Just wanted to pop in and say I've been loving this channel so much. Thank you for all the amazing content lately, it's been a huge source of inspiration!
Hey, I'm subbed to both of your channels for the great content. Just wanted to pop in this comment and say that I would love to see you 2 discuss creators' issues, struggles and whatnot.
The most important thing I have learnt about music production and I keep reminding it to myself is: PRODUCE LIKE THERE IS NO MIX. It is all about the sound selection and good arrangement. It took me so many years to realize that. What helped me the most was watching other professional producers making music on twitch or youtube. I have noticed they always had half-profesionally sounding track almost finished and they barely touched EQ or compressors yet. There I realized the most important thing is to get the base of your song right, balance your volumes and from there all aditional mixing and mastering will be easy👌🏼
I've come to the same realization, indeed after (too) many years, like you. I would say that around 80% of the mix is established in the arrangement (including sound selection).
I've started working this way too recently, just using my little mixer to feed all the sound through to the DAW for the recording, so I can't faff about with each individual voice... it has to sound good recording, then I can tweak in post, but it's a far less arduous process and I can't lead myself astray with a battery of plug-ins on each bus...
You are the hero the RUclips music production world needs. I've felt incredibly uninspired for weeks with my music, but I always feel better after hearing you speak for a bit. For real quickly becoming my fav music production channel :)
Even outside of mixing, so many people complicate the process of creating music by trying to sell you shortcuts like midi packs and vocal enhancers. If there's one thing your channel has taught me, its that the production isn't what makes a good song: it's the writing and recording that does.
I recently realized how I am obsessed with collecting all those mixing plugins available but how little I know how they work and how they add up to my mix. Now I am just trying to use only few that I really need and I know how to use. The whole mixing process is already much better for me! Thank you for opening the eyes of people and telling them the truth.
I'm new to this and I always had a hunch that people are making it too complex, after doing some basic mixing myself, on my own stuff I'm starting to create. Your 100% right and it's good to hear it! You can't shine a shit with mixing. It's a fairly straight forward operation that ultimately relies on the person's own judgements and how good those decisions were.
I almost never post comments on YT, but just have to say that you're on fire these days! Each of your recent videos seems to be a slightly different take on "clear out the b.s. and stare at the real demon in the eye". This one was helpful because the lines between "composing" and "mixing" get blurry sometimes. I usually work alone, and I'm always cutting up samples, organizing, and rearranging sounds in my DAW. This is fun for me. But it's SOOO tempting to just jump into the mixing process before I've actually composed something. I end up making short compilations of 'neat sounds' with no real substance, statement, or purpose. Composing/writing can get pretty complicated. Mixing can get pretty complicated too. Trying to do them at the same time is fkn impossible. Thanks for what you do, and keep up the good work!
Saw simple minds at the Palais few years back. We sat near the mix desk and the keys were nearly twice as loud as anything else. It was horrendous. New sub...love the content.
Damn dude. So glad you've started making videos. You are putting out there the information that is the antidote to the over saturation of information. Love your message, love your attitude, love your channel. Thanks!
Spot on! I spent years trying to learn as much technical stuff as I can until I realised some time ago I was entering a rabbit hole that wasn't going to take me anywhere in terms of making better music, even in terms of making my music sound noticeably better. Ok, maybe knowing all the geeky stuff can give you a better understanding and make your music sound 5% better ( and I'm being generous). 5% that NOBODY cares about and most people won't even hear. Also, what is a "better" sound anyway? At this point I really couldn't care less about all that stuff. I put all my effort into trying to make the song work musically and sonically in a way that serves the purpose of expressing a feeling, a "vibe" (god I hate that word), which is what art is about and avoid getting lost in technical/geeky BS which is not going to take you anywhere artistically/musically. ( Of course I'm generalizing and there's geeky stuff that's worth knowing but it's never ever worth taking too much of your time if your priority is making music.) cheers! 💙
I just wanted to thank you so very much for this video. Mixing had always been the scariest process for me and I’ve always been overdoing it, getting myself so stressed out over it. Thanks to you I got inspired and when straight to mixing my last song that I’ve been putting off mixing for a while and took a very minimalist and stress free approach to it. Not only was it the best mixing job I’ve ever done, it made mastering so much easier because the mix itself was already -so- good. I think you just changed my way of making music and for that I cannot thank you enough.
You have validated my minimalist approach to music making. My gut always said that i don't need much except for what's inside Ableton and to have a legend like you confirm it is 🙏
Nice way to add a nice wide sound to a selected sound in your mix, Let's choose say a piano. Basically you split the audio left and right into two slightly different frequency position, put a Distortion on left and a Reverb on the right but not to wet. Makes it sound nice and wide.
You are a gem. You are a gem. BRO!!!! YOU ARE SPITTING STRAIGHT FACTS!!!!!! Most the best songs I make are amazing because the vocals I recorded are already sounding good. The mix just does a good extra 10 percent. A mix can't save a track. It can simply make things better.
