When im adding pads, keys, stabs and such to some tracks it almost sounds as if some sounds almost fight each other to be heard (for want of a better explanation ) and just ****s up the whole sound of the track…
Im still a novice to all this craic to be honest, so am i right in thinking if i use a spectrum and mess about with eq i should be able to sperate out the sounds a bit more…i have tried this and not got what i wanted from it…
am i doing the rite thing here??? or has anyone got any tips on what i should do???..
Look at each of your parts and see where in the frequency range they are mainly moving in. If you’re using Live, you can use the Spectrum plug in on the channel to see.
If you find there are a couple of frequencies battling it out in the same range then you will need to either take out the sound / change the octave it is in / change the key it is in / or try sidechaining.
Half of the battle of production is getting everything to sit tight in the mix, that’s where Spectrum can be your best friend at times. Don’t forget to use your ears though.
By sidechain do you mean sidechain a pad to a stab so the stab knocks out the pad when it hits?..
Ya know somethin…it never hit me before to sidechain parts higher in the mix (haha somethin so simple…how have i got away with not doin this before)…i always use it to tidy up the lower end…this mite work pretty well with the eq for what im thinking of actually.
Oh yes i did forget to add in my list about panning. You’re stereo range is good in order to get things sitting together, think about how it works in an orchestra.
In regards to the sidechaining, yeah you could sidechain one of your conflicting frequencies to the other conflicting frequency, play around with it. Different methods suit different sounds and also give you different sound, you need to really just play around and see what works.
i did the same mistake many times of just putting so much stuff that saturated the freq. the best way of avoiding this is to sequence the tracks where it doesnt collide with other frequencies . panning and sidechaining helps alot but actually a drum loops and a bass can fill the whole frequencies by itself. maybe try to remove some instruments and use it like intros or other parts of the song. remember that sometimes less is more .IMO
[quote]bubble sweetman (18/04/2010)[hr][quote]seanl (18/04/2010)[hr]In one word - PAN
Do above after.[/quote]
Pan??? so if i just pan 2 parts that are fightingit out will that help me.
just a simple pan left on one track and pan right on the other??? or somethim more complcated or what? lol sorry it just almost sounds too easy haha[/quote]
no, is not complicated. Keep your prominent elements in the centre, so bass, kick and snare as well as ‘lead’ sound, whatever that is in your mix. Then the rest can be spread across stereo field. Make sure that you balance your sounds, so if you have a hihat panned to the right, balance it with something of similar frequency spectrum on the left side (say shaker)
Don’t go overboard with Panning and keep checking how your mix sounds in mono.
Just do a quick mix of your track with only Pan and levels and see what difference it makes for yourself
[quote]tommyt (18/04/2010)[hr]your arrangement plays a big role in this too. a good arrangement will give space to each instrument and there will be less masking[/quote]
ok lads i just started a new live project to put what ye told me into practice and to be honest the whole panning thing is working out pretty sweet…
i actually figured out if i just keep on top of the filtering, panning and eq-ing as i go rather than trying to fix it all later on it makes it way easier to manage…
the other thing i was wondering is…obviously panning a sound wont alter its frequency rite…so why dose it sit better in the mix when its panned?..
was i wrong to be putting all my energy into focusing on the frequencies when mixing or is there another area i should keep an eye/ear on when mixing…
i hope that makes sense hahaha finding it hard to explain what i mean.
[quote]bubble sweetman (18/04/2010)[hr]ok lads i just started a new live project to put what ye told me into practice and to be honest the whole panning thing is working out pretty sweet…
i actually figured out if i just keep on top of the filtering, panning and eq-ing as i go rather than trying to fix it all later on it makes it way easier to manage…
the other thing i was wondering is…obviously panning a sound wont alter its frequency rite…so why dose it sit better in the mix when its panned?..
was i wrong to be putting all my energy into focusing on the frequencies when mixing or is there another area i should keep an eye/ear on when mixing…
i hope that makes sense hahaha finding it hard to explain what i mean.
[/quote]
it will sound better because its now filling out the mix and sitting in a space of its own rather than being forced to sit in a space, if two things share the same frequency then try to make sure they don’t sit in the same place in the mix.
things that are great for panning are high or mid high percussion hits, use two of three little elements and find a space in the mix so the bounce off each other works great for widening the mix with out noticing to much.
don’t eq and filter the hell out of everything, your mix will sound as thin as paper and weak as my skinny legs, if its not clashing “leave it”
i agree with all thats been said but what happens when its collapsed to mono in a club…? aint the non filtered/eq’d sounds going to clash again cos theyve been put back together in the same pan position…?
[quote]jpgetty2win (18/04/2010)[hr]i agree with all thats been said but what happens when its collapsed to mono in a club…? aint the non filtered/eq’d sounds going to clash again cos theyve been put back together in the same pan position…?[/quote]
this is hard to explain with out writing 20 pages lol.
best thing to do is reference your mix in mono and stereo to see if you have any problems, you probably lose some elements when going to mono much in the same way you’ll probably loose punch coming back in stereo. it’s all a balancing act
so how do you know if 2 things, or more, share the same frequency. where does it tell ya or what do you look at. coz a mix im workin on at the min sounds a bit wrong and its probably due to this??? how do ya fix the frequency problem??
[quote]georgekadar (19/04/2010)[hr]so how do you know if 2 things, or more, share the same frequency. where does it tell ya or what do you look at. coz a mix im workin on at the min sounds a bit wrong and its probably due to this??? how do ya fix the frequency problem??[/quote]
you can find the two or more clashing sounds but muting the sounds one by one and playing the suspect ones against each other, once you find the ones that have the problem decide which one you want to be more dominant in which freq and eq them. frequency analyzers are the best option for seeing the offending areas.
