How to separate elements in a track and make them clean?

F

fruityhero

New member
Hi guys! Fruity here!

I got a question. Well, I've been producing now for 2-3 years now and still don't have a clean mix or even an idea how to get it. An example is not necessary here, but a basic answer on a basic question.

How should I go on (EQ, Compression, Stereo Image), if I wanna have a clean track and elements, which don't interfere? I mean like Sound masking and phase cancellation. How do you avoid mixing problems like these? Are there suggestions like plugins, techniques etc? Would be very helpful.

Studio equipment:
- 2x KRK rp6 g3
- M-audio C600 Fast track (Audio Interface)
- Beyerdynamics DT990 Pro
- Basic acoustic treatment


PS: If you say mastering, than don't even answer...
 
The actual plugins don't matter really, you can use pretty much any compressor/EQ- it's how you use them.

Try and hear where in the mix it sounds too crowded and why it sounds too crowded, then get rid of some parts to make more space- either using eq or sidechaining/normal compression

The difficult part is hearing things, and hearing how to improve them, the effects are usually very subtle
 
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If you are having this issue I would almost guarantee you are recording/mixing with the tracks too loud to begin with. Everything should be at a very moderate level in order to understand where things fit in the mix. You also need to understand where every type of instrument/synth/vocal/whatever wants to be in the mix (i.e. where the fundamental harmonic and any other prominent harmonics exist). Honestly I would just start with reducing the levels on all your tracks. You mentioned you have studio monitors so you should be able to hear the frequencies in which the sounds are clashing. An EQ plugin which displays harmonic frequency would be a good idea...unfortunately no one can really teach you ear training over the internet. Training your ears is way more important than any magical plugin.
 
- Like digitalcratez mentioned, make sure your tracks and plugins and buses aren't overdriven.

- Cut lots of things with EQ. When you have multiple instruments competing for the same frequency range, carve out sections unique to each. Do this before panning: it's easier to hear clashing frequencies when all the instruments are in mono.

- Roll off the lows as high as you can bear on all tracks except the kick and bass, so the kick and bass have more room to be powerful and have slam. Maybe even do this to the kick or the bass. Keep the low end clean.

- Pan things around for space in the mix.

- It's really easy to make a mix that is too dense. Aim to create sparse songs. Don't crowd with too many instruments, or pack lyric lines too close together. That can give songs a clean feeling.

- If you're using a lot of reverb and delay, EQ out the lows and the highs to make them sound warm and vintage. You could also compress reverbs a bit. Effects sound richer like this and don't compete as much for sonic space.

- If you're using reverb or delay, 99% of the time you want the original track to send to the aster bus without reverb or delay on it. Separately, bus the same track to an auxiliary track with the reverb or delay 100% wet, then move that fader up or down to determine the amount of effects in the mix. Tracks sound way clearer this way.

- If you're not using many effects and the mix is sparse, adding a little reverb can make it sound cleaner. I like a short reverb and a very long reverb: send to both, keep both mid-rangy, keep them both on auxiliary tracks, and add some pre-delay to give the original sound space. Keep the reverb low, so you can barely hear it, but so you miss it when you mute the reverb channels.

- You said no mastering, but some mastering techniques can help (provided you aren't planning on sending it out to be mastered). Try putting light compression with a slow attack on the master bus. Try using a multi-band compressor.

- And though this is more a mix thing, definitely try putting some compression on a group of instruments, like an auxiliary with all drum tracks feeding through it, or an auxiliary with all synths feeding through it. And experiment with sending one of these groups to another auxiliary channel where you compress it to within an inch of its life, but keep the volume of this second auxiliary channel low in the mix. This is called parallel compression.

I hope this helps.
 
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