#mixing techniques

Gain staging is a hot topic these days. I often see the same advice online: "Normalize all your tracks to the same peak level before you start mixing."

While this gives you headroom, I strongly dislike this approach. It sets you up for a harder mix from the start.

Here is why.

Different instruments do not behave the same way. For example, a distorted rhythm guitar has a high average level. A drum kit has big spikes, lots of transients, and much more dynamic range. If you peak normalize both, you push the drums down too much. The guitar and bass will then sound overpowering.

Hey guys! Brad Simons here. Today’s post is going to get into effective ways to make your delay sounds nice and wide.

Doing so can really create a huge stereo image, fill in the gaps of your production, and give you a lot of vibe.

So how does this differ from the usual methods of stereo delays? Well we’re going to use Pro Tools “multi-mono” plugin instances to quickly create separation between the left and right sides of the image.

Check out the video below to see it in action!

You can find more tutorials in our Video Tutorials section by clicking here.

Links to Equipment and Software Used

Pro Tools

Soundtoys Little Plate Reverb

Universal Audio EP-34 Tape Echo

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brad is the owner/founder of Velveteen Audio. He produces with the duo Towers and plays in his own project called Optics.

DW Performance Series Kit

Check out the DW Performance Series drum sample pack on our store now! 

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Hey guys! Brad Simons here, and today I want to talk about parallel compression and a few ways to set it up in your mixes. It’s a great technique that can really make your mixes come alive. Setting it up in an efficient manner allows you to really get creative with your mixes. So let’s dive in and learn how to do that!

First, What Is Parallel Compression?

To put it simply, it’s the blend of an uncompressed audio source with a compressed version of it. If you want to learn more about parallel compression itself, please check out an earlier post we made called Working With Parallel Compression.

What Will Parallel Compression Do For My Mixes?

Well, parallel compression typical brings more energy and punch to your mix, however it can easily go to far. But since you’re blending the organic character of your audio with a compressed version of it, you will get the benefits of both. It’s definitely worth doing!

How Can We Be Both Creative And Efficient With Parallel Compression?

Well, there are a few different ways. By building it into your template in various locations, you can easily audition different parallel compression approaches, whether it be on a group, on an individual instrument, or with a certain group of compressors.

Check out the full tutorial below on how you can setup parallel compression with efficiency and creativity in mind

Cheers!

Links to Equipment and Software Used

Pro Tools 12

UAD 1176 AE Plugin

UAD SSL E Channel Plugin

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brad is the owner/founder of Velveteen Audio. He produces with the duo Towers and plays in his own project called Optics.

DW Performance Series Kit

Check out the DW Performance Series drum sample pack on our store now! 

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Snare drums. Usually, they’re an integral element of a song. It’s also one of those elements that has a reputation for not wanting to play nice with the balance of a mix. Sometimes you get a track to mix and for whatever reason (tonality, dynamics, performance, etc…) the snare just won’t sit in with the rest of the track. It feels detached. On top. It’s own weird separate entity. Straight volume, EQ, and compression are the usual suspects we turn to when trying to get a snare to blend in, but there are some other fun & creative techniques to help solve this problem as well. Here are a some of my favourite solutions in no particular order:  

1) Slap Delay

Using a delay plugin (mono usually), I’ll insert it right on the snare track. Then using a 16th note (maybe a triplet) or something in the 80ms to 130ms range for a delay time, I’ll mix in anywhere from 2% to 10% of the delay with the dry signal (maybe more). I’ll also low pass the delay quite heavily (4kHz or less). This little bit of slap adds some length to snare and kind of pushes it back into the rest of the kit. Also, if the snare is sending to some reverb the verb will then help add some additional length and ambience, which might help even more. A bit of a variation on this idea is to use a pitch shift plugin of some sort (Soundtoys Microshift or Unfiltered Audio Fault come to mind) and add a pitched mono or stereo slap to the snare.

2) Distortion

I’m always fascinated by how many problems distortion solves. Our ears love it, which I’m grateful for because distorting stuff is always a blast! So if a snare isn’t blending in I’ll reach for some sort of distortion or saturation plugin. Actually I should really say I’ll reach for more distortion. 90% of the time I’ll already be distorting the snare in some sort of capacity! Generally, I lean on the UAD Thermionic Culture Vulture, Waves Manny Marroquin Distortion, Soundtoys Decapitator, or trusty old Avid Lofi to get the job done here. The Waves Scheps Omnichannel and Elysia Karacter are new favourites for this task as well. Again, I will insert it directly onto the snare track. Most of the time I just want the distortion to be felt, but sometimes it needs to be audible. The distortion helps soften the transient, brings up some of the sustain, and adds some harmonic fuzz. I kind of think of it as blurring the lines of the snare (if that makes any sense) which helps connect it to the rest of the mix.

