What do you know?
- Thread starter DarkRed
- Start date
Could not agree more, it all stars there, with that you have potential for a great final master.
Today I am very focused on achieving a great stereo image for a beautiful result, so much of the perception comes from having the right content in the mid and side components, the right levels between those and a light touch on the content to get there.
I am also transitioning to a stereo sub-mix approach, meaning that you put together the mix with discrete sub mixes with their individual routing/panning and with various frequency density in each and with the purpose to maximize the richness of the stereo image by also taking advantage of stereo widening for some of these. For instance the cymbals could be in their own sub mix panned 100% hard L R with stereo widening maybe in the same sub mix you could have some low frequency mellow chorused guitars that don't collide in their frequency content in the same location in the stereo field, while the piano could be in its own discrete sub mix panned 100% hard L R but without stereo widening applied, hence creating a contrast between these, now these combined are then creating stereo contrast with everything else. Key seems to be to have minimal frequency overlap at each location in the stereo field (within each container). By mixing each sub mix in isolation, you can make the parts sounding great in isolation, so that when you then combine the great sounding parts it sounds even better when they combine. You might for instance want to balance the groups that are panned within 50% in isolation, and the groups panned beyond that in isolation, when those are in balance separately, you can then balance those two groups of groups. So it is all about balancing within various containers and between various containers in the stereo field and placing the content in each contrainer optimally, then achieve the right rms and peak levels from those across the frequency range and between mid and side.
Various EQ replacement techniques I also like at the moment, for instance using tape saturation instead of boosting lows with EQ/volume to gain frequencies in the low end. So I might for instance start the mixing session by going through each track in solo to figure out what sound sources I find need more low end and add tape saturation on those. Then do a similar approach with the mids and highs. This process I do as trial-error, meaning I assume I don't know the answer and need to find out... Much about my approach is really about trial and error - I find out the truth rather than think I know all the truths in advance. That helps a lot. Early in the process everything is bottom up, later in the overall process more things are top down.
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I am here to help, but honestly I do not want to make it appear that I think it's cool that people are silent about what they know and could share but don't... Please know that. To be honest I am not sure how long I will stay here, I have provided quite a lot of pro level content but I am not seeing an effect that others do the same. So it is not cool then.
Yes, but at least the intension is to help as much as possible.
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I am not that good at mastering my own music, but here's what I can say as a fact: reference pink noise mixing and give yourself a headroom of like 5 to 6 dbs. One way or the other you'll end up doing this, so why not start mixing this way now?
From my experience everything sounds better when I do it this way.
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https://soundcloud.com/jiszlai
From my experience everything sounds better when I do it this way.
_____________________________
https://soundcloud.com/jiszlai
