Need MAJOR help mixing my beats

I have to say, I'm impressed you manage to wrangle that sound of a gaming headset. It's pretty decent.
My argument still stands though. I'm not so much talking about whether you get something decent sounding out of it. Knowing your gear is always key and it doesn't have to be expensive.
I'm talking about transparency and control though. So if you use compression or eq, because your head set is coloured or not as accurate, you can't accurately judge what you are doing with an effect.
So yeah, while it's totally possible to make something cool that way, when you make precise, detailed changes to your mix you can't reliably predict what's going on and how it will sound on different systems.
Getting more precise monitoring, or even switching between different headsets, will remove a lot of that guess work.

Exactly, and thanks dude. I've been wondering how much easier it would be for me to work when producing if there was a proper setup for mixing and listening.

I wouldn't have to exhaust myself or my ears. Sometimes it gets a bit frustrating when it comes down to processing a track with effects and mixing. I will definitely grab decent studiomonitors to help myself out when I have the extra money for it.
 
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Thanks for all the responses, I think I’m struggling a lot with leveling. I have my monitors on 3/10 and it doesn’t get that loud. I think I’m having trouble hearing what goes where.
 
Thanks for all the responses, I think I’m struggling a lot with leveling. I have my monitors on 3/10 and it doesn’t get that loud. I think I’m having trouble hearing what goes where.

Use your ears and most importantly, let them rest. Choose, what are the most important elements of the track (or the genre) and start with adjusting them. Try to gain some balance between instruments before even going into the mixer. Use the mixer to fine tune everything in the complete mix. Use busses for different elements and learn how to work efficiently with them. It can be very useful to balance all elements together.

Try boosting your monitors volume from time to time, put then head back to lower volume level and keep mixing. Put the master channel to mono state (no stereo field) and try to see if you can hear better what to boost and what to lower.

For the master channel, try to aim for -6 dB overall volume for the complete mix and RMS should be around -12 dB to -24 dB. Max. peak -6 dB, too.
 
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I think I’m really just having trouble leveling. I keep seeing these tutorials where people do it in five minutes and I can’t do it in three hours. I have been trining to mix for 3 years. Here is a mix I really like YouTube
 
I think I’m really just having trouble leveling. I keep seeing these tutorials where people do it in five minutes and I can’t do it in three hours. I have been trining to mix for 3 years. Here is a mix I really like YouTube

It's pretty fast to do, if you know what you're doing and your ears react fast. This doesn't have many elements and therefore is easy to mix clean. It starts from sound design to mixing to a final product without forgetting that the best released tracks are mastered properly.

After listening to the example you gave, I was forwarded to this track: YouTube

It's a good example of a muddy, unclean, bad sounding mix. It's totally lifeless, no energy or punch etc. Everything just clashing together.
 
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I also noticed that the only thing that will get me clean drums is quiet instruments, almost too quiet.
 
Do you think the problem could be that I second guess myself too much when mixing?

Your mixes ain't that bad. So the answer is yes. Maybe, you're just exhausting your brain and ears with this stuff. Also, quiet instruments, punchy drums as you said too quiet, but then comes compression, EQs and proper mastering that fixes most of the issues and you can turn up the monitors. Hip Hop, Trap, etc. are pretty easy to handle mixing-wise.
 
Bro, your shit sounds clean man. I wish I can get my mix to sound like yours! lol

imo you're being way to hard on yourself.
 
Start off with everything at -18db. Work in groups. Start with the drum group. Then the bass. I personally like to start with the loudest part of the song, maybe the chorus, and work my way down from there. There is also the pink noise method where you have one track with pink noise at -6db and then you mix one track at a time against it blending it in until you barely hear the instrument, then move on to the next instrument. Works pretty well too.

I'll be happy to mix on a screen share with you to show you my method. Message me if interested.

Don't mean to side bust your thread here 1goon1, but I have to ask about Helos response ...