3) Stereo Imaging

Sometimes just pushing the image a bit wider or reducing the centre information of the snare can help tuck it in. Like distortion, I think of this as a line blurring technique as well. Inserting directly onto the channel, I’ll use any number of magical widening plugins. Ozone Imager (FREE!), SPL Vitalizer MK2-T, or the bx_stereomaker are all excellent options. Once I’ve got the plugin on, I’ll just push the width until I hear the snare sit down into the mix. If you have a multi-band imager available, sometimes it’s great to just push the top or mids and leave to bottom mono for power. A bit variation here is to use a stereo delay either inserted directly or on a send and gently mix in some super short stereo delay. Maybe 3 or 5 milliseconds on the right and 13 or 17 ms on the right. Another option, which lives in both the imaging and volume worlds, is to use some mid/side volume control. Waves Center or the UAD Precision K-Stereo Ambience Recovery work great for this. You can pull down some of the mid information and push it out to the sides. So you can keep the impact, but change a bit of the focus.

4) Ambience Squeezing

Technically, this falls into the category of compression, but it is creative parallel compression! This usually only works well with live snares or samples that have some ambience baked in. A dry snare sample may not work, but always worth a try! I’ll usually duplicate the snare track for this so I’ll have parallel control. Then on the parallel track, I’ll insert a compressor and then squeeze the living daylights out of the snare using some higher ratio, super fast attack, and fast to medium release settings. Essentially, I’m looking to totally obliterate the attack and sustain of the snare and just end up with ambience of it. This might take a bit of messing around with release times, but once I have the ambience I want out of the snare I might EQ or distort it to taste and then gently blend it back in until I hear it helping suck the snare back into the mix. Certainly just using some reverb is an alternative, but I find squeezing the ambience out of the existing snare can create something more interesting and unique! UAD 1176, Kush Pusher, or the Scheps Omnichannel are all great options here!

These are a few of my favourite techniques and the great thing about them is you don’t just have to use one of them at a time! Lots of times I’ll combine two or three of these to help get the snare living in the mix and create the vibe I’m looking for! If you have any cool and fun ways to help tuck a troublesome snare into a mix I’d love to hear it! Cheers. Brad

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brad Smith is an award winning engineer with credits such as Nuela Charles, HILL, and Arlo Maverick. Check out his work by clicking here.

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Hey guys! It's Brad Simons here today, and I'm gonna today's post is going to be about 5 reasons why your mixes aren't sounding as good as you want them to. There is an infinite number of reasons that your mixes aren't quite there, but the following are some of the common ones that I encounter. Check 'em out!

1) Bad Sounds At The Source

You've heard it before, and I'm gonna say it again. From a mountaintop. You can't make a great mix out of garbage sounds. It's just not possible. You may be able to make it sound better than it did before you started mixing, but it's never going to be world class. So, make sure you get great tones and performances in tracking! If you didn't track the music, then maybe have a chat with the tracking engineer and suggest some revisions.

Now having said that, there are a lot of things these days that you can do to ensure that you get good sounds. One common one is to supplement your drum tones with drum samples. In fact, I would argue that most "real" drum recordings that you hear on the radio are sampled up. This can help provide consistency, control and punch to your drum tones. I suggest making your own sample library from your recordings, but you can also use packs like Superior Drummer, Slate Drums, Native Instruments Abbey Road, to name a few. Second, grab as many DI tracks as you can, especially on instruments like electric guitar and bass. You can then use that DI signal to re-amp if you need to get a new tone.

2) Muddy Bottom End

I struggle with this one, as I think a lot of engineers do. Getting the bottom end (and the lower mids) just right is really tough. But if you don't get it right, your mix will either sound thin and weak, or it will be woofy and unfocused. 

A good place to start is to put a hi-pass filter on every single instrument with exception of the kick drum and the bass. I like to start at about 100 Hz, and then work from there. What this will do is provide the room needed to let the kick and bass come through cleanly. These are generally the two instruments that will make that low end just right.

You also need to make a decision how the bass and kick are sitting together. I typically like to keep the kick in the sub frequency range and cut some of the bass off with a hi-pass filter. Some mixers like to go the opposite way, cutting some of the kick off to give the bass more room. My opinion is to let the genre and the song dictate that. For instance, if you're mixing a trap song, you'll want the bass to have TONS of sub frequency (although it may be a pitched 808), so maybe let the kick give the thump up a little higher. If you're mixing a rock track, typically you'll want to trim up the bass a bit and let the kick drive the song. Not hard fast rules at all, but some guidelines.

