When you're mixing down a sampled beat...
- Thread starter Cell 2Dee
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Beat This!The next Beat This! Competition is from November 27-28th!
Crappy monitors or non at all can only get you so far. Some decent monitor headphones can get you headed in the right direction but they can only take u so fa as well. This can be an expensive hobby my friend, u gotta pay to play (with the big boyz anyway). Most of us had to run this race in stages.....your cash flow will determine how fast you advance. Just learn and read as much as you can until you can get your money right. That way you can jump in with both feet.
Well I hope to get my monitors etc. in the next couple months. After that I'm gonna lay off spending some money on this cuz my kid's coming in June, so I'm gonna have to prioritise for a while. But my girl is content with spending all day, every day with our baby so I can slip away for a couple hours a week to my second life haha.
Schizo-Manic
b33lz
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 3
Its also good to have an idea on what direction your trying to go with the track, instead of just siting down doing everything randomly. If you want it to be dirty or grimey/ clean and smooth. It's like a chess game once you have everything sequenced and arranged then you gotta get everything to sound good but I usually do rough mix as I go so I'm not doing double work I'm just accustomed to that process. Every sample is different although I find it more challenging turning shit into sugar.
I still use FL 8 sometimes I know that program like the back of my hand, people be sleeping on the INS Tab the (Pan,Vol,Res,Cut,Res,Pitch) you can do some crazy shit from that box alone, with the LFO settings at the bottom. Also the legacy effects under the SMP Tab if you scroll down it has some dope effects, I be using that reverb (a,b) on my drums with the stereo delay shit works lovely. Ableton Live is whats really good though its like fl studio on steroids...wait until that APC 40 drops its a wrap!!
I still use FL 8 sometimes I know that program like the back of my hand, people be sleeping on the INS Tab the (Pan,Vol,Res,Cut,Res,Pitch) you can do some crazy shit from that box alone, with the LFO settings at the bottom. Also the legacy effects under the SMP Tab if you scroll down it has some dope effects, I be using that reverb (a,b) on my drums with the stereo delay shit works lovely. Ableton Live is whats really good though its like fl studio on steroids...wait until that APC 40 drops its a wrap!!
Shit i already forgot about this thread....
Everybody pretty much already answered your question earlier in regards to knowing what frequencies to remove.
LDB added a good comment as well in regards to using an Analyzer. If your only working in Reason then there is no way to see the frequencies graphically, but its like any other platform you work in to mix. You have to just balance things out right and get your power structure going, and then after that apply effects and processing if needed.
Start with your faders, move to your pans, then proceed to asses whether u need to EQ certain things or compress. Not everything needs to be treated. If it sounds good, then it sounds good. Its easy to feel the need to process everything in a DAW environment since theres so many types of FX accessible at your fingertips.
Even though your a beginner and you might have untrained ears and poor gear everyone has to start somewhere so dont be too quick to dismiss the fact that you may have an incredible ability to hear things in the mix that others cant for that matter. The point is to try and keep at it. Your obviously not going to have amazing ears right off the bat, but everyones different is my point.
And everyone has to learn how to mix eventually if your involved in making music from point A to point B. So you might as well start now. Once you got your mix sounding decent level/pan wise without blowing up your master buss (output), then critically listen to each part in the mix and determine if it needs treatment or not.
For example, if your kick is muddy and not beefy enough, dont go reaching for the 80hz boost immediately, instead try cutting frequencies in that part that arent needed as much such as the 250 area and anything in the high end that may not be contributing to the mix. Same goes for any other sound in the mix.
If your synth part is only needed in the mix as a hi freq element then proceed to remove any low freqs by rolling the low end off until your happy, etc.....
Its always better to start by cutting rather than boosting, and just try to remember when your frequency stacking that everything is "summed" together at the master output.
Everybody pretty much already answered your question earlier in regards to knowing what frequencies to remove.
LDB added a good comment as well in regards to using an Analyzer. If your only working in Reason then there is no way to see the frequencies graphically, but its like any other platform you work in to mix. You have to just balance things out right and get your power structure going, and then after that apply effects and processing if needed.
Start with your faders, move to your pans, then proceed to asses whether u need to EQ certain things or compress. Not everything needs to be treated. If it sounds good, then it sounds good. Its easy to feel the need to process everything in a DAW environment since theres so many types of FX accessible at your fingertips.
Even though your a beginner and you might have untrained ears and poor gear everyone has to start somewhere so dont be too quick to dismiss the fact that you may have an incredible ability to hear things in the mix that others cant for that matter. The point is to try and keep at it. Your obviously not going to have amazing ears right off the bat, but everyones different is my point.
