Common Mixing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

[SYBRIX]

Decaffeinated Instant Coffee.
Do not drink this stuff and expect a decent mix. The caffeine intake to piss break ratio makes for a very ineffective work flow and you will still be left needing a decent cuppa.

lmfao
seriously tho

[GeiddE]

Worth a second or third read IMHO
Great stuff
Thanks a Million

[Wickline]

And suddenly my relaxing day off is filled with things to revisit and work on. Thanks Selig.

Lol this is great info. I'll be rereading it a few times.

[joeyluck]

Worth a second or third read IMHO
Great stuff
Thanks a Million

Definitely It's an awesome topic

[joeyluck]

The title makes me think he it could the next Harry Potter world installment

common-mixing-mistakes.jpg

[selig]

The title makes me think he it could the next Harry Potter world installment

common-mixing-mistakes.jpg

Ha!!!



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[aeox]

oh man.. i'm guilty of all this stuff. i'm sure i'll learn one day!

[Nielsen]

EDIT: Question deleted. I've identified the blunder which made the overall volume of my mix very low (bad EQ settings on drums).

[33db]

Good stuff, how do you feel about mixing/mastering with headphones rather than monitors?

[xxASMxx]

There is an insert illustration from McCartney's 'Press to Play' album showing pre-mix panning ideas. I don't know if this will be helpful with regards to panning suggestions or not but it does present a cool visual. Most of these mix positions in the illustration are accurate on the finished tracks of the album. Not one of McCartney's best albums but it sounds very good.

Hopefully you can zoom the attachment.

[splangie]

“I always like to start my mixing day by listening to some records I know and love — ideally in the musical style I will be working in — in the seat I will be sitting in to mix, and over the same D/A converter,” says Doell.

I think this is an excellent point.

Along with all the others.

[normen]

“I always like to start my mixing day by listening to some records I know and love — ideally in the musical style I will be working in — in the seat I will be sitting in to mix, and over the same D/A converter,” says Doell.

I think this is an excellent point.

Along with all the others.

Yeah, I could follow up until the point where "D/A converter" was the end of the sentence - what companies brochure was that from?

[selig]

“I always like to start my mixing day by listening to some records I know and love — ideally in the musical style I will be working in — in the seat I will be sitting in to mix, and over the same D/A converter,” says Doell.

I think this is an excellent point.

Along with all the others.

Yeah, I could follow up until the point where "D/A converter" was the end of the sentence - what companies brochure was that from?

I don’t even think it’s necessary to sit in the same seat or listen to music with the same style.
And how the heck CAN you listen NOT on the same D/A, assuming you’re in the listening position in the mix room… (nice comment, Normen!)


What IS important to me is to listen to music I think sounds good, and sometimes I intentionally listen “ambiently” (not directly) as I’m setting up other parts of the studio.

But I agree with the “listening” and to the “records I know and love” parts…
[emoji6]


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[selig]

Handy EQ tips:

https://sonicscoop.com/2018/12/27/the-1 ... nglepage=1

Mistake #1: Only Using Parametric EQs
Mistake #2: Not Learning How to Identify Frequencies by Ear
Mistake #3: Using Too Much EQ on Vocals
Mistake #4: Only Using Subtractive EQ
Mistake #5: Not Knowing What You’re Trying to EQ or Why
Mistake #6: Ignoring the Mix Bus
Mistake #7: Always Soloing Tracks While EQing Them
Mistake #8: EQing Too Subtly
Mistake #9: Buying a Ton of Plugins
Mistake #10: Never Volume-Matching EQs
Mistake #11: Thinking There’s a Secret to Using EQs

[pushedbutton]

Just a completely random thought out of nowhere.

Sometimes a very successful track is made by someone who doesn't have a clue what they're doing. It's important to know when to relax and have fun and not be too concerned with going through a checklist of rules. Be wary of getting overly concerned about what you're 'not allowed' to do.

[selig]

Just a completely random thought out of nowhere.

Sometimes a very successful track is made by someone who doesn't have a clue what they're doing. It's important to know when to relax and have fun and not be too concerned with going through a checklist of rules. Be wary of getting overly concerned about what you're 'not allowed' to do.

Indeed this is a truth, though I would argue that the person doesn’t have a “clue”. They typically are very bright folks with many clues as to what sounds good and even a few clues as how to get it. Yes, sometimes a remarkable person comes along and astounds as all with their effortless success. And many others don’t need professional training to achieve professional results.

To that specific end I would think this sort of list is actually more aimed at folks like tat than at anyone who is professionally trained or studied, as those with training would likely have little use for a compilation of what has not worked in the past for others.

Think of this more as a guide to what has not worked in the past, rather than as a list of rules that DO work. This is helpful not only to avoid common problems but also to give a starting point for how to solve the most common issues you’re likely to encounter. At least for those of use with no access to professional training or without a strong dose of natural talent.


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[Eurikon]

Aaaand, another:

Great thread posts.

Might want to edit the 2nd post though and remove the color formatting,
cause this is what it looks like with the forum dark theme selected:

seligpost2.png

[selig]

Aaaand, another:

Great thread posts.

Might want to edit the 2nd post though and remove the color formatting,
cause this is what it looks like with the forum dark theme selected:


seligpost2.png

Thanks for the heads up, should be fixed now!

[Proboscis]

So glad this thread was bumped. While a lot of mixing advice is over my head, and I don't usually spend much time on mixing, preferring the act of making music, there are a lot of good tips to digest that even if I were to implement some of them, I'm sure would make a difference.

What do you all think of Static Cling's Optic Multi Channel Analyzer Rack Extension as a mixing aid ? Seems like a good visual tool to see where track frequencies are sitting, especially for a hack like me. I could have sworn I bought this and seem to think I downloaded it twice, but no - maybe he reset the trial at some stage.

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... -analyzer/

And a shout out to Selig - I have four of your products, two of which have seen many hundreds of audio hours of use. The gain control inevitably makes it into every project, and Leveler is just brilliant for voice work. And in the weekend just gone, I discovered your note view plugin, which is a great visual aid to play along to (I set up a virtual electric keyboard playing through Scales & Chords, and added a second dummy piano in a Combinator with the sound off to follow along with the root note to nut out other tracks)

[Eurikon]

Aaaand, another:

sorry for spamming the thread
3rd post has color coding too:

seligpost3.png

[selig]

Aaaand, another:

sorry for spamming the thread
3rd post has color coding too:

OK, got it - NOW it's ready for dark mode (I hope!)...