Think about the lower midrange in the same way. I look at the lower mids as the 200 Hz to 500 Hz area. Try muting instruments in the mix and see what's clogging up that area. If your mix is sounding muddy, try muting various instruments until you find what's doing so. Then try cutting some of that mid-range until you find the clarity you're looking for. Some common ones for me are pads, synths, keys, and guitars. Again, I struggle with this one a lot, it's tough to really make it work. 

Another thing you can do is trim a bit of midrange on the mix bus. I like to use a UAD MEQ 5 at the end of my mix bus chain to trim a bit of mids out if needed. As I've said in a previous post, if I need to cut more than 1 dB, I'm probably going to head back into the tracks causing the problem first. 

3) Too Much FX

Maybe it's just me, but I LOVE using reverbs and delays. I love a roomy, ambient mix, with elements that are up close to the speakers, and elements that sound as though they are a hundred feet away. Gives the mix alot of depth. However, this can easily lead to an accumulation of mids and general cloudiness in your mix. So this somewhat ties into what we mentioned in the previous point. 

So one place to start is to hi-pass filter all of your reverb and delay channels. This will prevent delay repeats and reverb decay create an accumulation of bottom end and muddy mid range. I typically like to do around 250 Hz, but that's a matter of taste. There are instances where I want to hear some more rumble from the verb, but this is a general starting point.

Second and more importantly, be selective in which instruments you put reverb and delay on. And also be selective of what style of each. Give each instrument needing reverb a different depth and algorithm. Same with delay, avoid overuse of the same delay, as it can create a mess. Some things I like to do are find lead elements and make them pretty wet, and push them back. By contrast, I like using slap delays on vocals.

Experiment with different elements and be selective! Don't overdo it!

4) Overuse of Compression

I think overusing compression is a pretty dang easy trap to fall into. Sometimes as engineers, we get in the mindset that we "have" to do certain things. For instance, if we want a punchy mix, we think we need compression. And then furthermore, if we want everything to be punchy, we need compression on everything! This is certainly not the case. 

Remember, the initial point of compression is volume control. And yes, you can certainly use it to get more punch and as an effect. Not disputing that. But maybe a hi-gain guitar tone just doesn't need any compression. Why is that? Because it is already naturally compressed! Ask questions on each track. Does this instrument need compression? If so, why is that? How am I expecting it to sound? Is this the right way of accomplishing this?

A lot of plugin compressors come with a factory default setting that has some makeup gain already engaged. So the moment you add the plugin, the volume may increase by 2 dB. That's an easy way to be fooled into thinking it sounds better. An easy way to remain objective is to adjust the volume of the plugin to match the bypassed level. That way you can bypass and un-bypass the plugin, going back and forth to truly hear what the plugin is doing to the sound. 

Also, don't overcompress your mix bus! This can easily make your mix painful to listen to, pumpy and awkward. Let me be the first to say that mix bus compression is a vital part of my mix process, but it has to be done with taste and caution. It can easily ruin your mix!

Just like reverb and delay, be selective with compression and don't overdo it!

5) Bad Frequencies

Bad frequencies can make your life a nightmare. Yikes. This one can be tough to hear and tough to iron out. Sometimes it takes a lot of searching to find where your problems are. 

Let's say you hear a certain frequency ringing out in the mix. Try muting instruments until you find the one that contains the bad frequency. Now if only it were always that simple. Sometimes there are multiple instruments contributing to a bad frequency, and you need to cut that from all of them!

So once you do find the track(s) that are causing the problem, pull out an EQ. We like to use the FabFilter Pro Q 2 and use the bandpass mode to isolate that frequency. Then cut it out! Use your own judgment on how much you want to cut out, and how wide the Q is on that frequency band. If the cut is starting to affect the general tone of the instrument, then consider tightening the Q or cutting just slightly less.

You can also apply this technique on busses, from instrument busses to the mix bus in general. I like to be a little more cautious when applying corrective EQ to busses, as you're starting to make changes to many instruments at once. 

 And that's it for this post. Hope that helps you find faults in your mix, and therefore improve the quality of future mixes. Please comment below if you have any problems you've encountered and how you overcame them.

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Cheers!

Brad Velveteen Audio

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brad is the owner/founder of Velveteen Audio and it's record label counterpart Velveteen Records. He engineers, produces, plays in his own project called Optics, and has a YouTube Channel on music and business.

