"Hi guys! What are your tips and methods for mixing an album so that it sounds consistent?

Specifically, I'm in a situation where I have 10 WAV files of already mixed tracks, some with crispy vocals, others with dark ones, some with a super-wide stereo image, and others that are almost mono. I have permission to change the tonal balance, stereo image, etc.

So far, using a match EQ (even manually by ear) seems to be the method that gets me closest, but it's still not sufficient."

 

Mixing an album to sound consistent requires careful attention to detail and a systematic approach. Here are some tips and methods to consider:

1. Establish a reference mix: Start by creating a reference mix that represents the overall sound you want to achieve. This mix should serve as a template for all the other tracks in the album. It's essential to establish the reference mix early on in the process because it sets the tone for the entire album.

2. Balance levels: Once you have your reference mix, begin balancing the levels of each track. Use automation to make subtle adjustments to volume levels to ensure that every track sits well in the mix. Pay particular attention to the vocals, as they are typically the most prominent element in a mix.

3. EQ: Use equalization to adjust the tonal balance of each track to match the reference mix. Make sure you're not boosting or cutting frequencies too much, as this can create an unnatural sound. It's a good idea to use a spectrum analyzer to visualize the frequency content of each track and ensure that they all complement each other.

4. Compression: Use compression to even out the dynamic range of each track. Compression helps to smooth out any sudden peaks or drops in volume, making the overall mix sound more consistent. Be careful not to overdo it, though, as too much compression can squash the dynamics and make the mix sound lifeless.

5. Reverb and Delay: Use reverb and delay to create a sense of space and depth in the mix. Use them subtly to avoid creating an overly reverberant or delayed sound. Experiment with different settings to find the right balance for each track.

6. Stereo Imaging: Use stereo imaging techniques to create a cohesive sound across all the tracks. You can use stereo wideners, panning, and other techniques to create a sense of space and width in the mix. Make sure to check your mix in mono, though, to ensure that it sounds good on all playback systems.

7. Listen in context: Finally, make sure you're listening to your mix in the context of the album. It's essential to ensure that each track sounds good on its own, but it's equally important to ensure that the entire album sounds consistent. Pay attention to transitions between tracks, as well as the overall flow of the album.

Overall, achieving a consistent mix for an album can be a challenging task, but with careful attention to detail and a systematic approach, you can create a cohesive sound that represents the vision of the artist or producer.

 

My biggest challenge is listening to songs by mainstream artists and seeing how their first singles, maybe from 6 years ago, still sound cohesive with their latest releases. This makes me think of a consolidated and shared general approach among mix and master engineers

 

Since the tracks have already been mixed, it's really difficult to implement @Melodic Reality's checklist, but it's a solid starting point. Ozone's tools may come handy. You could try Music Rebalance if anything seems to jump out or is buried in the mix, especially if other tools seem to whack the balance of the mix. Match EQ will definitely go a long way once things are kind of in the ballpark of spectral balance. Then you might add some coloring EQ to add some kind of unified sound/cohesion. My favorite is UAD Massive Passive for this job. Any other tools, like saturation, dealys, or reverb might or might not be used depending on how much it will throw off anything else. It's a juggling act made by ear. After that, it's all about finalizing the album with something like Sonible Smart Limit or Brainworx's Masterdesk.

The thing is to keep it somehow simple and not do anything far too radical. You are kind of limited by the mixes you've been given.

 

Short answer: Mastering. That's what I primarily do as of late (and making things more coherent is just one part of mastering).
There are many ways to make an album/EP more consistent, even when recorded and mixed at different locations and by different engineers. Each song/track doesn't need to be forced and super processed into fitting a mold, as some changes serve as variation, color and welcomed change in sonics. But if some songs stick out too much there are ways to make it consistent enough to not be jarring and annoying.
Things to be controlled are: overall loudness, vocal loudness across multiple songs (as the vocal is the main focus and the constant "red thread" going through the whole thing), tonal balance, color/saturation/dirt, width and M/S balance, crest factor, dynamic progression (volume automation across an entire song, as well as making some songs be "quieter" in order for "loud songs" to become "loud"), etc.

 

Last edited: May 14, 2023

There are LOTS of answers to this at purely a mixing level.
While in a final mix it is not considered relevant because you are at the end of the process, if you are also the producer or the composer/songwriter, the instrumentation differences and where they were recorded will come into play.
There are a pile of videos out there on fine tuning, vst choices etc etc etc etc....
That's fine, but two things come to mind at the start - setting your levels for recording/gain staging (and making notes) and consistency in both songwriting and instrumentation. It's fine to use multiple instruments. Keeping in mind that recording in multiple spaces where the acoustics vary and more will present a far more difficult consistency in mixdown.

