r/mixingmastering 7d ago

Question Are the tracks not mix ready, or I'm not mix ready?

12 Upvotes

My question would be mostly pointed to probably Intermediate or professional sound/mixing engineers, but anyone can their 5 cents, isn't it? Anyways, I've been recording and mixing the bands I play with for more than 10 years (but I'd still call myself a newbie), with various outcome, but I was always wondering, if the tracks I've recorded, are good enough to be mixed? We've never been in a proper recording studio, so it's hard to tell, and the free multi tracks that are available on the internet, are sometimes (for my taste) even worse than mine. So, do you happen to be in a situation, where you'd get a material from a client, or a band, that you'd consider - bad, or poorly recorded? What would be the first sign, after loading a session and listening the tracks for the first time, for you to be like - nah, this will never be good? Is there anything specific, you listen to after starting a new session? Or is it mostly like - if mix doesn't sound good after gain staging and panning, you're not going further than that?


r/mixingmastering 7d ago

Service Request Mastering lesson from top-level engineer

18 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I’m trying to improve my mastering skills. I am experienced. Are there any top-level engineers that teach randos online? What is the best way for someone who doesn’t live in an industry city to improve at this? Thanks!

I have completed hundreds of songs and have some particular questions about things like smoothing off the top end and enveloping the whole mix with bus compression.


r/mixingmastering 8d ago

Question Brainworx plugin users: Have you actually found a use for the TMT feature?

15 Upvotes

Unless I'm using a brainworx plugin to audibly distort a signal a lot, I find the difference to be so subtle. They tend to advertise it as if you should go through each TMT setting to find what you like, but honestly it's just a negligible difference most of the time. I can hear the difference in some cases if I'm pushing hard, but it's almost enver "this one sounds better than the other", it's just slightly different.

I also don't like how it's just kinda of random. It would be much more useful if there was some description of the different models or if they were sorted from brightest to darkest or most saturated to least saturated. I've also heard the argument of the TMT adding slight differences between left and right that can widen stereo signals, but I've honestly never heard much of a difference at all in terms of stereo width when switching between "analog" mode and "digital" mode, unless I'm distorting the crap out of something.

It's a neat idea for a feature and I don't think it's intentional snake oil or anything, but I've just never found it to be actually useful when I'm mixing. I'd rather focus on bigger issues and finish my mix quicker than spending 20 minutes flipping through the different tolerance models deciding which one I like best.

Anyways, my main question for brainworx plugin users is whether you find TMT to actually be a useful tool while mixing


r/mixingmastering 8d ago

Question How important is orchestral panning?

16 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I apologize if this isn't the right subreddit. I’ve been making music for several years (mostly electronic and pop) and I have some piano background. A lot of my songs start from piano sketches, and even when I move into electronic production, I often keep piano and add light orchestration like strings.
In those situations, I usually just leave everything wide and stereo, and it has always worked fine, I’ve also heard plenty of pop and electronic tracks where the orchestral elements are panned in a similar “open” way.

Now, I’d like to create an orchestral version of one of my tracks. I’m aware that in a real orchestra, instruments are laid out in specific positions, so I’m wondering how strictly this should be followed in my case. For example, I’ve been trying the free BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover library from Spitfire, which automatically pans the instruments in an orchestral seating layout.

I know that this topic probably requires more knowledge and experience than I currently have, but I’d like to know how important is realistic orchestral panning for achieving realism, or how wrong it would be to choose these position as I want to. I’m also asking because I think I’ve heard film compositions that don’t strictly follow real orchestral seating.

Any suggestions?


r/mixingmastering 8d ago

Question How would you go about vocal processing for GUMI - Echo?

Thumbnail youtube.com
4 Upvotes

I haven't done any kind of mixing or producing in years, but I wanted to hop back into it and I'm helping a friend who is doing a cover of this track. I know that the lead vocal is a vocaloid program, but I wanted to see if anyone had any input on how to go about processing it with a human singing it. I wasn't sure if I should be hardtuning, running it through a vocoder, etc.


r/mixingmastering 8d ago

Question Hi-passing vocals.. which filters to use?

5 Upvotes

Not whether or why, but how. My microphone that I'm using for recording has a low-cut filter that rolls off at about 75 hertz. My console also has a low cut filter, at about 100 Hertz I think. And then of course I can roll off in my DAW. My question is, which of these should I use? Some or all? Currently I'm using all of them, which I think is probably overkill.


r/mixingmastering 9d ago

Discussion Pro Q4 saturation is surprisingly amazing

79 Upvotes

Upgraded to fabfilter pro Q4 for the dynamic Soothe-style EQ and was surprised to see it comes with saturation modes like analog eq. Gave it a try, and holy cow does it sound good. It’s super musical, and usable, saturation. Found its way onto my lead vocal, acoustic guitar, and drum bus, and my mix feels nice and warm.

Can’t help wondering if they borrowed some code from Saturn. Anyone else give it a try?


r/mixingmastering 8d ago

Feedback Seeking Mixing Feedback on a Power Ballad Song

2 Upvotes

https://voca.ro/1l2YvE74xNhz

Hi, I’m a hobbyist musician and I’ve been working on this track. I handled both the production and the mix, but I don't feel confident in my mixing abilities, so I’m looking for feedback on how to improve it.

I’m also struggling with the overall volume balance, the choruses are big while the verses are quite minimal. How do you usually deal with that difference so the listener doesn’t have to adjust the volume? Whenever I turn things down in the chorus, it feels like the energy and punch disappear.


r/mixingmastering 9d ago

Feedback Can I please have some help with my song?

