(before watching video) check your mix in mono, but lets see what you say :D in terms of overall mixing, I've heard "the music/mix has to give you goosebumps" which might sound cliche but makes sense
I do the music production thing as a hobby, and my main gig is a graphic designer. It's scary how similar they both are in the creative process. This same concept is all over visual design and composition. Is all your text bold? Then nothing is bold. Are all the colors super saturated, loud and popping off the screen? Well, now nothing pops. You want this part to be tact-sharp? Well, we gotta blur or soften up the rest of it. It really is a balancing act for any creative endeavor.
Another incredibly helpful and educational video. Colt, you've managed to separate yourself from the herd in terms of content as well as presentation. I learn so freaking much from you. Thank you
Great analogy, Colt, on the lighting/mixing. Another helpful video, dude! It's all about dynamics and we have to know what instrumental (or vocal) needs to stand out at certain points.
Colt, this has to be one of the best explanations I have ever heard in regards to mixing audio. There are thousands upon thousands of nuts and bolts tutorials that one can find, but getting global mixing concepts that are well presented is difficult. But you nailed it! The elements contrast is usually essential for every good mix! Thanks!
I'm a novice with mixing and recording and this was a great help - I especially liked the tip of EQ + reverb moves things to the back of the mix and EQ + compression moves things forward. Thanks for these tips!
I've been at the game a while, and this is probably some of the best advice to give. It might not be technical, but even if you only have a handful of techniques, this sort of thinking can take a mix quite far. People might want to learn all the technicals, but you NEED to understand the emotions of a mix, the contrast, push and pull etc. My own favourite tiny tip is to monitor your mix in mono (L+R) at least on the first pass.
That's like going to a mixing class ! Just about to mix a new song, so that came to the right time. Now I will have an eye on what's about to shine and what will be in the back contributing to it. Thanks for sharing
I've been lingering around your channel for the past few months - and I gotta say, this is really good. Your content is getting more and more focused in your videos - which is awesome. Straight to the point, and this is such a great way of looking at it and a very great perspective! Love it. Keep up the world, man!
Hey man, just stumbled across your channel and I'm blown away. This is priceless info! Thank you so much for sharing, you've got a great way of explaining things. I have a feeling that you've got many, many more subscribers coming your way! Thanks again!
Really well explained, and beautifully succinct. I love videos like this. Key points laid out quickly without a million examples and over explaining. Great stuff.
Maybe the most important thing in the art of mixing and you explained it the best way. Excellent video!! At the end you are right this method makes automation even more interesting and justified. Great! Thank you!!
YES! I’ve been debating on making a video with this concept for a while, but you explained it way better than I could. My favorite saying is “If everything is awesome/the best ever, then nothing is awesome/the best ever”
hey man, just wanted to say your channel rocks! I just discovered your stuff a few days ago and i've been doing a deep dive on it. I'm attempting to make the scary transition from a home studio to a commercial project studio and you've offered some invaluable and unique advice and outlook. I appreciate that brother, THANK YOU
You got me with the click bait, Colt! Love it! I'm an audio and video guy and never compared focus to depth, Dynamics, or whatever else in a mix, and I love my comparisons! Love your videos!
Had to get back to this video watching it over & over. It's such an inspiration to me. Can't believe that this simple yet fundamental principle has been overlooked by me. This vital rule persists everywhere! I'm constantly thinking of an oldschool B/W photo, that is extremely light/shadow dependent. You can't see a detail if it has the same light value as background has, they would totally merge into one. Fun fact is that this ancient principle still lives in colorized photo & video as a "luma channel". I just had to write this comment. I've watched so many people telling technical stuff like reverb dispositions and compression values, but it's almost the first time I hear WHY these things should be done first. It would completely turn over everything I do with music. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you. Very informative! Although this does not affect me personally as I do not publish any music of my own, I will not support a company that is trying to monopolize musicians and songwriters. Thanks again for you channel Colt. Been a musician most of my life. Just turned 66 and been playing in bands since I was 12. Last year I decided to stop play out on a regular basis. Got myself some recording equipment and my friends that I have played with in the past are doing a cover project together plus working on a few originals. I have Presonus E5 monitors, Studio One 5, Presonus 1824c interface. Been making some great recordings with this equipment. Your channel has help me tremendously!
am new here, am a producer and hoping to become a mix engineer too ! pumped for this channel, never thought of the constrast thing but makes total sense thanks man, KEEP UP !
man! man! this dude can make a brilliant teacher shit!!! I like your tips man after so long I have been watching vids about mixing ah ah these ones are the best where have you been man thanks a lot boss keep that up..