Man, I've commented on your newest video yesterday and now I'm going through your videos backwards. This is something I've been wanting to do myself and I'm really happy someone has already done it! Hopefully your channel will get more traction because I really feel more people need to see your content. One tip which I believe I haven't heard here about mixing: panning is a powerful tool, because there might be instances where the same frequency band is occupied by two instruments and you can't really EQ too much so they end up fighting for space in the mix. A simple turn of the panning knob will alleviate this issue by a whole lot, it really helps if you think of the mix as not a single "frequency tower", but rather by having two parallel "frequency towers". If the middle range is very busy, pan one of the offending instruments to the "left tower" and your "right tower" will magically have more "space" in the middle range for the other instrument and the mix will sound less confused and congested. Keep it up!
I, really enjoy your channel; very different from what I've seen other youtubers do, and it seems very genuine. If I had the money I wouldn't mind hawing you as an actual teacher, you talk about a lot of things that any university teacher (even my private lesson teachers for tuba) I've had in any subject just don't seem to talk about, and I value that to a great degree
Soo true. Ever since I started making music, I've always wondered what the big fuss about mixing was about. As long as nothing clashes with something else, everything has its place and the thing overall sounds good then you're fine!
You're so right. I get asked to make a video about the plugins I use all the time, and I haven't made that video yet partly because I struggle to see the merit of it. The only thing I'd say is that some plugins are more visually appealing and maybe slightly more intuitive.... and that's why i choose them over the DAW stock plugins (Cubase Pro 12). The most important things are: 1) The monitoring equipment, 2) The room, and 3) Your familiarity with the characteristics of your monitoring equipment in your room. I do use multiple synth instances to thicken up a lead, or blend a few sounds together to achieve a slightly different sound, but those sounds are usually closely related sounds so they compliment each other instead of fighting for space. I don't claim to be a god of music production, but I do know enough to recognise there's a lot of snake oil, fake enthusiasm, and dodgy sales tactics out there.
I love your intro music! It has a slight flavor of that “scandi” vibe I’m super into it right now. Keep up the great work on this channel. Incredibly helpful stuff. More helpful than “this multiband mixbus trick to get your mixes LOUD!!!” 😂
Great vid. I think for the most part what you describe goes into fundamentals of how to get a clean mix. What I hope people leave room for, however, is understanding certain characteristics of mixing to fit an artistic aesthetic. Assuming everything is is a clean sound and all of your instruments are sitting in their natural frequencies, the mixing process definitely is straight forward. Things get complicated when you add something creative like adding convolution reverb filled with distortion on your kick- but only on the mid sides at ONE specific moment in time of your song. I double checked and didn't hear anything about phase cancellation, which can usually be fixed with eq, but may be solved in other ways like either side-chaining or syncopation. It definitely has to do with levels and dynamics but it if you want instruments (especially on the low end) to be present it can't necessarily be solved by adjusting a fader if that makes sense. Or when you're alternating the mids of a bass call/response from mono to wide to mono. These are special use cases for sure. and you still have to apply what you're discussing here. However, I do think creative mixing can be an excellent compositional tool that I'd also want people to be mindful of. Multiband Compressors, stereo tools, etc. weird phase effects, etc do exist for a reason, but that's a whole different discussion about predatory plugins/gear vs what you can achieve with stock devices or what's even useful. TLDR I totally agree when things get complicated, simplify. There is a rabbit hole to creative mixing after understanding the principles of your video, though :) Hope my points didn't seem like an argument, just reflecting on your video and bringing up some thoughts after watching.
Take that a step further: Assuming everything is a clean sound and all of your instruments are sitting in their natural frequencies, the mixing process is straight forward, but the result can easily be very boring/generic. Mixing is a PART of production, not separate from it. You do not need tons of plugins and complicated procedures - although they help - YOU NEED AN ARTISTIC VISION OF YOUR SOUND!
Interesting watch! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Personally I see mixing as creating the best representation of what has been written/composed/produced. On a basic level, I agree that it doesn't need to be overcomplicated beyond setting the volume levels (+ some EQ, compression, saturation/colour and space if you're feeling fancy). But for me, mixing also goes infinitely deep into subtle enhancements and adjustments that can really help make a story come to life.
Man this kind of content is what i was looking for ..... Some times its not about learning tricks Its just about approach 👍🏻 A simple way .....thankyou 🤗
I've been subscribed to your channel for a while now, but only recently discovered these 'life lessons'. I was a bit shocked that you don't have more views/subscribers. Especially videos like that bring me down to earth again. Just wonderful :)
hey man, just watched a few videos for the first time, not really one to subscribe or comment, but from what ive seen so far you just seem real and authentic, you dont have a crazy youtube personality your trying to fake, it all seems authentic. keep up the good work and dont prove me wrong :) love it!
this is so true i swear the number of $999 courses I see being advertised online that claim to teach me the secret sauce required to become david guetta 2 in 4-7 business days is unacceptable
Very good points made in this video. I go to extremes when learning a new thing. Sometimes very simple, sometimes overthought. Currently recording/mixing directly into my camera. Sounds fine to me. 🙏🏼
I agree. I would add at minimum compression to the list of basic mixing skills/tools though. Not sure how one could get a reasonably sounding mix without being able to control the dynamics (maybe using tons of level automations?)
