows to not build up down there. Again, thank you for a great and very informative channel - makes me better by the day!
i love you cause u actually gave me a reason why i should add a high shelf on my voice on everytrack just cause i like my voice with that airyness, i record two tracks of the same verse sometimes and then some backup vocals and i add a bunch of high end on each track and then the high end starts to bother my ear when listening to the song on head phones
This trick is good on several different levels: as we put sound sources further away from ourselves, the first freq. spectrum change that we notice is less highs. So, cutting the highs on some elements makes for a better 3D image. Imagine a tambourine player: you don't want this guy near your ear or you go crazy, in a band situation you send him further away. A good time to listen to those things in a mix is when you're having a migraine :) You are hyper sensitive to harsh highs during a migraine .
✅Join the channel to get access all the premium courses:
bit.ly/2SNX8bx
✅Bella Kelly's Single/Video Throat: bit.ly/3dxeJOf
✅Book David for Mix & Mastering: bookinghfs@gmail.com
✅Free Plugins & Discounts: bit.ly/2ORlOPL
✅More Mixing Courses: bit.ly/2MxUJ54
David is the only one who actually cares about helping others. The amount of advice, details and examples he gives us is humbling. I’ve been subscribed for about 3-4 months now and he’s helped me more than my own school. Thank you David, you are truly a blessing to us.
Seriously, only mixing channel that gives CONCRETE advice. Thank you so much for your videos.
May I also suggest everyone makes sure they EQ the 1k range properly, even on grouped auxes. I think you mentioned in one of your other videos how crucial this range is. Too much and everything will be harsh, too little and not enough clarity.
(Scusy For My english) In wich vidéo David talk About 1k please?
I love the fact that you state, 'It's not dogma!' That's honest and that's why I listen to what you have to say
You are a BRILLIANT Man ......The best on youtube
Calm down carl. 😎 🍻
Carl may be on to something 🤓
Love from Pdx David
If we look back at audio equipment history , companies had and still have the tendency of creating instruments and audio gear with so much high end. The best example microphones. Everything was done for compensating that high end lost when recording to tape.Now when digital came to the recording environment everybody notice the high end, the real sound. No wonder why people used to say " digital is harsh". So this is why a lot of engineers went back to analog and a lot plugin companies started making so called " analog emulations" and of course everybody that never had used real analog equipment before is gonna say " wow sounds like analog". without knowing in reality whats analog and how affects the sound. Great video btw
Thank you David
Your work stands the test of time
So simple, but this took me ages to understand. But it’s like that - if you listen to the best mixes from top charts you will realize so many tracks in the background are dull sounding, on purpose. It makes the subject of focus - usually vocals these days - really pop out and it will save space for pushing the track louder in mastering. Also, love the fact that you describe the history of analog recordings as the reason why this is a modern issue.
this fixed my overly bright mix like a charm, thank you so much david!
I was aware of this trick for the low end -- only letting a few critical things occupy the bottom so the bass is tight... But it's brilliant to do this for the high end, too! This absolutely solved my harshness issue. Outstanding advice. It seems so obvious after trying it, but I never thought to do it with the high end! Thanks for this video!
This concept makes a lot of sense! I can’t wait to get home and try it out on some mixes
well said! I love your simple way of explaining! Very rich and effective info
Just what the mix doctor ordered! Thank you! 👌🏻🕶✌🏻
Dude...I've been killing myself to figure this out for days and this did the trick in like 30 seconds! Thanks so much man! Subscribed!
More Gold. I'm saturating my mixes as per advice in your other more recent videos and stuff is sounding so much better, but I did fall into that harsh trap. Extra thumbs up for saying 'psycho-acoustic perception'!
Great video and useful tip. Thanks, David!
The amount of knowledge u have is amazing. Even knowing alot of the things you show, it's still awesome hearing your take on it.
