7 years later and these videos are still relevant! Love how straight forward these videos are. Easy to follow along and enjoy your teachings. Thank you for sharing!!
Thanks for your clear explanations. I have been using compressors for a while now, but it was great to go back and make sure I know exactly what I am doing and why.
I know Graham doesn't do mixing videos anymore. But I alot of times I come back to these older videos when I'm ready to do another mix. Graham thank you so much for helping me make my mixes radio ready!
I've watched all the videos you've done for this song, and I'm finding that the chorus is actually getting stuck in my head now! I think that's a good sign Graham :)
I know you don't do this to showcase your performance skills (or fish for compliments), but credit where credit is due, your voice sounds killer here. Thanks for another great vid!
Thabks grahm coming back from a 1 or 2 year hiatus. Doing a quick refresher with your videos. Album is almost done ane i think the break was worth it because i came back better on the frst try even befoe the refresher!
I’m gonna end up downloading this track! It’s a type of song for music I generally don’t listen to but it’s also like I was in the studio at points so it feels more personal. I’m new here but this video in particular has me less nervous about compression especially. Thanks!
I really watch all your videos and I use Cubase 9.5 elements and I can not mix my vocals for nothing. I try and try and try, but I never succeed in mixing. You make it look so easy. Also, I have focusrite solo 2nd edition and its not good if I put the mic up its always clipping I back sway from the mic but I can't hear myself sing at all that audio interface is crap it always clips on me
Great videos, thank you for all these awesome tips! I really feel like I should move over to pro-tools, the stock plugins you use for these videos seem to have more simplified lay outs then the plugins I have at my disposal. Especially your EQ, the in and out gauge to level match is not standard on other EQ plugins.
Great series. I am new to home recording (so new to it that I just received my very first AI focus rite scarlet 2i2 2nd gen yesterday) and am really greatfull for your channel. Starting with pro tools/first so this series will be seen more than enough times. I thought P.T.1st only had 16 tracks but I count 19 counting your master fader. What am I missing?
Graham thnx so much for your amazing videos i really like your cool vibe and simple attitude and most of all you are avery gifted and talented artist i like your songs no less than the lessons rock on! :)
it's time consuming but jockeying your faders before you add effects makes a world of difference. though it can drive one crazy, it's well worth the time.
Graham. Do you do EQ, Compression on electric guitars and keys? What's the order of chain? Do you put the EQ and compressor before or after the compressor. And why? Thanks so much again.
Graham if you're still out there, I'd like to talk to about mixing & mastering. I'm a musician myself and want to know some tips on mix & mastering.I've watched practically ALL your videos cuz you're a good teacher....please get back to me, my name's Reggie
Graham: great videos... I really enjoy how you simplify these concepts. Quick question: would you ever employ editing gain to a vocal that is imbalanced at various places in addition to compression in order to even out? If so, at what point would you do that?
5 years late, but you would do that before any of this. Like before EQ, in the volume balancing phase. Once you get that static mix, you begin to realize what's too loud, and whats too quiet, really easily. So, you go in and "Clip Gain" the actual waveform. You snip around the peaks and loud parts, and clip gain them down to the average level. You snip around the quieter parts, and increase them to the average level. Kind of getting all the waveform blobs around the same size, and you'll notice your meters aren't jumping around as much. Then you do EQ and compression. The compressor basically accounts for human error, and just sands the track down to a straight perfectly balanced volume anywhere you may have slightly miscalculated the even-ness. This puts less strain on the compressor and it smooths out the level. Then you can use compressors in series, so like a compressor after a compressor. Then you have 1 comp doing a little work, and another doing the rest, and it'll be really up front and consistent. Then you can judge your delay and reverb choices better! Hope that helped all these years later!