Helos, I've seen many tutorials about getting all track levels to about -18db which I've been doing. My questions is after throwing on compression, eq and whatever else does it matter how loud the track level is as long as the individual tack and master isn't clipping? For example, tutorials say to start at -18db and mix to about -12db (no higher), but at the end of the day my mix still sounds soft as hell. However, lets say when I get that kick up to about -6db I find that it's hitting right. I just want to know if individual levels of tracks matter as long as they are not clipping?
 
Don't mean to side bust your thread here 1goon1, but I have to ask about Helos response ...

Helos, I've seen many tutorials about getting all track levels to about -18db which I've been doing. My questions is after throwing on compression, eq and whatever else does it matter how loud the track level is as long as the individual tack and master isn't clipping? For example, tutorials say to start at -18db and mix to about -12db (no higher), but at the end of the day my mix still sounds soft as hell. However, lets say when I get that kick up to about -6db I find that it's hitting right. I just want to know if individual levels of tracks matter as long as they are not clipping?

Here is few tips for you.


  1. Use compression wisely to preserve your transients
  2. Keep the peak level on your master fader around -6 dB
  3. Avoid limiting and over-compression before mastering

Individual channels won't clip but the master will if the signal is too loud.
 
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Individual channels won't clip but the master will if the signal is too loud.

Ok, so you're telling me that if I have drum, synths, vocals etc etc .. on individual track then they can go into red and it's not considered clipping??

I know better not to clip the master and to keep it at -6db for headroom. My main concern is all the other individual tracks .. If I get some of them into -8 or -6 db is that all good unless the master isn't going over -6 DB?
 
Ok, so you're telling me that if I have drum, synths, vocals etc etc .. on individual track then they can go into red and it's not considered clipping??

I know better not to clip the master and to keep it at -6db for headroom. My main concern is all the other individual tracks .. If I get some of them into -8 or -6 db is that all good unless the master isn't going over -6 DB?

You don't need to worry about boosting an individual channel over the 100 % volume on the mixer as long as it stays balanced with the other elements and so on. In many cases, you might have dropped some instrument or a sample too low compared to others, so it's easier to pop it up a bit when doing the final mix to sustain balance.

But don't start aiming for reds, it won't make your mix any louder or better. There is other ways to achieve this and mastering a proper mix is one. Also, smart compression before mastering is desirable but it really depends what/who does the mastering and how much is enough or too much.

My final mixes are usually at -6 dB (max peak) of the master channel. It gives headroom for the mastering process.
 
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Heard somewhere that music is like cooking and if you want the best taste you need to start with the best ingredints (Quality Samples)
 
Hey fam,

I know this is almost a month old but i listened to the first track you posted and have some feedback (didn't listen to the other links). From what I heard I think you could do a better overall leveling of the track.

Your main melodic instruments are very up-front when compared to the drums which is not letting them punch through. Maybe pull them down a few db.

Also those same melodic instruments are super wet and could be that the heavy reverb is causing the overall mid to be muddy. You could try using the EQ controls on the reverb to cut out the lows and mids of the verb or something. Or jus use less.

Full disclosure - I listened on headphones (not bad ones, the KRKs, but still) and I'm no pro at mixing.

But what I like to do is after the beats made, I loop the chorus section (or whatever section has the most instruments in it) and then turn every single sound down to -inf. Then I start bringing stuff up. I start with the drums and get those knockin, then bring in the 808s or bass, then the melodic stuff.

And if you wanna take it a step further, throw an eq on everything and just high-pass filter anything non-bass related at about 80-100hz

But dude you talked to is right, a good level balancing can make shit sound super clean
 
Your records sound great btw! I completely understand how you feel in comparison to the other producer. His records don't necessarily sound better than yours however, there is a style difference when it comes to the mix. Again, this does not make his better than yours. I did notice the other producer's drums are more prominent, while your drums are at the same level of the instruments respectively. He also has some distortion on the 808 and slight modulation on the percussion. Maybe you can try to mimic this style if this is what you're looking to achieve. I hope this helps

Best,
Shahid
 
Most Youtube producers leave huge gaps in the knowledge and don't show you everything you need to know. Like the correct level to have an instrument at before setting a compress, etc. You should hit me up man. I have a course that systematically takes you from the start to finish of recording, mixing and mastering a song in full detail.
 
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