I agree with everything except the loudness. While I agree that we should stop abusing limiters, I don't really see commercial releases and big mastering engineers letting go of -9 to -6 LUFS. And a lot of times when people try to follow the guidelines the music ends up sounding weaker. Just master loud and let the streaming services pull it down if they need to.
When I get a notification of a new Miami video, I know that my day will get better. Mostly because of his beautiful smile, but also because those tips are always fire
Miami, great tips man!!! So I top down mix but I am a full-time professional mixing and mastering engineer. I 1,000% agree with you about it being something that people should hold off on until they are ready. I can confirm that you are correct, if you aren't careful and you shut those plugins off, your whole mix falls apart. I started doing it because I master my own mixes almost always and it just makes mastering a ton easier when you get there. Plus I notice that clients like hearing the mixes that way hahahahaha. Great video again man!
Thanks, Matthew! Top down mixing can be great when you’re a professional like yourself. We just gotta make sure the young ones coming up have the right info out there to make the proper decisions -Miami
Great tips! One I absolutely love that would be great in this video is using a Clipper before your Final Limiter. This will help tame the transients and square off the waveform and takes some of the heavy lifting off the True Peak Limiter. I love using the T Racks clipper because you can adjust whether it's Hard Clipping or Soft Clipping. Also surprised to see you not using the SC HPF on the demonstrations with the SSL and Finality. Awesome shit, love you guys!
Thanks Miami. Took me years to finally stop top-down mixing because it was what I was first introduced to. Glad to have a perspective lately that is a little more.... pragmatic. Your insight on this is encouraging.
I'm 100% on-board with what was said about mastering, and maybe it's been mentioned it in other videos, but I also think it's really important for musicians to think about the fact that if you send something to someone, who didn't also mix it, to master then you've also minimized the risk of a sub-optimal result due to ear-fatigue, room-anomalies, speaker-coloration, musician-hovering, exhaustion, etc. For the price of one more professional set of ears it's generally totally worth finding a mastering engineer you can depend on.
As far as limiters or compression that’s usually before my Eq or in between 2 Eq’s . Because it’s only function with most of my music is to give it a Lil bump. And smooth the bass. If it’s my personal produced song I probably don’t need a compressor cause the sounds are mainly designed for maximum whatever I need anyway so all I need is to balance the volume between tracks
love the tips. would be interesting to have a video just on the stereo bus compressor. you stated you have different settings depending on the genre, maybe a video going over that and what you are listening for when setting it?
Yes, I would love to do this! This is one of the small issues when doing a video like this. I can only expand on so many things in a 10 minute timeframe, but any longer and I lose a bit of retention. Short answer, yes! -Miami
@@BrofUJu yes it would be great to be abled to set it up by knowing what to listen for instead of just following a guideline that might not be right for the song or genre
Great video thanks especially for the notes on attack/release settings. Just FYI, unless my audio interface is making noise that I can scrub through at specific points in the video, I think some mic noise made it into the final cut. Love your vids. Keep em coming!
I am not a professional mixer, but I mix into a limiter, because I can't judge the transients of the kick and snare properly without a limiter. I won't say that my mixes fall apart when I turn the limiter off, but especially the snare pokes out to much. I have to mention that I also master my own stuff most of the time. So for me, it is just a huge timesaver!
Great stuff as always Miami. Some advice please. I use Studio One. Right now I'm unsure where in the chain to put production plug-ins, whether to use them at the end of the line on individual songs or in the mastering suite. Of course you can assign plug-ins individually to the songs within the mastering suite, so it seems like it really doesn't matter. I hope that makes sense. Anyway thanks as always for the tips and spot-on advice regarding plug-ins. I just started using soothe 2 and really helps make me sound like I'm actually good at this.
Put them on your mix bus when mixing. Disable/remove and move them to the mastering suit when you get ready for the "real master". You can tailor each song and get them all the right level and tone. Add anything you need to apply to the whole album in the mastering suite's "post" section. I've been a Studio One user since 2014 and this is my workflow. Don't forget that there's no rule that says you can't slap MB comp, limiters, saturators, etc on your mix bus while mixing. You want to get the mix as close the final master as possible (without actually doing the mastering at that point). Good luck. My transition game is not as good as Miami's but hopefully that's a useful answer for you.
