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beginners tips for mixing


Guest neurogen

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Guest neurogen

i thought we could help in this thread by posting some useful tips for beginners, or veterans that just didnt know.

 

Whatever.

Some tips in the thread might be obvious and some might actually help alot.

I will go first.

 

EQ

Ok from what I have learned from many years of trial and error.. To be able to build a good mix without competing sounds, thus making it much more dynamic is of course EQ.

 

General rule: CUT EVERYTHING you dont want. If you have a sound in the 5khz-20khz area, CUT EVERYTHING else.

Same thing goes for a bass sound in the 200hz-500hz area. CUT EVERYTHING ELSE.

Like I said it may sound obvious but for me it took many years for me to realise this.

I trusted my ears too much, and didnt realise you actually have to cut away frequencies from a sound that you dont wanna use.

This makes more room in the mix allowing more dynamics.

Making you in the end be able to get more volume and power out of the mixdown.

 

So be sure to EQ every single channel in your mix. Cut away all those lows and ends, or mids and highs, whatever it might be. Hihats, synths, basslines, kicks, everything.

Cut cut cut!

 

So yeah, thats my tip for this thread to start with.

Also, put a compressor at the end of every channel. Just to make sure it never reaches more than -0.2 db and at the same time you give that sound its own place in the mix.

Attack, release and threshold you decide based on the sound, but always put a compressor there. It will not hurt the sound.

A good compressor for exactly this usage is the Waves RCompressor. Not all compressors are good for this purpose, but this one is.

It acts like a limiter.

 

 

Again, very basic tips but not to be neglected.

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Guest neurogen

forgot to add.

 

If you for example boost your kickdrum a bit at lets say 70hz. Be sure to drastically cut your bassline at that exact frequency.

 

If you then boost your bassline at for example 100hz, be sure to drastically cut your kick at that frequency.

 

This makes your kick and bassline to harmonize MUCH better without stealing and competing for the same frequencies.

 

 

Again, might be obiovus but to me it took a long time to realise you MUST do this.

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