I tried this on a track I've been struggling with that has a harsh top-end. Just as you suggested can happen, this song has mostly synth-type digital instruments, including the drums. My crispiest elements were two fizzy synths and my ride and crash cymbals. Even just by rolling off the synths a bit with a low-pass, everything started working better immediately. I also ended up EQing the cymbals and the snare just a tad. Thanks for this tip, David! Brilliant, as always. Even your advice from several years ago is paying dividends. Very much appreciated, man!
WOW!! VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE GUY!! I ALWAYS WONDER WHY THE OLD MUSIC SOUNDED LESS BRIGHT! JUST LEARNT SOMETHING NEW TODAY! 😊😊
Just giving a shout out and say thank you for your amazing videos, I hope you are rewarded greatly for all you give!
if everything is bright nothing is bright!!! love that
Damn, every video I check out of yours is simply awesome. Doesn't even matter if you're discussing obvious things, I still find it absolutely informative. Just wanted to say thank you for making these and thanks for being straight to the point and avoiding bullshit. You fucking rock dude
Genius! Fixed mixing problems. Sometimes reduce 3khz with dynamic eq if track remains too harsh.
You and Michael White are for me the best about teaching the Art of Mixing around the internet. Love your no-bullshit approach, good and common sense explanations. Thanks!
This is probably what i need to do in the end before i make my mixes loud, there's always some highfreqs somewhere that annoys the ear. Keep up the good work, eventhough i'm behind on your videos I do appreciate many of your tricks! Stay awesome!
best mixing chanel ever
panama MC you´re right! ;)
you´re absolutely right!
you´re absolutely right!
Brightness is similar to sweetness.
Once you chew a sugary bubble gum, all jellos become "flavorless" not only "unsweet".
Thank you very much for another great vídeo!!!
so as an Audio engineer, i never tried something like that before but i need to say " It Works" !!! You are totally right and it is the same with Muddyness on the Lows and Mid Lows you do also Equing around it... so you're tip is a huge help to me ! Thx mate *thumbs up*
Your tutorials changed the way I aproach a mix.. thanks a lot!
I'm so glad you give the advice regardless.Excellent and thank you.I went back and cut more highs in the tracks that count.
Great problem solving, this worked like a charm
Enjoy your informational tutorials very much. THANK
YOU
Very helpful video. Really straightened out my thinking about the "bright mix" problem. Thanks!
I’ve listened to many of your tutorials and you always give great, balanced (!), advice. Highly recommended.
Whoa- so easy and so effective. Still plenty of hi end even after I rolled off what felt like a lot of high end- but my mix sure mellowed out, and felt nicer on the ears!!
So many useful tips in just one video. COOL!
Just the advice I needed. Thank you🙏🏽
I came in with very low expectations but this material is right. Delighted that you are explaining the background/psychology as well. This is what makes it useful. :-)
Cheers David, it makes sense.
Awesome, MixBusTV gives the best audio advice.
Thank you. Best at explaining things like this!
Your advice is Always welcome.....there's so much to learn from you, it's almost embarrasing! ( I've been recording and mixing for over 30 years)....and you have a lot of Very interesting ideas to try, knowledge, wisdom......and Everything for free!! Thank you very very much.
Several articles/books/videos/mixingschools/plugindevelopers advice people to boost the high-end using high-shelfs like Clariphonic, maag, luftikus etc, "brings out the air", "its the modern sound".. No wonder why some of my previous mixes sound harsh compared to the mixes/masters. In solo the tracks sound great, but the mixes are harsh. First I though it was because I used too much lowcuts and boosted too much the highend in the mixbuss track, but now I see that I should use highcut with a gentle slope too on individual tracks. It makes sense. I already EQ intensively with Fabfilter Pro-Q on every track but without highcuts - that is now about to change for sure. Thanks for this incredible valuable video.
Actually quite logical, will definitely try this on my next track. Who knows, I may keep doing it forever after that.. Thanks
Awesome advice. I had been having problems with overly bright mixes for a long time because I had been basically boosting the high end on everything...This video was confirmation for me of just how wrong that was.
