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What effects are typically used on each separate instrument to get the final crystal clear mix, before the master. I know this question is extremely broad but I would like to get a general idea. Obviously people are going to say EQ , but what kind of EQ, and is there any reference on what instruments should be EQ'd at generally? Any good points of reference i can look at for mixing. already have read the moneyshot thread through a bunch of times too.

As for Eqing, this link helped me really understand it.http://www.dnbscene.com/article/88-thin ... q-tutorial as for mixing better. Its a buttload of things. Some sounds might need to be compressed more than others. Adding reverb, limiter, all kinds of other things. Read the article as soon as you can and read it many times to understand it all.

What I like to do when trying to clear up a mix with a parametric EQ is make a boost (with a medium Q) and sweep throughout the whole frequency range. When you hear that bit where the mix sounds the least clear, make a note of it and then take a cut to it.

Usually cuts to the bass / low-mids help clear things up (along with hi-passing) however even the high mids cut sometimes can help clear up some of that fizz you can sometimes get.

IN ORDER OF NECESSITY
Limiter: Who wants clipping?
Parametric equalizer: Remember! A little does ALOT for mastering the final mix and use very wide Slopes
Multiband Compressor: Make those drum KICK!!!!
Spectrum You Need to be able to see what areas need help or not.
Stereoizer(Optional)

Buzzwords. By boosting or cutting the bands on your equalizers, you can make your sound more or less "airy" (16khz), "bright" (3-10kHz) "harsh" (which is excessive brightness) "edgy" and "brittle" (2-6k) "sweet" (a slight but wide cut at 2-8k), "warm" (slight upper bass boost and slight 4k cut). You can make your mix sound "thin" by reducing an wide band of frequencies from around 200-400 hz and make it "thick" by increasing those. If you increase it too much you'll have a "muddy" mix. Your bass can go from "missing" to "buried" to "solid", "fat", "boomy" depending on how you set the low frequency controls.

NickyXplosion wrote:IN ORDER OF NECESSITY
Limiter: Who wants clipping?

What? If your mix is clipping without a limiter, you're doing it wrong.

Look that My edit I posted

I dont know lol lower the decibels?:lol:

NickyXplosion wrote:Look that My edit I posted

I dont know lol lower the decibels?:lol:

Reverb can help you place things, also, if something has no ambiance at all, it sounds weird to me.
Don't forget about panning, or compression. The order of your effects makes a drastic difference too. The longer the chain, the more obvious the change. Honestly, your mixes are probably just going to keep getting better with practice, not reading. But that dnbscene link is a good one. Dogsonacid has a fuckload of info too, so if you haven't checked it out, lurk for a few days.

EQ.. whichever EQ you have, and on pretty much everything, bar subs.

Not to say you should have ridiculous dramatic curves boosting and cutting all over everything, but every track needs at least a rolloff, a notch here or there. thats how to get em to fit together

Today wrote:EQ.. whichever EQ you have, and on pretty much everything, bar subs.

Not to say you should have ridiculous dramatic curves boosting and cutting all over everything, but every track needs at least a rolloff, a notch here or there. thats how to get em to fit together

This. I hate to speak in absolutes, but you should ALWAYS EQ everything. Haha.

malakasounds wrote:As for Eqing, this link helped me really understand it.http://www.dnbscene.com/article/88-thin ... q-tutorial as for mixing better. Its a buttload of things. Some sounds might need to be compressed more than others. Adding reverb, limiter, all kinds of other things. Read the article as soon as you can and read it many times to understand it all.

this article worked wonders for me as well

NickyXplosion wrote:Stereoizer(Optional)

what the hell is a stereoizer do you mean stereo imager? And yeah there not optional there's more or less a necessity

whats up w putting stereo imaging on the master? I would use it on certain tracks, or maybe a bus, to spread mids and highs wider, but i feel like pushing the entire mix through that style of plugin could result in artifacts, or just a hollow sounding master
as opposed to just hard panning stuff, and doing individual tracks in order to push a stronger signal through spaces accross the stereo field, and get a cleaner master

tbh i haven't tried it but i'll toss one on the master channel later and see what i can hear

Today wrote:whats up w putting stereo imaging on the master? I would use it on certain tracks, or maybe a bus, to spread mids and highs wider, but i feel like pushing the entire mix through that style of plugin could result in artifacts, or just a hollow sounding master
as opposed to just hard panning stuff, and doing individual tracks in order to push a stronger signal through spaces accross the stereo field, and get a cleaner master

tbh i haven't tried it but i'll toss one on the master channel later and see what i can hear

I just use it to tighten up te low stuff that's about it everything else is panning and subtle reverb

Today wrote:whats up w putting stereo imaging on the master? I would use it on certain tracks, or maybe a bus, to spread mids and highs wider, but i feel like pushing the entire mix through that style of plugin could result in artifacts, or just a hollow sounding master
as opposed to just hard panning stuff, and doing individual tracks in order to push a stronger signal through spaces accross the stereo field, and get a cleaner master

tbh i haven't tried it but i'll toss one on the master channel later and see what i can hear

it's a great tool if you want your mix to sound like shit on anything but itunes

malakasounds wrote:As for Eqing, this link helped me really understand it.http://www.dnbscene.com/article/88-thin ... q-tutorial as for mixing better. Its a buttload of things. Some sounds might need to be compressed more than others. Adding reverb, limiter, all kinds of other things. Read the article as soon as you can and read it many times to understand it all.

prolly the best article on eqing ever written!!! there's a follow-up tut about compression here: http://www.dnbscene.com/article/1474-co ... n-tutorial

Imager on the master is a no-no. If you can do it channel by channel, DO IT CHANNEL BY CHANNEL. Mastering engineers use it because they have no way of getting to channel by channel but since it's your mix, do it channel by channel.

A return track with a highpass, stereo imager is better because you have control over sends.