If it is all electronic, not so much as many of the sounds are already pre-compressed and only rely on MIDI skills outside of musicianship.
If you get what is going in sounding good,, then at mixdown, it is a far easier job to get a consistent final mix at the output.

 

I use templates and record/mix/master everything through the same chain. Most of my instrument and fx choices are predetermined, and when I have nothing to do I spend my time constructing interesting sound palettes.

 

I just pasted answer from ChatGPT. In my defense, there was lot of bots opening thread after thread and I had a ball just answering them using their AI bro's.

Deep faked myself

 

I trusted you bro :'(

 

So you have 10 mixed songs that are all over the place and your goal is to make them sound coherent?
Good luck, mate. Good luck.

Your best bet is indeed using EQ match, but also limit them in a way that they're about the same loudness at their respective most intense moments, and before that, see exactly where the stereo spread is. There's a free Voxengo Correlometer that can show you multiband stereo correlation, then you can adjust it on individual song so they're more uniform.

This will not fix the source issues. Nothing will. They will not sound coherent. You need to mix them the same way for that and there's no other way.

 

In my defense, found strange you would use quotation marks on your own opening question.

AI bro is sorry too

So, bro's before one's and zero's?

 

Last edited: May 13, 2023

i'd say don't worry about it, if it's quality music , noone is going to listen to it anyway. it seems that you never mixed? before, so why bother

 

If each track is too different from the start and the bois are okay with you doing whatever to it, Check out Izotope RX rebalance , Zplane Peel, or some online stem separating service like lalal.ai .

That should give you enough room to shove in some coherence into it, but if the songs are just not ment to work together...well there's only so much you can do.

 

Last edited: May 13, 2023

Good one, after the first couple of points it dawned on me that there is something fishy with this list.
The reference mix is a good point for sure, as is EQ, compression, and listening in context to the rest of the album.
The other points are not so much applicable to already mixed tracks.

What killed it was the "Overall, achieving a coherent mix..." sentence. ChatGPT does this all the time to sum up it's answer so that was a dead giveaway in the end haha

 

Today a colleague also recommended me to squash everything with a multiband limiter, it's not a standard procedure but it helped a lot, do you have any experience with multiband limiters?

 

Just slapping a multiband compressor on for the sake of slapping a multiband compressor on is a wrong approach IMO. There's always a reason why you apply effects. Especially multiband compression, which is not a very common effect to apply during mastering.

 

You’d need to identify what you want it for. For example, if some of the tracks have a bump at, say 300 Hz, making the low end muddy and too poking, you might want to set it up so it doesn’t react on the reference track. It should trigger any other track that goes beyond the level of the reference track. Slapping a multiband processor on a track for the sake of dong it might give you more trouble than solution.

 

if you mix an album the most important is the general feel of the album
it is alright if the tunes are not really coherent if the are also of different moods

1.)
The most important is the overall loudness!
a.)no one wants to volume control while listening to an album (if one does nowadays)

b.)the rest is probably done with the streaming platform, they have a Standard
they like you to use/adhere to. Some LUFs number depending on platform
The internal (Streaming) Playback is controlled by a "bot" (think like limiting on radio/TV)
c.(b.) the tunes should be shoulder to shoulder to other tunes on the Platform (b.))

Everything else is accomplished by EQ and in some rare instances with MB Compression/ EQ.
Use small degrees of compression and stack them carefully, then doing everything with 1!
sometimes a bit of drive is all that is needed or clipping/tape.

too dark isn't a problem, to bright might be.
Volume shouldn't be a problem.

If a mix is too bad request a new mix (or some stems(depending on budget)

 

I kind of dísagree with this. It's not practical to master for each platform, and they all measure it differently, with propietary algorithms. The reduction that streaming platforms use won’t actually degrade the quality of the master, at least in my experience, not to a point to make it that much relevant. I’d say master it as loud as you can with dynamics, vibe and without distorting the hell out of it. BTW, I’m not taking about the pleasant sound of saturation or clipping, but the horrible sound of being too loud on small speakers. Besides, one track can be perceived less loud at -8 LUFS than another at -10 LUFS. Several factors will affect the perceived loudness of a track than just a LUFS number.

 

Last edited: May 14, 2023

Try not to get swept up in that though because one can start to procrastinate waaaay too much "I think all programmers/muscicians do tbh"

as essentially a bedroom producer it can proove disanvantageous to workflow trying to recreate something which has had serious outboard proccessing applied, "not saying thats always the case but i am saying ignore the glitz n glamour of expensive mastering etc etc as youl overthink the whole proccess and to be fair a good programmer/musician doesnt need a million dollar studio to enginneer their work, just have faith and be meticulous and pay alot of attention to detail, but avoid ear fatiuge!!!