1:55 - start 2:15 - mixing is gain & tonal balancing 3:32 - creating a vibe 3:48 - seeing the producer & artist vision 4:34 - can you hear everything? 5:35 - reflections on all of the below topics 6:29 - dimensions of a mix 10:03 - careful of reference tracks 10:36 - thoughts on mixing for clients 11:45 - trusting your monitors 13:36 - all audio tools can be split into two categories: gain control & ambience 14:44 - what do we do with these two type of tools? 16:38 - genre 17:55 - making room for instruments/resonant peaks 19:40 - do you need to boost? 20:48 - High Pass & Low Pass 22:25 - gain control / compressors 24:23 - tuning (not your job but the producer's) 26:23 - organization 30:05 - presentation of artist Ester Rada 31:43 - figuring out what the mix needs 32:52 - playing the track 35:21 - done playing track
This is one of the best mix videos I've ever seen. No bullshit, no egos, just a straight up talented dude doing what he loves. Shares his philosophy, then demonstrates it with a mix. Cheers mate.
Best bit of advice I got from this video: "Carve up the frequency spectrum to hear things in a mix". Most instruments have a resonant peak. It often changes with the pitch of the instrument. Raise up an EQ with a medium width and start sweeping it through the frequencies until you find the weird bit that really sticks out. That's the resonant peak. Pull back the EQ a little bit on those resonant peaks for every track in your session before starting to mix and you'll find there's so much more room for everything else because those resonant peaks won't be masking the other instruments.
This is huge, but not as simple. When I first learned about filtering and subtractive EQ, I thought the more I filtered the better. Turns out that will result in a thin weak mix. Only filter if it’s necessary. If there’s a resonant peak, but there are no tracks competing with it, I’d try to preserve that information if I have no issues with it tonally.
Its a good idea. But sometimes you can go overboard with about 8 notches for EVERY resonance. And it might even take away character. If you mute and unmute you can tell what is masking what and remove the one thats masking. Maybe its where you felt you needed to boost the masked instrument? You can also use a dynamic EQ if you really want I. I remove the resonance ONLY when its actually there. And high Q of course. Its also one area where eyes rather than ears are useful with a good graphic analyser. You immediately see peaks and get them exactly.
@@MrGeekymusic Always start with the levels, try to optimize the frequency spectrum with them first, and then use EQ if you still don't like what you're hearing.
1:55 What mixing really is? 6:28 The dimensions of the mix 10:04 About using reference tracks 11:10 The quality of the recordings 11:45 Trust your monitors! 13:35 Building blocks in mixing 14:38 How to use them 16:38 The importance of genre 17:53 Making room: the resonant frequencies 19:39 About the boost 20:48 High pass and low pass 22:27 About gain control: compression and more... 24:25 Tuning and Autotune 26:26 Organization Issues 30:08 About the singer Ester Rada 32:39 BOB'S MIX LISTENING 35:20 General comments about this mix 35:54 About grouping instruments 38:26 DRUMS 41:33 Tips about compression 46:29 Tip about boost 49:00 Tip about how you can listen better what you are doing 50:00 Percussion wich is driving the song (bongos, etc): tape compression and more... 52:18 About ambience reverbs 53:00 ''Snare'' 55:41 About harshness and high frequency equilibrium 56:30 Snare delay effects and more... 57:11 Work in touch!! 1:01:14 Hi Hats: Devil-loc plugin and more... 1:05:06 Claps: why use pitch with them? 1:08:16 Shaker 1:08:55 Name your buses!!! 1:09:41 Toms 1:10:27 Be careful with the panning!!! 1:12:01 Be careful enhancing the attack 1:12:51 About using well known tools 1:14:34 Background vocals: eq tips and more...
I mixed this using that principle together with parallel comp on anything BUT percussive stuff - the rest bussed and sharing a comp. A more natural sound emerges from this. It's the "Andrew Scheps way" It's a demo og a Korg Mono/Poly ruclips.net/video/jD6HabU5TeQ/видео.html
This is a basic education in fundamental mixing. Three years and hundreds of videos and VST"s. Ill add 1000's of Recording Sessions to that as well. I 15 minutes in and If this was the first thing I ever watched, Id been where I am today 2 and 1/2 years ago. Putting this on repeat. Thanks a ton for this video.
Hats off to the "rogue presenter", who preferred to share brilliant advice with everyone, so we could understand why he does what in the mix later! And thanks to the guys in the background for not cutting him off :)
This was awesome, my major takeaways: 1. Always use high pass and low pass for a clean uncluttered sound. 2. On drums, dip just above the boost to make it snap better. 3. Add some pitch shift down to handclaps to make them meatier. I actually was struggling with handclaps before, glad to get that tip.
49:00 the blind compressor A/B test... GOTTA LOVE IT! Mr Power is truly aware of the psychology that goes on in this work. You have to fool yourself sometimes to stay humble enough to actually IMPROVE what you are doing!!!
Bob Power is a LEGEND. ATCQ used to shout him out all the time in their music. I was amazed to find out he had mixed an produced so much classic R&B. I learned a ton from this video. Thanks Sonicscoop
"Do this because of xyz, don't do this other thing because abc" - this is the best kind of masterclass! So much better than other lectures that focus on "me me me my my my, I'm famous because of me me me."
