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CBAN the input of the limiter is pushed further than the output. The difference between input and output will determine the gain in loudness. Plus he saturated the snare on top of that. Saturation, when used this way, adds harmonics to the audio which makes it SEEM „louder“ while the actual loudness drops. It‘s paradox, but that‘s how our ears work. The main gain in loudness is done by the limiter in this case though
2 years later and about 40 shares to friends and producers who mix their own stuff... This is still the best video for making a track SUPER professional and radio ready. I even hear songs on the radio and sound cloud... That need this video applied to them.
I'm super new here (Mixbus TV), but not new to RU-vid production/mixing/mastering channels and yea, that pretty much sums up my sentiment as well, Chris!
I never thought about using saturation to reduce peaks before. So many tutorials on the Web just talk about add saturation to this and that to make it sound better and fail to talk about how it affects the sound and most don't seem to cover using saturation to reduce peaks. Before, I just used compression. But this video gave me a new perspective and a new use for using saturation. And it's a pretty darn big reason....to reduce peaks so you get a mix that is better prepared for mastering. This is just outstanding. Your presentation style is also spot on. No waffle, no bs, just straight to the point and this video just flew by because I was so engaged. Really fascinating. This is gold. Really appreciate your hard work. I would love to see more videos on distortion and saturation because like you said its just so important for a professional sounding mix and it's a broad topic. Thanks again
I think the best way to think about all this stuff is that saturation, compression, limiting and clipping are basically all the same, it just a few parameters that change
the real value in daves videos is found when you revisit them..its like a text book...you need to study them...for me about the third time i listen the info sticks and i recall it when im working..and it isnt hard seeing that dave has maybe the coolest voice in the world...thanx dave your a badass....
Sh** He just changed the way I mix. Quickly saw my flaws staring back at me in the approach of something I readily admit knowing little about. THANK YOU!!!
I found myself laughing in amusement from how miraculous some of these tips are, especially when you were comparing peak levels. I can't wait to apply all these mixing techniques man, you earned a sub fair and square.
To answer your question at the end, here i'm interested in each of your videos. They're like pieces of the big Puzzle, that i begin to perceive in its entirety. This one today was, as usual, super clear and enlighting, thank you again El Professor.
At last !! I've been on this exactly issue for the last 5 years explaining my clients to bring me better mixes , with more controlled dynamics and careful and balanced eq. Mastering shouldn't be a complicated task if engineers know their craft better. Congratulation !!!
This has completely changed the way I look at my mixes. I always knew there was lots of room for improvement, but I never knew where to start looking. Thanks!
During my 5 years of would-be sound engineer for my band, I ignored saturation... Thanks to your video my mix improved! Just in time before releasing our first EP! Thank you @mixbustv
I use a free plugin called s(M)exoscope to see visually how much to saturate. Really usefull especially when using vst's and not seeing the rendered waveform like on recorded ones. It basically shows you a real time waveform of anything you play through it.
@@redkay7969 that Blackbox is the best as you can saturate without distorting. I use the minimal cheap one I got for around 20bux and its already enough for a nice full mix!
Before I saw this video, the very thought of using something resembling distortion when mixing terrified me, because I always associated distortion with degradation. But my mixes had huge crest factors and I could never get them to be loud, no matter what I tried. This video was a major eye-opener for me, and easily one of my favorites on this subject. It introduced me to a whole new way of looking at mixing, and for that, I'm endlessly thankful!
I'm so glad I went and looked up your past videos. I have absolutely STRUGGLED with getting a mix with loudness potential. It wasn't until you described the role of saturation the way you did that I figured out how to resolve my kick and sub without losing the drive of it. Crazy you can hear something a million times but doesn't click until someone explains it a certain way. Thank you!
This one is gold. Was struggling to improve crest factor with compression and EQ... And it's mainly saturation... Thanks for sharing your knowledge & tricks!
Omgoodness mouth dropped to the floor on the snare track how you created more volume fatness and density with out raising the over all level actually reduced level to create that monster snare😳👂. Hats off sir u are my teacher. Never seen it like this before makes so much sense and you made it clearer how to use plugins 👍🏾👍🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾✊🏾✊🏾
there is this trend in mixing now to control all the dynamics within an inch of their life and then try to bring them back with automation... I guess there's some irony there. There are some interesting things about the nature of saturation here for sure, but there's something really depressing about being excited by what your waveform looks like.