@@RaKanMusik Hell yeah, that's a very useful answer my man, thanks. Your workflow is actually the way I was considering doing things, but I was hesitant given my relative inexperience at full production. I guess there are no "rules" per se, but there are definitely "ways you can screw things up", so your input is much appreciated. And no one should feel bad for not possessing Miami's transition game man, that thing is other-worldly.
Totally agree to avoid mixing into a mastering program. Better to get your true mix perfected as a unified sound. Then master to bring out detail and punch.
I am definitely guilty of top down mixing, and im probably going to redo a song im working on without it just to see if it turns out better. When not doing top down, is it literally NOTHING on your master bus or would having a limiter just to make sure it doesnt go over fine? Though i guess you could just turn down the master bus as well for the same effect now that i think about it.
Can you put named timecode in your description so we can have chapters in the video ? I have a script which can do that from reaper from markers if needed :P
@@joeymusic Cool, this is a very handy feature on viewer side ! What software do you use for video editing ? I also have DaVinci Resolve to export markers to RUclips chapter :P
I know we don't mix/master with our eyes but I can't help but wonder why my "mastered" waveforms always look so much smaller and more dynamic when referencing other tracks. Is this a shortcoming of my mix or something else?
Hi miami❤️. I have a question. When I import a "professionell" song into my daw(reaper) the song is ultra loud and my master meter shows +2 dB and more. Why is that? Thank you and Greetings from Germany
Sometimes people are pushing their songs past the point, in which causes clipping! Spotify definitely pulls these tracks down, but maybe the mixer liked it that way. First, know the rules... then? Learn how to break them -Miami
Hahaha! Kush! Love that guy and his band is smooth!
Lmao! Yeah dude, he's awesome.
-Miami
Ahahaha! This bit had me rolling around. Love that dude though.
I agree with everything except the loudness. While I agree that we should stop abusing limiters, I don't really see commercial releases and big mastering engineers letting go of -9 to -6 LUFS. And a lot of times when people try to follow the guidelines the music ends up sounding weaker. Just master loud and let the streaming services pull it down if they need to.
I was about to say this, most mastering engineers still send in -9.
When I get a notification of a new Miami video, I know that my day will get better. Mostly because of his beautiful smile, but also because those tips are always fire
Thanks Vitor!
-Miami
Hahaha ! Loved the reference to Gregory Scott from Kush !
LMFAO! Glad someone caught that
-Miami
AHAHA were you talking about Greg Scott, the Kush Audio guy? If so, that guy is a TRIP, love him and that company
It was such a good impression hahahah. Gregg Scott puts me to sleep at night (in a good way 🤣)
Lmao it was def Greg, and I love that dudes content. Still funny as hell tho
-Miami
Miami, great tips man!!! So I top down mix but I am a full-time professional mixing and mastering engineer. I 1,000% agree with you about it being something that people should hold off on until they are ready. I can confirm that you are correct, if you aren't careful and you shut those plugins off, your whole mix falls apart. I started doing it because I master my own mixes almost always and it just makes mastering a ton easier when you get there. Plus I notice that clients like hearing the mixes that way hahahahaha. Great video again man!
Thanks, Matthew! Top down mixing can be great when you’re a professional like yourself. We just gotta make sure the young ones coming up have the right info out there to make the proper decisions
-Miami
@@joeymusic Facts bro! You are good at your job Miami. You are for sure an asset to the community and I appreciate what you do.
DUDE THANK YOU!! Dan Korneff is the KING!
I have a surprise for you today lmfao
-Miami
@@joeymusic Ooooooo…. lights?!?? Or Dan Korneff telling us the secrets of attaining an ssl console??
Hi, do you have any video where you explain the 'Auto' release setting? How does it work and differ from a short/long release? Thanks
No, but I can make one!