I was there, it was a truly great presentation. So glad I can watch it again. Thank you SonicScoop for posting this. Can't wait for other videos from MixCon.
This is randomly one of the most cinematic, well shot seminar type videos I've ever seen, (that wasn't for an actual movie). Usually these videos looks terrible. kudos to the camera crew.
"Allowed the fast release on the compressor so it would recover quickly for this song". Excellent! Bob's ability to express good habits, mix dynamics, and importance of client relationships shows how much this guy knows how to not only achieve great results, but teaches the student such essentials. Hearing you Bob, and "Thank you" brother. Fellow New Yorker from the Apple.
I literally had to pause this masterclass and drop to the floor on my knees pumping my fist, hollering, "Bosssssss!" Because this was just what I needed in language I can understand! Big ups to MixCon, SonicScoop, and Bob Powers. This masterclass lifted me up and gave me the wisdom I needed to move forward with my mixing in confidence.
"Cause that sucks when that happens" talking about reverb and delay to discrete instrument groups. Not sure why, but that quote just came off so realistic and genuine.
Really smart, to the point and Humble! You could have talked down to everyone, but instead, it was more like a good friend stopped by to help you at home. You make learning clear without the listener feeling embarrassed for not knowing this material. Amazing job !! Thank you for sharing your talent and skills that took so many years to Hone. I need to find more of you on the Web. All the best Ed Genovese Composer
5 and a half minutes in and I'm blown away by how captivating he is in the way he describes music and sound. Such an articulate and prestige way of viewing what other people just think of as "sound." It's a beautifully rich and complex arrangement of sounds. "Can I hear everything? Of course, the right arrangement and proper perspective... but can I hear everything?" is now one of my golden rules of mixing. Thank you, Bob and SonicScoop!
Resonant peak… THAT’S what it’s called. And… taking away frequency competition. Brilliant stuff. Oh, and, now I’m gonna find a Devil-Loc. Thanks for sharing all this stuff!
I really enjoyed this and appreciate this being posted. A lot of great tips have either been reinforced, or introduced to me! I took notes and thought I'd share, if anyone is interested. (: - A great arrangement makes a great mix. - Tonal Balance: "A complementary, and pleasant distribution of the frequency content between the different instruments so the listening experience becomes pleasurable from a sonic point of view". - Mixing isn't about the engineer, but making sure the artist is satisfied with the sound, and helping them achieve their vision. You are in service of the music. - Make sure all elements are heard in the proper perspective. - Think of the dimensions of a mix in three ways: Top to bottom (Frequency), side to side (Panorama), and front to back (Dimension). - Learn to trust your monitors, and make sure you learn their sound. - Genre matters, and not every method of mixing translates to different styles of music. You wouldn't place the kick in a jazz song at the same level as one in a hip-hop song. - Cut out resonant peaks by filter sweeping with a medium sized Q, until you hear that resonant tone, and cut a few dB out with a narrow Q. - Attempt to cut more than boost for a smoother mix. - Hi-Pass at the start of the mix to declutter instruments. Don't cut all instruments at same frequency. Instead, slowly turn up the high pass right up until it begins to negatively affect tone, then bring it down a bit. - Even though vocal tuning is the job of the producer, make sure to tune within the artist's comfort level, and not to the point of sounding unnatural. Additionally, render autotune to audio to save on DSP. - ALWAYS Backup. Use two drives. Work on one, and backup to the other. ChronoSync is recommended. Also, save version numbers at 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, etc. This allows you to go back to earlier mixes, if necessary. - Use mix busses to have quick control of level and processing to entire groups at a time. This makes mixing quicker, glues instruments together, and saves on computer processing. - When boosting low frequencies, cut a little just above the boost to make it snap better and prevent from accentuating resonant frequencies. "...Benefit of 100Hz without the woof that's just above it" - With plug-ins, if you have a setting that you think is working but you want to mess with it, save it as a custom preset first so you can go back to it, as well as easily A/B them - With any plug-in, and especially compressors, close your eyes and toggle the bypass button the hear from an objective perspective whether or not what's being done is desirable - With compression on percussive elements, use a slow attack and a fast release. Fast attacks will squash signal too much and suck life out of performance, and slow releases will take too long to "recover back to zero before the next hit comes". This also allows attack of hit to naturally pass through while bringing the tail down, which we perceive as a louder attack by bringing down the sustain level. - Remove unnecessary high-mids on instruments that don't require it, even if it doesn't sound bad on its own. This clears up the high-mid space for other instruments, preventing frequency clashing. - When automating plugins, work in touch rather than using drawn in lines. This gives a more human, musical feel, and is actually quicker as any automation that doesn't work can simply be undone and attempted again. "Fuck those lines". lol - Delay with an increasing feedback just before the chorus can create excitement. Adds kinetic energy. - Reverbs and delays do not require high frequency content, and should be filtered (high-cut) to allow for focus to be on direct sound. - Throw: When a signal is sent to an ambience generator just for a moment. - "Psychoacoustically, if one thing is even a little bit louder than the other, and you play both of them, you will think that the louder one sounds better". - With claps, adding a pitched down duplicate will make them sound more powerful by adding mid-range boost. - Even with vocals, cutting the mid-range can sound a little more clear and remove some harshness.