Peter Bond i know i dont get it either. Your ears are more important then yours eyes. I never look at the audio waves just listen and watch my rms lvl the max id go is -6 to -8 some say this is loud for a master but i do make paytrance so that -6 is bassline and the rest sit around -8 to -10 who cares what the audio looks like aslong as you have not dubsteped to -4 rms ur good hahaha
I think I have learned more from this channel, than I have done from all the other thousands of videos combined that I have watched about mixing & producing. MixbusTV is the shit and I thank you very much David for putting all this out for everyone to watch! Cheers from Sweden!
"Mastering" is the process in which prepares musical material for release on whatever commercial platforms the material is aimed to be released on. Period. Everything else is opinion and whatever proprietary philosophy the "mastering engineer" deems is part of that process. So if a track is otherwise sonically pleasing to the engineer and all they need to do is add a few db to the mix to get it to the target loudness level of the release platform, that's what "mastering" is in that context.
Yes but how many great mixing engineers hand you mixes as clean as these... and you wouldn't say this "mix" in particular cant use some extra transformer style bass? Mixing and Mastering in practical reality, after all the psychology and such, are two different things.. few mixing engineers will NAIL this level of clarity and detail, so the work of the mastering engineer calls for FAR MORE than leveling! Mastering Engineers KNOW how to phatten and fill up (or thin out and clean up) your best effort mix, and they will TELL the mixer what needs fixin, or they will ask for stems and fix it themselves. Ideally all mixes are perfect with the bass matched to the genres needs and the Mastering engineer just targets the loudness. But there is alot you can do to sweeten this mix in particular!
Wow!!! I’ve been looking at mixing and mastering RU-vid vids for several years and none of them shared this info. This is the best vid I have ever seen on youtube!!!!!!!
This is got to be the best tutorial on loud mixing. I watch it over two years ago. I've come back a few times I remember how much sense it made. I have yet to put saturation on anything. I've continued to have off balance mixes which give me a headache to get half way decent. Then the CRUST factor comes back to mind. I need the f***ing CRUST factor.
I watched this video for the first time years ago and its still one of the best ones out there. I love coming back to great content to keep myself grounding in the truth with so much misinformation out there. Sometime we can get away from the fundamentals and videos like this remind me to apply new info and technique to the fundamental, not replace the fundamentals with them.
Late to the party here, but this info is pure gold. My mixes went from -14 dbfs RMS, while triggering the ISP limiter to keep the peaks at -2 dbfs, to -12dbfs RMS with -5 dbfs peaks and the limiter not touching it. This was using saturation in the channels and on the master bus. Huge improvement. Thanks for your channel and all the great info you share!
Thanks so much for all your videos, really helping me understand mixing better while I work on my first mixtape (will be the "Made From My Bed Mixtape" because I'm making it in my makeshift bed-studio while I'm fighting and slowly recovering from chronic Lyme disease and many other mental and physical illnesses-I'm making it both for me, for catharsis and healing, and also to hopefully reach others who may be in the midst of chronic illness and are looking for some empathy, someone who "gets it," or who just need hope and to now they're not alone). Thanks for taking your time to upload quality content vids to help people like me who have no choice BUT to record from home and do a lot of this on my own.💯👍🏻 Subbed, no brainer!
Thank you for the Video! Very helpfull, we really live in blessed times where guys like you share their knowledge via youtube. Greetings from Dv Hvnd and yes i would like to see the mastering process too!
Good tutorial, sensible explanation on how to use the aural exciter, and how to add density by adding low level distortion to the vocal (sounded good) ... the original mix/waveform has the drums already compressed as I hear it. The drums are the most processed of all instruments, doesn't need to be! The final red waveform.. I see you gave it a haircut, this step left out of the tutorial. All that you explained should have produced a very audible improvement IMO, but the final result is major loud and oppressive. The original sounds better turned up loud.. lights up the room when turned up. Generally it's not necessary to use to much sugar in the recipe. it kills the flavor. It's not necessary to over-process (kill) the tone of a guitar, a drum kit, etc., in the effort to make things sound larger. Loudness is also accomplished by the listener. it's called a volume control!
These are things I always did in my mixes because "I have been told to"... you actually put all the pieces together (parallel comp, saturation, crest factor, peak values) explaining "why" would you want to use those and what to aim for. You cleared out a lot of fog for me today. Thanks so much
Really amazing!, great info about loundness without increasing dbs. I usually does something similiar with saturators, but the idea of limiting the peaks, and difference between average level and peaks make a lot of sense. Thank you for this incredible video!
Geez man, this was so informative and well presented. At the end of the segment I was looking for the payment method! This level of instruction deserves payment!
When you spoke about saturation to help tame peaks and frequencies. Then you said the word density. . . you hit the number one thing I tell people and the #1 thing I use to suffer from. You're possibly the only person I've heard to actually comment on a sounds density.