And everyone has to learn how to mix eventually if your involved in making music from point A to point B. So you might as well start now. Once you got your mix sounding decent level/pan wise without blowing up your master buss (output), then critically listen to each part in the mix and determine if it needs treatment or not.
For example, if your kick is muddy and not beefy enough, dont go reaching for the 80hz boost immediately, instead try cutting frequencies in that part that arent needed as much such as the 250 area and anything in the high end that may not be contributing to the mix. Same goes for any other sound in the mix.
If your synth part is only needed in the mix as a hi freq element then proceed to remove any low freqs by rolling the low end off until your happy, etc.....
Its always better to start by cutting rather than boosting, and just try to remember when your frequency stacking that everything is "summed" together at the master output.
Vice - here is one of the best FREE analyzers ive found back in my PC days:
http://www.rndigital.org/inspector.html
Just keep in mind that the analyzer is there for graphical reference more then anything else and can come in useful for frequencies that may be harder for you to identify on your own.
In the end, always let your ears be the final verdict.
As far as what I use when i need it - I just rely on the built in analyzer inside the Channel EQ in Logic. Its actually very handy and accurate, and best of all comes with the software!
http://www.rndigital.org/inspector.html
Just keep in mind that the analyzer is there for graphical reference more then anything else and can come in useful for frequencies that may be harder for you to identify on your own.
In the end, always let your ears be the final verdict.
As far as what I use when i need it - I just rely on the built in analyzer inside the Channel EQ in Logic. Its actually very handy and accurate, and best of all comes with the software!
"RIGHT ON" to everything Mr. Brown added to the conversation. CUT FIRST, BOOST ONLY IF YOU HAVE TO. The only time I boost is around the presence freqz for vocals and if I'm dealing with a degraded sample and I'm mainly needing the mid to hi range of that sample. If I need the lows from a sample I make an additional track of that sample and use the "Low End Theory". If I have a "sample dominant" track I'll lay out the entire song with my diff't arrangements and variations and resample the track that I have the sample on, then low end theory that for my entire bass line. The easiest way to have a bass line that rides the sample imo.
I use the PAZ Analyzer found in the Waves Mercury bundle. It has the Frequency, Meter and Position Analyzer combo. All three go on my master from the start of the project. All three give me a visual of what my beat is doing. Meter keeps me visually seeing that I'm at or below that -6db range. Frequency Analyzer helps me to see that possible muddy area or any harsh midrange to hi's I need to cut. And the Position Analyzer helps me to balance out things in the stereo field and to see if I have too much phasing going on.
I wouldn't mix a song without!
I use the PAZ Analyzer found in the Waves Mercury bundle. It has the Frequency, Meter and Position Analyzer combo. All three go on my master from the start of the project. All three give me a visual of what my beat is doing. Meter keeps me visually seeing that I'm at or below that -6db range. Frequency Analyzer helps me to see that possible muddy area or any harsh midrange to hi's I need to cut. And the Position Analyzer helps me to balance out things in the stereo field and to see if I have too much phasing going on.
I wouldn't mix a song without!
Schizo-Manic
b33lz
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 3
I never thought about using the PAZ Analyzer on the master, I use some other Spectrum Analyzer I'm about to start using that. I know I can't live without my Rbass though
You're right! I use Har-bal as a visual aid when mixing a lot. Basically on every mix. I render the song, pull it up in Har-bal and get a good view on the frequency's as a whole. I even use it to cut the lows to hear how it sounds. Then I go back to the mix in Ableton and lower the level on the drums or bass accordingly. Render it again, bring it back up in Har-bal to see if I leveled things out right. U can repeat the process for all the must control frequency's in your track.
7thangel
7th Angel of Armageddon
ill o.g.
to each his/her own, not really a fan of har-bal or aams, or match eq's overall, myself.
i forgot about this link, you all may find informative, there's also some free waves presets in the july 2008 archive. it's a mixing blog from brian harris aka mix surgeon. here is the link http://mirrormixing.blogspot.com/
i forgot about this link, you all may find informative, there's also some free waves presets in the july 2008 archive. it's a mixing blog from brian harris aka mix surgeon. here is the link http://mirrormixing.blogspot.com/
T
The Arkitekt
Guest
Mirror mixing, I IMed that dude a while back for an internship, he said he needed a guy but in CALI, damnit lol
Schizo-Manic
b33lz
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 3
props on posting that blog link "The Music Surgeon"
7thangel
7th Angel of Armageddon
ill o.g.
it would be good to stay in touch with him though
T
The Arkitekt
Guest
Yea, I still got him on my buddy list, I told him if he ever needs anyone in south florida then just message me.