Also, to add to MREDROLLO, Compression is another type of EQ too (go check Andrew Z's video). and EQ is also nothing but balancing levels through Adjusting frequencies. So in a way every "mixing tool" is a form of balancing. Hence, Compression = EQ = Balancing = Mixing , in a way.
According to this line of thinking panning is also just volume on the right and left speakers (selectively) and eq is also just volume on the frequency spectrum. I get it but at some point it becomes unhelpful.
Glad to see somebody on RUclips pushing the philosophy I've been trying to tell my musician friends. Now do a video on how to use multiband compression to get a big fat competitive sound.
Absolutly great! I started making music ten or twelve years ago with just Ableton Live Intro and a bit of Cinematic VST,... and I gave a f%%% of everything. I just leveled, pan and EQ the stuff and was proud of my music,... and now I process the hack out if and it sounds worse compared to my stuff years ago. Overwhelmed of all the videos and stuff on the internet: this plugin there, this secret technique, the sauce here, the weapon here, the snake oil here,... Thanks to this video it brings back the "Keep it simple and trust in you!" !!!!
Just getting the basics of levels down has been the single biggest thing that has helped my mix. Such a simple concept but tough to master with lots of tracks going on. I feel the same annoyance about all the IG ads I get about mixing. There’s one guy in particular with long curly hair and glasses that tells me mastering is the key to my success. I’m sure you’ve seen him before 😂
Hi Mredrollo, i just came across your channel recently i want to thank you for the great content and helping us as a musicians, what I find fascinating about your music is that every element in your songs are soo clean and crisp and it sits in its own space, there is no overlap in terms of the frequency, i’ve been making music for about 7 years now, but the amount of time I’ve spent to learn to mix my music better is unbelievable and yet somehow I couldn’t figure out yet, i spent soo much money on courses tutorials and still my mixing sucks, my home studio has also 10 bass traps(12cm thickness) and i use 2pair of studio monitors with sub (yamaha hs5, krk v6s4 and the sub is yamaha hs8s) with that much spending recourses my music still sucks i mean in terms of mixdown. Can you please share with us tips and techniques you use for mixing, BIG THANKS 🙏
I agree with you mredrollo. You can also cook a delicious dish with simple tools if your ingredients are good. Still, as with cooking, even if it’s simple, I believe good mixing takes practice!
Hi, I watched all of your recent movies and this is pure gold to be honest. I struggle with a lot of the presented topics and you are really inspiring person. The movies are relatively short but are worth more than thousands of hours of bs tutorials out there. I just hope this channel will get more subscribers in time because every person who is making music should watch this in a first place. I'm waiting for more of your stuff, really amazing and no bs involved. Thank you and have a nice day brother ;)
Have been dipping into your channel this morning. Really refreshing perspective. Compression seems to be the other thing people complicate the shit out of. Unnecessarily so, I suspect. Would be interested to see a video on that, if it's something you're interested in and have something to say about. 👍
Was literally thinking about this the other day after an evenings mixing went a bit south (over cooked) I used to do our bands PA set up. From dive pubs to halls and outside venues. A beat up mixer and a feedback destroyer. Levels, 3 band eq, panning but most importantly....ears. Surgical eq and plugins have their place of course, but everyone should try getting back to basics and give some "blind" mixing a go.
Honest and refreshing, liberating have to say. I wasted so much time trying to get mixing "right", learning frequencies, plugins, effects and so on, instead of just focusing into my gut feeling and creating good music that makes you vibe to it. Thank you for allowing me to get a new approach into creating music. Its not that you lack a CLA 2A followed by a Decapitator and Saturn with 3 different reverbs as a send, its not that you are hitting the meter too hot, its just your music being f*cking bland and not engaging, hard pill to swallow but necessary.
On very few channels I've turned Bell Notifications On..and your channel is one of them. I seriously admire the efforts you put to share such wisdom bombs. Thanks a ton homie, keep up the good work ❤️
just got busted! watched many tutorials on gainstaging and stuff and they're laying around in my personal playlist, guess it's time to sort out, some of this stuff. :)
yep. The best "Mix" i did was on Cakewalk by bandlab, using stock plugins only. My everyday PC was dead at the moment and i had to use a borrowed, low-resource PC for a while. Very surprising for myself.
So important to keep things simple. In my case, I needed to get caught up in the perceived complexities for me to understand what simple really is. Plugins and processing in particular. I couldn’t have come to my clearer understanding of its purpose without doing way too much with them.
I knew it !!! It’s so good to hear you talk about that and all the fuss around the mixing. There is a market built around that secret magic sauce that’s gonna make your track sounds good but a polished piece of shit it’s still a piece of shit and that’s the issue with a lot of beginning producer. We just need to take the time producing and trust our ears, they works better than any plugin you’ll ever buy. Thank you again for that piece of wisdom ❤️ love your work man !