Hi Graham ! I heard you suggest to mix in mono for different reasons with which i totally agree... Can you tell me how am i supposed to do it in Logic Pro X ? Cause i have no button on my audio interface, and neither in its software... And i don't have the plug in Stereo Width in Logic... Thanx by advance !
to balance out loud and less loud parts I suggest to use automation instead of compression. to finetune still can use compression, but with less sound modification
@The Music PromoterI'm pretty sure every song on air used automation, but not every song used compression. Automation is used to automated set eg. the gain of a track, for each instrument if needed. Most of the bass tracks uses automation, as bass is very different in its loudness (if you play the bass as a real instrument). Professional vocalists change the distance to the mic to prevent too big differences in loudness. You find in your DAW the automation on each track, and you can record your movements on the eg. gain, or pick it with the mouse and set the values. You find RUclips vids they explain the automation. Usually, automation is one of the fist jobs at mixing a song. You can use automation also to change eg. reverb, paning and so on - for most things I say. In pro studios it's daily business
just coming back to this, if compression is what works for you and what sounds good then use it. I know produce like a pro will use stacked comressors and stacked vocal rider plugins because he likes the sound it produces and the byproduct is a very even vocal. Then after words some very mild automation. Where as some other engineers will go as far as tracing the waveform with pre FX gain automation to reduce the dynamic range before going into compressoin and then use further automation on the way out. theres more to think about than just getting every word heard.
bro i wanna thank you for being an amazing teacher thank you so muchhhh also one question, does this way of compression apply to everything not just vocals???
Hi Graham, I want to buy a microphone (Neuman Kms 105). I need it to record vocals in a studio and live stage performance. Do you know the microphone? Would you recommend it? Or Do you know another that serves me better? My fear is the studio sound is not going to be good
Graham, my singer has a really deep voice. What can I do to make her cut through? We make fast songs with distortion and I am finding it difficult to make her be heard clearly with the riffs. Thank you!
Graham, what is your soundcloud /bandpage / tunecore / artist name? how do I stream this track from somewhere? the whole finished product, once its released of course
Some confusion: 1) you say the quiet parts are not affected by the compressor 2) you later say to turn up the gain for the whole track so it equals the input. But the quiet parts would still be equal to the input because they we're compressed -- only the parts that were going over the threshold were compressed. So when you turn up the gain of the whole track the quiet parts would be louder than their original input. Thanks if you can answer this question.
You are right, the quiet parts are now louder than they were, but they haven't been compressed. The reason the compressor is used here is that the quieter parts of the vocal are desired to be heard more audibly, that is, more out loud. To accomplish this you could raise the volume of the vocal track, but then the louder parts of the vocal would jump out. So you apply the compressor to bring the loud parts down while leaving the quieter parts intact. They are left intact because their volume doesn't reach the threshold at which the compressor would start to bring them down. Now, your vocal's loud parts are quite a bit quieter than they were before compression, so you apply the make-up gain to restore the same level at which they were. As a result you have a vocal that doesn't have its loud parts jump out but you can hear the quiet parts better.
I do not understand: The last word in the sentence was not loud enough. So in stead of fixing that particular problem you are compressing the rest of the vocal track and then plus up the volume. Why not make use of volume automation fist to get a good even balance of the whole vocal track and than you use compressing to make the whole track sit better within the whole mix. This methode is just using the easy way out.
a I have to say first. this is only the 2nd dislike video I have ever made, but I have to say this because I also have been doing this 10 yrs Graham, u have to stop misleading mostly these young people that are the ones u reach out to. u may b in some free version of protools but, I didn't know they had it in H.D. also what about the 20,000+ of gear an interface u recorded that song through I don't think most young artists with bedroom studios have that , if u want to reall show how good u are use a lexicon alpha an a shure SM 58 an make a good song more honest rite an, I'm not tryin to b a hater cus I watch some of ur videos I'm Subscribed Chris.
Chris Horner If you watch his videos, then you should know he uses budget gear. Why do you assume he's misleading anyone? Watch earlier videos in this series and you can see what he's using.
I have to say first. This is only the 2nd dislike comment I have ever made, but I have to say this because I've been on internet for 10 yrs Chris, you have to stop commenting without knowing. Cheers
Even if he would be using other equipment than he's is promoting .. the lesson would still be worth it? It sure helped me. But seeing ur the only one down voting the vid ( so far ) .. it's ok.
Hi Chris - I recorded this on a $99 Focusrite interface, with a $99 Behringer Microphone. You can see the whole process happen on these videos: ruclips.net/p/PLVwn0Z_ucW6EpPjJ7sOvG5a2tTlqc9kLg
a if that's true I'm a big man I'm sorry but ive watched nearly all ur videos an seen the 56 focusrite pres, I just wanted the point to be not just about entry level DAWs but, I am sorry if that's how the whole process went.
Thanks for having the patience to re-teach again and again these techniques that we think we have a grasp of.
