Alright /mu/ novice level producer here. Give me your best mixing tips. Also I rarely hardpan guitars and bass in my music and usually put drums and vocals in the middle. Am I doing this way wrong? Does panning really even matter if you fuck it up considering good bands still sound good in mono or stereo? Why is where is my mind a good song even though the recording/mix quality is utter crap?
>>63606587
How the fuck did Butch Vig gate the drums on Nevermind. Like, what were his ratio settings ect. Those drums sound like fucking cannons.
>>63606616
I watched a video on this! First off Dave Grohl was playing on an insanely large Tama kit, forgot the name but you can see it in the Smells like teen spirit video. Second off Dave hit the drums with the heavy end of the stick instead of the tip.
>>63606616
>>63606771
don't forget adam kasper (brought in by dgc to do additional mix after vig mixed it) triggered samples onto most of dave's playing. not that dave ever needed it for consistency (in utero proves that).
as far OP...
there are a few general guidelines/principles to mixing properly which are readily available if you google them. beyond that...there is no right or wrong. if it sounds good to you, that's all that matters. just remember to leave enough headroom for the mastering engineer.
>>63606963
meant to write andy wallace, always mix kasper and wallace since they worked so much as additional mixers on studio and compilation/live releases relating to nirvana.
>>63606587
>Also I rarely hardpan guitars and bass in my music and usually put drums and vocals in the middle.
The general rule is that the kick/bass go in the middle. This is most important for music that might be played at a venue over speakers like a club, but it'll also sound really unbalanced in most other stereo cases too.
> Does panning really even matter if you fuck it up considering good bands still sound good in mono or stereo?
It can be very fatiguing for listening on headphones to have something hard-panned to one side since headphones have no crossbleed.
> Give me your best mixing tips.
Always start with EQ, always cut useless noise first (almost always anything below 20hz or above 20khz unless you really want sub-bass or to give ridiculous audiophile supertweeters something to do respectively). Avoid boosting freqs if you can help it, cut everything else and then push up the track's gain fader instead (this is less important than it used to be, but on old gear it helps avoid introducing distortion). If you do boost, use a wide band and be gentle with it. If you cut, use as narrow a band as you can to get the desired effect. Also preferentially trim frequencies off instruments that don't really need them (e.g. less than 200hz on a lead guitar) since you won't be able to hear them well anyway and it frees up room.
You can make different drum recordings/samples sound like they're from the same kit by giving them a bit of compression (nothing insane, just like a 2:1 and then pull down the threshold until you can hear it, then push it back up a smidge). Then feed them through a very mild reverb so they all gain a layer of "room acoustics" (the reverb) they share.
Use panning, EQ, and volume to place instruments in their own "space" so you can hear them.
Ultimately, if it sounds good it is good.
>>63606587
No, hardpanning guitars sounds like ass and unless you're deliberately trying to be unconventional, bass should carry the mix dead center.
>kick/snare/bass instruments stay centered
>pan out all other percussion as desired, I usually do audience perspective (EG hi-hat to the right, floor tom to the left, rack toms from right to left, etc)
>lead instruments/vocals stay center
>backing instruments/vocals get panned out but don't hardpan them
>>63606995
Yesss thanks man! Just what I was looking for. And very astute btw knowing I mix with headphones. Need to buy some moniters
>>63607022
Yeah, getting some proper monitors will immediately improve your mixing
The problem with headphones is that you're not hearing things like crossbleed, the way the bass frequencies will propagate through a space, etc. The bass frequency issue in particular can really fuck with your mixes, because you'll take the headphones off and test it out on a different playback system only to find that it sounds completely different from how it did in the headphones
>>63607022
What >>63607067 said is good advice, too. If you want to mix really well, get all kinds of shit to listen on: good headphones, shitty earbuds, MacBook laptop speakers, professional monitors, a mono speaker, whatever you can think of. Try to mix so that it sounds good on all of them.
Also keep in mind my last piece of advice is the only really hard and fast rule: if it sounds good it is good, as long as it sounds good on lots of different devices at different volumes, when you get up in the morning, and on repeat for 15 minutes. Lots of mixing rules of thumb get completely thrown out in certain genres, but "if it sounds good it is good" always applies.
>>63606995
I wouldn't hard pan guitars necessarily. I might do it for sound effects though
>>63607221
>>63607067
Good shit
>>63607259
Oh, another good device to listen on is your car's speakers while driving. That'll help simulate what it's like to listen to the song with noise in the background on kind of bad speakers or headphones (since car speakers are very badly positioned by hifi standards for safety reasons).
a few basic tips
don't HARD pan guitars, just pan them so that they are almost exclusively in one ear each (assuming two guitar typical setup), and then hardpan the multitracked guitar part (unless you are going for a very raw aesthetic you should always multitrack your guitars)
remember that multitracking is not just useful for creating a bigger mix but for creating a more texturally diverse mix, make sure to switch that tone up a bit when recording the multitrack, or ideally take a DI input and then reamp the signal
if you find yourself getting muddy mixes make sure to lowpass all parts which don't really need bass presence (which usually means your guitars)
parts might sound bad on their own but in the end they are only components of a final mix and it is this idea you need to keep in mind most of all - the best way to achieve a clear mix is to not cross the frequency brackets of each element, and if you do, have enough tonal variety in these borderlines to maintain clarity
>>63606995
This is some great knowledge right here, covers a lot of bases and is pretty easy for novice producers to understand. Kudos to you poster, kudos.
>Where Is My Mind
>bad recording/mix
>albini
>crap recording/mixing
Surfer Rosa is notably one of if not the very first records where he actually sounded like he knew what the fuck he was doing (even if he was an awful fit for that band)
>not mixing down to cassette and then recording that cassette played back through good speakers with levels in the red
plen
>>63606995
Solid advice, but
>Always start with EQ
Levels first imo. A track can sound vastly different just by changing the relative levels of the instruments and it can save you a lot of pointless EQing to just turn some shit down to begin with.
Obviously you'll have to adapt them as you bring the effects in, but make your best guess.
Also, this rocked my world when I was a complete noob so just in case: sweep the EQ to find the jarring frequencies. Boost one band way the fuck up and narrow it as thin as you can, then slowly slide it around. Easy way to spot nasty resonances etc.
>>63608921
This is a good technique too. You can also use it to find the sweet spot in snares and kicks, where the more "punchy" or "crisp" frequencies are coming from. Works both ways.
