Oh well, the thread changed place... but actually, even if I'm using and talking about the Fruity Spectroman, most DAW got spectrum analysers, so what I'm gonna say here can be used in any other program. Not only FL Studio... my explanations are specific to FL users, but you can actually do most of what I'm saying in any program
I'll give here one by one the steps I use to achieve a good mix... but I'm no expert, so be kind enough to comment if I'm wrong.
Getting rid of the Spectrum overlaping (I dont know if that's the right expression, but who cares.. lol)
When you use a sample in a beat, that sound plays in a very wide frequency spectrum. To illustrate this, take a beat you made and assign a bass (that is sampled) on a mixer track. Now, assign a Spectrum Analyser to that track (ex: Fruity Spectroman)... put it on the sonograph, not the spectropgraph. Sonograph is when you see colors instead of a curve... I prefer working with the sonograpg because you see the evolution of the sound in time...
With the sonograph, when you press play, you'll see that the sound that is played (a bass) is showing as a green spot, and as the music plays, that spot is changing... You'll quickly understand that that spot is actually the image representing the frequencies present in that bass you are using.
Normally that spot should be in the far left part of the Spectroman's window. Why? Because the left represents the low frequencies (bass) and the right, the high frequencies (treble)... now, you can make some adjustments to the Spectroman to have a more acurate view of the spectrum. Turn the Scale knob all the way to the right, and make sure that the light Show Peaks is lited... also, to have a clearer view, you can always turn the Amp knob all the way to the right. It will make the colors brighter.
Now what do you see? Even if you are seeing the spectrum of a bass, you can see that there are some activity in the middle and (maybe) in the right of the Spectroman... why? Isnt what you playing a Bass? Well, even a bass plays some high frequencies.
Now that fine and dandy, but what does that have to do with spectrum overlaping? Well, I guess you figured that the same thing I just explained happens with hi freq samples, but the other way around. Now, the problem with that is that some of those extra frequencies are unwanted. Some of those are actually the reason some mixes can sound muddy. The low freqs coming from hi pitched instruments overlap instruments that are bassy. And the acumulation of those low freq results in a unwanted rumble...
So, for that reason, the 1st step in my mixing is getting rid of those unwanted frequencies.
1- On all the low frequency sounds, I put a Low Pass Filter that I set between 8 kHz to 10 kHz (that means 8000 Hz to 10 000 Hz... the higher the number the higher the pitch)...(Doing this will leave space for other instruments that are supposed to sound brighter)
2- I do the exact opposite on high freq sounds, I assign a High Pass Filter that I set around 80 Hz... (Doing so leaves space in the audio spectrum for your bass to sound more precise)
***A high pass filter is kind of like an EQ that leave only High freqs out and cuts frequencies lower than the one you choose. Low Pass Filters do exactly the opposite.
Now, it's possible that you wont ear a HUUUUUGE difference in you sound my doing this but you should hear a difference regardless....
And of course, there was no need for the Spectrum Analyser for that part, but that's the next step. Tell me what you thought of that part to see if I'll continue or not...