Well said mate. My Channel was growing but I realized for it to continue long-term I would need to do endless videos of tips and tricks of which most would have been basic stuff veiled under some kind of pro secret. I undoubtedly would have had to go down the road of doing what pretty much all music RUclipsrs end up doing - sell their souls. I'm going to restart doing videos again but I'm going to have to think about what I will upload There is a definite need for channels that don't tow the line and freely criticize the industry.. When I started in the 80's there is no way I would have ever released a record if the massive volume of gear/plugins was available back then as it is now. Add to the massive amount of distraction(propaganda) newcomers are subjected to ( ie Buy Me and you will be able to write tunes) I would never have gotten started. Undoubtedly many potential careers have been destroyed by the constant distractions that are thrown into musicians' faces. And you got yourself a new sub!
These mixing skills are still very much helpful to me 'til this day. This simplistic view of mixing has improved my approach immensely. I am less confused and/or lost about the whole process - it's a lot less daunting. This is the best! Cheers.
@Mredrollo, great video, I'd love to see a similar one about mastering. It seems like there is even more of a "dark art" vibe around this process, but when I really think about it... it seems like I should be able to do it on my own without much fuss. It seems like a loudness meter would be helpful, but outside of that my DAW already has compressors, limiters, and EQ, so I assume I don't need anything else.... but I'm not sure how to approach it. It seems like there should be some simple rules about what loudness to shoot for, but I haven't found any that make sense to me.
i’ve been reading the book the art of mixing by david gibson, for the past couple days now and this was a very reassuring video to watch with everything im reading in this book
Recently, I’ve tried this approach of limiting myself to using less than 4 plugins on each track and less than 5 on the master track. Saves me a lot of time from balancing 240 things and I can focus more on the frequency distribution. A good frequency analyzer like SPAN(it’s free) helps with the process too. I’ve also realised that FL Studio Stock Plugins are good enough for most sounds. I design the 808s, synths and Kicks myself and never rely on expensive “sample packs” and courses. I think if you take up the responsibility of designing your own sounds, you’ll have much more control over the process and you won’t need to depend on these shitty $100 sample packs which basically recycle the same sounds. Finally, all the stuff they teach in these courses are available for free on RUclips. You just have to do some research and figure out stuff by trial and error.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Just wanted to pop in and say I've been loving this channel so much. Thank you for all the amazing content lately, it's been a huge source of inspiration!
Ah that's huge. Thanks so much!
@@mredrollo this channel is incredible. So so so real and true. Just can't wait to hear more. What a fantastic dude
Who is this Venus dude? 🙂
You guys both have incredible channels. Thank you for everything 👌🏼
Hey, I'm subbed to both of your channels for the great content. Just wanted to pop in this comment and say that I would love to see you 2 discuss creators' issues, struggles and whatnot.
100% this. Took me a long time to understand that
Likewise. And I’m not surprised with what the internet will tell you.
Mredrollo bringing some much needed realism and balance to the music world. Your advice and honesty is truly refreshing, thank you sir 👍🏻
The most important thing I have learnt about music production and I keep reminding it to myself is:
PRODUCE LIKE THERE IS NO MIX.
It is all about the sound selection and good arrangement. It took me so many years to realize that. What helped me the most was watching other professional producers making music on twitch or youtube. I have noticed they always had half-profesionally sounding track almost finished and they barely touched EQ or compressors yet.
There I realized the most important thing is to get the base of your song right, balance your volumes and from there all aditional mixing and mastering will be easy👌🏼
Very good advice!
I've come to the same realization, indeed after (too) many years, like you. I would say that around 80% of the mix is established in the arrangement (including sound selection).
I've started working this way too recently, just using my little mixer to feed all the sound through to the DAW for the recording, so I can't faff about with each individual voice... it has to sound good recording, then I can tweak in post, but it's a far less arduous process and I can't lead myself astray with a battery of plug-ins on each bus...
You are the hero the RUclips music production world needs. I've felt incredibly uninspired for weeks with my music, but I always feel better after hearing you speak for a bit. For real quickly becoming my fav music production channel :)
Did you just call me a producer? 😂
@@mredrollo lmao 'music maker'
Haha ngl.. he made me change my profile bio on Instagram 😂😂
Thanks!
Even outside of mixing, so many people complicate the process of creating music by trying to sell you shortcuts like midi packs and vocal enhancers. If there's one thing your channel has taught me, its that the production isn't what makes a good song: it's the writing and recording that does.
Oh god, don't get me started!
Shove a limiter on the whole track and be done with it lol.
The Production doesn’t do what?
So many fantastic truths friend, thanks so much for sharing!!!!
I recently realized how I am obsessed with collecting all those mixing plugins available but how little I know how they work and how they add up to my mix. Now I am just trying to use only few that I really need and I know how to use. The whole mixing process is already much better for me! Thank you for opening the eyes of people and telling them the truth.
Become Jedi using only your DAW plugins.
Your honesty is incredulity impossible. you speak from our daily pain
Thank you! ❤️
This is honestly the best mixing advice I have ever seen
I'm new to this and I always had a hunch that people are making it too complex, after doing some basic mixing myself, on my own stuff I'm starting to create. Your 100% right and it's good to hear it! You can't shine a shit with mixing. It's a fairly straight forward operation that ultimately relies on the person's own judgements and how good those decisions were.