Great content bro! Learned a bunch from you already. Side note, I’d love to see a video on you and Lester doing a session together. That dude is nuuuuts. 😎
Hi, once you said about parallel deesing it grabbed my attention instantly, could you please tell me more details? I'm familiar with parallel processing but never thought about parallel deesing. How does it work? You just send vocals to Fx channel with heavy deeser setting and then blend it with original track. I get that but, that original vocal track is not deesed at all and still having those unpleasant sss tttt ccccc shhhh. Could you please explain more about this technique? My deeser doesn't have mix knob, how do you set it up? Thank you
So I just use DeEssers with a mix knob. But if you don’t have one, you should be able to duplicate your vocal track, use identical processing on both the original and the duplicate, except put the DeEsser on the duplicate
@@ColtCapperrune yes, I'm familiar with parallel processing but what benefits does parallel deeseing give you? One the is no deeser on original vocal track (only on duplicate) there's still those nasty ssss ttt shhh poping out from the speakers. Unless you blend processed track louder and original quieter. Thanks
Hey Colt, what are three elements you’d say that need (or would greatly benefit from) that Big sound? Let’s say on a Pop-rock, country, etc > radio stuff.
Really digging your videos here man especially the one on mixing! Could you elaborate a little more or give an example where you would place elements in a mix? Hope that’s not too annoying of a question! Thanks again for all of your great content! Rob Reid
Hey Colt, thanks for putting out such great content, man! Really appreciate the work you put in. Quick question -- this is only marginally related to this video, but I was curious what mics you typically use on more nasally vocals? Or mic placement advice? I have a nasally voice when I get into higher registers and can never get it to sound quite right! Lots of resonances at harsh frequencies and stuff.
yo, though I know what you are saying is totally true I kinda wanted to kinda prove you wrong - I recently listened to frontierer quite a lot and I always felt like absolutely everything in their mixes sounds absolutely massive .. turns out: it doesn't, it's just a matter of prioritizing. So yeah, this concept of contrasts holds up to even the most extreme music, I'd say
btw, turn down your volume when you check out frontierer - not only because their tracks are super loud but also because their music might be discomforting to most people ..
Hey bud, very very good. I love 💘 the way you just gave a scientific, lesson on mixing. Do more of these man. "Give a man food he will eat for a day, teach him to fish and he'll eat for life "
Generally speaking I mix very quiet. Like someone breathing heavily sitting next to me would be louder than the music. But then I frequently check at various volumes
Is this relevant to me? I'm just a singer/songwriter, acoustic guitar and vocals. You'd think that would be easy right? My mixes always sound "hollow" :(
The Online Busker just don’t burn the files and you’ll be fine. You may need to turn down your monitoring but when you mix it’ll make a huge difference!
@@ColtCapperrune because from my experience everything should be balanced perfectly , using plugins or analogue gonna help little bit but most important is {perfect panning and volume + phase invert+ haas effect +gain staging} those what most matters.. it is always about you not the gear... your ears matter not the gear.. i know alot of audio engineer thinks that it is always gear not their... from my experience thats why i said mixing with stock plugins always best choice
One of my pet peeves is when people say ying and yang instead of yin and yang. Still a good video though... I guess. I'm kidding. It's actually a great video. It is yin though, not ying.
Ye it’s called dynamics it’s not rocket science if ur not using dynamics or don’t know what that is then I don’t even know how tf ur doing anything with music
What’s the best tip you ever got for mixing??
"Use Your Ears"
On playback of a track mic the monitor thats playin back and with types of distance and eq you can reinforce and bring to the front.
Makes sense Colt! It'd have to automation or dynamic parallel compression.