7 years later and these videos are still relevant! Love how straight forward these videos are. Easy to follow along and enjoy your teachings. Thank you for sharing!!
Graham, thanks so much for these videos. This series in particular has been a great help to me and probably many others! Keep up the good work :)
"I just bury it!" I've watched these series so much, I got this song in my head now. Better than the radio.
Great and simple. It is good to see how simple it is. I tend to over complicate it, and ending up with a messy mix.
Thanks for your clear explanations. I have been using compressors for a while now, but it was great to go back and make sure I know exactly what I am doing and why.
My wife loved your song! It's a really good one.
I know Graham doesn't do mixing videos anymore. But I alot of times I come back to these older videos when I'm ready to do another mix. Graham thank you so much for helping me make my mixes radio ready!
I've watched all the videos you've done for this song, and I'm finding that the chorus is actually getting stuck in my head now! I think that's a good sign Graham :)
after a hole year trying to learn music production on yt I found your videos and now everything is so clear to me! thank you so much
Ive never watched a video on compression thats explained it so simply and clearly, thank you
I've been recording music since 2011 and was always confused about the purpose of a compressor until now. This helps so much.
I know you don't do this to showcase your performance skills (or fish for compliments), but credit where credit is due, your voice sounds killer here. Thanks for another great vid!
Thabks grahm coming back from a 1 or 2 year hiatus. Doing a quick refresher with your videos. Album is almost done ane i think the break was worth it because i came back better on the frst try even befoe the refresher!
Professor Cochrane...The best, detailed explanation for any newbie! Keep up the great work!
Dude! I get it! Thank you!! Watched loads of vids... and this explained it most clearly!
Finally understanding and learning what a compressor actually does! Thanks Graham!
ruclips.net/video/6AyZ0oo8RVA/видео.html
Extremely helpful. Thank you!
Love every minute of it! I really do appreciate the vids homie!
happy to see this pop up on my notifications
Thank you so much for this! I’ve watched a lot of videos on mixing, and even more on compression and this helped everything click in my mind
Thank you Graham, for yet another amazing series of great information!!
keep up the good work bro! " light it up and let it burn" fav part. thanks for the knowledge.
I’m gonna end up downloading this track! It’s a type of song for music I generally don’t listen to but it’s also like I was in the studio at points so it feels more personal. I’m new here but this video in particular has me less nervous about compression especially. Thanks!
You're awesome bro. I liked the way you explain things. You're helping probably a lot of budding producers out there & Keep it up. Thanks alot again.
mate these videos are just unreal. THANK YOU.
Thank you Graham!! Really helpfull!
Brilliant series thanks Graham. So helpful. You get the balance between explanation and visuals just right.
Thanks for doing these again, each time I learn something new.
I really watch all your videos and I use Cubase 9.5 elements and I can not mix my vocals for nothing. I try and try and try, but I never succeed in mixing. You make it look so easy. Also, I have focusrite solo 2nd edition and its not good if I put the mic up its always clipping I back sway from the mic but I can't hear myself sing at all that audio interface is crap it always clips on me
Great videos, thank you for all these awesome tips! I really feel like I should move over to pro-tools, the stock plugins you use for these videos seem to have more simplified lay outs then the plugins I have at my disposal. Especially your EQ, the in and out gauge to level match is not standard on other EQ plugins.
Thank you for this series Graham!!!
Big Help as always Graham..Top Man
Great series. I am new to home recording (so new to it that I just received my very first AI focus rite scarlet 2i2 2nd gen yesterday) and am really greatfull for your channel. Starting with pro tools/first so this series will be seen more than enough times. I thought P.T.1st only had 16 tracks but I count 19 counting your master fader. What am I missing?
Thanks Graham, love your videos. I'm learning so much.
Such a good series thank you so much Graham
Great video Graham...I've really learned alot
Thank you. Makes sense now.
Graham thnx so much for your amazing videos
i really like your cool vibe and simple attitude
and most of all you are avery gifted and talented artist
i like your songs no less than the lessons
rock on! :)
I Love this song!!! is it out yet??
Not yet, but soon!
Hey! Can you recommend some songs to listen to, in order to know how pro mixers work??
What about nooow?
Great song! (and the video was awesome as well!). What is the name?
Bro this is soooooo Helpfull!!!!!!!!!!!!