By chance, I've just recently been starting to understand this. Thank you for approval! :)
This is soo true
Also you’re on point about the production. Lately I’m into the symphonic production, which is a whole different beast. A lot going on there
I almost never post comments on YT, but just have to say that you're on fire these days! Each of your recent videos seems to be a slightly different take on "clear out the b.s. and stare at the real demon in the eye". This one was helpful because the lines between "composing" and "mixing" get blurry sometimes. I usually work alone, and I'm always cutting up samples, organizing, and rearranging sounds in my DAW. This is fun for me. But it's SOOO tempting to just jump into the mixing process before I've actually composed something. I end up making short compilations of 'neat sounds' with no real substance, statement, or purpose. Composing/writing can get pretty complicated. Mixing can get pretty complicated too. Trying to do them at the same time is fkn impossible.
Thanks for what you do, and keep up the good work!
Amen! Ah.... just plain facts is so refreshing to hear for a change, thanks for cutting through the BS of mixing advice that haunts my dreams!
Saw simple minds at the Palais few years back. We sat near the mix desk and the keys were nearly twice as loud as anything else. It was horrendous. New sub...love the content.
Mixing and mastering is the bane of my existence
I hope this video was helpful.
Damn dude. So glad you've started making videos. You are putting out there the information that is the antidote to the over saturation of information. Love your message, love your attitude, love your channel. Thanks!
Really appreciate it!
Spot on! I spent years trying to learn as much technical stuff as I can until I realised some time ago I was entering a rabbit hole that wasn't going to take me anywhere in terms of making better music, even in terms of making my music sound noticeably better.
Ok, maybe knowing all the geeky stuff can give you a better understanding and make your music sound 5% better ( and I'm being generous). 5% that NOBODY cares about and most people won't even hear. Also, what is a "better" sound anyway?
At this point I really couldn't care less about all that stuff. I put all my effort into trying to make the song work musically and sonically in a way that serves the purpose of expressing a feeling, a "vibe" (god I hate that word), which is what art is about and avoid getting lost in technical/geeky BS which is not going to take you anywhere artistically/musically.
( Of course I'm generalizing and there's geeky stuff that's worth knowing but it's never ever worth taking too much of your time if your priority is making music.)
cheers!
💙
I just wanted to thank you so very much for this video. Mixing had always been the scariest process for me and I’ve always been overdoing it, getting myself so stressed out over it.
Thanks to you I got inspired and when straight to mixing my last song that I’ve been putting off mixing for a while and took a very minimalist and stress free approach to it. Not only was it the best mixing job I’ve ever done, it made mastering so much easier because the mix itself was already -so- good.
I think you just changed my way of making music and for that I cannot thank you enough.
Welcome!
Hey man, this is awesome, as an engineer myself I love this and agree with you word for word. Amazing video keep it up
Thanks
Delicious. The Ableton thing was pretty cool too.
You have validated my minimalist approach to music making. My gut always said that i don't need much except for what's inside Ableton and to have a legend like you confirm it is 🙏
By this man a coffee
I do like coffee ☕️
Nice way to add a nice wide sound to a selected sound in your mix, Let's choose say a piano. Basically you split the audio left and right into two slightly different frequency position, put a Distortion on left and a Reverb on the right but not to wet. Makes it sound nice and wide.
Nice
You are a gem. You are a gem. BRO!!!! YOU ARE SPITTING STRAIGHT FACTS!!!!!! Most the best songs I make are amazing because the vocals I recorded are already sounding good. The mix just does a good extra 10 percent. A mix can't save a track. It can simply make things better.
Man, I've commented on your newest video yesterday and now I'm going through your videos backwards.
This is something I've been wanting to do myself and I'm really happy someone has already done it!
Hopefully your channel will get more traction because I really feel more people need to see your content.
One tip which I believe I haven't heard here about mixing: panning is a powerful tool, because there might be instances where the same frequency band is occupied by two instruments and you can't really EQ too much so they end up fighting for space in the mix.
A simple turn of the panning knob will alleviate this issue by a whole lot, it really helps if you think of the mix as not a single "frequency tower", but rather by having two parallel "frequency towers".
If the middle range is very busy, pan one of the offending instruments to the "left tower" and your "right tower" will magically have more "space" in the middle range for the other instrument and the mix will sound less confused and congested.
Keep it up!
Thanks for sharing!
I, really enjoy your channel; very different from what I've seen other youtubers do, and it seems very genuine. If I had the money I wouldn't mind hawing you as an actual teacher, you talk about a lot of things that any university teacher (even my private lesson teachers for tuba) I've had in any subject just don't seem to talk about, and I value that to a great degree
Is it better to mix with a spatula or a blender?
I actually have a 16 hour course on why you NEED to mix with a wooden spoon… link in description 🥣
I needed this.
Soo true. Ever since I started making music, I've always wondered what the big fuss about mixing was about. As long as nothing clashes with something else, everything has its place and the thing overall sounds good then you're fine!