-Miami
@@joeymusic would love to see it. I do auto-release 9/10 times but want to know the downside of that approach
Holy shit! Love the impression of that 'other youtuber'-- hahah-- I bet he would too-- fantastic
Is our corner of RUclips THAT small? I knew who it was immediately
Lmao, yeah some people won’t get it but it’s pretty funny for the rest of us
-Miami
Thanks man , learning alot from you
Anytime Mahmoud! Glad to have you here as always
-Miami
"Piece of Shure" - can't believe you snuck that in at the end - had me cracking up. Never heard that one before.
unironically fire transitions 🔥
Great tips! One I absolutely love that would be great in this video is using a Clipper before your Final Limiter. This will help tame the transients and square off the waveform and takes some of the heavy lifting off the True Peak Limiter. I love using the T Racks clipper because you can adjust whether it's Hard Clipping or Soft Clipping. Also surprised to see you not using the SC HPF on the demonstrations with the SSL and Finality. Awesome shit, love you guys!
Thanks Miami. Took me years to finally stop top-down mixing because it was what I was first introduced to. Glad to have a perspective lately that is a little more.... pragmatic. Your insight on this is encouraging.
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!! This is pure Gold!!!!
I'm 100% on-board with what was said about mastering, and maybe it's been mentioned it in other videos, but I also think it's really important for musicians to think about the fact that if you send something to someone, who didn't also mix it, to master then you've also minimized the risk of a sub-optimal result due to ear-fatigue, room-anomalies, speaker-coloration, musician-hovering, exhaustion, etc. For the price of one more professional set of ears it's generally totally worth finding a mastering engineer you can depend on.
I mix in a clipper (hard) and then a limiter (lightly),works for me currently!!
Aye bro, it’s all about whatever works for you!
-Miami
@@joeymusic agreed man
Miami you are a beast! Yet again great video
Glad you enjoyed this one Jacob! I hope to do a bit more of an in depth start to finish master soon
-Miami
@@joeymusic Will do sir!
As far as limiters or compression that’s usually before my Eq or in between 2 Eq’s . Because it’s only function with most of my music is to give it a Lil bump. And smooth the bass. If it’s my personal produced song I probably don’t need a compressor cause the sounds are mainly designed for maximum whatever I need anyway so all I need is to balance the volume between tracks
love the tips. would be interesting to have a video just on the stereo bus compressor. you stated you have different settings depending on the genre, maybe a video going over that and what you are listening for when setting it?
Yes, I would love to do this! This is one of the small issues when doing a video like this. I can only expand on so many things in a 10 minute timeframe, but any longer and I lose a bit of retention. Short answer, yes!
-Miami
@@joeymusic fair enough. i do learn that way. learning things in small chunks is easier for me to grasp for sure.
It also can depend on the speed of the song too. Definitely something to experiment with.
@@BrofUJu yes it would be great to be abled to set it up by knowing what to listen for instead of just following a guideline that might not be right for the song or genre
Great video thanks especially for the notes on attack/release settings. Just FYI, unless my audio interface is making noise that I can scrub through at specific points in the video, I think some mic noise made it into the final cut. Love your vids. Keep em coming!
Try using rx if you end up not being able to remove it!
-Miami
@@joeymusic I think he meant your video
@@JeserNoob lol yup, though i do love RX for noise removal.
1:20 you had that transition before. Transition game not so crazy, haha! Anyway thanks for the great informative content! :)
Bells and whistles?!? When?!?
-Miami
@@joeymusic ah damn youre right, the other one was bell filters 😁
I am not a professional mixer, but I mix into a limiter, because I can't judge the transients of the kick and snare properly without a limiter. I won't say that my mixes fall apart when I turn the limiter off, but especially the snare pokes out to much. I have to mention that I also master my own stuff most of the time. So for me, it is just a huge timesaver!
I know of a couple of mixing engineers that also mix into a compressor for that same reason so im sure whatever you’re doing it sounds great:)
@@TheMackyD is it a loudness issue?
@@JeserNoob it’s more to tame the pokiness of the snare
I enjoy your videos!
love these videos guys !
Glad you enjoyed it, Nick!
-Miami
Great video.
Hey Miami, think you can make a video about pre fader vs post fader metering?
110%
-Miami
Congrats on 50k views!
