Mix Synths & Strings In 10 Minutes - RecordingRevolution.com
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- Опубликовано: 19 авг 2020
- ►► Download my 8 Step Mixing Checklist and multitrack stems here: mixingchecklist.com/
When it comes to mixing synths and strings there are two things I focus on: air and stereo spread.
Air has to do with the way you use EQ to place your synths or strings strategically in the sonic spectrum. Without addressing this your mixes will be dull and lack life. And stereo spread is critical to having a wide and balanced mix. Ironically you'd think this wouldn't be a problem for stereo tracks - but it is.
So today let me show you how I quickly approach mixing lots of synth and string tracks together alongside an entire band and give them some more life. 
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►► Download my 8 Step Mixing Checklist and multitrack stems here: mixingchecklist.com/
Thx for the tips.
BIG MONO! This is such an important mix tip for wide mixes. I try to start with LCR panning as much as I can
To get realistic strings or horns record each string separately on a track (ie) 1st violin one track left 2nd violin right track other strings in between. Same thing for horns. If you play strings/horn like a keyboard player it's going to sound like a keyboard player trying sound like strings. Separate your parts like an orchestra and it will sound lifelike.
Right? It's like... when does a horn ever have stereophonic outputs? The ears can pick that up.
Do you have any of your music I can listen? I struggle a bit on strings, If you could listen some of my stuff on RUclips - Falpcode
Let me know what you think
Much appreciated
yo thanks so much this has helped me a lot
I'm new to this stuff (older guy) and I love the A - B comparisons. My struggle is not being able to hear the differences "on their own" meaning the synths and/or strings sound fine to me - until I hear your enhancements. Seems like it will take quite a while to be able to hear what something "really needs" to sound good.
Love these 10 minute series, keep them coming, also love these songs with Ill Factor so much!! Prob my fav songs you have shared on the channel.
Another great video. These are always informative and immediately useful. My new keyboard workstation arrives tomorrow. Can't wait to use these great ideas.
Seriously... In 10 Minutes you just taught me the most important problem i was having with a project I'm working on!! BIG MONO wow, what a life changer. Im really trying to go in depth and learn everything there is to learn about producing and I had 5 appiphonies 60 seconds into the video. Didnt waste a single second of the viewers time and got to the point. Absolute masterpiece of a video. WOW. I came across this video at WORK and really opening your mind to other peoples methods will give opportunities to improve! Much love, keep up the great work.
Another fine video! Try this some time, undulating pad-string panning. Lets say you have 2 strings or pads. Pan them hard left and hard right. Then have a curve where they move in the opposite directions of their panning, in sync with each other to where they end up at the opposite end of the spectrum's. Experiment with different rates of speed as these samples all behave differently. If you have time, add EQ curves at the same time! Magical things can happen, especially if you adjust the volumes in small ways.
That's an interesting idea, I'll have to give it a shot!
This video has been very helpful. After watching this video, I am confident my synths will not be conflicting each other like before. MONO yes! Thank you :)
The strings and brass part on its own is just beautiful.
wonderful tips! Thanks for talking about how you approach the mix, dope vid
As an ambient musician, this video was the most helpful one
Thank you
BIG MONO :o That's a big fact.
interesting approach. the panning was a really good tip. With the eq though i would think that subtracting frequencies you don't need to make the ones you want stand out more is better than boosting frequencies... I am no pro though.
Excelent Graham. Great tips. I loved both of them. Very good. Thanks.
Really nice tip, i am in the midle of doing synth and strings mix, thank you man..
thankyou very much for all of ur videos ......earlier it feels like okey ...but now i can see the improvement in my mixes
Other than the tutorial, that's a bloody GREAT song!!! Well done Graham, and many thanks!
Personally, I wouldn't do LCR. Just as you are carving space with EQ you can carve even more space with pan position. I would've had the synth panned hard left & right to get that stereo ping-pong effect, the brass panned left 50-75%, the strings panned right 50-75% and the orchestra panned 25% left and right
Of course, I'm not nearly as accomplished as you, Graham, nor do I have your ears or skills. I remember visualizing instrument placement for the music I listened to as a teen after seeing the CD booklet for Paul McCartney's Press To Play. It helped me in my studio recording classes in the late '80s and home mixing in the '90s.
An enormous like for your video. What you've done is worth much.
Wow! This is beautiful! Thanks so much, man!
Thank you for this video🔥It's super helpful 👌✨
Graham! Great song! You are great composer!
I'm with Esmam - I was writing a piece with strings when this came up in my IN-box! Talk about psychic.....
Thanks for the video. Well done.
