Ohkayitsme
New member
Hey Guys,
I've been producing for about 5 years now. I wanted to share some production tips & techniques that have helped me become a much better producer.
1. Group Channels
To save CPU, grouping your different instruments helps keeping your mix more organized and certain FX cleaner. I usually create separate group-channels for Drums, Bass, Synths, Live Instruments, FX and Vocals. It is up to you how you want to group your channels, but I do this to make it easier for EQ'ing, Delay and Reverb mixing, even compression.
Before anything in the mixing process, I start with levels. With this I mean adjusting the volume levels on each individual track. I start off by bringing all the individual channels down to about 30% volume level. (Leaving the group-channels at 80% volume level.) Then I determine 2-3 elements of the song I want to be the most dominant in the mix, for example in my productions I often want the Vocal to be most upfront with the Lead Synth, and I also like 808/Kick to dominate in drops. These elements I bring up to about 50-60% volume level and adjust them accordingly to each other. From there I go through the remaining elements and adjust them accordingly.
In between and after leveling I determine where in my mix I want these elements, I tend to put synths, hats and pads more on the side of the mix and let bass and vocals dominate in the center. This way you create more space, your mix will breathe more and it will be cleaner and it can become louder. Don't be afraid of panning your instruments left/right or widening your leads. Kicks and sub bass should always be in Mono!
3. EQ'ing
Make sure each instrument section covers its own area. Some instruments clash in the same area or overlap each other, so what I have found the best thing to cut out all frequencies below 100-200Hz, except from sub elements, for Instruments that dominate over 5kHz I usually cut out frequencies below 500Hz - 5kHz area, depending on what sounds good of course!
If ever having two or more elements that crash in the same frequency area, I choose what different parts of those elements I want to stand out, and I lower the frequencies where the other elements stand out. Example, if you want your clap and snare to not clash, I would remove the 200Hz area of the clap and boost that part in the snare, and lower the 500Hz area on the snare and boost it a little on the clap. The same applies to synths, drums and bass.
Mid/Side EQ'ing, I don't have much experience, but I tend to use Side-EQ'ing on the top part of the mix (Highend) and Mid-EQ'ing on the bottom half (Lowend) so the mix becomes a little wider and more driven.
Most important, instead of boosting the frequencies you want, try to reduce the ones you don't want, again it results in cleaning up the mix and giving you more space to work with.
4. Compression
I compression I found really hard to understand at first. if you don't know what compression is, it is basically reducing the dynamic range of your element. This is so that your element(s) get a more consistent volume level throughout the song instead of being unstable. Im not going to explain each function in a compressor, but make sure you do not overcompress. I read Oliver Heldens For instance barely uses compression in his songs. The same i recommend, as compressing too much sucks alot of energy out of your music and squishes it. Find out an average low point (in decibels) or have the compressor hit at about 3db. I Set the threshold there and then I tend to use a 2:1 or in some harder cases 4:1 ratio. the attack and release should be based on your preference and what instrument you are compressing. A pluck or kick should have a short attack, while pads or softer instruments may have a longer attack.
Sidechain compression or Sidechaining is essential to your mix. I tend to sidechain my instruments to the kick drum and a tad to vocals. Sidechaining, your instruments and synths create a whole lot of space for your song to work with and bring your drums forward.
My favorite technique for drums is New York Compression, aka Parallel compression. It really brings huge presence to your drums and make them sound nice. The way I do this is that I make a copy of my drum track(s) and give this copy a separate new channel (linked to the drum group of course). The copy channel I compress the S**T out of to be honest, and then I bring it down to 0% volume. I then listen to the mix as a whole and bring in the super compressed track(s) to a level where it gives enough presence.
5. Saturation / Distortion
Saturation and Distortion gives warmth and color to your mix. I like using it in the mid-low / mid frequency range as it gives a song more drive. be careful using these effects though, as too much will make your song distorted in a bad way, which makes your song muddy and ears hurting.
6. Reverb
Reverb can be tricky, as too much of it drowns the mix. I tend to do this very last. I set up to Send channels for this, one is for Wet reverb, the other Dry, these two sends I link to all the groups, with different levels as some elements i wish more reverb on than others. With this I mean that in the wet send, the dry is at 0% and wet at 100%, and then when that is adjust rightly, I copy it over to the Dry send, and switch the Wet/ Dry settings so wet is at 0% and dry at 100%. By using Reverb on the send channels and linking them to the groups, you get the whole mix into one room, filling up empty space and bringing the mix in together. If you wish more reverb on a certain instrument or element, you could always link it up to the sends and adjust it more also.
7. Prepping for Mastering.
Some of the most common misunderstandings with mixing and mastering is believing they are the same or can fix each other. That is straight out WRONG! if your mix is bad, your master will not be any better, it might actually sound worse as the mastering will bring out the flaws in your mix even more. Before mastering your track, make sure you don't have anything on your master channel, a limiter can be ok, but it is recommended to have the master clean for anything. Make sure the entire mix volume level is somewhere between -6db and -3db. You can have it higher or lower, but this range is recommended because it gives the person mastering the best product to work with and the mastering can be at its most effective.
There are tons of tutorials and readings you can find on Google and YouTube, here are some channels I found useful:
https://www.youtube.com/user/wickiemedia
https://www.youtube.com/user/FutureMusicMagazine
https://www.youtube.com/user/pointblankonline
I hope you guys learn something from my post, If you have any other tips, techniques you want to share or that I did not mention. These things take time to learn, the most important thing about these things are knowing them, your plugins and what they do to your song. Practice makes perfect and I hope it is useful information.
Cheers!
