About my Ears hurting after mixing and frequencies...

N

Nervouspace

Guest
Hey I'm new to this forum....but I was hoping on getting some mixing advice because honestly I really don't know what

I'm doing when I mix I just kinda move stuff around til I think it sounds good and after I mixed this song my ears started

hurting really really bad I still feel a little def in my left ear. I was hoping to get some advice on mixing and which frequencies I should FOR SURE cut out in my mix....I'm really worried about my ears, especially for future productions, and ultimately would like the cleanest clearest best mix I can make I've had way too many good songs go to waste due to my lack of mixing/mastering ability.

Commonly I never know how/what really to do with a compressor, EQ, and I probably reverb too much junk too... or not enough....or not the right instruments.

thank you for listening!
 
Mixing , mastering , eq'ing, processing, compressing, and all of that ain't stuff you gonna learn in a minute. You can experiment to see what it does but that's gonna take unnecessary long if you don't read up on your theory.

Check out the stickied posts in this section. Click the links and click the links in the links.
https://www.futureproducers.com/forum...ing-mastering/

Check out the tutorial section:
https://www.futureproducers.com/forum...making-videos/

Check the recommended reads:
https://www.futureproducers.com/forum...-books-177075/

Check tutorials on youtube on mixing in FL. Use the forum search function on a query like "mixing FL studio" . Google "mixing techniques". Get yourself some dvd courses like "The Audio Masterclass Music Production and Sound Engineering Course" "The Art and Science of Sound Recording with alan parson" and there's more out there. Check out macprovideo. This stuff oughta keep you busy for a while.

About your ears, it ain't necessary to turn the volume up that loud. Been busy just now and it's 3 o clock in the morning. Live in a 4 story flat with wooden floors and my neighbours are *******. Haven't had the need to put a headset on at all. Just been watching the volume carefully and got a few knobs and faders linked to a couple of volume bars in my DAW and in windows. So when I'm scrolling through effects, patches or instruments with different volumes I already have my finger on the volume bar to quickly adjust it if it's too loud. Other than that, I just keep the overall volume at a workable low. Some ppl say they can't work with low volumes but imo, it's a matter of getting used to something. You get easily used having everything blasting through your speakers like crazy. Sure, it's easier to hear every little thing that way, but it ain't so easy anymore if you damage your ears. I say train your ears to work with lower volumes. On lower volumes it should be quite impossible to permanently damage your ears. You need to have some quality speakers and A/I though. Not the best of the best, just not the worst.
Although, what can happen is that after playing a tune over and over for a very long time, you may seem insensitive in the ears a bit. Sometimes it helps to stop a bit, listen to something completely different, go have a silent break, or go to bed ! :D
Anyway, train yourself to work with lower volumes, or at least something not that freaking loud, ain't necessary at all!
 
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B Side has some good points. There are no frequencies that you should always cut out, as every mix is different. However, humans are most sensitive to the 1kHz - 4 kHz range. Too much of that can sound pretty harsh (but don't just start cutting it out just because!) As B Side said, you CAN definitely mix low. The best is to get a variety: mix at a reasonable volume for a while; crank it up for a little bit every now and then (especially if you are mixing music that is intended to be loud, such as club music or hip hop); also listen at very quiet levels every now and then. This will save your ears, plus you'll notice certain things "jumping out" that you didn't realize were too loud.

The most important part: take breaks!! Every couple hours or so, take a 15 minute breather. Even though your ears get tougher with more experience, the best mixers in the world still take breaks. A good sign that you need to take a break is if you find yourself turning something up, then back down, then back up: this means ear fatigue!

Good luck!
 
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Hey thanks alot guys for the advice! It really means alot. I definantly learned my lesson with the loudness part. It could of also been because I worked on it 20+ hours in 4 days with little break. I will be more careful and check into those links provided.

Really appreciate it.
-John
 
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