When two or more instruments fight together

Discussion in 'Mixing and Mastering' started by HamidShekari, Nov 26, 2013.

  1. HamidShekari

    HamidShekari Newbie

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    i want to know what should i do when for example two instruments play difrent notes but in the same frequency? i know that i can pan them but is that enough?should i cut one of them in the main freq?
     
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  3. jayhind

    jayhind Ultrasonic

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    If they are for rhythm then it makes sense to have pan separation. If they are part of the melody and both are equally weighted in their role then try to spot if the overlapping notes sound harsh or clipped. I would just smoothly lower the volume on both (a small dip), enough to let the overlapping passage go with ease on the ear.
     
  4. boogiewoogie

    boogiewoogie Platinum Record

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    Weird, I always read about such things, but it has never happened to me. All my instruments just fit together without any additional tweaking. Maybe I have just been lucky?
     
  5. fuad

    fuad Producer

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    First of all make sure you get the gain staging right. Balance their volumes together as best as you can. Then, choose one instrument to carry the fundemental frequency and the other to cover the higher frequencies of the melody. Low cut the second instrument until the fundemental feequency is significantly reduced on it and give it a slight boost at the higher frequencies. Then cut the first instrument at the same frequency where you boosted the second. This should get them working together better. Then you can start with panning them seperately, use a delay on one of them, use different reverbs etc...of course these are all ideas, the point is to get obe of them to play the lower frequencies of the melody and the other to play the higher frequencies of the melody
     
  6. johanna

    johanna Newbie

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    Movie with two main beautiful actress. :wink:
    *off topic: two girls fighting for one guy
    but there is still option for this situation, like post above: one for friends and familly, one for... :grooves:
     
  7. Gulliver

    Gulliver Member

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    There are mainly two ways to deal with such a "fight":

    1.) You try to balance them out, like mentioned in the posts above.

    2.) You simply let one the instruments win.
    (Of course you need to decide which one should win.)
     
  8. thepopenale

    thepopenale Noisemaker

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    offset the notes of one slightly.

    move one instruments entire MIDI slightly to the right.

    all other suggestions have been covered so heres my 2c
     
  9. SillySausage

    SillySausage Producer

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    phasing problems I believe?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pJOkhPTpLo
     
  10. Dazeon

    Dazeon Ultrasonic

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    Loudness war.
     
  11. thantrax

    thantrax Audiosexual

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    You can:

    1) Delete one,
    2) Search for a better one,
    3) Use mixer

    You choose, you lose... music wins *yes*.
     
  12. Gulliver

    Gulliver Member

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    Has nothing to do with this.
     
  13. Dazeon

    Dazeon Ultrasonic

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    The instrument with the loudest volume wins the loudness war.
     
  14. junh1024

    junh1024 Rock Star

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    If two instruments are fighting and it's only momentary/required then it's fine. Otherwise, if this is a longer issue, try EQing them so that they have their separate regions. Also try gain/s as others have said.
     
  15. Catalyst

    Catalyst Audiosexual

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    As SirSillySausage kindly posted a video from AudioSex Academy I feel it's a good time to remind you to use that incredible resource because I think it will help you out with some of these kinds of questions. There's a whole section on mixing as well as some suggestions for external resources and I am constantly updating it.
     
  16. dbmuzik

    dbmuzik Platinum Record

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    His question is frequency specific. If they are "fighting", and you want both to retain dominance.. the best approach for that is to make adjacent(no overlapping) shark teeth in the clashing frequency. Use 2 instances of the same EQ.. one for each track. The length and width of the teeth will be determined by your ears. When you're done you can automate the EQ's to turn on only when necessary if the problem you are having is not continuous. If you think this is too much.. you can instead use general volume automation abroad the whole frequency to cut teeth where needed. Then copy and shift the automation over so it is adjacent on the second track. Or, you can also flip the automation on the second track to have top and bottom teeth interlocking. Either way the magic won't happen in a single mouse click or anything like that. But this is the best way to do that without drastically altering where these instruments are sitting in your mix, and without having to decide which one to cut all the ass off of as some suggested. This method is superb for morphing kicks and basses as opposed to sidechaining as well. Save your settings if and whenever you do this so eventually you have a lot of templates to handle these tasks quickly.
     