Great tips, lov the channel just subbed up
Hey!!!!!! I enjoy your videos -- they are helping me out a lot. Question -- what band are you playing in this video?
Thanks!
Looks like I’m early to class 😳
Class is officially in session!
-Miami
Grrreat video, Miami! Love the GLD track you are using sometimes, did you mixed that? Sounds awesome!
Yes, I mixed the e.p.! One of my favs
-Miami
Great video, Who is doing that "I can't help it" song?
Song is called that’s what she said by GLD! Glad you liked the video!
-Miami
Great stuff as always Miami. Some advice please. I use Studio One. Right now I'm unsure where in the chain to put production plug-ins, whether to use them at the end of the line on individual songs or in the mastering suite. Of course you can assign plug-ins individually to the songs within the mastering suite, so it seems like it really doesn't matter. I hope that makes sense. Anyway thanks as always for the tips and spot-on advice regarding plug-ins. I just started using soothe 2 and really helps make me sound like I'm actually good at this.
Put them on your mix bus when mixing. Disable/remove and move them to the mastering suit when you get ready for the "real master". You can tailor each song and get them all the right level and tone. Add anything you need to apply to the whole album in the mastering suite's "post" section. I've been a Studio One user since 2014 and this is my workflow. Don't forget that there's no rule that says you can't slap MB comp, limiters, saturators, etc on your mix bus while mixing. You want to get the mix as close the final master as possible (without actually doing the mastering at that point). Good luck. My transition game is not as good as Miami's but hopefully that's a useful answer for you.
@@RaKanMusik Hell yeah, that's a very useful answer my man, thanks. Your workflow is actually the way I was considering doing things, but I was hesitant given my relative inexperience at full production. I guess there are no "rules" per se, but there are definitely "ways you can screw things up", so your input is much appreciated. And no one should feel bad for not possessing Miami's transition game man, that thing is other-worldly.
double
Is your song is available for listening? Liked it alot, even though i never loved than kind of stuff
Yes! It’s called Damage has been done by GLD
-Miami
Totally agree to avoid mixing into a mastering program. Better to get your true mix perfected as a unified sound. Then master to bring out detail and punch.
Please god tell me what the heart bleeding on the shelf song is? Every time I hear you use it as an example I want to listen to the song!
It’s called Damage Has Been Done by GLD!
-Miami
But how do we polish that track to give it that pro sound?
I am definitely guilty of top down mixing, and im probably going to redo a song im working on without it just to see if it turns out better.
When not doing top down, is it literally NOTHING on your master bus or would having a limiter just to make sure it doesnt go over fine?
Though i guess you could just turn down the master bus as well for the same effect now that i think about it.
Great video as always mate
Can you put named timecode in your description so we can have chapters in the video ? I have a script which can do that from reaper from markers if needed :P
Sure can, I’ll do it today!
-Miami
@@joeymusic Cool, this is a very handy feature on viewer side ! What software do you use for video editing ? I also have DaVinci Resolve to export markers to RUclips chapter :P
5:12 was that a house of kush impression??
Lmao you know the vibes
-Miami
compression is movement 🤣 yes, you have it ☕
Ha! Impersonation game level up.
Lmao I might have to bring these back once in a while
-Miami
Once I stopped using top-down mixing my results got so much better.
I know we don't mix/master with our eyes but I can't help but wonder why my "mastered" waveforms always look so much smaller and more dynamic when referencing other tracks. Is this a shortcoming of my mix or something else?
The mix is superior.
Hi miami❤️.
I have a question.
When I import a "professionell" song into my daw(reaper) the song is ultra loud and my master meter shows +2 dB and more.
Why is that?
Thank you and
Greetings from Germany
Sometimes people are pushing their songs past the point, in which causes clipping! Spotify definitely pulls these tracks down, but maybe the mixer liked it that way. First, know the rules... then? Learn how to break them
-Miami
First
Appreciate you
-Miami
FIRST
Dats a lie! But I’m still glad you’re here 😀
-Miami
Stop the limiter abusers.
"Regulations of mastering changing every year"? Are you a blahblaher? What are you blabbering about? 👎
If you watched the video maybe you would answer your own question 😀
-Miami