I stopped doing that. Generally, I stopped compulsively processing EVERYTHING..only going after things that bother me or things that i want to stand out instead. Those few sounds that I want to stand out is usually where I end up boosting high end, either through subtle saturation or high shelf or combination of both. Took me a long time to understand the magic of subtlety too...There's hardly ever a reason to go crazy with processing.
I've been having a mixing breakthrough lately, after years of getting inconsistent results my mixes are finally consistently sounding polished and professional. Your channel is a big reason for that. Thanks for helping us little guys out.
I’ve paid much attention to the low end, but only to the low end simply because most tutorials just mention to it.
Now I know what to be careful of! Thank you.
finally,explaning the brightness problem of the mix,low pass is importnant same as hi pass,now i will try
You are my new hero! Best mix advise channel ever! You address exactly my concerns. Thank you so much for your advise and candor.
Makes perfect sense. The only thing I didn't like were the commercial interruptions in the middle of you your video.
This is exactly why I went back to using outboard gear again. Last week I purchased 2 Klark Teknik EPQ as per your recommendation and I run it in to the Focusrite Penta that I've had for 18 year which has a limiter in it then run that in to a CD recorder and print the track on CD THEN burn the track into iTunes. I just did a 1st test last night the high end roll of was natural and bcuz I used analog gear the track has more depth and width. I recommend everyone to buy some form of outboard gear and go hybrid
I started doing this a couple weeks ago (mixing live bands) Loved it! Good advice
INCREDIBLE TIP
BRILLIANT
This video has saved my ass. Truly! Thanks David. I kept mixing to Ozone 8's Tonal Balance curve and yet everything kept coming out bright - especially on cell phones. That confused me. Anyway, after trying David's suggestion here everything started to fall into place. Using high pass (Baxandall filters especially) really helped cut the harshness out of the mixes - and again, especially on cell phones. And this made me also realize that I needed to tone down my mids a bit more. When I did this everything got way more balanced, sounded lots better and even looked good on Tonal Balance. It's funny how it's hard to see the forest for the trees sometimes. Using a low pass on the highs seems like a rather obvious thing to do but sometimes you need a slap on the wrist from someone to make you do it. This vid was my slap on the wrist and I appreciate it.
Oh man...thank you...you saved my mix
Very good masterclass!!
I'm finding more and more from this channel and others that if you look at your mix with the mastering technique of "feathering", a few smaller moves EQ or compression wise add up to a better more natural sum. Thanks for your knowledge and time buddy, it's greatly appreciated. This is a good one!
Another genius tip! I was just thinking about how Im starting to prefer the warmer darker mixes vs the super bright ones. Even if I want it bright, it sounds more official and professional when it has more life in the lower mid range. I realized this was the case while observing the frequencies of mastered music I liked. I also got clues from a tape plugin called VTM-M2 by CDSoundmaster(it forces me to either have my whole track become more warm or more bright and though I wanted it bright it made things way too bright for my trained ears and yet I didnt want to choose warm because "brighter is better" or so I thought...I quickly learned otherwise).
Thanks again...now I know a new way of replicating the legendary sounds of the analog age of music(Ive been used multiband compression to try and replicate the effect but sometimes it only makes things more harsh).
So important...
This definitely helped my mix. Thank you for the help. All love.
This video is a Gem...Im struggling with this problem...since beginning..Then Started referencing track with my mix..understood they are doing this..thers top end doesn't sound too much bright like mine..Professional production have sliky smooth topend..and that can be done by simply usinf Eq while arranging the high percussion sectuons and other high frequency instrument...
Thnanks a lot...Sir.
Fenomenal 👏🏿 hugs from Brazil 🇧🇷
THIS IS THE MAIN REASON U CAN TELL THAT SOME ONE RECORDS IN THE BOX! ITS THE FIRST GIVEAWAY. ANALOG HAS LESS HIGH END INFORMATION. IT TOOK ME YEARS TO REALIZE U HAVE TO CUT A LITTLE HIGH END OUT TO MIMIC A ANALOG SOUND. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST MIX TIP VIDEOS GUYS TRUST ME!
