Mastering/Mixdown Must-Do's

[BananaMan]

Whats your must do's and dont's when getting your tracks to sound great?
Can be basic or complicated, just want to get an idea of the types of techniques people employ.

[DJ TINMAN]

Group all DRUMS together then do the same for BASS/SYNTH, FX, possibly VOCALS etc etc.

Turn down all faders, then mix so i've got the individual groups at the right level. e.g. Usually get kick and snare sitting right then mix other persucssion around them.

Then mix the groups together, so much easier with just 4/5 faders to get the final level.

[Kaychi]

dnt add too much effects to your master channel if you plan to get them mastered.


"use sparingly"

['nuum general]

dnt add any effects to your master channel if you plan to get them mastered.




fixed

[Kaychi]

fixed

basics on fruity n reason.....thats all

[Steez]

Group all DRUMS together then do the same for BASS/SYNTH, FX, possibly VOCALS etc etc.

Turn down all faders, then mix so i've got the individual groups at the right level. e.g. Usually get kick and snare sitting right then mix other persucssion around them.

Then mix the groups together, so much easier with just 4/5 faders to get the final level.
I CAN NOT stand working that way. If I have issues I'd rather submit one or two sounds, rather than turn down ALL the drums or sounds. I like the full control, might be a control freak thing.

['nuum general]

I CAN NOT stand working that way. If I have issues I'd rather submit one or two sounds, rather than turn down ALL the drums or sounds. I like the full control, might be a control freak thing.

I'm the same, sometimes its just one elemenmt in the drums that's too loud so I prefer to have them separate rather than have to turn the whole thing down

[Retrofreak]

Group all DRUMS together then do the same for BASS/SYNTH, FX, possibly VOCALS etc etc.

Turn down all faders, then mix so i've got the individual groups at the right level. e.g. Usually get kick and snare sitting right then mix other persucssion around them.

Then mix the groups together, so much easier with just 4/5 faders to get the final level.

^^^I agree 100% with this +

1. Do not use Limiting and Maximizing plugin's at pre-master stage as the engineer will have no head room to work with.

2. At mix stage try to control sibilance on vocals by drawing them down manually or using de-ssers, as they will clash with hi-hats when EQ'd.

3. Bass = Volume

4. Check your mix with a stereo phase plug in occasionally as this will help in the long run.

5. lol Make sure your speakers are wired the right way.

[Steez]

What does that stereo phase thing do? I see my boy use it bare after he's mixed a beat, but never really understood what it do

[Retrofreak]

What does that stereo phase thing do? I see my boy use it bare after he's mixed a beat, but never really understood what it do

Stereo phase plugins will show you how wide stereo sounds are.

If their too wide they will disappear when their in mono.

You can put some sounds "out of phase" , but stuff like drums, bass and vocals should be central (mono).

[Gizzle]

Hey guys,

I make beats on reason 3 an 4 (i like both versions) and all I wanna know is How do you make your mixdowns loud and phat?? Maniac an J beats are good at this an i dunno how.

Can anyone help??

[Demos]

Hey guys,

I make beats on reason 3 an 4 (i like both versions) and all I wanna know is How do you make your mixdowns loud and phat?? Maniac an J beats are good at this an i dunno how.

Can anyone help??

i'd probably do the mixdown in a different program.

[4737]

i'd probably do the mixdown in a different program.

You're definitely able to get things sounding relatively fat in reason. I do my mixdowns in the program without any real problems (except perhaps the limitations/boundaries of what the program can actually do).

I tend not to follow a routine when mixing down though. I just use my ear and find what sounds right. I usually mix things progressively as I go through the making of a track, and by the time it's finished, everything fits nicely into place.

t.

[Demos]

You're definitely able to get things sounding relatively fat in reason. I do my mixdowns in the program without any real problems (except perhaps the limitations/boundaries of what the program can actually do).

I tend not to follow a routine when mixing down though. I just use my ear and find what sounds right. I usually mix things progressively as I go through the making of a track, and by the time it's finished, everything fits nicely into place.

t.

fair enough.

but yeah i do the same, mix things as I'm going along instead of leaving it all to the end.

[Gizzle]

Ive never done it that way before
Is that the best way to get it all loud an proud??

[Delirium_P]

Ive never grouped sounds together coz i always feel like theres individual sounds that are too loud quiet etc,
Never go over 0db when mixing down make sure you give yourself plenty headroom
Mayb a lil compression on a sound bass etc if you no what youre doing but unless youre experienced multi band can seriously fuck your mix up if you dont no what your doing
Eqing very important for most sounds i believe ( clashing frequencies etc
And whether you see it as important or not Saving new versions ( CTRL+N In FL) one of the most important things to remember

[DJ TINMAN]

Ive never grouped sounds together coz i always feel like theres individual sounds that are too loud quiet etc,

Can still edit the individual channels while they are part of a group, just good to have them all controlled by one fader. Usually add a touch of compression, reverb, eq etc on the group channel itself aswell.

[Delirium_P]

Can still edit the individual channels while they are part of a group, just good to have them all controlled by one fader. Usually add a touch of compression, reverb, eq etc on the group channel itself aswell.

Stupidly enough ive never thought of it like that

[croydonbeats]

I group percussion together, hooks/vox together, maybe synths together (although the bass often goes in with the percussion mix). Then I'll usually stick compressors across the groups - certainly the percussion group, because when you compress stuff together it sort of gels the sound together. That's really why I group tracks: it's not about flinging group faders around for me, I like to get down to individual track level; it's about doing something to the whole group to gently mash the sounds together.

Also, I'm a cunt: I mix through dynamics processors on the master out. Usually something like FlatBlaster in Reaktor 5 (which does compression and limiting in one shot) or... a compressor followed by a limiter (I'm not much good at hearing the difference between limiters, so the Kjaerhus classic limiter (http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-master-limiter.php) works fine for me). I've only had a couple of vinyl releases - techno, ages ago - and when I did a few MP3 releases a while back it was for a small label and I did my own mastering. That's unprofessional, so I'd recommend that you can play with mastering plugins yourself, but if you're handing your mix over to a mastering engineer, seriously, get it sounding amazing but unmastered, and the engineer will take it on and blow the roof off. Anyone here know if Jason at Transition in Forest Hill's still doing his thing?

[BananaMan]

nice nice interesting. retrofreak, whats your myspace?

['nuum general]

I group percussion together, hooks/vox together, maybe synths together (although the bass often goes in with the percussion mix). Then I'll usually stick compressors across the groups - certainly the percussion group, because when you compress stuff together it sort of gels the sound together. That's really why I group tracks: it's not about flinging group faders around for me, I like to get down to individual track level; it's about doing something to the whole group to gently mash the sounds together.

Also, I'm a cunt: I mix through dynamics processors on the master out. Usually something like FlatBlaster in Reaktor 5 (which does compression and limiting in one shot) or... a compressor followed by a limiter (I'm not much good at hearing the difference between limiters, so the Kjaerhus classic limiter (http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-master-limiter.php) works fine for me). I've only had a couple of vinyl releases - techno, ages ago - and when I did a few MP3 releases a while back it was for a small label and I did my own mastering. That's unprofessional, so I'd recommend that you can play with mastering plugins yourself, but if you're handing your mix over to a mastering engineer, seriously, get it sounding amazing but unmastered, and the engineer will take it on and blow the roof off. Anyone here know if Jason at Transition in Forest Hill's still doing his thing?

He is, I believe he does alot for big name dubstep artists.