Terrible mixing problems

[shanchu]

Hey Guys.

I'm been getting alot better at composing but mixing has still been a frustrating affair. here are some eh things. I'm curious on getting some mixing advice though. alot of good beats I hear on youtube, have a certain upfrontness that I feel mine lack.

I'm curious about achieving more of a mix like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBsI8WzW8hE

 

[Free Spirit]

I feel ya.

Try this:

High pass filter EVERYTHING. Things like the kick drum can be high passed at like 40 hz, snares around 100-300 hz, melodies/cymbals higher - like 300+hz

Compress your powerful instruments to reign them in. like the kick, snare, (vocals if applicable).

Then take advantage of panning. You want it to be as if someone is sitting in front of a sound stage, listening to a composition when they hear your music. There should be instruments on the left, on the right, and in the dead center. And each has it's own width.

Prioritize whatever instrument(s) you think should be up front (ie kick/snare/vocals/riff for hip hop) and adjust everything else around that AFTER you mix those by themselves. Because once you have those first 2-4 instruments set up, you're kind of mixing everything else in behind/around it.

Also, the mid range is what people hear the most so it's crucial to have that correct (like 200hz-2khz). So if you find some frequencies that you can afford to do without in that area by all means cut those mf'ers out. A common example is the godawful sounding spike around 400 hz on a kick drum. But that's just one of many examples within the full midrange.

Hope that helped!

 

[bandcoach]

standard 1st year audio school advice - did you listen to the files first? or at all?

@shanchu: several things stand out as both mixes are very flat, sounding over-compressed and, in the case of the second track, over-saturated/distorted (yes this is a hallmark of industrial but the goal is to be clean also - i.e. the distortion is a deliberate act not an accident of circumstance)

what is your current daw of choice?

regardless put the stems into a dropbox and send me the link via pm - I'll do both tracks quickly and send the project file back to you (reaper if we don't share a common active daw)

 

[shanchu]

I did, Ive just been in a state of ear exhaustion? like a what the hell am I supposed to do type thing? how can in general can I make a mix sound less flat?

 

[bandcoach]

this is why I say send me the stems and I'll send back the project back so you can review the settings used for this mix (no two mixes will be the same but you will at least be in the ballpark next time when you start)