22:10 i had a track once, where I couldn’t get anything to sit right. Then I lowpassed the bass guitar at around 2k, on this advise by Bob, and suddenly EVERYTHING opened up. Everybody talks about don’t high/lowpass too much, and I always think about what Bob is saying here at around 20 minutes. I live by it. The first thing I do, after gain staging, is take out any frequencies I don’t like, including high and low pass. And it makes my life so fantastic
this man is a LEGEND...a mix god! "Bob Power, you there?(Yeah) Adjust the bass and treble make my shit sound clear(echo)" --Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest btw 332 clowns disliked this video because he wasn't using Fruity Loops smh
“Don’t make little dots and move the lines!” Always work in touch. He’s so right, I’ve been mapping to knobs and tweaking, endlessly more musical, never pushing dots again...
Bob was one of the first engineers that I worked with when I entered the arena. Not only did what I was hearing come out of his speakers blow me away, but he was a gentleman. There are few engineers in the industry willing to teach you. Not only did Bob teach me a great deal, but he was truly interested in his assistants input. That is NOT heard of from engineers.
Watched this maybe a year ago and I knew how valuable it was but I grew a lot since then and my appetite has expanded. I understand more and still recognize how valuable this video is. The difference is this time I’m gonna finish the video before I run to apply the new knowledge. 🙏🏽
After watching this and taking a lot of notes, I went back to a mix I started a couple of weeks before and started redoing all the EQing from scratch. I decided to dive back into mixing 3 months ago, since it's always been my weak point in music production. I keep coming back to this video, even just a couple of sentences of his are like a mantra which will let me focus in my next session.
I've done a ton of recording over the the past 30 years and this is one of the best talks I've ever heard. Very very good stuff! Time Machine should be turned OFF when recording because it'll steal CPU cycles and hard drive/SSD speed. Turn it back on when done. I agree with manually backing up all music projects to multiple drives - I have four.
Don't make the mistake I did and put your hard drives too close together. They have internal magnets that can damage and corrupt other hard drives if placed too close to one another.
I very much enjoyed the class. It was a game changer for me as well. It's very nice to know that someone has made a way for artistic expression that can no longer come from a common well. I cannot explain but, sometimes for me DJ-ING is a way for me to release anguish that I have felt from the ridicule of being born female in Louisiana. It's much better than it was in the 70's , but if you were a female in the 70's there were people that would never let you forget it. I was freedom and body shamed for being born female. DJ-ING has allowed me to reintroduce myself as something that society here knows benefits and reminds society that the culture that makes the heartbeat of the planet is its love of dance. I am DJ digitaljade. Thank You for your cool class.
His section on monitors really put me at ease, and it makes perfect sense. Understanding what your monitors are revealing to you is more important than having "perfect" monitors.
This must be the most recommended mixing vid on youtube. Definitely mine. The info here is unreal. Worth learning and re-learning. Watched this several times now and its always a lesson. Thanks fellas
Words of wisdom. He’s delivered more great, real world info in the first part of this than almost any other video I’ve seen. Far more valuable than the endless tricks and toys that cause new engineers to get lost in the options and miss the big picture.
I can't even handle how much gratitude I have in my soul for this absolutely incredible master class!!! Im self-taught and it's been very frustrating to not be able to explain or discuss music with people when I've never been properly trained and educated. Again, thank you so much for this.
EDIT: I've forgot the most important thing! A very very big THANK YOU to SOUNDTOYS to make this possible and available. But the BIGGEST THANK YOU go to Mr. Non Power. You are a great teacher, because some technique that she used in this cons, I've never used, even knowing them. Now I will use it because she help understand the "mechanics". Now I can see the brilliant and the punch of mix. VERY VERY THANK YOU!!! 50:25 I apologise for my ignorance, but instead a tape emulator, I use an old ('90s ) technics'hifi cassette recorder).. Is the only mix/mastering outboard I use. All other things there's only UNIVERSAL AUDIO
And if you look at the quality of the speakers that some of the most legendary tracks of all time were mixed on? Junk by today's standards. Trusting the monitors is as much about getting to know them as their ability to render everything neutral (which, frankly, has limited functionality. It's the indian, not the arrow.
Well you can't expect to have a pro setup for peanuts lol. Under $10k is really not all that much when setting up a studio. Think about the total cost of audio interface, room treatment, outboard gear and / or software.... The list continues. All that said, it's still much more attainable than it ever was
@@FahadAbdulaal true, but then again most people have a homestudio and they don't start out with 10k. I have 2 JBL 305's a focusrite studio bundle, a keyboard and a guitar and I do everything in Cubase. That's far from 10k, but I believe I can make good sounding songs with it, so you don't need 10k. I'm slowly upgrading over time though to get better gear :)
This video is absolute gold. No nonsense, high quality, valuable info from not only an industry professional but also a really cool, wise dude! Awesome.