Yes, cut a little high end on those tracks that you want contrasting the ones you don't cut at all (or less). This method is NOT about cutting EVERYTHING.
Love this guy, pure toolbox material.
Never thought of that thanks! You're great
This is so stupidly simple, but it makes total sense. I never thought about creating contrast in this way. Gonna have to jot this tip down. Thanks dude!
This is very helpful perspective. I'm struggling with this exact problem.
Golden words !
THANK YOU, MAN. Its just what i was looking for!
Unreal, thank you so much
You are amazing , hello from Russia !
Super helpful and simple tips, thanks!
Golden! Thank you
Figured this out myself some time ago after listening some older mixes, which sound much warmer and without hyped high frequencies. WIthout using LP filter it's nearly impossible to mix all those modern samples, such a mess in the end.. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, easily one of the best channels i'm subscribed to!
Simple yet very helpful! Thank you 🙏
One of my guide in mixing,,,,thank you so much ,,, greetings from Philippines
Make sense since my make my three elememts to have a high top end information such as:
1).vocals
2).hi hats
3.)piano
As you mean about contrast it useful on giving depth to individual elements
Good advice, works well!
Love your channel, there is always something to make me think about how I go about mixing, thank you!!!
Mind blown! Thank you.
Think of contrats! Thats the best Mixing tip ever! Thank you very much for Sharing ! Great!
Wl try this
You are an incredible man. So much experience helping us with valuable information. I personally have total respect for you sir. Thank you a million times. Great tutorial! 👍 I needed help with the harsh mixes I keep telling myself how is it possible to advance when I don't know what to look for.
EXCELLENT information !! Thank you for this video !
Great tips on harshness. And you gotta great voice !
Absolute legend!
Ive learned some much stuff just from watching your vids for last week. Shame I didnt know about u before. Thanks a lot for sharing experience!
Hey man, love the vid's. My favorite out of all the audio tutorial channels.
awesome bro... you have proven my suspicion. thanks
Awesome, awesome advice. I’ve fallen prey to the “everything must be bright” syndrome, and this is precisely what I do. First, pull back on any brightening of the tracks I don’t consider essential to the openness of a mix. Then low-pass everything in that category by just a touch. Just as top end boost accumulates, so - sort of - does low-passing. A little on all but a few tracks goes a long way, and a gentle slope is almost always key (eg 6dB/octave). This technique is basically a free built-in “warmalizer” in your mix.
Great advice, thanks!
I’m actually alive this man showed the way to manipulate the right way 🏃🏿♂️🙉😵🚬🎼👊🏿
this is an awesome video. makes so much sense with all this digital recording
This makes so much sense, even though I haven't thought of it before the same way as I do with rolling off lows to not build up down there. Again, thank you for a great and very informative channel - makes me better by the day!
Good info here! You have so many videos that I can’t even believe it lol
i love you cause u actually gave me a reason why i should add a high shelf on my voice on everytrack just cause i like my voice with that airyness, i record two tracks of the same verse sometimes and then some backup vocals and i add a bunch of high end on each track and then the high end starts to bother my ear when listening to the song on head phones
great info, thanks. hi from Singapore!
I also felt that is a very good technique. Great videos
THANK YOU! THIS SAVED MY MIX TODAY!
Thanks for this, totally forget about this when mixing.
This rocks man!
Man, love your channel. You give a lot of great techniques.
This trick is good on several different levels: as we put sound sources further away from ourselves, the first freq. spectrum change that we notice is less highs. So, cutting the highs on some elements makes for a better 3D image. Imagine a tambourine player: you don't want this guy near your ear or you go crazy, in a band situation you send him further away. A good time to listen to those things in a mix is when you're having a migraine :) You are hyper sensitive to harsh highs during a migraine .