Mixing for me is like learning a programming language lol. Am I dumb? Its like the best producers cant really mix and the best engineers cant really produce. I was in a professional studio with a professional mixer the past weekend and he didn't even know if a portion of the beat was quantized. That amazed me.

Any tips to help me get my mixes sounding crisp will really help.

Don't come in here talking shit. If you dont have anything positive to say dont say it.

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2019

Its alright if you do not like the Genre, however hating it, just for the sake of it, in its own forum section is just absolutely retarded.

 

Lol I was trying to delete this shit but after you post you cant delete it .....my bad homie

 

A producer doesn't need to be good at mixing and a mixing engineer doesn't need to be good at producing. These are different tasks.

Some say it's like rocket science, some say it's not, fact is, it's not as easy as you might think as long as you haven't tried do it.
You'll need 'some' basic knowledge, means theory and a lot of experience. It's as difficult to learn as an instrument or, as you said, a programming language. So yes, this part is right but no, you're not dumb, just inexperienced.
Maybe the small Educational Series here in the Mixing and Mastering section is of some help for you.

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2019

Thanks. I've watched a million tutorials on mixing and I just cannot get my drums and bass(808s) to sound good together. I guess i'll have to start from scratch and move my way up when it comes to mixing.

 

If you upload an example, we may be able to hear the problem.

 

It´s not the hundrets of tutorials what´s training your ears, it´s the hundrets of mixes.

 

Nice. I never thought about it like that

 

Kinda. You can keep mixing 1000 tracks wrong, or you can educate yourself on techniques and theory to improve the subsequent mixes, and actually be able to understand the mistakes. It will still take practice, but for sure the progress will be there, instead of frustratingly headbutt the same wall over and over again.

 

chance.mp3

like this for example. the drums and bass don't sound good together to me. I hear the drums on the radio and they sit so well with the rumble of the bass. How does this mix sound honestly compared to a professional mix???

 

Thanks again man!!!!

 

It's relatively simple. When you listen to music, you should be hearing balance,depth,tone,clarity. Even with compressed MP3 & the like.

Mixing is the same in reverse. Trying to achieve all of this with the simplest approach.

Try just getting the best balance you can where all of the elements can be heard & clearly recognized. Then start applying any processing.

One good trick is too put a compressor on the mix bus with a very gentle setting. Just tickling 1db of reduction at the loudest peaks. This should help pull things together. This is what good analog consoles do naturally.

 

absolutely.
our brain builds new "bridges"/nerves between never before connected neurons, to be able to process and understand "new stuff", and that process doesn't occur unless we actively keep working with "it" for longer periods of time

that uncomfortable feeling of "being dumb" or it being "rocket science" comes from our brains desperation over not being able to provide with a road-map.

there is a reason why most professionals do specialize on one field expertise
our ability to cover multiple areas seems to drastically diminish our ability to master a specific field

when possible, it may be wise to focus on one field

 

Last edited: Nov 8, 2019

Every great mix engineer had that feeling at one point and it is not bad to start from there, it`s fucked up to end there. Listen a lot of good sounding tracks.

 

Thanks a lot!!! I put other professional beats into a spectral analyzer and they be at -6db and my beats around -10db and their beats still seem to be louder and more in your face.

 

me to...we can head to the studios and do the super pro and we dont even fakin it...

 

Just because you've watched all the battles of Muhammad Ali does not mean that you can fight like Muhammad Ali.

Mixing is not rocket science. It is helpful to acquire the technical background knowledge, it really is, but it is not a must. Much more important is a lot of practice to get a feeling for balancing and to train your ears.
I have already met people who have no idea what they are doing but what they did was really damn good.

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2019

say what?

 

I've been making music on computer since I was like 14 or so.. which would be just over 30 years. I still struggle at mixing. But I also didnt put any effort into mixing the first 20 to 25 years. I have paid more attention in the past half year. I struggle too, but I've gotten better at it. Still need work.

I think the biggest improvement for me came from subtractive eq, more than anything as well as just simply balancing volumes right. My old mixes were always so muddy and powerless because everything was competing with everything else for space in the mix. I also used to blast everything right to before it clipped, cause I thought that's what you do. Now I do what's called gain staging (read up, if unfamiliar). Its much less important in the digital world, but I think it still has helped me balance things properly.

I've watched a LOT of videos now, and much of that helped, but as everyone says, it takes a lot of practice.

Understand how compression works, understand eqing, understanding use of mid / side techniques, etc. Right from the start of a song I focus on stuff like "how can I edit this track/sound to make more space for everything else" and "do I need the high end/low end here.." and such.

For bass sounds, I also layer bases. A simple sin sub sound for a very low rumble.. a layer for my main bass sound.. perhaps a layer for the shitty laptop speakers with some saturation on it. Then remember that you chose one thing to dominate your very low end.. kick or sub.. not both.

Reference tracks also help, but I dont really write music I typically listen to, so I have a tough time finding reference material to work with.

I still have lots to learn, but my mixes ARE getting better.

 

Same here I've been making beats forever but I just started focusing on mixing. I probably added my first compressor on a track a couple of years ago lol. I never even listed to the mix I only listened to the music. I now wish I would've learned music theory. Its sooooooo much to learn. Music itself is one thing music theory is another world.