MIXING MUSIC IS HARD! - Help!!!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
- Mixing music is hard! This video outlines my struggles with recording and mastering music given that we all now have access to virtually unlimited plugins and software.
BOSS GE-7 Graphic Equalizer - • BOSS GE-7 Problem sol...
BOSS GX-100 - • BOSS GX 100 Preset pack
BOSS RC-1 Looper - • Boss RC 1 Looper Pedal...
ALBATROSS SUPERGROUP!! - • ALBATROSS - Fleetwood ...
BELLMASTER - Kontakt Instrument - • BELLMASTER - Tubular B...
KALIMBAMASTER - Kontakt Instrument - • KALIMBAMASTER - Kalimb...
SKANKMASTER Kontakt Instrument - • SKANKMASTER Reggae gui...
#studiorecording #studioengineering #studiomusician
I have the same problems but adding to mine is tinnitus and hearing loss from years of being in ship's engine rooms from a time when hearing protection was unheard of (pun unintentional) to a time when it was used, but the damage done. I do a rough mix and bring in my wife who has ears like a bat and together we hammer out a solution. I mostly make backing tracks for a duo and that tip you give about Magic AB might just be what I need to balance out the track levels.
It was good to see Sonar again - I have used Cakewalk since it was a DOS MIDI program and I moved up as it went to audio, then Sonar, X2, X3, then Platinum. When Cakewalk was dumped by Gibson, it seemed my Sonar ceased to work. I tried re-installing from the original files, but it wanted to contact Cakewalk for updates. I ended up with the Bandmix version which works, but no way near as powerful as Platinum. A bummer and I haven't bought a Gibson product since.
Many thanks for your comment. Yes, engineering is as difficult a skill as being a musician and takes work. For me it's a work in progress. Magic AB is terrific. I highly recommend. It's very usefull to instantly compare you mixes to professionally mixed music. I was a cakewalk user from the beginning too. We seem to have similar stories. I must say I have no issues with the Bandlab version. Seems to work just as well for me. There is an issue with the funding model moving forward but it would be a real pain moving to another DAW as I have thousands of archived pieces of music on Cakewalk. Thanks again for taking the time to comment.
something that really helps is to not being afraid of making big moves, especially with compression. If you cant hear it just crush it until it's clearly hearable and the dial it back. With the EQ is the same dont be afraid of pushin it until u get to hear what u like. Is great to use HP filters but try no to cut to much low end. The track at the begining sounds great but the guitar tone feells a little thin because a lack of low end.
Try to really know your monitors, play songs you really like before u start mixing, take breaks and use references to compare ur mix wile mixing.
Its a long path and u always keep learning haha
Yes I agree about the guitar tone. I recorded it through a guitar modeller because I'm lazy! It's easier than miking up. I'll do better next time! It freaks me out getting too radical with the EQ. I only ever end up doing soft touches. Learning new stuff is fun and its great when you can hear real progress. But as you say - it's a long road. many thanks for your comment.
Still new myself... I consume so much audio material. Bottom line is you consume instructional material then mix... repeat repeat mix and mix. My mixes are better than first starting. Get a mix course and even sound gym are helpful. If you struggle with eq monitor set up and acoustic treatment are key. Let's keep at it and get better.
Great Jam! I enjoyed it very much. I'm curious, how bad would you say you are at identifying frequencies or bands? Can you tell when something is LF, LMF, MF, HMF, or HF at least? If you struggle with the generality of where a frequency or band lands audibly, the best thing I can reccommend is Ear Training, YT features some videos to help and Dan Worrall's channel will be doing some tutorials on the matter of Ear Training here very soon, so you might want to check that out. I spend a few hours a week practicing, and it's really helped a lot in terms of understanding frequencies of interest or bands of interest for overall mixes such as things like boxiness, mud, edge, etc.; but more powerfully so for individual tracks and instruments I've been able to learn key frequencies and bands of interest for instruments or parts. Although I should say that EQ during tracking/REC is different from EQ during mixing, and EQ in the mix stage should optimally be done with "context" in mind allowing you to make useful cuts and boosts to all parts individually (or as groups) so they all drop into their own space in the spectrum. Once you understand and can accurately identify the areas of the available/audible spectrum that you want each part to occupy, you can start to effectively "carve" out space in the mix, to make a part or parts fit into it, in the context of the mix as a whole.