I learned from ozzie to slow down the first vocal track a few cents and sing along with it . then play the multiple tracks back at pitch
(before watching video) check your mix in mono, but lets see what you say :D
in terms of overall mixing, I've heard "the music/mix has to give you goosebumps" which might sound cliche but makes sense
It's really interesting how something so simple can be so enlightening.
This is the most important thing I've learned about mixing. Yes, Gold 🤘
I do the music production thing as a hobby, and my main gig is a graphic designer. It's scary how similar they both are in the creative process. This same concept is all over visual design and composition. Is all your text bold? Then nothing is bold. Are all the colors super saturated, loud and popping off the screen? Well, now nothing pops. You want this part to be tact-sharp? Well, we gotta blur or soften up the rest of it. It really is a balancing act for any creative endeavor.
Spot on!!!
Colt: "You can't have everything be huge"
Mutt Lange: "Pour some sugar on me?"
😉
This should be the video anyone starting out in mixing or having trouble mixing watches first... concept is key !! Thank you bro.. fucking excellent!
Relativity defines perception. Thanks Colt!
Another incredibly helpful and educational video. Colt, you've managed to separate yourself from the herd in terms of content as well as presentation. I learn so freaking much from you. Thank you
Never thought of it in its easiest form... thanks🤘🤘🤘
The idea of Yin-Yang description is perfect Colt!!!!!
Great analogy, Colt, on the lighting/mixing. Another helpful video, dude! It's all about dynamics and we have to know what instrumental (or vocal) needs to stand out at certain points.
Colt, this has to be one of the best explanations I have ever heard in regards to mixing audio. There are thousands upon thousands of nuts and bolts tutorials that one can find, but getting global mixing concepts that are well presented is difficult. But you nailed it! The elements contrast is usually essential for every good mix! Thanks!
I'm a novice with mixing and recording and this was a great help - I especially liked the tip of EQ + reverb moves things to the back of the mix and EQ + compression moves things forward. Thanks for these tips!
I've been at the game a while, and this is probably some of the best advice to give. It might not be technical, but even if you only have a handful of techniques, this sort of thinking can take a mix quite far. People might want to learn all the technicals, but you NEED to understand the emotions of a mix, the contrast, push and pull etc.
My own favourite tiny tip is to monitor your mix in mono (L+R) at least on the first pass.
Love the videos man. Very helpful 🙌🏼
That's like going to a mixing class ! Just about to mix a new song, so that came to the right time. Now I will have an eye on what's about to shine and what will be in the back contributing to it. Thanks for sharing
Damn bro. You dropping gold nuggets!
I've been lingering around your channel for the past few months - and I gotta say, this is really good. Your content is getting more and more focused in your videos - which is awesome. Straight to the point, and this is such a great way of looking at it and a very great perspective! Love it. Keep up the world, man!
Wow. This cleared up so many things in my head and gave me a new perspective into mixing music. Thank you for that.
Great perspective! Greeting from Germany!
Good stuff... good stuff!
This is absolute gold, Colt!
An excellent reminder in creating depth within your music!
Hey man, just stumbled across your channel and I'm blown away. This is priceless info! Thank you so much for sharing, you've got a great way of explaining things. I have a feeling that you've got many, many more subscribers coming your way! Thanks again!
Amazing bro. Thanks for sharing!
Really well explained, and beautifully succinct. I love videos like this. Key points laid out quickly without a million examples and over explaining. Great stuff.
Maybe the most important thing in the art of mixing and you explained it the best way. Excellent video!! At the end you are right this method makes automation even more interesting and justified. Great! Thank you!!
I am subscribed thanks
This is an amazing concept! Thanks Colt!
YES! I’ve been debating on making a video with this concept for a while, but you explained it way better than I could. My favorite saying is “If everything is awesome/the best ever, then nothing is awesome/the best ever”
Awesome channel and video ...cheers mate
love this metaphor
This video was incredible! Tons of great tips. Thank you
hey man, just wanted to say your channel rocks! I just discovered your stuff a few days ago and i've been doing a deep dive on it. I'm attempting to make the scary transition from a home studio to a commercial project studio and you've offered some invaluable and unique advice and outlook. I appreciate that brother, THANK YOU
Thanks so much for following along! I truly hope the videos help! Keep in touch!