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Hey guys! Today we're going to break down an approach for getting awesome mixes in 6 steps. Let me be the first to say that this isn't the only way to get there, but this is a way to visualize the mix in a series of steps. It works for me!

By following this formula, you should be able to get yourself a great sounding mix and have a clear path to getting there. Let's dive in!

1) Balance

The first place that I always start is to balance the mix as best as I can before I begin anything else. So first off, set all the faders to -∞ in your DAW. Then start pulling them up and blending them with each other by only changing the volume and the panning. Feel free to start with the instrument you prefer, but I like a bottom up approach. I start by pulling up the drum mics, getting them feeling good together, then I add in the bass, then guitars or keys, then vocals. Some mixers like to start with vocals, as it is the center piece of the song. Find what works for you!

If you're a Pro Tools user, I have some additional tips for you. Make use of VCA Automation, as it can help you adjust volumes of individual tracks in a group, as well as the entire group itself. I typically make VCA's for my kick, snare, toms, cymbals (overheads, hats, rooms), the whole drum kit, any bass instruments, guitars, keyboards, vocals, and one for the entire mix. While the VCA's are active, I can change the volume of any track within a group, but also reach for the VCA fader to adjust the volume overall. Awesome!

Make sure you're thinking about gain staging while you're balancing. It's a good idea to have a meter on your mix bus, possibly on your sub group busses as well. We like to use the Klanghelm VUMT Meters. Aim for a healthy mix bus level of 0 dB VU, or -18 dB FS.

2) Shape

Ok, you've spent some time getting the initial balance right, now it's time to shape the mix. This includes things like EQ, compression, saturation, really anything you are doing to that affects the tone of the instruments and how they fit together. This could be a blog post of it's own, but here's some basics that I tend to always do:

Suck some mids out of all drums (kick, snare, toms, start at 500 Hz)

Give the guitars some 5-8 kHz boost. I like using the Pultec EQP-1A for that. 

Use a hi pass filter on almost everything. Even the kick drum and the bass, but be a little more gentle on those two. This will give the rest of the mix some clarity.

De-ess and compress vocals.

Those are basics that work for me, but feel free to explore what works for you.

3) Parallel Compression

Next step, parallel compression! If you're not familiar with parallel compression, have a peek at our previous blog post on it, here tk. Man, I love this technique, it really helps give the mix energy while retaining the sonic quality of the uncompressed tracks. But be careful! This can easily get out of hand and cause your mix to get messy. Here are some things I do:

Create two parallels for each bus (drum bus, guitar bus, vocals bus, etc). Experiment with compressors for different flavors.

Create an overall mix parallel bus.

Start all parallel busses at -18 dB in your DAW. Work up from there.

A reasonable benchmark for the amount of each parallel is making sure that the parallel bus increases the overall volume by roughly 1 dB when it's engaged. So let's say there's a drum parallel. Find the point where the volume of the drums increases by roughly 1 dB when the parallel is engaged.

4) Space (Time-Based Effects)

Alright, this is the step where we can create some cool vibe and space around the song. Now again, there's a lot of different approaches to this, but for the most part, I'm referring to reverbs, delays, and really anything else that adds space to the sound. Here's my go to's:

Put a plate reverb on the snare. Try 1500 ms length.

Set up a slap delay for the vocals, mix to taste.

Use a stereo delay to widen things out or give them some depth. I like this on lead guitars.

Use a medium delay on vocals, mix to taste. Try about 350 ms delay time.

Use a hi pass filter on all verbs and delays where needed. This prevents low-end accumulation.

One quick tip, try to decide on what instruments you're going to add the effects to in advance. Adding time-based effects to everything will simply clutter up the mix, and will negate the intended effect. Being selective will go a long way.

5) Mix Bus Processing

Now let's glue the mix together! Mix bus processing is the part where the song starts to feel complete. There are numerous ways to go about this, but here's what my chain looks like:

Studer A800 Tape Emulator. This is usually in "gang control" mode with other tracks, but it helps warm up the sound.

Fairchild 670 Compressor. This compressor is pretty gentle when on setting 5, so it's a nice easy way to smooth out the dynamics. I set the threshold so that the gain reduction is about 1 dB at most.

SSL G Buss Compressor. The G Buss comp is much more punchy than the 670, so we get a bit more pump and energy. I generally use 2:1 ratio, .3 ms attack, and auto release. I set the threshold so that the gain reduction is about 2-3 dB.

Pultec EQP-1A. I can use the Pultec to add a bit of sparkle and a bit of meat. Try adding 1 dB of 30 Hz on the low end, and 1 dB at 12 kHz on the top. Nice!

