If you have any questions regarding any part of this process, drop them below and I'll try my best to help you out! 🎉SERVICES - linktr.ee/sugarpillcovers 📲INSTAGRAM - instagram.com/sugarpillcovers/
Nice tips. Besides EQing, and compressing, do you have any tips for how to make guitars (or any instrument) sound really small tight and narrow and really fully occupy a small pocket in the mix? I find most professionals producers achieve that sound somehow and I can’t figure out how they do it. I know a lot of people always talk about wanting to achieve a “wide” sound but that’s not really how I hear professional records. I’ve tried doing all you suggested, plus messing with stereo/mono, plus messing with the sound spread. When I give up I just chalk it up to the fact that I don’t have physical analog mixing/mastering gear but I think that’s just me coping.
I definitely don't think it'd come down to not having analog gear. A lot of top mixers are completely ITB these days, so clearly professional records are being made without any of that kind of stuff. It sounds to me as though all you need to do is use some more extreme EQ. The best way to make something smaller / narrower is to just carve out the top & bottom end, and leave the frequencies that are important to that sound. It's a pretty common way to mix synths with more organic instrumentation, as a lot of synths tend to be full frequency, and if you leave all that in, it'll start masking the more important elements of your mix. Can you point me to a specific song that has the sound you're talking about? From what you said, it sounds to me like you'd just need to use some EQ, but I could be wrong. Don't post a link as it'll get blocked, but just give me a timestamp to a song and I'll take a listen for you.
I don't claim to be an expert, but I've been mixing for several years now. I agree with SugarpillCovers that you probably just need to do more aggressive EQ-ing. The most important guitar frequencies are all in the midrange anyway. So you can cut the lows and highs a lot and still have your guitars cut through. Another thing to consider is how much you pan them. A lot of mix engineers will pan their guitars hard left and right. But there's no reason you have to do that. You could bring them more in toward the center. I will often pan my guitars at like 50% or even 25%. Also, I'd look at what effects you're using (if any). Certain effects are going to spread out your guitars more. You may want to avoid those and have your guitars pretty dry (besides some form of distortion). For example, a stereo reverb is going to push your guitars back in the mix and it's going to spread them out in the stereo field. Same thing with a ping-pong delay. Lastly, are you mic'ing an amp or using amp sims? If you're mic'ing an amp are you close mic'ing it? That's going to give you a tighter, more focused sound than far mic'ing it (because you'd be introducing more of the room echoes with a far mic).
Something that may be connected to this video and your stuff on double-tracking, have you done any videos on tracking guitar parts with different amps? Like a JCM and a Recto, or when Andertons compared the Micro Dark and the Piranha, then played through both at once.
I do the bi-amp method quite a lot for my videos, but as I use an Axe FX to do this, I figured it wouldn't be super beneficial to the 99% of my audience who don't also own one, haha.
Think this would have been my usual Axe FX setup. I mostly use the CA3+ Rhythm & CA3+ Lead, then blend those together. And I mostly use Andrew Wade's custom IR, for the cab sound.
what daw you are using? any suggestions? i can play guitar pretty damn well but i am so old to figure out this whole recording (mostly what daw to use) stuff. i'm 20 btw lol. great video!
I use Reason for recording, and Reaper for mixing. Reaper is a great DAW, and you can technically get it for free - as the trial is never ending. If you're a Mac user, Logic is a good option too.
Just lots of little ideas and tricks I've picked up over the years. There's a ton of good channels on RUclips for that kinda stuff. Feel free to join my Discord too, as it's a good way to learn more about production from myself and the rest of the community!
I use Reason 12 for recording & arranging, and Reaper for mixing. I use quite a variety of plugins, from stock to third party. In this video specifically, I was using some EQ's & compressors by FabFilter & Waves, along with some saturation plugins by SoundToys.
I've been thinking of maybe doing some live streams where I just mix a song from scratch, and then kinda talk through each process, or take questions as I'm going through - though I'm not sure how much interest my general audience would have in that. If this video does OK, I plan to make some more smaller video on the topic. The trouble is that mixing is such a big process, it's hard to boil everything down into one single video. The best way I can think to show it is in the smaller, more concise videos that I've been doing for songwriting, recording, etc.
If you have any questions regarding any part of this process, drop them below and I'll try my best to help you out!
🎉SERVICES - linktr.ee/sugarpillcovers
📲INSTAGRAM - instagram.com/sugarpillcovers/
Very instructive as always. Mixing videos are great ! Thanks for that !
Thanks, glad you liked it!
I think it's a great idea to do more mixing vids.
Thanks! I might do more depending on how much interest there is in this.
@@SugarpillProd i found your page from a mixing video, they’re solid asf!
@@katerV21 Thanks man, I appreciate it!
Thank you! I understand very little about mixing but now I know a little more.
Happy to help!
thanks bro ive been really needing this
No problem, I hope it helps!
Would love to see a video on getting that cartel chroma orange tone
Dude should be earning millions on this knowledge
I wish 😂
Nice tips. Besides EQing, and compressing, do you have any tips for how to make guitars (or any instrument) sound really small tight and narrow and really fully occupy a small pocket in the mix? I find most professionals producers achieve that sound somehow and I can’t figure out how they do it. I know a lot of people always talk about wanting to achieve a “wide” sound but that’s not really how I hear professional records. I’ve tried doing all you suggested, plus messing with stereo/mono, plus messing with the sound spread. When I give up I just chalk it up to the fact that I don’t have physical analog mixing/mastering gear but I think that’s just me coping.
