My mix is just always lacking! - Any tips?!

J

jaggy89trillion

New member
Hi, I was wondering If I could pick someone's brain on mixing and mastering. I make beats using FL 12 that I post online to sell, one thing that massively annoys me however are my mixes. People tell me my mixing is good and clean, but I just always feel like It is dull and boring. I feel like If I don't think my own mixes are that good then they surely can't be. They aren't completely rubbish, they do have decent qualities to them but I just feel they are for the most part - dull, non-cohesive and lack punch and body.

I have watched hours and hours of tutorials, and spent the best part of a year so far trying to perfect it, ofcourse I know this can take a lot longer but I was wondering If someone can give me any tips. I currently use a pair of Yamaha HPH MT7 and a pair of JBL's 305 to mix and master my beats. My room is not acoustically treated so I mainly rely on the headphones. I have found the sound that I am going for and I often try to A/B it with my mixing, but I can never get even remotely close.

My mixes average out in the following ways:

Kick and 808 are lacking punch and/or sound dull, Melodies sound bright and/or uncharacteristic, snare/claps sounds too bright and often too loud or too quiet in the mix. These are a few things that I personally always feel like my mixes have at least one of. I also feel my mixes lack space. I know what is wrong with my mixes but I just don't know how to fix them.

I just don't know what the "secret formula" is to get a nicely balanced and overall punchy mix. I try using compressors on the low end, eq'ing my sounds, limiting etc. I have left some references below as well as my website. If anyone can give me some tips I would be so grateful!

My Beats - WWW.THEWAVEBEATS.COM

What I wish to achieve lol - Buy Beats Online | Download Beats | Rap Beats For Sale | Instrumentals For Sale
 
The biggest problem is that you are trying to cram too many production processes in at one time and at the wrong time. Rule#1 BEATS SHOULD NEVER EVER BE MASTERED despite what you see on the internet that promotes this incorrect and out of order kind of production. For the issues you described with the lifelessness and dull qualities all come down to the instruments and their placement in the mix. Try panning things and use the entire stereo field to create space, not extreme panning but just to move things out of the way of each other. Use of reverb, well good reverbs anyway can help with creating depth when used properly. When EQing cutting is better than boosting and use the eq to create space by doing away with clashing frequencies or those that take up too much space in the mix. With the use of compression it's wise to choose the right compressor for the job to accomplish what you are aiming for. I did listen to some of your beats and I hear that your main focus is loudness whether that is intentional or not only you can answer but I would tell you to focus on balance and placement 1st. Your tool selection is important also, these days most digital eq's and compressors are really sterile sounding. Try to buy some good plug in versions modeled after hardware, stuff from Universal audio, or Softube, Slate digital etc etc. Sometimes adding some color to certain tracks from these units can make a huge difference in the overall sound. Get your mind off of anything to do with mastering because doing so in the beat making stage of music production is just too early. Focus on the overall mix and how you want the beat to sound musically. Once you accomplish that simply slap a limiter on your 2 bus to give it the volume you need to showcase it for sale. You have to always keep in mind that your intention for making these beats is so that someone will record a song over them so consider the engineer who has to clean up the mess during the mixing stage that was created too early in the process. Nothing you do should approach the mastering stage until you have a completed song that has been properly mixed. This is the right way and the way it has always been done until this misinformation came along and polluted the internet and the result is a bunch of loud lifeless sounding music especially in the hip hop genre. Hope this helps
 
sswmastering said:
The biggest problem is that you are trying to cram too many production processes in at one time and at the wrong time. Rule#1 BEATS SHOULD NEVER EVER BE MASTERED despite what you see on the internet that promotes this incorrect and out of order kind of production. For the issues you described with the lifelessness and dull qualities all come down to the instruments and their placement in the mix. Try panning things and use the entire stereo field to create space, not extreme panning but just to move things out of the way of each other. Use of reverb, well good reverbs anyway can help with creating depth when used properly. When EQing cutting is better than boosting and use the eq to create space by doing away with clashing frequencies or those that take up too much space in the mix. With the use of compression it's wise to choose the right compressor for the job to accomplish what you are aiming for. I did listen to some of your beats and I hear that your main focus is loudness whether that is intentional or not only you can answer but I would tell you to focus on balance and placement 1st. Your tool selection is important also, these days most digital eq's and compressors are really sterile sounding. Try to buy some good plug in versions modeled after hardware, stuff from Universal audio, or Softube, Slate digital etc etc. Sometimes adding some color to certain tracks from these units can make a huge difference in the overall sound. Get your mind off of anything to do with mastering because doing so in the beat making stage of music production is just too early. Focus on the overall mix and how you want the beat to sound musically. Once you accomplish that simply slap a limiter on your 2 bus to give it the volume you need to showcase it for sale. You have to always keep in mind that your intention for making these beats is so that someone will record a song over them so consider the engineer who has to clean up the mess during the mixing stage that was created too early in the process. Nothing you do should approach the mastering stage until you have a completed song that has been properly mixed. This is the right way and the way it has always been done until this misinformation came along and polluted the internet and the result is a bunch of loud lifeless sounding music especially in the hip hop genre. Hope this helps
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Thanks a lot!, I appreciate your feedback. I'll take it onboard I guess you're right. I should focus more getting a balance rather than getting a super polished mastered beat. that makes more sense tbf lol
 
actually, there's really no right and wrong when it comes to mixing. you can mix it however you want it to be. My only advice is to trust your ear, if it sounds good it sounds good.
 
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