Mixing tips

[tommythompson777]

I have been having a hard time making my tracks as loud as the pros but I understand how EQ works and I use the whole stereo field but still it seems like even with high quality EQ and Compression (Neutron) I'm still just not as loud as the pro quality stuff.

Could this be my layering? My volume? Bad EQing? I know all the obvious solutions like High passing and low passing and compression but are there any other tricks out there you guys have?

Am I printing to audio wrong? (I use resampling and solo various busses to convert them to audio)

^^ I believe this is the part I'm screwing up but I'd like to hear from others

[login]

It's probably a mix of everything, I don't know what you are doing but a very common error of new producers is trying to get that loud while mixing, it should be done in mastering.

I will recommend you to subscribe to askaudio academy (15 USD per month, you won't need more than one to get most of it) and watch a series of videos names "10 don't of... eq, compression, gain staging, saturation, etc." they are very good tutorials and they will show you how to mix properly.

Now, how loud you need to get depends on the genre, I think you only need to be really loud if you are shooting for radio playback or if the genre is really loud. But currently there are quite significant differences between genres. And youtube and spotify are normalizing anyway so the loudness war maybe over already.

[Tarekith]

A lot of it is arranging too, busy mixes with tons happening every single second are harder to make loud than more sparse and dynamic songs.

[digitalgeist]

Mixing is...a journey. You have to have a firm idea of what you want at the beginning stages in order to get the end results you want.
Are you using a reference track? Usually if you want to sound like "artist x" it's a good idea to get a high-quality .wav of one of their tracks to play side-by-side with your own track so you can compare.

If loudness is your goal you want to analyze every step of your gain staging to make sure that your overall RMS is pretty high (don't worry so much about true peak). This basically involves compression and saturation, but not to the point you abandon dynamics either. If a track is all loud parts and just a thick block of sound it probably needs to be looked at again.

Think minimally in keeping only the most important parts of your track as the loudest and if you add stuff, remember to re-think this process considering what's most important and where its place is. Neutron is a good tool to use to see where your tracks are masking each other. Make sure if you're using it and you see masking related to tracks that need to stand out that you're dipping one track's EQ and maybe raising the EQ of the other in relation to that frequency (I always remove before adding).

[Stromkraft]

I have been having a hard time making my tracks as loud as the pros but I understand how EQ works and I use the whole stereo field but still it seems like even with high quality EQ and Compression (Neutron) I'm still just not as loud as the pro quality stuff.

Could this be my layering? My volume? Bad EQing? I know all the obvious solutions like High passing and low passing and compression but are there any other tricks out there you guys have?

Am I printing to audio wrong? (I use resampling and solo various busses to convert them to audio)

^^ I believe this is the part I'm screwing up but I'd like to hear from others

There's no magic "bag of tricks" to mixing "loud", as you put it, but mixing well*, though some would seem to want us to believe otherwise. Quite often it's a combination of smaller steps, focused on what the mix of the song/track you're working on needs, that together arrive at the result you want. To be able to know which steps to take and when, as well as when to not, is where experience, talent and other aspects becomes important.

To me it sounds like you're starting at the wrong point. Forget loud for a little while. What does the track need? Make those moves. Then ask again: What does it need now? What does this element need to find its place? What other elements have to leave room? Keep going like that towards your greatest mix ever and make it as "loud" as it needs.

You can listen to other tracks, also for levels and your perception of these. Analyse these and make your attempts to move in that direction. Doesn't work? Then go back and restart from where you were. Make versions so you can go back.

*If you think "loud" is the most important aspect, then forget all I just wrote. I go for Great, not Loud. The former can incorporate the latter and very seldom is it the other way around.

[NoSonic822]

i think its a matter of having all the main parts (kick bass drums vocal) in a good relationship soundwise ewith eachother. then you can turn it up louder.

[Tagor]

what is the last device on your masterchain ?

[digitalgeist]

what is the last device on your masterchain ?

For me, it's an analyzer to check the final RMS and stereo spectrum.

[NoSonic822]

what is the last device on your masterchain ?

For me, it's an analyzer to check the final RMS and stereo spectrum.

me too i use the m4l spectrum one with all the flashing lights

[jestermgee]

Keep at it man... If you understand EQ then your some of the way, you just need another 10 or 20 years of experience behind you (4 years at engineering school would be a good starter) and some high end professional gear and maybe 12 other engineers to assist you and... like they use in multi-million $$ production houses that make that Pro stuff you speak of... will probably do the trick.

Otherwise if you can get even 50% of the way there on your own, be happy with that. The pro's you speak of did not learn their craft through forums.