Don't be shy to be heavy with your EQ at first when you are learning so you can really hear and understand the differences of each frequency or band. It's hard to understand someone if you can't hear them, same with boost/cut, if it's too gentle it will be harder for it to sink in to your mind. When sweeping for example, once you've identified the frequency that needs work while using a big boost or cut, start to dial it in the gain on that band until what you are doing starts to sound sensible and desirable. Don't be afraid to make larger cuts to help clear up space for everything to fit neatly together. Practice will go a long way, focus on what you hear and what you see every time you make a move be it EQ, or compression, or saturation, or whatever, when you turn a knob use your ears to "search" for that difference, and soon you'll be identifying things just like those engineers do that you mentioned.
Hope this helps, I look forward to your next mix, if you have any questions or need assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out, I'm happy to try my best to help! Cheers!
Many thanks for your comment. I can recognize very general frequency bands Like low - mid and highs but that is about it! My ear with music is very good, I can nearly transcribe a song as its going down. But I don't have perfect pitch. So I think you are correct, it must be a practice thing. Obviously professional sound engineers who are dealing with this daily and for years get really good at it. It is not a God given thing. An Equalizer is a very complex piece of gear. I have tried to do what you say in terms of making each instrument sit in its own frequency range. Again, with various degress of success. Making the bass drum and bass sit together is tricky because frequency wise they are adjacent and more often than not spill over each other. But I appreciate how effective that is. I'm still working on that. I think song arrangement is very important in that respect, trying to make sure each instrument part is in its own frequency range. It can be difficult when pianos get involved. With the track at the beginning, the second time the chord sequence repeats, I add a shaker to give a slight lift (0.31). I like how it lifts, but it does get a little muddled with the hi hat. I left it in rather than pulled it out because I liked it but couldn't think of a better idea. Many thanks again for your comment.
@@AndyDrudy No problem, always here to help! Thanks for the detailed response, very interesting indeed that you have such musical talent but struggle with the band identification, but it will come with time I promise. As for clashing like you mentioned with bass and kick, that's where you need to learn some tricks not just to unclash, but to use creative filtering tricks as well as EQ to make a kick punch through the bass, I use a BP filter with an inverted send of the bass to the same channel as the BP filter with the Kick centered fundamental. I then drive the output of the BP filter into a compressor to make sure the kick has punch and oomph, and then a gate with fast attack and release with good range of about -20+db, so that way it starts to gently null out the bass as the kick comes in and rapidly shuts the filter down when the kick is not present to let the bass fully through, then you just adjust this filter channel slider to get your kick to be more present right over the bass, magic! I didn't explain that the greatest, but if you want the source I strongly suggest getting stuck in to Dan Worrall's channel. Check out his parallel filters trick series and you'll learn all about these and many more tricks to make parts separate, shine, and stand out, unmasking, dec-lashing, and filtering tricks, the inversion stuff is easy as I'm also on Reaper like Dan, but still can be accomplished on other DAW's with some work. What DAW are you using if you don't mind me asking?
Nice video! really enjoyed the song at the beginning. To answer just a few of your questions, First with the Eq I think its simply a matter of EQing when you need to and not just because you have to, really thinking about what the sound needs or needs less of. Other than the low cut to get rid of mud, sometimes things don't need any eq if the instrument sounds good as is. For taming more specific resonances i have really been enjoying the plugin Soothe 2. For compression, its not all about squashing sounds, you can for example make sounds more consistent, make drums hit harder and punchier, and you can really give things character with compression. Think more about how the attack and release can tame and shape parts of your sounds that are too loud. I personally like a nice dynamic mix which a good amount of high end, however it really all comes down to personal preference for all of these things. Hope that helps! you can also reach out for lessons on these things!
Many thanks for your comment. I find it hard to get my head around the attack and release but I think you are spot on, they are critical. Usually it is the transients that you want to tame, and getting the setting right is tricky. Regarding high pass filters, I ended going down a rabit hole on this one. I got into this thing where I would figure out the lowest note, find the frequency (fundamental) and high pass everything below that, as there is nothing musical going on below that. Still clawing my way back out of that hole! But as I said, my main issue with EQ are my ears and not being able to identify any particular frequency. I have worked with some epic engineers that can immediatly hone in, but that is just years of hands on experience, which unfortunately I don't have. So it is very hit and miss.
@@AndyDrudy happy to share some thoughts! There are some great resources for eq ear training but maybe just doing it for a long time is the best way to get comfortable with being able to quickly find problem frequencies