I want to hang out with this guy. That was a pure pleasure to watch and learn from. To have him actually go through one of his very own mixes with, to be honest, quite a few mid level tracks... What a master session! Seriously I can't believe I am just finding out about you guys.
very good masterclass here. some things I didn’t catch bc they were advanced for me as a beginner in mixing but even for those like me I recommend watching the whole class, took so many notes! it’s not just overload of info, he actually shows his techniques and you can go on and practice them right away. I have a clearer panorama of an overall mix now but also lots of tips on mixing individual elements but always in relation with each other. I mean that sounds like a basic definition of mixing, but the class was much more, well explained, put simply, and comprised in just one class instead of gathering fragments of many tutorials etc. I also understand EQ much better now. really appreciated !
This guy is Master Yoda of mixing and mastering. He said atcq came along at a time when he was doing a lot of experimental stuff and all those songs were done like nothing I have ever heard before. Q-tip was so lucky to have had Bob powers mix and master his beats, top notch work from all ends!
I started my mixing adventure after having played instruments for 17 years. I started with a simple multi track, a 5 band eq and reverb. I only had a few things to focus on and really developed my ability to space sounds out, relying on the most basic tools (which ive since learned are the most vital). I did that for awhile and looking back in hindsight, it taught me how to cut instead of boost naturally. Ive since progressed into working with full daws and practically everything ive taught myself has turned out to be an actual strategy within the music industry. Im really glad I had an ear for the basic sound profile before moving on any further. it seems one thing that has really limits growth for some people is having jumped the gun and jumping into the deep before they knew how to swim
This is the absolute most vid thumbnail I have ever seen. The algorithm loves this vid. It's in my suggested feed all the time for the past few years. And Ive watched it twice.
I had the pleasure of learning from Bob at NYU, and he is one of the realest, humblest people I have ever met. Just an infinite source of goodwill and wisdom. Love you Bob
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I cannot believe what high quality content is here for free.
Totally!
RUclips shill
Dirk Diggler haha!!
shhhh dont expose they gonna charge us soon
>For real. I definitely subscribed
1:55 - start
2:15 - mixing is gain & tonal balancing
3:32 - creating a vibe
3:48 - seeing the producer & artist vision
4:34 - can you hear everything?
5:35 - reflections on all of the below topics
6:29 - dimensions of a mix
10:03 - careful of reference tracks
10:36 - thoughts on mixing for clients
11:45 - trusting your monitors
13:36 - all audio tools can be split into two categories: gain control & ambience
14:44 - what do we do with these two type of tools?
16:38 - genre
17:55 - making room for instruments/resonant peaks
19:40 - do you need to boost?
20:48 - High Pass & Low Pass
22:25 - gain control / compressors
24:23 - tuning (not your job but the producer's)
26:23 - organization
30:05 - presentation of artist Ester Rada
31:43 - figuring out what the mix needs
32:52 - playing the track
35:21 - done playing track
Go on...
Kristian Andreasen thank you!!
Thx!
Wow thank you!!
Major kudos Kristian Andreasen! thx
This is one of the best mix videos I've ever seen. No bullshit, no egos, just a straight up talented dude doing what he loves. Shares his philosophy, then demonstrates it with a mix. Cheers mate.
Hear hear man. Thinking the exact same thing. I truly learnt a lot of stuff from this. What a great down-to-earth guy!
+1
Paul Anstey t
+2
right. I seen him talk before, but didn't waste a word with this presentation.
Best bit of advice I got from this video:
"Carve up the frequency spectrum to hear things in a mix". Most instruments have a resonant peak. It often changes with the pitch of the instrument. Raise up an EQ with a medium width and start sweeping it through the frequencies until you find the weird bit that really sticks out. That's the resonant peak. Pull back the EQ a little bit on those resonant peaks for every track in your session before starting to mix and you'll find there's so much more room for everything else because those resonant peaks won't be masking the other instruments.
Especially in the range of 100 to 500 hz
This is huge, but not as simple. When I first learned about filtering and subtractive EQ, I thought the more I filtered the better. Turns out that will result in a thin weak mix.
Only filter if it’s necessary. If there’s a resonant peak, but there are no tracks competing with it, I’d try to preserve that information if I have no issues with it tonally.
Its a good idea. But sometimes you can go overboard with about 8 notches for EVERY resonance. And it might even take away character.
If you mute and unmute you can tell what is masking what and remove the one thats masking. Maybe its where you felt you needed to boost the masked instrument?
You can also use a dynamic EQ if you really want I. I remove the resonance ONLY when its actually there. And high Q of course.
Its also one area where eyes rather than ears are useful with a good graphic analyser. You immediately see peaks and get them exactly.
@@MrGeekymusic Always start with the levels, try to optimize the frequency spectrum with them first, and then use EQ if you still don't like what you're hearing.
@@gt3shredz510 Thanks I agree with you - it's the removing of resonant peaks before starting a mix that I didn't.
" My career is a result of my clients knowing that I will work much harder than they will"
My hats off to you my friend
The first part before he went into the song was 100% good information.
it was absolutely golden eh ! Almost prophet like
The Timbre info in respect to depth was mind opening!Bob is dope!!!
but...?
Best rogue presenter ever!
No buts
1:55 What mixing really is?
6:28 The dimensions of the mix
10:04 About using reference tracks
11:10 The quality of the recordings
11:45 Trust your monitors!
13:35 Building blocks in mixing
14:38 How to use them
16:38 The importance of genre
17:53 Making room: the resonant frequencies
19:39 About the boost
20:48 High pass and low pass
22:27 About gain control: compression and more...