Graham, you are a genius. Thank you.
perfect break down
it's time consuming but jockeying your faders before you add effects makes a world of difference. though it can drive one crazy, it's well worth the time.
i got your song stucked in my head man!
Thanks Graham this was really helpful 😀
I've been using compression (CLA-2A) for weeks now, but not properly it would seem - I tended to use it to boost the vocal track volume........
Graham. Do you do EQ, Compression on electric guitars and keys? What's the order of chain? Do you put the EQ and compressor before or after the compressor. And why? Thanks so much again.
Is this a finished and released track we can get? I'd be interested in hearing the final, mixed version. Sounds like your vocals btw Graham! :)
Thank you
Graham if you're still out there, I'd like to talk to about mixing & mastering. I'm a musician myself and want to know some tips on mix & mastering.I've watched practically ALL your videos cuz you're a good teacher....please get back to me, my name's Reggie
Graham: great videos... I really enjoy how you simplify these concepts. Quick question: would you ever employ editing gain to a vocal that is imbalanced at various places in addition to compression in order to even out? If so, at what point would you do that?
5 years late, but you would do that before any of this. Like before EQ, in the volume balancing phase. Once you get that static mix, you begin to realize what's too loud, and whats too quiet, really easily.
So, you go in and "Clip Gain" the actual waveform.
You snip around the peaks and loud parts, and clip gain them down to the average level.
You snip around the quieter parts, and increase them to the average level.
Kind of getting all the waveform blobs around the same size, and you'll notice your meters aren't jumping around as much.
Then you do EQ and compression.
The compressor basically accounts for human error, and just sands the track down to a straight perfectly balanced volume anywhere you may have slightly miscalculated the even-ness. This puts less strain on the compressor and it smooths out the level. Then you can use compressors in series, so like a compressor after a compressor. Then you have 1 comp doing a little work, and another doing the rest, and it'll be really up front and consistent. Then you can judge your delay and reverb choices better! Hope that helped all these years later!
Thank you this helped me alot!!
Great videos! What kind of video camera do you use on your videos like the studio tour for example?
Hi Graham ! I heard you suggest to mix in mono for different reasons with which i totally agree... Can you tell me how am i supposed to do it in Logic Pro X ? Cause i have no button on my audio interface, and neither in its software... And i don't have the plug in Stereo Width in Logic... Thanx by advance !
Great videos and tips man, thank you so much.
brilliant!!!
This song is growing on me ☺
Hey, My master fader never shows the numbers on the meter. Just stays at 0.0. Do you know why by any chance? thanks.
to balance out loud and less loud parts I suggest to use automation instead of compression. to finetune still can use compression, but with less sound modification
TheHirade how do you do that?
volume automation to push up and pull down phrases/words.
@The Music PromoterI'm pretty sure every song on air used automation, but not every song used compression. Automation is used to automated set eg. the gain of a track, for each instrument if needed. Most of the bass tracks uses automation, as bass is very different in its loudness (if you play the bass as a real instrument). Professional vocalists change the distance to the mic to prevent too big differences in loudness. You find in your DAW the automation on each track, and you can record your movements on the eg. gain, or pick it with the mouse and set the values. You find RUclips vids they explain the automation. Usually, automation is one of the fist jobs at mixing a song. You can use automation also to change eg. reverb, paning and so on - for most things I say. In pro studios it's daily business
You will find NO Song on air where no compression is applied.
just coming back to this, if compression is what works for you and what sounds good then use it. I know produce like a pro will use stacked comressors and stacked vocal rider plugins because he likes the sound it produces and the byproduct is a very even vocal.
Then after words some very mild automation.
Where as some other engineers will go as far as tracing the waveform with pre FX gain automation to reduce the dynamic range before going into compressoin and then use further automation on the way out.
theres more to think about than just getting every word heard.
Graham, This is awesome :)
thank you soo much sir
Always good Graham Thanks again :)
Hi, the link for the 7 Step Sheet doenst work. Can I have it (EQ and Compression)...I cant Download it.
dude....youre awesome
bro i wanna thank you for being an amazing teacher thank you so muchhhh also one question, does this way of compression apply to everything not just vocals???
nvm, just finished the last seconds of video thank you legend
Hi Graham, I want to buy a microphone (Neuman Kms 105).
I need it to record vocals in a studio and live stage performance.
Do you know the microphone? Would you recommend it? Or Do you know another that serves me better?
My fear is the studio sound is not going to be good
Will you be sharing the stems?
Graham, my singer has a really deep voice. What can I do to make her cut through? We make fast songs with distortion and I am finding it difficult to make her be heard clearly with the riffs. Thank you!
Sidechain compression to affect whatever instrument is competing with her at her vocal frequency.
How do you know where to set the threshold?
Graham, what is your soundcloud /bandpage / tunecore / artist name? how do I stream this track from somewhere? the whole finished product, once its released of course
oh NM i found it :)
not this track, but your SC
thank you man, much appreciated
Idk why but when he said “bunch of knobs” at 4 minutes I laughed so hard
Damn me too😂😂
You are the music-making Jesus
Some confusion: 1) you say the quiet parts are not affected by the compressor 2) you later say to turn up the gain for the whole track so it equals the input. But the quiet parts would still be equal to the input because they we're compressed -- only the parts that were going over the threshold were compressed. So when you turn up the gain of the whole track the quiet parts would be louder than their original input. Thanks if you can answer this question.
You are right, the quiet parts are now louder than they were, but they haven't been compressed. The reason the compressor is used here is that the quieter parts of the vocal are desired to be heard more audibly, that is, more out loud. To accomplish this you could raise the volume of the vocal track, but then the louder parts of the vocal would jump out. So you apply the compressor to bring the loud parts down while leaving the quieter parts intact. They are left intact because their volume doesn't reach the threshold at which the compressor would start to bring them down. Now, your vocal's loud parts are quite a bit quieter than they were before compression, so you apply the make-up gain to restore the same level at which they were. As a result you have a vocal that doesn't have its loud parts jump out but you can hear the quiet parts better.
This is absolutely fantastic but I really wish you explained what "Ratio" does.
This is the ratio of how much the level is turned down for signals over the threshold. High ratio = high compression
At why step should we use Pitch Correction?
cool ！！！！
i have never understood compression until this video
How to upload a vocal to mix
i will never bury it
I do not understand: The last word in the sentence was not loud enough. So in stead of fixing that particular problem you are compressing the rest of the vocal track and then plus up the volume. Why not make use of volume automation fist to get a good even balance of the whole vocal track and than you use compressing to make the whole track sit better within the whole mix.
This methode is just using the easy way out.
Great video, but the last thing I want is mixing to make radio ready.
Why my mix doesn't sound like this even though I've been through each stage :'(
It's been a year since you've commented this. Hope you had a great experience in mixing!
your vocals sound like FFH :)
You can really hear the compressor clamping down on the vox at points..
Who's the band/what's the song?
Honestly , to the average listener , it sounds the same.
But honestly, the average listener isn't going to be looking for videos on audio production...
Brad Thomas someone learning this stuff is gonna be an average person until they can train their ear
Why do you do the same video's over and over? What about a new 5 minutes to a better mix or something?
a I have to say first. this is only the 2nd dislike video I have ever made, but I have to say this because I also have been doing this 10 yrs Graham, u have to stop misleading mostly these young people that are the ones u reach out to. u may b in some free version of protools but, I didn't know they had it in H.D. also what about the 20,000+ of gear an interface u recorded that song through I don't think most young artists with bedroom studios have that , if u want to reall show how good u are use a lexicon alpha an a shure SM 58 an make a good song more honest rite an, I'm not tryin to b a hater cus I watch some of ur videos I'm Subscribed Chris.
Chris Horner
If you watch his videos, then you should know he uses budget gear. Why do you assume he's misleading anyone? Watch earlier videos in this series and you can see what he's using.
I have to say first. This is only the 2nd dislike comment I have ever made, but I have to say this because I've been on internet for 10 yrs Chris, you have to stop commenting without knowing.
Cheers
Even if he would be using other equipment than he's is promoting .. the lesson would still be worth it? It sure helped me. But seeing ur the only one down voting the vid ( so far ) .. it's ok.
Hi Chris - I recorded this on a $99 Focusrite interface, with a $99 Behringer Microphone. You can see the whole process happen on these videos: ruclips.net/p/PLVwn0Z_ucW6EpPjJ7sOvG5a2tTlqc9kLg
a if that's true I'm a big man I'm sorry but ive watched nearly all ur videos an seen the 56 focusrite pres, I just wanted the point to be not just about entry level DAWs but, I am sorry if that's how the whole process went.