Exactly
You're right man. Some my best mixes have only a handful of instruments arranged in such a way that very few plugins were needed.
You're so right. I get asked to make a video about the plugins I use all the time, and I haven't made that video yet partly because I struggle to see the merit of it.
The only thing I'd say is that some plugins are more visually appealing and maybe slightly more intuitive.... and that's why i choose them over the DAW stock plugins (Cubase Pro 12).
The most important things are: 1) The monitoring equipment, 2) The room, and 3) Your familiarity with the characteristics of your monitoring equipment in your room.
I do use multiple synth instances to thicken up a lead, or blend a few sounds together to achieve a slightly different sound, but those sounds are usually closely related sounds so they compliment each other instead of fighting for space.
I don't claim to be a god of music production, but I do know enough to recognise there's a lot of snake oil, fake enthusiasm, and dodgy sales tactics out there.
There certainly is! Thanks for sharing.
You’re a mentor! Thank you! 🙏😎
Everyone is trying to sell courses and paid promote vsts. You are so right. It's just ridiculous these days.
I love your intro music! It has a slight flavor of that “scandi” vibe I’m super into it right now. Keep up the great work on this channel. Incredibly helpful stuff. More helpful than “this multiband mixbus trick to get your mixes LOUD!!!” 😂
Thank you so much!!
I would say for electronic bass music, saturation, cliping, and compression are crucial
Once again, truth! thank you!
This is so true. Too mutch information on youtube just makes you over think the process of mixing.
Certainly does!
Love your music theory. You should teach a course. 😂😂
😂
Great vid. I think for the most part what you describe goes into fundamentals of how to get a clean mix.
What I hope people leave room for, however, is understanding certain characteristics of mixing to fit an artistic aesthetic. Assuming everything is is a clean sound and all of your instruments are sitting in their natural frequencies, the mixing process definitely is straight forward. Things get complicated when you add something creative like adding convolution reverb filled with distortion on your kick- but only on the mid sides at ONE specific moment in time of your song.
I double checked and didn't hear anything about phase cancellation, which can usually be fixed with eq, but may be solved in other ways like either side-chaining or syncopation. It definitely has to do with levels and dynamics but it if you want instruments (especially on the low end) to be present it can't necessarily be solved by adjusting a fader if that makes sense.
Or when you're alternating the mids of a bass call/response from mono to wide to mono.
These are special use cases for sure. and you still have to apply what you're discussing here. However, I do think creative mixing can be an excellent compositional tool that I'd also want people to be mindful of.
Multiband Compressors, stereo tools, etc. weird phase effects, etc do exist for a reason, but that's a whole different discussion about predatory plugins/gear vs what you can achieve with stock devices or what's even useful.
TLDR I totally agree when things get complicated, simplify. There is a rabbit hole to creative mixing after understanding the principles of your video, though :)
Hope my points didn't seem like an argument, just reflecting on your video and bringing up some thoughts after watching.
Take that a step further: Assuming everything is a clean sound and all of your instruments are sitting in their natural frequencies, the mixing process is straight forward, but the result can easily be very boring/generic. Mixing is a PART of production, not separate from it. You do not need tons of plugins and complicated procedures - although they help - YOU NEED AN ARTISTIC VISION OF YOUR SOUND!
Interesting watch! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Personally I see mixing as creating the best representation of what has been written/composed/produced. On a basic level, I agree that it doesn't need to be overcomplicated beyond setting the volume levels (+ some EQ, compression, saturation/colour and space if you're feeling fancy). But for me, mixing also goes infinitely deep into subtle enhancements and adjustments that can really help make a story come to life.
Well said!
Just casually dropping truth bombs all over the place 😤🔥♥️♥️❤️
💣
I absolutely have massive respect for you! I keep telling my fellow producers that too. And all I get from them is just silence.
Thanks so much!
Man this kind of content is what i was looking for .....
Some times its not about learning tricks
Its just about approach 👍🏻
A simple way .....thankyou 🤗
Thanks so much!
The Bert & Ernie analogy is good!
Haha, yeah I never forget that episode!
I've been subscribed to your channel for a while now, but only recently discovered these 'life lessons'. I was a bit shocked that you don't have more views/subscribers. Especially videos like that bring me down to earth again. Just wonderful :)
Really appreciate it. I've heard this a lot actually. I'll get there 🙂
Btw.. I laughed so hard at "this mf". I… err.. do share this sentiment.
hey man, just watched a few videos for the first time, not really one to subscribe or comment, but from what ive seen so far you just seem real and authentic, you dont have a crazy youtube personality your trying to fake, it all seems authentic. keep up the good work and dont prove me wrong :) love it!
Appreciate it ❤️
been binging ur vids a bit and i gotta say theyre really comforting and motivating, im just kinda confused why ur in hong kong lol
I moved back to Australia about a year ago 🙂
Man u don't know how much pain you ease with this vid and producing vs making music. Much love 🖤
Appreciate that 🙏🏼
this is so true
i swear the number of $999 courses I see being advertised online that claim to teach me the secret sauce required to become david guetta 2 in 4-7 business days is unacceptable
Thanx for being so fuckin transparent and strait forward 👊🏻👊🏻👏🏻👏🏻
This is a so good channel. Thank you so much for every video, this is so precious
Very good points made in this video.