24:25 Tuning and Autotune
26:26 Organization Issues
30:08 About the singer Ester Rada
32:39 BOB'S MIX LISTENING
35:20 General comments about this mix
35:54 About grouping instruments
38:26 DRUMS
41:33 Tips about compression
46:29 Tip about boost
49:00 Tip about how you can listen better what you are doing
50:00 Percussion wich is driving the song (bongos, etc): tape compression and more...
52:18 About ambience reverbs
53:00 ''Snare''
55:41 About harshness and high frequency equilibrium
56:30 Snare delay effects and more...
57:11 Work in touch!!
1:01:14 Hi Hats: Devil-loc plugin and more...
1:05:06 Claps: why use pitch with them?
1:08:16 Shaker
1:08:55 Name your buses!!!
1:09:41 Toms
1:10:27 Be careful with the panning!!!
1:12:01 Be careful enhancing the attack
1:12:51 About using well known tools
1:14:34 Background vocals: eq tips and more...
🙌
My sound-quality went way up, when I discovered removing those resonant peaks. Game changer for me
same same
@@redlikewater2453 Get them eradicated BEFORE they hit any other plugin such as comps. dist, reverbs etc - everything will become easier hereafter.
I mixed this using that principle together with parallel comp on anything BUT percussive stuff - the rest bussed and sharing a comp. A more natural sound emerges from this. It's the "Andrew Scheps way" It's a demo og a Korg Mono/Poly
ruclips.net/video/jD6HabU5TeQ/видео.html
And far fewer comps/cpu-horsepower needed
@@redlikewater2453 no. First high-pass, then de-resonate. :)
This is a basic education in fundamental mixing. Three years and hundreds of videos and VST"s. Ill add 1000's of Recording Sessions to that as well. I 15 minutes in and If this was the first thing I ever watched, Id been where I am today 2 and 1/2 years ago. Putting this on repeat. Thanks a ton for this video.
same here man
True the rest was mainly less is more and do what sounds good
Awesome
Wow glad I clicked this
That's how you know you're being taught by a master. Masters help 'compress' (no pun intended) the learning time.
Hats off to the "rogue presenter", who preferred to share brilliant advice with everyone, so we could understand why he does what in the mix later! And thanks to the guys in the background for not cutting him off :)
This was awesome, my major takeaways:
1. Always use high pass and low pass for a clean uncluttered sound.
2. On drums, dip just above the boost to make it snap better.
3. Add some pitch shift down to handclaps to make them meatier.
I actually was struggling with handclaps before, glad to get that tip.
Similarly, to beef up finger snaps, do tongue clacks at the same time. I got that one from Charlie Puth on Songland.
Unlimited gems in here. Basically watch this thing 1000 times and you never have to go to school again. Bob Power is a boss!
49:00 the blind compressor A/B test... GOTTA LOVE IT! Mr Power is truly aware of the psychology that goes on in this work. You have to fool yourself sometimes to stay humble enough to actually IMPROVE what you are doing!!!
Bob Power is a LEGEND. ATCQ used to shout him out all the time in their music. I was amazed to find out he had mixed an produced so much classic R&B. I learned a ton from this video. Thanks Sonicscoop
"Do this because of xyz, don't do this other thing because abc" - this is the best kind of masterclass! So much better than other lectures that focus on "me me me my my my, I'm famous because of me me me."
😂😂😂
I can not believe the thumbs down on this. They must not like the fact that he knows more than they do.
I was there, it was a truly great presentation. So glad I can watch it again. Thank you SonicScoop for posting this. Can't wait for other videos from MixCon.
Great to have you there! More coming soon.
as someone with 0 mixing experience, this has been so much more than helpful. I look foreword to watching this over and over again.
I could watch this guy for hours. Lots of knowledge delivered in casual way.
Watched this to appease the RUclips algorithm. Was not disappointed
Few are! It's a good one. Thanks for stopping by! :-)
This is randomly one of the most cinematic, well shot seminar type videos I've ever seen, (that wasn't for an actual movie). Usually these videos looks terrible. kudos to the camera crew.
"Allowed the fast release on the compressor so it would recover quickly for this song". Excellent! Bob's ability to express good habits, mix dynamics, and importance of client relationships shows how much this guy knows how to not only achieve great results, but teaches the student such essentials. Hearing you Bob, and "Thank you" brother. Fellow New Yorker from the Apple.
I literally had to pause this masterclass and drop to the floor on my knees pumping my fist, hollering, "Bosssssss!" Because this was just what I needed in language I can understand! Big ups to MixCon, SonicScoop, and Bob Powers. This masterclass lifted me up and gave me the wisdom I needed to move forward with my mixing in confidence.
"Cause that sucks when that happens" talking about reverb and delay to discrete instrument groups. Not sure why, but that quote just came off so realistic and genuine.
Really smart, to the point and Humble! You could have talked down to everyone, but instead, it was more like a good friend stopped by to help you at home. You make learning clear without the listener feeling embarrassed for not knowing this material. Amazing job !! Thank you for sharing your talent and skills that took so many years to Hone. I need to find more of you on the Web. All the best Ed Genovese Composer
5 and a half minutes in and I'm blown away by how captivating he is in the way he describes music and sound. Such an articulate and prestige way of viewing what other people just think of as "sound." It's a beautifully rich and complex arrangement of sounds.
