Your best mixing tip

Don't be afraid to get creative when you mix. Ask permission first though if it isn't your material. Sound design is your best friend when mixing creatively. Delay on ends of words, cinematic effects, reverse reverbs, rhythmic delays. Swamping vocals in reverb can also work in some instances. Listen to Gnarles Barkley - The Odd Couple then get creative.
 
different songs with different mix....but the general actions that should occur on the vocals are 1.Noise reduction 2. Compression 3. EQ.... and depending on the concept of the song, you can use choruses,flanges and auto-tune .... and every other thing will be added onto you...AMEN
 
OFF said:
Don't be afraid to get creative when you mix. Ask permission first though if it isn't your material. Sound design is your best friend when mixing creatively. Delay on ends of words, cinematic effects, reverse reverbs, rhythmic delays. Swamping vocals in reverb can also work in some instances. Listen to Gnarles Barkley - The Odd Couple then get creative.
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What's that??
 
One of my tips would be to first achieve an image of what you want to acheive and go for it. Always mix knowing where you want to go. Mixing is an art there is nospecific rules to follow asl ong as the final track sounds the best possable and your meters arnt going into red.
 
I think ChemicalHalo and Adub got it right. We're all here to learn from each other. My best mixing tip right now would be to think about how you want the elements of your mix to gel. If you're mixing a track with 808 drum sounds think about how to emphasize the toms with q and verb. Perfect example is Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing....Loose Ends Hanging on a String. Think about what you want to stand out in a mix....great vocal...great instrument performance...etc
 
the best tip I can share is a/b monitoring. I like to have my monitors set up along with a pair of crappy dell computer speakers and switch to the pc speakers now and again.. monitors have a habit of making things sound better than they really are.. quick flip to the cheap speakers and you can easily hear what is outta whack
 
noblewordz said:
Reverse Reverb, dude bolded it .. Is bolded a word?

Its name is somewhat self explanatory.
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Oh my bad. Read the response after being out all night. All the words looked the same.

Any way, reverse reverb is exactly that. A reversed reverb signal. One of the most recent commercial uses was on "Swagger Like Us"

Essentially you take the material you want to have the reverse reverb on and reverse it. Say a whole vocal passage. Then you aux the signal to a reverb. Record that reverb signal to an audio track. Then reverse the material back to its original format.

Essentially what it sounds like is a ghostly droning before a word etc.
 
I think TL Space can do reverse reverb in real time .. If I remember right.

Dr Dre seems to be fond of reverse reverb.
 
K-I-A said:
One of my tips would be to first achieve an image of what you want to acheive and go for it. Always mix knowing where you want to go. Mixing is an art there is nospecific rules to follow asl ong as the final track sounds the best possable and your meters arnt going into red.
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i like this advice too...

this is an awesome thread!
 
Headphones for what? To estimate your whole mix definitly don´t use headphones. But for example listen to "room informations" of seperate components, headphones can be very helpfully.
 
With FX, a little goes a long way.

Trust your monitoring chain and make sure you have one that's trustworthy. That will make a bigger difference than anything else you use.

I'd rather have a $99 Casio with a good chain than a Triton or Motif with poor monitoring. Seriously.
 
OFF said:
Oh my bad. Read the response after being out all night. All the words looked the same.

Any way, reverse reverb is exactly that. A reversed reverb signal. One of the most recent commercial uses was on "Swagger Like Us"

Essentially you take the material you want to have the reverse reverb on and reverse it. Say a whole vocal passage. Then you aux the signal to a reverb. Record that reverb signal to an audio track. Then reverse the material back to its original format.

Essentially what it sounds like is a ghostly droning before a word etc.
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Thnks for clearing that up.
 
zerrat said:
Lets share our best well defined mixing tips. Be specific. Im gonna start with the "NY compression technique", where you blend a dry vocal signal with a compressed signal, to make it thick and full. What's your best techniques? Bring it folks!
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My best technique is to tell the engineers who are recording the track i'll be mixing, to take all compressors off the input record side.

Ya just don't need compression to record. ;)
 
Listen tons of commercial reference material and try to achieve that level in your mixes (even if you have just a copy of FL Studio and nothing else). Helped me like crazy and I have learned things I never imagined to learn. For example: Subtle variations in rhythm, subtle countermelodies and other sounds make big impact in a mix. Regular listener won't neccesarily hear those but they still go to his/her conciousness.

Engineering tip: Don't be shy to break engineering "rules". I have heard many times that I should leave master channel untouched.. I love my compressor, EQ, vintagewarmer chain I created and saved. I load it to every track before I even begin to work. It gives me nice punchiness, clarity in hi-end and saturation. I was shocked to hear that Eric Prydz uses this kind of chain in his tunes and release them without professional mastering (not sure about the mastering thing). I think it's the scandinavian thing lol
 
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