This makes a lot of sense. If you're trying to increase the loudness of a master, you're going to be flattening your dynamics when bringing the limiter's threshold down - bringing up quiet material and bringing down loud transients. By initially starting out with a less dynamic and "flatter" mix, it'll be easier to bring the whole track to a louder listening level than trying to "flatten" an already very dynamic mix. I can see how this could get out of hand for this reason and you could kill the entire feel of a song through killing it's dynamics, but wow this is really clicking with me. Thank you!
I already knew those techniques somehow, but it certainly is more memorable when a nice guy with a strange accent is showing you how he used it in a mix. Thanks, mate!
It took me a while to understand but I think I get it now. Thank you! Can you do us a favor and redo this video for hip-hop mixes? I’m going to test it out myself but I’m curious to see if the same rules apply and I’m sure others are also.
As regard to the loudness war still going on...Yes no argument there. Replay Gain , standard volume levels for satellite radio, and of course compression on AM/FM radio makes the whole loud mix deal seem stupid and waste of time. I'm sure you realize sir that with Replay Gain for I tunes an old 80's cd will sound better than some modern compressed mix. Why? Replay Gain will play them at equal level. And it will bring the modern hyper-compressed mix down in volume. In the old days Mastering engineers were supposed to make the tape sound good on vinyl. Times change but the loudness war no longer makes sense.
And what about ethical implications? If you are producing and mastering music one would expect that you at least like music, so why destroy it? Because it's your job?
This. Dude. Has changed my life. I have been searching for this for two weeks. My snare was eating up all my head room. I found out logic has a tape delay. That when used correctly, can have a saturation effect. I found 4-5 db of headroom. Thank you!!!!!!!
Very Good explained specially at that part Lofi saturation and limiting , Sounds louder and yet gains 4 dbs of Headroom Thanks and can you suggest me some good saturation plugins for drums and synths I wanna have choices rather than using same plugin for all
I just go of ear and also when you use limiter you have to know why your using it and whats the result you want. Dont just apply anything without knowing the sound your looking for. Limiters are very powerful
How I see it: The more I learn the more I understand that I don't really know that mush. And that is the reason I always look and read about mixing and mastering, there is always something I don't know. Have a skilful time and always try to learn more. Pinge
INSANASOMNIA Yeah Ian is great as well. I like David too, just started watching these videos by the way... Ian and David supplement each other. Worth checking both out.
Disclaimer: My comment wasn't a bash on this channel, it was just a suggestion for supplemental material on this very large topic that is Mastering. Cheers.
Jon C I agree sir. This video is great advice but they are a lot of mastering engineers who will say "mix normally..Leave loudness to us." Yes, it's a very large topic. Not criticizing the video. The video on "High Pass Madness" brought a smile on my face.
Jon C yeah ive learnt many technuques by many guys so im just collecting info take some leave some and make up my own mind. Also check out produce like a pro! i learn alot by watching interviews and studio tours and how they use there hardware. So grab a cuppa put ur feet up and watch Warren go on tangents hahaha
I saw your video in my suggestions list and in 30 minutes you managed to clarify something I never understood in 17 years. Thanks for covering this topic. This will save me soooooo much time and effort. You are a legend!
Loudness wars should be over since LUFS and other leveling systems have become the standard. You make your mix loud and undynamic, you'll be turned down equally and you gain nothing.
Awesome video . Awesome song. The two things I will take away from this video is the way you achieved density in such a clever way and your emphasis on balance. This will change my life. Thank you!!
Wow, im in the middle of mixing session, and everything like hell. When we break time, i find this video, and try some tips from here. And the result, my client smile. Thank you
just watched a couple of your videos and wow. You explain things that I haven't seen others explain before. I'm definitely subscribed. thanks for all the help. its people like you that help the ones who are self-taught or internet taught the most. the amount of details that you incorporate into your videos is very eye opening. thanks again.
I am working in the studio of my local radio and mixing every day, looking time by time on channels for new gear use and some new technics, but this is the first channel that made me review my approaching to my job...like, stop just using the drive knob on the desk...well i did it for years with no probs but it's good to make experiments, use some plugins, different treatment for different instrument stacks...before i found this channel i was the furious fan of the "only console" concept, considering that the console's channel strip is enough and everything else is from evil...
I finally get why those little soft clip knobs are there for!!! Thanks so much for making these tutorials; they are among the best of the best mixing tutorials!
I am house producer and I am not int rock/metal genre but having a decent taste on music I have to say that this song is pretty awesome! Nice tutorial as well!!
Best mixing channel on RU-vid. Keep it up! After 2 years of learning production of the Internet, it's the first time I've heard of Crest Factor, that says a lot about the quality of your explanations.