I definitely don't think it'd come down to not having analog gear. A lot of top mixers are completely ITB these days, so clearly professional records are being made without any of that kind of stuff.
It sounds to me as though all you need to do is use some more extreme EQ. The best way to make something smaller / narrower is to just carve out the top & bottom end, and leave the frequencies that are important to that sound. It's a pretty common way to mix synths with more organic instrumentation, as a lot of synths tend to be full frequency, and if you leave all that in, it'll start masking the more important elements of your mix.
Can you point me to a specific song that has the sound you're talking about? From what you said, it sounds to me like you'd just need to use some EQ, but I could be wrong. Don't post a link as it'll get blocked, but just give me a timestamp to a song and I'll take a listen for you.
@@SugarpillProd Thanks, I guess anything by the big pop punk bands. We're all to blame - Sum 41 or I miss you - Blink 182
@@Penguinz13989 What specific bits in those songs?
I don't claim to be an expert, but I've been mixing for several years now. I agree with SugarpillCovers that you probably just need to do more aggressive EQ-ing. The most important guitar frequencies are all in the midrange anyway. So you can cut the lows and highs a lot and still have your guitars cut through.
Another thing to consider is how much you pan them. A lot of mix engineers will pan their guitars hard left and right. But there's no reason you have to do that. You could bring them more in toward the center. I will often pan my guitars at like 50% or even 25%.
Also, I'd look at what effects you're using (if any). Certain effects are going to spread out your guitars more. You may want to avoid those and have your guitars pretty dry (besides some form of distortion). For example, a stereo reverb is going to push your guitars back in the mix and it's going to spread them out in the stereo field. Same thing with a ping-pong delay.
Lastly, are you mic'ing an amp or using amp sims? If you're mic'ing an amp are you close mic'ing it? That's going to give you a tighter, more focused sound than far mic'ing it (because you'd be introducing more of the room echoes with a far mic).
@@rome8180 Thanks. I EQ aggressively and I do not hard pan. I do not use reverb on distorted guitars. I use amp sims with close mic settings.
Very nice guide. Can you please tell what’s the reaper theme you’re using in the video? It looks really cool
Thanks! I believe it's called "Mammoth".
You the best. 💯🤘
❤
Something that may be connected to this video and your stuff on double-tracking, have you done any videos on tracking guitar parts with different amps? Like a JCM and a Recto, or when Andertons compared the Micro Dark and the Piranha, then played through both at once.
I do the bi-amp method quite a lot for my videos, but as I use an Axe FX to do this, I figured it wouldn't be super beneficial to the 99% of my audience who don't also own one, haha.
Good stuff
Thanks!
Hell yea, I EQ my guitars with Serato, also!
Nice! I don't think I've ever tried that one.
What amp / cab are you using here? Sounds great!
Think this would have been my usual Axe FX setup. I mostly use the CA3+ Rhythm & CA3+ Lead, then blend those together. And I mostly use Andrew Wade's custom IR, for the cab sound.
@@SugarpillProd thanks!
sometimes I think we are watching the same content, I saw this mixer on Tom Lord-Alge a few days ago 🤙
It's a pretty popular plugin - assuming you're referring to the SSL strip?
@@SugarpillProd yes exactly, frequency bias :)
what daw you are using? any suggestions? i can play guitar pretty damn well but i am so old to figure out this whole recording (mostly what daw to use) stuff. i'm 20 btw lol. great video!
I use Reason for recording, and Reaper for mixing. Reaper is a great DAW, and you can technically get it for free - as the trial is never ending.
If you're a Mac user, Logic is a good option too.
How did you learn all these music production techniques? I’d love to know so that I could learn them myself
Just lots of little ideas and tricks I've picked up over the years. There's a ton of good channels on RUclips for that kinda stuff. Feel free to join my Discord too, as it's a good way to learn more about production from myself and the rest of the community!
What kind of DAW and plug-ins do you use?
I use Reason 12 for recording & arranging, and Reaper for mixing. I use quite a variety of plugins, from stock to third party. In this video specifically, I was using some EQ's & compressors by FabFilter & Waves, along with some saturation plugins by SoundToys.
Hey again, what EQ are you using? Is that something from waves? SSL strip?
The digital EQ is ProQ3 by FabFilter, and the analogue EQ is the E-Channel SSL strip by Waves.
can you do a mixing tutorial for free?
I've been thinking of maybe doing some live streams where I just mix a song from scratch, and then kinda talk through each process, or take questions as I'm going through - though I'm not sure how much interest my general audience would have in that.
If this video does OK, I plan to make some more smaller video on the topic. The trouble is that mixing is such a big process, it's hard to boil everything down into one single video. The best way I can think to show it is in the smaller, more concise videos that I've been doing for songwriting, recording, etc.
@@SugarpillProd thanks man. whatever you post we enjoy, just do what you like to do, thats the only way to be happy with your content
Thanks man, I agree!
Maybe an entire song from start to finish break each part down into smaller videos.
Yeah that's not a bad idea 👍