I go to extremes when learning a new thing. Sometimes very simple, sometimes overthought. Currently recording/mixing directly into my camera. Sounds fine to me. 🙏🏼
So short and yet loaded... I share same philosphy about mixing too... I love this, man! Thank you
Appreciate it.
I agree. I would add at minimum compression to the list of basic mixing skills/tools though. Not sure how one could get a reasonably sounding mix without being able to control the dynamics (maybe using tons of level automations?)
Yeah. Compression is kind of a must. At least for controlling spikes.
In its simplest form compression really is just another way to control levels.
Also, to add to MREDROLLO, Compression is another type of EQ too (go check Andrew Z's video). and EQ is also nothing but balancing levels through Adjusting frequencies. So in a way every "mixing tool" is a form of balancing. Hence, Compression = EQ = Balancing = Mixing , in a way.
According to this line of thinking panning is also just volume on the right and left speakers (selectively) and eq is also just volume on the frequency spectrum. I get it but at some point it becomes unhelpful.
Glad to see somebody on RUclips pushing the philosophy I've been trying to tell my musician friends.
Now do a video on how to use multiband compression to get a big fat competitive sound.
Competitive sound are the kind of words that'll get you banned around here 🤮
Absolutly great! I started making music ten or twelve years ago with just Ableton Live Intro and a bit of Cinematic VST,... and I gave a f%%% of everything. I just leveled, pan and EQ the stuff and was proud of my music,... and now I process the hack out if and it sounds worse compared to my stuff years ago. Overwhelmed of all the videos and stuff on the internet: this plugin there, this secret technique, the sauce here, the weapon here, the snake oil here,...
Thanks to this video it brings back the "Keep it simple and trust in you!" !!!!
"this plugin there, this secret technique, the sauce here, the weapon here, the snake oil here,..." Properly laughed out loud at this! 😂
oooo i like this chap. Just subbed, enjoying these vids
Just getting the basics of levels down has been the single biggest thing that has helped my mix. Such a simple concept but tough to master with lots of tracks going on. I feel the same annoyance about all the IG ads I get about mixing. There’s one guy in particular with long curly hair and glasses that tells me mastering is the key to my success. I’m sure you’ve seen him before 😂
Levels is such a simple yet powerful tool that gets overlooked all too often.
Hi Mredrollo, i just came across your channel recently i want to thank you for the great content and helping us as a musicians, what I find fascinating about your music is that every element in your songs are soo clean and crisp and it sits in its own space, there is no overlap in terms of the frequency, i’ve been making music for about 7 years now, but the amount of time I’ve spent to learn to mix my music better is unbelievable and yet somehow I couldn’t figure out yet, i spent soo much money on courses tutorials and still my mixing sucks, my home studio has also 10 bass traps(12cm thickness) and i use 2pair of studio monitors with sub (yamaha hs5, krk v6s4 and the sub is yamaha hs8s) with that much spending recourses my music still sucks i mean in terms of mixdown.
Can you please share with us tips and techniques you use for mixing, BIG THANKS 🙏
I’m also more than happy to pay if you could make for us a comprehensive mixing course Please.
Great perspective and sound advice.
this is just what I needed to hear, been binging your videos man, good.shit. glad I found your channel. here’s to more great content 🤝
My latest trip is this….levels, shelves, boosts / cuts, comps bus limiter. Done
I agree with you mredrollo. You can also cook a delicious dish with simple tools if your ingredients are good.
Still, as with cooking, even if it’s simple, I believe good mixing takes practice!
That's all it takes though!
Great video! I don't subscribe to many channels, but this was a good reminder with my morning coffee.
Keep up the great work!
I appreciate that!
Hi, I watched all of your recent movies and this is pure gold to be honest. I struggle with a lot of the presented topics and you are really inspiring person. The movies are relatively short but are worth more than thousands of hours of bs tutorials out there. I just hope this channel will get more subscribers in time because every person who is making music should watch this in a first place. I'm waiting for more of your stuff, really amazing and no bs involved. Thank you and have a nice day brother ;)
I get this a lot. And thanks for the kind words. My next video kind of tackles this one, quite brutally 😂 comes out tomorrow!
I enjoy creating music until the mixing part comes. Thanks for your awesome video.
Have been dipping into your channel this morning. Really refreshing perspective. Compression seems to be the other thing people complicate the shit out of. Unnecessarily so, I suspect. Would be interested to see a video on that, if it's something you're interested in and have something to say about. 👍
Was literally thinking about this the other day after an evenings mixing went a bit south (over cooked) I used to do our bands PA set up. From dive pubs to halls and outside venues. A beat up mixer and a feedback destroyer. Levels, 3 band eq, panning but most importantly....ears. Surgical eq and plugins have their place of course, but everyone should try getting back to basics and give some "blind" mixing a go.