Pultec MEQ-5. Sometimes the lower mids can cause the mix to get a little muddy, so having this in to cut some 200 or 300 Hz really helps. If you have to cut more than 1 dB, you probably should go back into the individual tracks to find where the problem is.

Fabfilter Pro L Limiter. I use this to get an idea of how the mix is going to hold up in mastering. Set the meter to K-12 for Spotify levels, and turn the gain up until your meters are in the recommended range.

6) Tweaks

Once you've added everything in, you'll notice that the original balance you had is not the same. Actually, you'll notice that the sound generally shifts as you take each of the above steps. So at this one, you're going to re-balance the mix, adjust any required EQ and compression, and adjust the wet/dry of the time-based effects you were using. 

It's also a good idea at this stage to sit on the mix for a few days. Even try walking around your studio, and let it play while you are doing something else. I like to clean the studio while I'm at the end of the mix, as my subconscious does the thinking. I'll notice things that I want to tweak as I clean, and I'll jump back on the desk and make the change! Jeez, I sound like Monica from Friends in my old age...

Ok, that's it guys! Hope that gives you some direction for your next mix, and please comment below if you have any questions, suggestions, or alternative methods you would like to share.

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Alright, today we're going to talk about one of my favourite topics, Automation. Oh I just love this stage of the mix. This is the stage where the song starts to come alive, at least in my process. For myself, I rely a lot more heavily on automation than EQ to fit things together. This of course depends on the project, but generally speaking. So today we're just going to list a bunch of automation tips. Here we go!

1) Get Yourself Atleast One Motorized Fader - you absolutely need faders that can record automation to do this right. Yes, there are automation moves that you'll want to draw in, especially on quick moves. But for the most part, making your automation moves by hand is the way to go. You start to humanize the mix, and the fader becomes an instrument!

2) Turn Off Your Computer Monitor - Use those two things on the sides of your head! Your ears! No but seriously, music is a listening activity, not a visual. You'd be surprised how you "hear" things differently when you're watching the waveforms go by on the screen. So turn off the screen and make your automation moves by listening. If you need to make a quick move that requires drawing, turn the screen back on, make the move, turn it back off and resume. This will do wonders for your mixing

3) Automate The Master Fader - I know this sounds a bit wacky, but this can really help add excitement to the song. Of course, you'll want to make subtle moves and may want to draw this one out entirely. But do things like automate the verse so that it decrease volume by 1.0 dB by the time it hits the end. Then bump it back up by the entire 1.0 dB when the chorus hits for a little thump.

4) Automate Your FX Channels - You can do this in a few ways, personally I like to automate the sends on each channel that go to my verbs/delays. These send levels do not have to be static, make them move! Try bumping up ambience in choruses, maybe tightening up breakdowns, or delay shots on certain key vocal lines. Get creative here!

5)  Try Using Levels of Granularity - Now what does that mean? I like to do automation in multiple levels of thought. My first approach is to automate each track individually. This one takes the most time, sometimes several hours. After I'm done that, I'll start over and automate all my busses. In my case, I'll automate the channels I have sent to the SSL Matrix 2 using analogue automation. Then finally, I can automate the master fader to finish it off. What am I trying to accomplish here? I want to make sure that I don't "lose the forest through the trees". Sometimes working at a fine level of detail can cause you to forget what the song is as a whole. So I try to "zoom out" and focus on the overall picture.

6) Panning Automation - This one can really help things explode in certain parts. I have mentioned this in a previous post, but I'll mention it again as its very useful. In parts with less impact, say the verse, or the bridge, or breakdown, try panning stereo elements towards the center. The amount at which you pan inwards is up to your taste. Then go slightly outward for a pre-chorus or a build. Then boom! All the way out to the sides for the chorus. Pretty easy and very effective!

7) Filters and Modulation FX - I especially like this one on vocals. Try setting up a cool "old radio" filter, or a flange, or even a distortion effect. Then have the master bypass automated on that effect. Experiment with turning it on in certain spots, see how it affects the vocal. This can really add to the character of the song! Of course, this isn't limited to vocal, you can do it on any instrument. I often hear flanger type effects on the drum bus on a drum fill, for instance. 

Ok! There's some tips for automation. So to sum up, make sure you get atleast one fader. You can start with something as simple as a PreSonus FaderPort and move all the way up to...well the sky is the limit. Our SSL has a controller side to it, so we use that to control Pro Tools as well as our analogue automation. An Avid Artist Mix might be a good place to start for 8 channels. 

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