-OHKAY!
I've been producing for about 5 years now. I wanted to share some production tips & techniques that have helped me become a much better producer.
1. Group Channels
To save CPU, grouping your different instruments helps keeping your mix more organized and certain FX cleaner. I usually create separate group-channels for Drums, Bass, Synths, Live Instruments, FX and Vocals. It is up to you how you want to group your channels, but I do this to make it easier for EQ'ing, Delay and Reverb mixing, even compression.
Before anything in the mixing process, I start with levels. With this I mean adjusting the volume levels on each individual track. I start off by bringing all the individual channels down to about 30% volume level. (Leaving the group-channels at 80% volume level.) Then I determine 2-3 elements of the song I want to be the most dominant in the mix, for example in my productions I often want the Vocal to be most upfront with the Lead Synth, and I also like 808/Kick to dominate in drops. These elements I bring up to about 50-60% volume level and adjust them accordingly to each other. From there I go through the remaining elements and adjust them accordingly.
In between and after leveling I determine where in my mix I want these elements, I tend to put synths, hats and pads more on the side of the mix and let bass and vocals dominate in the center. This way you create more space, your mix will breathe more and it will be cleaner and it can become louder. Don't be afraid of panning your instruments left/right or widening your leads. Kicks and sub bass should always be in Mono!
3. EQ'ing
Make sure each instrument section covers its own area. Some instruments clash in the same area or overlap each other, so what I have found the best thing to cut out all frequencies below 100-200Hz, except from sub elements, for Instruments that dominate over 5kHz I usually cut out frequencies below 500Hz - 5kHz area, depending on what sounds good of course!
If ever having two or more elements that crash in the same frequency area, I choose what different parts of those elements I want to stand out, and I lower the frequencies where the other elements stand out. Example, if you want your clap and snare to not clash, I would remove the 200Hz area of the clap and boost that part in the snare, and lower the 500Hz area on the snare and boost it a little on the clap. The same applies to synths, drums and bass.
Mid/Side EQ'ing, I don't have much experience, but I tend to use Side-EQ'ing on the top part of the mix (Highend) and Mid-EQ'ing on the bottom half (Lowend) so the mix becomes a little wider and more driven.
Most important, instead of boosting the frequencies you want, try to reduce the ones you don't want, again it results in cleaning up the mix and giving you more space to work with.
4. Compression
I compression I found really hard to understand at first. if you don't know what compression is, it is basically reducing the dynamic range of your element. This is so that your element(s) get a more consistent volume level throughout the song instead of being unstable. Im not going to explain each function in a compressor, but make sure you do not overcompress. I read Oliver Heldens For instance barely uses compression in his songs. The same i recommend, as compressing too much sucks alot of energy out of your music and squishes it. Find out an average low point (in decibels) or have the compressor hit at about 3db. I Set the threshold there and then I tend to use a 2:1 or in some harder cases 4:1 ratio. the attack and release should be based on your preference and what instrument you are compressing. A pluck or kick should have a short attack, while pads or softer instruments may have a longer attack.
Sidechain compression or Sidechaining is essential to your mix. I tend to sidechain my instruments to the kick drum and a tad to vocals. Sidechaining, your instruments and synths create a whole lot of space for your song to work with and bring your drums forward.
My favorite technique for drums is New York Compression, aka Parallel compression. It really brings huge presence to your drums and make them sound nice. The way I do this is that I make a copy of my drum track(s) and give this copy a separate new channel (linked to the drum group of course). The copy channel I compress the S**T out of to be honest, and then I bring it down to 0% volume. I then listen to the mix as a whole and bring in the super compressed track(s) to a level where it gives enough presence.
5. Saturation / Distortion
Saturation and Distortion gives warmth and color to your mix. I like using it in the mid-low / mid frequency range as it gives a song more drive. be careful using these effects though, as too much will make your song distorted in a bad way, which makes your song muddy and ears hurting.
6. Reverb
Reverb can be tricky, as too much of it drowns the mix. I tend to do this very last. I set up to Send channels for this, one is for Wet reverb, the other Dry, these two sends I link to all the groups, with different levels as some elements i wish more reverb on than others. With this I mean that in the wet send, the dry is at 0% and wet at 100%, and then when that is adjust rightly, I copy it over to the Dry send, and switch the Wet/ Dry settings so wet is at 0% and dry at 100%. By using Reverb on the send channels and linking them to the groups, you get the whole mix into one room, filling up empty space and bringing the mix in together. If you wish more reverb on a certain instrument or element, you could always link it up to the sends and adjust it more also.
7. Prepping for Mastering.
Some of the most common misunderstandings with mixing and mastering is believing they are the same or can fix each other. That is straight out WRONG! if your mix is bad, your master will not be any better, it might actually sound worse as the mastering will bring out the flaws in your mix even more. Before mastering your track, make sure you don't have anything on your master channel, a limiter can be ok, but it is recommended to have the master clean for anything. Make sure the entire mix volume level is somewhere between -6db and -3db. You can have it higher or lower, but this range is recommended because it gives the person mastering the best product to work with and the mastering can be at its most effective.
There are tons of tutorials and readings you can find on Google and YouTube, here are some channels I found useful:
https://www.youtube.com/user/wickiemedia
https://www.youtube.com/user/FutureMusicMagazine
https://www.youtube.com/user/pointblankonline
I hope you guys learn something from my post, If you have any other tips, techniques you want to share or that I did not mention. These things take time to learn, the most important thing about these things are knowing them, your plugins and what they do to your song. Practice makes perfect and I hope it is useful information.
Cheers!
-OHKAY!
Last edited:
