The more I see Steven Slate as a person , the ,more respect I have to his personality . I am a veteran mixer , and yet I resonate with those tips. I need more people like Steven Slate to inspire my musical beginnings . Thank you Steven.
5 Common mixing mistakes: 1.) Not envisioning final mix - 0:20 2.) Focusing on the micro over the macro - 2:36 3.) Soloing too much - 3:30 4.) Not using reference mixes - 5:03 5.) Not using a tuned room - 6:04
djvoid1 thought this was a joke until i hired one just to try it out. the difference is night and day! looking forward to maybe investing in a better marching band at some point... the high school marching band that i forced into my home wasn't the best
I love that first one! I have the final product in mind from the recording stage. Doing so helps avoid many problems, downfalls, and deficiencies in later stages. Awesome video!
Envisioning the whole mix! Yeah, that is one of the most important tipps I have ever heard from you and my best friend who is actually a famous producer...
Great tips! Definitely resonates with the realizations I have been making lately that have made the biggest differences. I recently got some room treatment and I literally laughed at the first track I played myself that I was mixing. It's all relative. You don't realize the deficiencies in your set up until you fix the problem. There is no going back after!
Good to hear the correction on soloing. Today I was mixing a song and had the kick sounding epic soloed, but in the whole mix it was muddy. Had to let some of that click back in and take out some lows. Good video!
I so much enjoy your videos, you´re like a breeze of fresh air :-) and: I, again, learned something by this video, even after 30 years of homerecording....
hey steven, great video. i think that my biggest problem (was my biggest problem) and a lot of other beginners problems are not knowing their speakers and the room acoustics, but even more so it was super hard for me to use compression. i think a great video idea is to show beginners who arent experienced with compression is to explain in depth (and with examples) the changes that compression does. i say that because ive learned that me and alot of my beginner friends couldnt hear compression because we were trying to listen to frequency changes and not the volume changes. i feel like that is a big problem with beginners in our community and the big guys like you should help us understand that alittle better. cheers from ohio
I produce and mix at home. The number 5, for me, is the most important tip. Some acoustic treatment and the Sonarworks plugin made my mix translate way better
Tip # 1 to 3 are the best a professional can give! Thank you for remembering it on the internet which is 95% filled with tips that only work with solo tracks
I want to see Steven do satire about really bad mixing mistakes with some really colourful clothes with a completely straight face!!! I would laugh hysterically!!!
Speaking of references, I recommend getting a plugin called Reference by Mastering the Mix. You put in your favorite reference and it will gain match your mix and show you the frequencies between your mix and the reference. Very useful and I highly recommend it.
On tip #5 I really like the SonarWorks software + mic package - the measured response showed me why my mixes were booming, due to an 80Hz dip in freq response. I don't monitor via sub (gotta get one, but don't really enjoy listening to sub for long periods) , so I use the FFT analyser on the MOTU CueMix console to give me a hint of what's going on sub-sonically. Sounds pretty good in the car (a BOSE 5.1 system)
Love the passion Steven, good tutorial! Agree that the main order of business is 'know what you are hearing' ...that means decent monitors and more importantly, do whatever it takes to achieve a neutral sounding room... or at least one that you know.. Cheers -Steve
Loved the Tips !!!! Tip 1 and 2, I'm definitely guilty of messing up. I think that I'm just not there yet on having/hearing a vision before I mix. I'm getting closer... but just not experienced enough. Thanks so much for all that you do, Steven. : )
I used Room EQ Wizard to tune my HS8's to my room. It did 'em a world of good. I couldn't really tell you how compares to other payware, but one of many things it has going for it, is it's free. You can also save and recall EQ graphs and data in it. Acoustic isolation stands did the HS8's a world of good, too.
Would be DOPE to see you guys address hip hop mixes for once. A lot of us hip hop heads use your products but we never get tutorials or anything that even really mentions our practices. Especially being we have the #1 genre right now. Just saying.
I always proof my mixes with top of the line headphones and also proof with ear buds since a lot of people listen to music through their cell phones etc.
great advices man, thanks a lot, and btw that white studio is out of this world, fantastic!. If an alien wanted to mix some tracks, He would only do it in your studio
Mistake #5 is virtually impossible to fix if you're on a tight budget, although it's technically correct that a tuned room with great monitoring saves you tons of headaches (speaking from years of experience mixing in untuned rooms like like apartment bedrooms etc). However, once my tenure at my current Uni is over, I'm gonna be back to mixing in untuned rooms until I get a budget to do otherwise. Points 1-4 anyone can fix and are indeed very common mixing mistakes
I'm sure it would help, no doubt about that...but my studio is in my bedroom and I don't have a real way to treat it. That being said, I really haven't had the issue of it sounding poor on other speakers, headphones, etc. In the audio world, every little bit helps, but I feel like too many people make it sound like you can't mix well without a proper room. I'm sure it's easier, but IMO it isn't necessary. I sent a mix to a producer who's worked with grammy artists and he said it was 100% spot on. That's just using cheap JBL LSR305s and an untreated room. I'm new to the scene though....so still very much learning. I'm sure there's tons of room for improvement, I just think people get too focused on having the right gear rather than honing skills. Sometimes gear is the missing link, but I always wait until I'm confident my skills aren't the issue. I think that's the best approach for people starting out. Work with what you have is my point I guess. Awesome video though, definitely important things to keep in mind.
You need to know that there are guys out there with totally different concepts in their heads. For example Tony Maserati or Chris Lord Alge are all about the vision, how the mix should sound when it is finished, according to the Mix with the masters online content. But Chad Blake said at the Namm show, that he never had a vision about the mix. He just like to jam and see where the music will take him. He said that if you have a strong vision in your head, you will miss many things along the way, trying to get just one specific sound, which is in your head. So, nobody is right and nobody is wrong. It is all just about what feels great, not just how it sounds.
And not to forget: Correct speaker placement (i.e. treble at level or pointing towards with your ears). I see so many otherwise very skilled youtubers and professionals doing this wrong.
When the pro tools stereo pans are all the way to left and right does it mean it’s on the far left and far right speaker. Like a mono track is straight up. Any one know
I have a question about using references. What if what you’re trying to do and accomplish with your sound is something that you have never really heard a reference for? What if you want your drums punchier and fatter and louder than everyone else’s is there rules to that?
The Fast Action The purpose of the reference isn’t to copy reference exactly. It’s to get a general reminder and reference of the proper frequency balances. Thanks for the question!
The Fast Action Even if your sound is very unique it will always have elements of existing genres. There’s honestly nothing new. It’s how you put things together that make it different. You will always be able to find a reference for the main under lying theme or style of your song. Making your drums punchier, fatter and louder is your choice, but it should fit with the context of your entire mix. Otherwise most people will just perceive it as a bad mix that overpowers all the other instruments.
I think you combine references, e.g. you might throw in Madonna's "Ray of Light" (or the Prodigy) for sub... on @ProduceLikeAPro Warren Huart mentioned Tears For Fears' "Woman in Chains" is a standard reference for *width* (a beautiful mix... Bob Clearmountain!) So, even if you're doing crazy techno you can A/B the width because musical genre isn't what you're listening for, but rather certain sonic characteristics. I continuously whack on "The Who" all the time to remind me how flaky my drum programming is, for example ;)
Some great tips here, but I disagree on the room acoustics/tuning. If you have good ears and you listen to a good mix in a 'bad' room, then you can calibrate your ears. Spending $20k on room treatment is snake oil... It's important to know your room and know how the frequencies respond. Having an expensive room setup will not improve your mixes. Also, check your low end on some closed back headphones.
Everything was good except the tip about the room ,because you don't need a totally tuned room for mixing you just need to know how your room Sounds with reference tracks and you will know what your mix needs.
Room treatment is for sure nice if you can afford it. But why not try to get the best mix in a room people would listen to it? Noone has their room treated in the end....