Thanks for this simple yet mind blowing insight 🙏
lovin it
You got me with the click bait, Colt! Love it! I'm an audio and video guy and never compared focus to depth, Dynamics, or whatever else in a mix, and I love my comparisons! Love your videos!
thank you - great advice !!!! much appreciated
Loooooove this!
Can you make a video on how to balance a mix with a tracked out session I need help....love your content
Hit the nail in the head
Spot on sage advice to file in the forefront of my brain while I just start to do this journey! Thanks for the great material!
I’ll definitely be thinking of this on my next mix 👍
great stuff!!
THIS is awesome....thank you!
thank you colt , I really appreciate your content.
Awesome content Colt :)
I've might just learned the most important thing in mixing...
Thanks.
Had to get back to this video watching it over & over. It's such an inspiration to me.
Can't believe that this simple yet fundamental principle has been overlooked by me. This vital rule persists everywhere!
I'm constantly thinking of an oldschool B/W photo, that is extremely light/shadow dependent. You can't see a detail if it has the same light value as background has, they would totally merge into one. Fun fact is that this ancient principle still lives in colorized photo & video as a "luma channel".
I just had to write this comment. I've watched so many people telling technical stuff like reverb dispositions and compression values, but it's almost the first time I hear WHY these things should be done first. It would completely turn over everything I do with music. Thank you for sharing this.
I’ve just started getting into producing and this has helped me soooo much this alone is gonna help me improve drastically
Parallel De-essing, how the f have i never thought of that? Sick.
Do all de essing plugins have this ability? If not what is one good one you know of that does provide this feature?
Great video 👍
Good stuff.
You have a good way of putting this into words! Great video!
Great stuff! I think you mentioned this principle in one of the earlier videos, but only for a second. Big fan here, keep it up :D
Thank you. Very informative! Although this does not affect me personally as I do not publish any music of my own, I will not support a company that is trying to monopolize musicians and songwriters. Thanks again for you channel Colt. Been a musician most of my life. Just turned 66 and been playing in bands since I was 12. Last year I decided to stop play out on a regular basis. Got myself some recording equipment and my friends that I have played with in the past are doing a cover project together plus working on a few originals. I have Presonus E5 monitors, Studio One 5, Presonus 1824c interface. Been making some great recordings with this equipment. Your channel has help me tremendously!
Hey Colt, thanks
am new here, am a producer and hoping to become a mix engineer too ! pumped for this channel, never thought of the constrast thing but makes total sense thanks man, KEEP UP !
man! man! this dude can make a brilliant teacher shit!!! I like your tips man after so long I have been watching vids about mixing ah ah these ones are the best where have you been man thanks a lot boss keep that up..
Awesome Video... Thank You!!!
Spot on brother.
Good advice - thanks Cap!
hey Colt....great channel...absolutely love it along with your energy and your knowledge...
Great content bro! Learned a bunch from you already. Side note, I’d love to see a video on you and Lester doing a session together. That dude is nuuuuts. 😎
thank you!
What are the most important pieces of gear needed for mixing, if you can only have the most essential ones?
Great help for the” mind set.” How did you learn video? Your lighting, sound and editing are top notch.
Hi, once you said about parallel deesing it grabbed my attention instantly, could you please tell me more details? I'm familiar with parallel processing but never thought about parallel deesing. How does it work? You just send vocals to Fx channel with heavy deeser setting and then blend it with original track. I get that but, that original vocal track is not deesed at all and still having those unpleasant sss tttt ccccc shhhh. Could you please explain more about this technique? My deeser doesn't have mix knob, how do you set it up? Thank you
So I just use DeEssers with a mix knob. But if you don’t have one, you should be able to duplicate your vocal track, use identical processing on both the original and the duplicate, except put the DeEsser on the duplicate
@@ColtCapperrune yes, I'm familiar with parallel processing but what benefits does parallel deeseing give you? One the is no deeser on original vocal track (only on duplicate) there's still those nasty ssss ttt shhh poping out from the speakers. Unless you blend processed track louder and original quieter. Thanks
@@ColtCapperrune I guess this time the heavily de-essed parallel track is more louder than the original signal. Am I right?
that spoke VOLUMES...good INSIGHT, thanks..........