  17. digrev

    digrev Noisemaker

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    i like this answer the best i must remember this one as this happens to me a lot
     
  18. juboh

    juboh Member

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    ....instruments FIGHT together!!....heheh...i like that!! :rofl:
     
  19. rhythmatist

    rhythmatist Audiosexual

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    --------"Snatch the pebble from my hand, Weedhopper."------- This is a complicated question with no simple answers. I highly recommend this series of videos, have posted it here several times. http://therecordingrevolution.com/5minutes/ The answers I am reading here are oversimplifying things. I could type on this all day. Use headphones for reference, but do not mix to them, because they do not reveal phase cancellation and bandwidth crowding that occurs once wave pressures start interacting with each other. Why instruments cancel each other out besides phase cancellation and bandwidth crowding is a long list with different solutions to different problems. Are you recording anything live? It starts with mic selection. Using any real rack devices or effects? They all have their own version of phase distortion and coloring. How much bass and sub bass affects headroom in a major way on playback through speakers. Listen at the lowest level you can, and what do you hear? What is left, what disappears? Can you still identify all the parts? Just one trick of many to understand the problem, and each problem identified probably has multiple solutions. Subtractive mixing is very counter-intuitive, but is usually the approach I take. Take out the things around the thing you are trying to increase instead of trying to increase what you can't hear. That applies to EQ as much as gain, if not more so. Another trick, mix to mono as you switch phase on the channels that are "fighting"--What do you hear-----at least a hundred other ways to approach this. Sometime it's in the reverb program or delay times. Sometimes gating tracks helps(on live drums, for example). Experience helps, but this series of videos covers a lot of ground in a hurry. Know any engineers that do this stuff for a living? Pick their brain. A lot of things you learn in live sound re-enforcment come in handy in the control room. Experience, listen, experience, listen.....If you get into a real studio, hang out as much as you can and see how many questions you can ask before they throw you out. That's what I did. ----Peace be upon us all-ALG ---more thoughts, old dog new tricks----I find myself doing a lot more of strict "Left Right Center" mixing. It helps me understand what is going on, even if I don't stick to it strictly later on in the mix. Don't know about that? The pebble must still be in my hand---more peace, ---ALG
     
  20. 0on3

    0on3 Platinum Record

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    I can give you a basic idea , (from a multi-track simple prespective)/Your recording a band that has two guitarist ,
    and deciding wether to pan one a little left , the other right ..... "This is NOT ; always the answer here."

    Most times , you'll need to "Be prepared" , to make sure , while recording the two guitarist ; That you HAVE THEM 'EQ'd" differently ,
    and ABSOLUTELY be sure NOT to use the same kind of mic's on both guitar amps !!!

    "[This is an idea , or approach .... maybe not even the way you record.]"

    The ENTIRE secret to 'your tracks fighting with one another' , is quite simple; Their both playing in the SAME Frecency Range !!
    So now , its time to pull up an 'spectrum analyzer' and LOOK at EQ range's each track is playing in.

    The only way you'll beat / or win the battle , is to listen each instrument , and EQ it to it's 'Natural EQ'ing Ranges' ;
    therefore , giving you the proper Tone and sound , that your having trouble with.

    In your case , it maybe as simple as choosing one or the other instruments, and either; re-record it again .... or try to re-EQ it into
    another Frecency-Range.

    Dont EVER try using a 'quik-fix' , like panning left and right , just to end a problem like this ... NEVER!!!! because ,in the end ;
    you'll still hear it sounding either real 'tinty' or out of phase. Possibly killing the 'Environment' of the entire song!!!!

    Im Probably not gonna be much help here , since most recordings I do , are musicians playing at the same time in my studio.
    And I KNOW what mic's , Isolations , ect ; That I'll be doing ahead of the 'BiG Red Button' ; before I even push it down to record.
    And its ALL ABOUT ; EQ's , compressor types , & of course most importantly , mic placement and what type(s) of mic's to use ,
    "on each different instrument ! ! ! !"

    Maybe a little bit help here somewhat for you. But I thought Id atleast see ,if I could give you some options anyway.

    Sincerely,

    0on3 / 0:1
     
  21. ( . ) ( . )

    ( . ) ( . ) Audiosexual

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    LOOK AT ME GUYS I'M A PRO PRODUCER!!! I KNOW ALL THE ANSWERS I SHALL ANSWER THIS ANSWERABLE QUESTION CUZ I KNOWS HOW TO!!!

    Step aside, every other producer in the world. I SHALL FREE THIS MAN OF HIS DOUBT FUCK I NEED TO GO TO BED...
     
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