I find that my wide pan stereo tracks sometimes seem to sound a little more powerful and grounded by hard panning only to about 90-95% left and right instead of 100% hard left and hard right. Of course, my mixes don't contain the number of tracks in this example. Well, for what it's worth...
Very Awesome and Helpful video. Thank You.
Very helpful as always -- particularly the A-B comparison of the sound with and w/o EQ -- thank you! Does the same apply to "real" strings? I used to record with a stereo mic setup (which was recommended, but I did not understand it), but scrapped it and for now just using a single mic (usually my RodeNT2 run through a DBX 1086 channel strip that I have no actual idea how to use(!) into my DAW) since the the two-mic approach seemed like it was just adding extra potential for things to go unnecessarily wrong. I would LOVE a tutorial on "best practices for setting up/recording/mixing *real* strings whenever you have a chance. I'm almost finished with that string arrangement I was asked to do earlier this week and it's sounding good! :)
I'm so glad I found your channel 😊😊😊
Great tutorial
Thank you for the tips
Thanks alot, you have helped me alot
Thank u. Very.Much. This is very helpful. Question. What should be the db levels for Piano, Snyths and Horns. Sometimes in my mix the drums are way up to -6db but other instruments like Piano, Synth or Sample are way below like -20db.
that brass is nice
Woww😇😇.This really brought some new perspective. But what if string arrangements were in staccato? Will this technique work in that case too?
Question: if im fixing in mono and it sounds good, and then i turn off the mono, switching to stereo, will the final track sound good and not clashed?
Sir beyerdynamic DT 770 ( 80 omh ) or ATH-M50x headphone's which one is better for mixing
Nice man!
Dude you are the truth 💪🏾
love the song
I'm with Back Pages (below). One, or two note separate tracks give more control and realism.
How do you make the synths not overpower the other midrange like guitars?
Would there ever be a situation where you wouldn't pan the stereo tracks you wanted stereo hard right and left? I have actually used a hard left and center pan of a stereo track before to give a feel of being more left, but still giving somewhat of a stereo spread for motion effects to have some effect but not a full stereo spread. What are your thoughts on this?
Did you get a reply to your very interesting comment ( thats if it has been read) i guess it gives a sense of spread.
Is there a way to just collapse the big stereo into mono with a "mono" feature or plugin, or even to bounce it into a mono by analyzing to midi and bouncing that output to a mono track?
also... @6:04, @6:07, and @6:12 it sounds like it's getting garbled... as though you're drowning it in a tub or something.
Depends on what medium you're producing music on. Most DAWs nowadays have a some sort of an imager/utility plugin that is often accompanied with a "Mono" button. For instance, Ableton has the 'Utility' plugin with the option to control gain, flip phase polarity, width knob (which can also be used to collapse an audio signal into mono if turned down to 0%), and finally the convenient 'Mono' button as well as a 'Bass Mono' button (use to collapse low-end frequencies to mono under a certain frequency threshold that is specified by the user, and leaving all the frequencies above the threshold in stereo).
Also I'm assuming that "drowning in a tub" artefacts that you're hearing are a natural result of recording strings to tape/cassette, and such techniques cause subtle or noticable audio dropouts depending on the specified intensity and are often implemented as a tasteful vintage touch and to add warmth to the source sound. I may be wrong with my assumption in this context though.
what VST do you recommend for Orchestral sounds? I find that the Logic stock strings are ok, but the attacks are too slow.
I can hear some of that problem in your strings.. where the attack drags/
As far as every part on a seperate track, i do that to, but sometimes I do add a synth string chordal pad underneath, for pop and rock.. sometimes total realism isnt the goal.. sometimes its finding your own sound for the song.
You can't go wrong with orchestral libraries from companies like Spitfire Audio, Orchestral Tools, Audio Imperia, Cinematic Studio etc. There are LOADS out there.
I really like East West composers cloud, that was recommended by my school Full Sail
nice! why the SSLs and not a pro q3 or any eq?
Waves Api 550 I think is great EQ for that.-But do not listen much to me. I am a beginner. Let´s see what Graham says,
Do you suggest any pre EQ?
bruh THANK YOU holy shit I've had problems with this shit for so long, didn't even know Big Mono existed.
Song???
where do i hear this complete song? wonderful song
i liked it too
why u and ill factor have the same voice
It's so hard to make a mix sound right with panning to me. It always sounds to open and thin. I like to keep almost everything closer to the 0 mark. Maybe something like 3L to 16L and 3R to 16 right also. I do not like panning too far over either direction. You can still get a nice mix without hardly any panning, you just have to have an ear for the sounds your using, and how your putting them together...SBN RESONATE
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