Wish I coulda talked to you when you were still in the Peoria area! Do you have any videos on automation? Not sure when I should be doing it
Thank you.
very useful
Hey Colt, what are three elements you’d say that need (or would greatly benefit from) that Big sound? Let’s say on a Pop-rock, country, etc > radio stuff.
Really digging your videos here man especially the one on mixing! Could you elaborate a little more or give an example where you would place elements in a mix? Hope that’s not too annoying of a question!
Thanks again for all of your great content!
Rob Reid
Hell of a good way to explain it👍!
Best mixing tips on RUclips ever!
Hey Colt, thanks for putting out such great content, man! Really appreciate the work you put in. Quick question -- this is only marginally related to this video, but I was curious what mics you typically use on more nasally vocals? Or mic placement advice? I have a nasally voice when I get into higher registers and can never get it to sound quite right! Lots of resonances at harsh frequencies and stuff.
Contrast!!!! Thanks for your videos!!
Your story reminds me of Bruce Springsteen in his doco trying to make everything loud and was puzzled why it didn't work.. And of course Deep Purple..
yo, though I know what you are saying is totally true I kinda wanted to kinda prove you wrong - I recently listened to frontierer quite a lot and I always felt like absolutely everything in their mixes sounds absolutely massive .. turns out: it doesn't, it's just a matter of prioritizing. So yeah, this concept of contrasts holds up to even the most extreme music, I'd say
btw, turn down your volume when you check out frontierer - not only because their tracks are super loud but also because their music might be discomforting to most people ..
what's best parallel deesser
Hey bud, very very good. I love 💘 the way you just gave a scientific, lesson on mixing. Do more of these man.
"Give a man food he will eat for a day, teach him to fish and he'll eat for life "
Thanks so much! That was exactly the quote I had in my head when working out this video
So good man! Now..... to figure out how to put this into practice, lol.
What Daw do you use ?
What VOLUME do you mix at? Do you check it at different volumes?
Generally speaking I mix very quiet. Like someone breathing heavily sitting next to me would be louder than the music. But then I frequently check at various volumes
No Espresso in this Vid?
Hahaha Unfortunately no, I only had about an hour to set up, shoot, and edit this video
@@ColtCapperrune That's Super Quick, Takes me a day to edit a video... :(
Dai Griff Keep at it! Practice makes perfect!
"Everything can't be huge." Nirvana Nevermind seems huge in guitars, drums, and vocals to me.
Is this relevant to me? I'm just a singer/songwriter, acoustic guitar and vocals. You'd think that would be easy right? My mixes always sound "hollow" :(
Try a closer mic pattern when tracking and make sure you are recording your files loud.
@@midirok Wow interesting! I always hear "don't record too loud"...didn't know that was bad advice!!
The Online Busker just don’t burn the files and you’ll be fine. You may need to turn down your monitoring but when you mix it’ll make a huge difference!
@@midirok Cool thanks will give it a try!
fuck yeah ey
most important thing is in mixing mix with stock plugins :D
Hey, thanks for watching! Can you explain why you think that?
@@ColtCapperrune because from my experience everything should be balanced perfectly , using plugins or analogue gonna help little bit but most important is {perfect panning and volume + phase invert+ haas effect +gain staging} those what most matters.. it is always about you not the gear... your ears matter not the gear.. i know alot of audio engineer thinks that it is always gear not their... from my experience thats why i said mixing with stock plugins always best choice
Amer Darwich Well I definitely agree with your point, it’s certainly the ear, and the choices, not the gear.
Surprised you never used the "C" word: Contrast!
One of my pet peeves is when people say ying and yang instead of yin and yang. Still a good video though... I guess.
I'm kidding. It's actually a great video.
It is yin though, not ying.
Ye it’s called dynamics it’s not rocket science if ur not using dynamics or don’t know what that is then I don’t even know how tf ur doing anything with music
You should take your cap off.
Your hair a lot better.