"Can I hear everything? Of course, the right arrangement and proper perspective... but can I hear everything?" is now one of my golden rules of mixing. Thank you, Bob and SonicScoop!
Not only a skilled mixer but also an excellent and very engaging speaker/presenter/teacher! 👏
Absolutely!
Gonna have to go grab *everything* I can find from Bob now :-)
Just discovered your channel and started binge watching all your videos. Absolute gems, thanks for sharing 🙏💯
So glad to have you tuning in!
-Justin
Resonant peak… THAT’S what it’s called. And… taking away frequency competition. Brilliant stuff. Oh, and, now I’m gonna find a Devil-Loc. Thanks for sharing all this stuff!
Have to give props to Bob Powers.
Such a great teacher, who explains with a style easily understood.
Thanks, folks!
I really enjoyed this and appreciate this being posted. A lot of great tips have either been reinforced, or introduced to me! I took notes and thought I'd share, if anyone is interested. (:
- A great arrangement makes a great mix.
- Tonal Balance: "A complementary, and pleasant distribution of the frequency content between the different instruments so the listening experience becomes pleasurable from a sonic point of view".
- Mixing isn't about the engineer, but making sure the artist is satisfied with the sound, and helping them achieve their vision. You are in service of the music.
- Make sure all elements are heard in the proper perspective.
- Think of the dimensions of a mix in three ways: Top to bottom (Frequency), side to side (Panorama), and front to back (Dimension).
- Learn to trust your monitors, and make sure you learn their sound.
- Genre matters, and not every method of mixing translates to different styles of music. You wouldn't place the kick in a jazz song at the same level as one in a hip-hop song.
- Cut out resonant peaks by filter sweeping with a medium sized Q, until you hear that resonant tone, and cut a few dB out with a narrow Q.
- Attempt to cut more than boost for a smoother mix.
- Hi-Pass at the start of the mix to declutter instruments. Don't cut all instruments at same frequency. Instead, slowly turn up the high pass right up until it begins to negatively affect tone, then bring it down a bit.
- Even though vocal tuning is the job of the producer, make sure to tune within the artist's comfort level, and not to the point of sounding unnatural. Additionally, render autotune to audio to save on DSP.
- ALWAYS Backup. Use two drives. Work on one, and backup to the other. ChronoSync is recommended. Also, save version numbers at 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, etc. This allows you to go back to earlier mixes, if necessary.
- Use mix busses to have quick control of level and processing to entire groups at a time. This makes mixing quicker, glues instruments together, and saves on computer processing.
- When boosting low frequencies, cut a little just above the boost to make it snap better and prevent from accentuating resonant frequencies. "...Benefit of 100Hz without the woof that's just above it"
- With plug-ins, if you have a setting that you think is working but you want to mess with it, save it as a custom preset first so you can go back to it, as well as easily A/B them
- With any plug-in, and especially compressors, close your eyes and toggle the bypass button the hear from an objective perspective whether or not what's being done is desirable
- With compression on percussive elements, use a slow attack and a fast release. Fast attacks will squash signal too much and suck life out of performance, and slow releases will take too long to "recover back to zero before the next hit comes". This also allows attack of hit to naturally pass through while bringing the tail down, which we perceive as a louder attack by bringing down the sustain level.
- Remove unnecessary high-mids on instruments that don't require it, even if it doesn't sound bad on its own. This clears up the high-mid space for other instruments, preventing frequency clashing.
- When automating plugins, work in touch rather than using drawn in lines. This gives a more human, musical feel, and is actually quicker as any automation that doesn't work can simply be undone and attempted again. "Fuck those lines". lol
- Delay with an increasing feedback just before the chorus can create excitement. Adds kinetic energy.
- Reverbs and delays do not require high frequency content, and should be filtered (high-cut) to allow for focus to be on direct sound.
- Throw: When a signal is sent to an ambience generator just for a moment.
- "Psychoacoustically, if one thing is even a little bit louder than the other, and you play both of them, you will think that the louder one sounds better".
- With claps, adding a pitched down duplicate will make them sound more powerful by adding mid-range boost.
- Even with vocals, cutting the mid-range can sound a little more clear and remove some harshness.
22:10 i had a track once, where I couldn’t get anything to sit right. Then I lowpassed the bass guitar at around 2k, on this advise by Bob, and suddenly EVERYTHING opened up.
Everybody talks about don’t high/lowpass too much, and I always think about what Bob is saying here at around 20 minutes. I live by it. The first thing I do, after gain staging, is take out any frequencies I don’t like, including high and low pass. And it makes my life so fantastic
this man is a LEGEND...a mix god!
"Bob Power, you there?(Yeah)
Adjust the bass and treble make my shit sound clear(echo)"
--Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest
btw 332 clowns disliked this video because he wasn't using Fruity Loops smh
“Don’t make little dots and move the lines!” Always work in touch. He’s so right, I’ve been mapping to knobs and tweaking, endlessly more musical, never pushing dots again...
"Bongos Bathroom? That wasn't very helpful, so I didn't use it" - made my day!
You the man, Bob!
