Tips for a good sounding mix

  • Wanna Join? New users you can now register lightning fast using your Facebook or Twitter accounts.

GHP

Sicc OG
Jul 21, 2002
16,280
852
113
44
#1
Ive been realizing that my stuff ive been doing in maschine isnt as loud as stuff ive done using other programs and other CDs. I was wondering what Im doing wrong here. My levels are hovering in the red on the verge of peaking yet I need to really crank my mixes up to have them match up with pretty much everything else on my ipod. Even older recordings sound hotter than the ones ive been doing.

Im pretty much monitoring through headphones till I get them bounced to a stereo mix and get them into the car. running a focusrite scarlett 2x2 interface.
 

BASEDVATO

Judo Chop ur Spirit
May 8, 2002
8,623
20,808
113
44
#2
I like to use the vst called ozone from izotope

It's a digital mastering vst I put on the master channel of my beats mix's. Its good for bring all the eq and frequencys smoothly together.

More then that I love that it really cranks the mix up loud without going into the red... I have a setting saved that I put on most my beats and mixes they make them all the same volume, so you can have an entire project at the same level.
 

GHP

Sicc OG
Jul 21, 2002
16,280
852
113
44
#3
i have izotope alloy, i shoulda copped ozone for the same price. i realized that some of my issues came from normalizing when bouncing in maschine. I kinda said fuck it and just let my stuff clip and it doesnt sound distorted. Ive been running the scarlet compressor/limiter on one bus and a couple of sharp eq spikes in the high range> alloy has a solid multiband compressor ive been messing with.

do you use maschine standalone or as a plugin? I was thinking of getting some DAW software hoping it would improve my mixdowns
 

BASEDVATO

Judo Chop ur Spirit
May 8, 2002
8,623
20,808
113
44
#4
are you on PC? ill rar ozone for you. I have the whole izotope bundle, and alloy is my least favorite/ used. Thats just a personal opinion. I really stand by ozone though.
 

GHP

Sicc OG
Jul 21, 2002
16,280
852
113
44
#6
To be honest not too sure on how to read rms. Idk if you are familiar with alloy but there is an input and a output meter. The input is usually peaking out if I use that plugin. The metering in maschine isn't as clearly expressed as in full on daw software. I agree w nato and don't really use that plug too much since it appears to color my sound negatively possibly bc of my lack of experience using it. Good looking nato
 

GHP

Sicc OG
Jul 21, 2002
16,280
852
113
44
#7
routing my maschine stuff into studio one makes a world of difference in the quality of my mixes
 
Dec 28, 2009
883
199
0
43
#9
if you compress and eq your snare/clap, kick and bass you should have a good foundation for the track. I also like to put a compressor, eq and limiter on the master bus. also I like to cut the bass frequencies that aren't needed using a low shelf on a parametric eq. I see a lot of people boost frequencies on the eq but I find that cutting out unwanted frequencies to be a more effective approach. some of the lower bass frequencies can really muddy up a track and can take up a lot of the headroom in your mix which may also cause the track to not be so loud.
 
Jul 12, 2002
3,219
8,717
113
38
#11
if you compress and eq your snare/clap, kick and bass you should have a good foundation for the track. I also like to put a compressor, eq and limiter on the master bus. also I like to cut the bass frequencies that aren't needed using a low shelf on a parametric eq. I see a lot of people boost frequencies on the eq but I find that cutting out unwanted frequencies to be a more effective approach. some of the lower bass frequencies can really muddy up a track and can take up a lot of the headroom in your mix which may also cause the track to not be so loud.
This.

Put a low cut on everything below like 30-40hz. Stuff like vocals and hi-hats and snares you should cut even more of the low end out. What I do when cutting out low frequencies is solo the track/instrument you're cutting and start at like 30hz then slowly move the cutoff frequency higher and higher until I can audibly hear the cut. Once I hit that point I pull it back a little until it's not noticeable anymore.

That basically cuts out a bunch of stuff that you can't hear, or don't need in your mix. All those low frequencies just muddy up your mix. You can do the same with high frequencies too. Cutting out all the unnecessary freq's will free up your mix, allowing you to make everything louder without clipping.

Use a spectrum analyzer at the end of every single track when you mix too so you can see the space that sound is taking up in the frequency range. Make sure sounds aren't competing with each other in the same ranges. If you do have competing sounds, you can boost a frequency 1-2db on the first sound, and cut that same frequency 1-2db on the other sound. Then do the opposite and cut out a different frequency on the first sound and boost it on the 2nd sound. That will make the sounds compete with each other less and sit better in the mix.