I LOVE THIS CHANNEL!!!!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING ABOUT WHAT IS NECESSARY.
Love your style! Awesome!
Thanks Boss! A couple of handy hints in there. Appreciated, cheers and thanks for the video.
Honest and refreshing, liberating have to say.
I wasted so much time trying to get mixing "right", learning frequencies, plugins, effects and so on, instead of just focusing into my gut feeling and creating good music that makes you vibe to it.
Thank you for allowing me to get a new approach into creating music.
Its not that you lack a CLA 2A followed by a Decapitator and Saturn with 3 different reverbs as a send, its not that you are hitting the meter too hot, its just your music being f*cking bland and not engaging, hard pill to swallow but necessary.
Definitely hard pills to swallow.
Save everything and when you improve in mixing and mastering go back and fix your old stuff, you might find gold.
the intro track is fire
Link in description :)
On very few channels I've turned Bell Notifications On..and your channel is one of them. I seriously admire the efforts you put to share such wisdom bombs. Thanks a ton homie, keep up the good work ❤️
Ahh thanks so much!!
I love your content man!
Thank you!
Absolute truth.
Thanks!
Minimalism is king. Subscribed!
just got busted! watched many tutorials on gainstaging and stuff and they're laying around in my personal playlist, guess it's time to sort out, some of this stuff. :)
yep.
The best "Mix" i did was on Cakewalk by bandlab, using stock plugins only. My everyday PC was dead at the moment and i had to use a borrowed, low-resource PC for a while. Very surprising for myself.
Nice work!
You’re the most grounding creator in the yt music space
I really appreciate that.
So important to keep things simple. In my case, I needed to get caught up in the perceived complexities for me to understand what simple really is. Plugins and processing in particular. I couldn’t have come to my clearer understanding of its purpose without doing way too much with them.
Wow, baptism by fire!
I needed to hear this, Thank You!
Anytime!
I knew it !!! It’s so good to hear you talk about that and all the fuss around the mixing. There is a market built around that secret magic sauce that’s gonna make your track sounds good but a polished piece of shit it’s still a piece of shit and that’s the issue with a lot of beginning producer. We just need to take the time producing and trust our ears, they works better than any plugin you’ll ever buy.
Thank you again for that piece of wisdom ❤️ love your work man !
Anytime :)
finally someone is giving real advices
Thanks so much!
I would love to know more about the stylish dusters on the hardware. (No joke.)
Literally hand towels from the local $2 store 😂
@@mredrollo Practical solution!
Well said mate. My Channel was growing but I realized for it to continue long-term I would need to do endless videos of tips and tricks of which most would have been basic stuff veiled under some kind of pro secret. I undoubtedly would have had to go down the road of doing what pretty much all music RUclipsrs end up doing - sell their souls. I'm going to restart doing videos again but I'm going to have to think about what I will upload There is a definite need for channels that don't tow the line and freely criticize the industry.. When I started in the 80's there is no way I would have ever released a record if the massive volume of gear/plugins was available back then as it is now. Add to the massive amount of distraction(propaganda) newcomers are subjected to ( ie Buy Me and you will be able to write tunes) I would never have gotten started. Undoubtedly many potential careers have been destroyed by the constant distractions that are thrown into musicians' faces.
And you got yourself a new sub!
Thanks for sharing. My next video dives into this a little bit more actually.
Genius.
These mixing skills are still very much helpful to me 'til this day. This simplistic view of mixing has improved my approach immensely. I am less confused and/or lost about the whole process - it's a lot less daunting. This is the best! Cheers.
thank you for this.
@Mredrollo, great video, I'd love to see a similar one about mastering. It seems like there is even more of a "dark art" vibe around this process, but when I really think about it... it seems like I should be able to do it on my own without much fuss. It seems like a loudness meter would be helpful, but outside of that my DAW already has compressors, limiters, and EQ, so I assume I don't need anything else.... but I'm not sure how to approach it. It seems like there should be some simple rules about what loudness to shoot for, but I haven't found any that make sense to me.
Hey thanks for the suggestion. I have a take on mastering too. I’ll see what I can come up with. It may not be what you expect though 😉
Wonderful !
i’ve been reading the book the art of mixing by david gibson, for the past couple days now and this was a very reassuring video to watch with everything im reading in this book
I haven't read it. Please report back with a summary if you have the time.
This is class
liked the thumbnail!
🥣
Recently, I’ve tried this approach of limiting myself to using less than 4 plugins on each track and less than 5 on the master track. Saves me a lot of time from balancing 240 things and I can focus more on the frequency distribution. A good frequency analyzer like SPAN(it’s free) helps with the process too.
I’ve also realised that FL Studio Stock Plugins are good enough for most sounds. I design the 808s, synths and Kicks myself and never rely on expensive “sample packs” and courses.
I think if you take up the responsibility of designing your own sounds, you’ll have much more control over the process and you won’t need to depend on these shitty $100 sample packs which basically recycle the same sounds.
Finally, all the stuff they teach in these courses are available for free on RUclips. You just have to do some research and figure out stuff by trial and error.
Thanks for sharing!