Thanks for a great maaterclass
Bob was one of the first engineers that I worked with when I entered the arena. Not only did what I was hearing come out of his speakers blow me away, but he was a gentleman. There are few engineers in the industry willing to teach you. Not only did Bob teach me a great deal, but he was truly interested in his assistants input. That is NOT heard of from engineers.
"...and an...auto...release. I don't know. I just got the piece and was messing around with it."
what a legend
The second he said about being in service to the song and the artist, I slapped that like button. Wisdom straight off the bat.
An actual free Masterclass, in every sense of the word. I loved this! Thank you for sharing.
If you really listen, and listen again until you get everything he's sharing, this one video can take you to another level!
THANK YOU SOUNDTOYS!!! THAT'S WHY I PURCHASED SOUNDTOYS 5!!
I love how he explains everything instead of just jumping into plugins. This is real wisdom here. Much appreciated
I truly enjoyed this. I feel like the first 30 minutes was the most important part. Great video!
100% agree mate
Yeah loved that to :)
As well, we can see an api 2500 while he says "guys thank you..." - probably they cut the part when talks about the mix bus.
DEFININTELY!! That first 30 mins set the entire context up for the rest...this was so awesome!
Watched this maybe a year ago and I knew how valuable it was but I grew a lot since then and my appetite has expanded. I understand more and still recognize how valuable this video is. The difference is this time I’m gonna finish the video before I run to apply the new knowledge. 🙏🏽
49:04 - best tip of this video, and there is a lot of them
I swear i just pulled out my notebook and wrote tons and tons of notes.. I'm 28 mins in... and he's still talking about mixing... and i LOOOOVEE IT
this was by far the best audio mixing video I've ever seen
This interview is the gift that keeps on giving!💯🙏🏿 Much appreciated!
After watching this and taking a lot of notes, I went back to a mix I started a couple of weeks before and started redoing all the EQing from scratch. I decided to dive back into mixing 3 months ago, since it's always been my weak point in music production. I keep coming back to this video, even just a couple of sentences of his are like a mantra which will let me focus in my next session.
Thank you SonicScoop, Bob and Soundtoys ! I applaused in front of the screen... lol ;)
I've done a ton of recording over the the past 30 years and this is one of the best talks I've ever heard. Very very good stuff! Time Machine should be turned OFF when recording because it'll steal CPU cycles and hard drive/SSD speed. Turn it back on when done. I agree with manually backing up all music projects to multiple drives - I have four.
Don't make the mistake I did and put your hard drives too close together. They have internal magnets that can damage and corrupt other hard drives if placed too close to one another.
@@masteroutlaw100 That's good advice!
My old teacher
I very much enjoyed the class. It was a game changer for me as well. It's very nice to know that someone has made a way for artistic expression that can no longer come from a common well. I cannot explain but, sometimes for me DJ-ING is a way for me to release anguish that I have felt from the ridicule of being born female in Louisiana. It's much better than it was in the 70's , but if you were a female in the 70's there were people that would never let you forget it. I was freedom and body shamed for being born female. DJ-ING has allowed me to reintroduce myself as something that society here knows benefits and reminds society that the culture that makes the heartbeat of the planet is its love of dance. I am DJ digitaljade.
Thank You for your cool class.
Pleaaaaase get Bob Power on again… Such a LEGEND
I come back every year to this video to watch and learn from this legend
Stop scrolling through the comments and pay attention
Haha sorry... I will look @ the old guy. 😁
yo i literally paused the video before looking at comments because i was hanging on every word
🙂
😆 Dude, you totally busted me...
Okay okay..... I am sorry 🙏
His section on monitors really put me at ease, and it makes perfect sense. Understanding what your monitors are revealing to you is more important than having "perfect" monitors.
This must be the most recommended mixing vid on youtube. Definitely mine. The info here is unreal. Worth learning and re-learning. Watched this several times now and its always a lesson. Thanks fellas
Words of wisdom. He’s delivered more great, real world info in the first part of this than almost any other video I’ve seen. Far more valuable than the endless tricks and toys that cause new engineers to get lost in the options and miss the big picture.
I can't even handle how much gratitude I have in my soul for this absolutely incredible master class!!! Im self-taught and it's been very frustrating to not be able to explain or discuss music with people when I've never been properly trained and educated. Again, thank you so much for this.
This man is a legend. He mixed a lot of JDilla’s work with Tribe Called Quest which is why I fell in love with beats.
What I really like about this is that Bob doesn't try to sell you plus-ins instead he gives
you technical hints.
I had to pause this 15 minutes in yesterday and have been looking forward to watching the rest today. This man explains this all so well. Bravo!
He's dressed like we're about to look at some lions lmao
😂 😂 😂 😂
But that mix is deadly 💀
Fløxsiff.
have to say that was one of the funniest things i read lately on youtube ..so simple so funny ..cheers
think how grey his hair would look in a navy blazer
LOL
This changed my perspective on quite a few things. Thanks for sharing this!
Best compression explanation ever, for me anyways. Also that eq stuff was enlightening
EDIT:
I've forgot the most important thing!
A very very big THANK YOU to SOUNDTOYS to make this possible and available.
But the BIGGEST THANK YOU go to Mr. Non Power. You are a great teacher, because some technique that she used in this cons, I've never used, even knowing them. Now I will use it because she help understand the "mechanics". Now I can see the brilliant and the punch of mix. VERY VERY THANK YOU!!!
50:25 I apologise for my ignorance, but instead a tape emulator, I use an old ('90s ) technics'hifi cassette recorder).. Is the only mix/mastering outboard I use.
All other things there's only UNIVERSAL AUDIO
Thanks so much for mentioning Ester Rada! Amazing! (Never heard of her before)
"Bongos - Bathroom, It wasn't useful I didn't use it". this dude is suuuper relatable.
"A lot of monitors under $10.000" lol. Here I am with my $300 pair xD
And if you look at the quality of the speakers that some of the most legendary tracks of all time were mixed on? Junk by today's standards. Trusting the monitors is as much about getting to know them as their ability to render everything neutral (which, frankly, has limited functionality. It's the indian, not the arrow.
Here I am with my $10 pair :(
@@perciejackson8799 Oof, next investment maybe?
Well you can't expect to have a pro setup for peanuts lol. Under $10k is really not all that much when setting up a studio. Think about the total cost of audio interface, room treatment, outboard gear and / or software.... The list continues. All that said, it's still much more attainable than it ever was
@@FahadAbdulaal true, but then again most people have a homestudio and they don't start out with 10k. I have 2 JBL 305's a focusrite studio bundle, a keyboard and a guitar and I do everything in Cubase. That's far from 10k, but I believe I can make good sounding songs with it, so you don't need 10k. I'm slowly upgrading over time though to get better gear :)
Bob Ross of Mix and Master
"ultimately, a great recording is a compelling performance of a great song"
enough said
This video is absolute gold. No nonsense, high quality, valuable info from not only an industry professional but also a really cool, wise dude! Awesome.
Soundtoys are legends for sponsoring this and for their charity/fundraising they do, amazing company.
I want to hang out with this guy. That was a pure pleasure to watch and learn from. To have him actually go through one of his very own mixes with, to be honest, quite a few mid level tracks... What a master session! Seriously I can't believe I am just finding out about you guys.
this is richer than a mixing mastering class that I paid back in 2019, thank you
What a fine fellow, and too everyone in the background having done and are doing their part in providing Bob's wisdom to me. Thank you
audio/video quality is unusually good for these kind of things
Honestly can't believe this is free, thank you.
Simply, the best session ever on sound production!
very good masterclass here. some things I didn’t catch bc they were advanced for me as a beginner in mixing but even for those like me I recommend watching the whole class, took so many notes! it’s not just overload of info, he actually shows his techniques and you can go on and practice them right away. I have a clearer panorama of an overall mix now but also lots of tips on mixing individual elements but always in relation with each other. I mean that sounds like a basic definition of mixing, but the class was much more, well explained, put simply, and comprised in just one class instead of gathering fragments of many tutorials etc. I also understand EQ much better now. really appreciated !
been a while since i enjoyed a session this much especially the first 30 minutes and the rest was a big big bonus
This guy is Master Yoda of mixing and mastering. He said atcq came along at a time when he was doing a lot of experimental stuff and all those songs were done like nothing I have ever heard before. Q-tip was so lucky to have had Bob powers mix and master his beats, top notch work from all ends!
Backing off on the resonant peaks, brilliant! Thanks.
Agreed.
Charles Beyer this is crazy! I’ve always noticed the resonant peaks, I never knew it had a name though. When he said this I was mind blown lol
I love this man
Every single word he says makes perfect sense. I needed to hear them
I'm just starting out in all of this and this, even though a lot of it is over my head, was very informative.
This was incredible. I know I'm being taught by a master here. Straight to the point. Simple, graceful mastery and effective teaching.
This guy is AWESOME! Thank you Bob Power!
This was great i have taken in alot and tried new teqnuiques on my project because of this lecture. Thanks Bob!
Good Tips and Reminders! Good pace, not too fast and not too slow.
I started my mixing adventure after having played instruments for 17 years. I started with a simple multi track, a 5 band eq and reverb. I only had a few things to focus on and really developed my ability to space sounds out, relying on the most basic tools (which ive since learned are the most vital). I did that for awhile and looking back in hindsight, it taught me how to cut instead of boost naturally. Ive since progressed into working with full daws and practically everything ive taught myself has turned out to be an actual strategy within the music industry. Im really glad I had an ear for the basic sound profile before moving on any further. it seems one thing that has really limits growth for some people is having jumped the gun and jumping into the deep before they knew how to swim
Great Content for all DJs out there!!! Thank you for this Video!!! :-)
This is a ‘watch it every year’ kind of video
this guy's onomatopeia is spot on!
"its for them" - you are my very favorite teacher. Thank you
watched this a year or so ago, it changed my mixing, for the better! soooo much better, thanks man
This is the absolute most vid thumbnail I have ever seen. The algorithm loves this vid. It's in my suggested feed all the time for the past few years. And Ive watched it twice.
I had the pleasure of learning from Bob at NYU, and he is one of the realest, humblest people I have ever met. Just an infinite source of goodwill and wisdom. Love you Bob
After dropping all of this priceless mixing knowledge Bob was seen immediately afterwards leading a group of tourists through a safari in Africa.
Agree with all of Bob's plugin comments!