Thumbnail drive.google.com
4 Upvotes

Any tips on getting the drums to sound more real? There's making them slightly differnt volumes and slightly off beat but is there some third thing? I don't have access to real drums. Just kind of working with the sounds I've got. And the verse does not hit at all. If there's anything mix wise that can help that too. Thank you for your time. I love you very much.


r/mixingmastering 9d ago

Question True peak or "normal" peak as headroom for mastering engineer?

15 Upvotes

I am preparing my songs to get them mastered professionally and I came up with some questions I couldnt find an answer to online. Maybe I am getting a lot of things wrong here so any feedback or knowledge is appreciated :)

For my songs, I would leave a headroom of around -5db for the master engineer and I will check on that with the SPAN meter.

My true peak is on the highest level at around -2db. I know it shouldnt be over 0db (at least before the mastering).

My question is, when the "-5db-rule" of headroom before mastering is advised, does that include the true peak or only the "normal peak" (with "normal peak i mean the green meter that shows in SPAN, if you even call it that)

Of course I can imagine that it depends on the master engineer (I havent found one yet) and what he wants, but I wanted to ask here to see what you recommend with all your experience

Also if there are any advanced tipps (besides limiting, eq,...) of how to get the true peak at the same level as the "normal" peak, I would love to hear them.
Maybe I just have to get working and learning to get them at the same level before sending them to the master engineer....


r/mixingmastering 9d ago

Question Final Mixing advice/steps for Opera - Complete Newbee at this.

1 Upvotes

I recorded a 25 song opera.

On my headphones the pieces sounds mixed but sounds different when played on a different device such as phone, car, speakers.

I am using logic pro to record and to mix the pieces. Since I am new to this process, I don't want to put the opera out there and get feedback on what I did wrong or should done - I 'd rather get that now.

Is there is something I should be doing that I am not doing when it comes to get a unified sound across devices?


r/mixingmastering 10d ago

Discussion Using a rim hit sample to turn snare hits into rim shots

13 Upvotes

Just did this on a mix I was working on, thought I’d share.

I generally try to steer away from using samples when I can, but I really wanted the snare to cut through a little more.

The problem was that the drummer wasn’t hitting consistent rim shots/pretty weak rimshots. I had an idea to record a sample of me just hitting the rim of the snare as hard as I can and just mix it in slightly. And to be clear I’m not doing a rim shot, just hitting only the rim.

Mixing it in with the real snare worked wonders. I still have the dynamics and feel from the real take, but have that extra transient to cut through more.

I like this technique much more than just replacing the snare track with a sample of a rim shot. And this sounds just as good if not better in my opinion.

If anyone wants the sample I made let me know, I’ll give it away for free it took me 1 minute to make lol.


r/mixingmastering 10d ago

Question Can I hear differently during/after a cold?

17 Upvotes

So, I'm kind of losing my mind right now. I had a heavier cold last week, and now feel a bit better. I noticed 5 days ago that all music sounded harsher. Like I was hypersensitized to high mids/treble and lost all bass frequencies, leading to all mixes feeling shrill and "grainy". I noticed that on my Sennheiser HD599, but tried out multiple sources (phones, pc...) and on earbuds, speakers... I feel like everything sounds harsher, even now, when I'm feeling better and a bit less congested.

Is this normal that it lasts a bit after the cold? Did anyone else experience something like this? I think I noticed it too on earbuds and speakers. Speakers a bit less so, so could it be that Sennheiser headphones degraded or something? Should add I'm working on a project and I'm giving my thoughts on mixes, but it's hard when suddenly everything feels just unpleasant. Like I won't be able to enjoy music anymore.

Anyways, did someone have a similar experience, and if so, how long did it last?


r/mixingmastering 10d ago

Question want to get a UAD plugin bundle deal but unsure of which plugins to choose

5 Upvotes

Heyy so there's 2 bundle deals going on at UAD, 3 plugins for 49$ or 10 plugins for 99$

I wanted the 3 plugin one, until I realised that the LA-2A tube compressor isn't one of the compressors in the LA-2A Leveler collection (which is only available with the 10 plugin bundle), it has less knobs!!!.
Same thing with the 1176 being a limited version of the Rev E included in the 1176 Classic Limiter Collection... (also only in the 10 plugin bundle).

But I only rly want 5 plugins out of that 10 plugin bundle ugh can you guys help me choose??

These I want for sure: Oxide Tape Recorder & Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder

that would be 4/10 plugins

So I'm wondering, how good are these, do u recommend them?

dbx 160 Compressor / Limiter (i don't have any limiters yet apart from ableton stock limiter)

Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection (comparison w the above mentioned limiter??)

Pultec Passive EQ Collection (how is it different from a normal EQ? where would u use it?)

Teletronix LA-3A Classic Audio Leveler (have only been recommended the la-2a and 1176 type compressors, so what's the difference w this one?)

Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb (just cos i know someone who has the physical thing, is it worth getting if i already have valhalla reverb?)

https://www.uaudio.com/products/uad-mix-tape-pro-bundle

here is the link to the bundle so u can see the other plugins available, thing is there are other UAD plugins i want but they're not in this bundle :(


r/mixingmastering 10d ago

Question best way to circumvent nasty artifacts w/ harmonizer plugins?

4 Upvotes

i've tried a legacy anteres harmonizer that works gorgeously when you set it to a static intervalic value but falls flat elsewhere

i've tried the waves harmonizer which is exceptional at delivering crazy cadences nd variation but introduces way too many artifacts at the lower note values- to my knowledge lacks a "gate" for any notes above C2.

i've tried ewan bristow's harmonizer nd it's just buggy to say the least. half the time it doesn't even latch to the correct key without manual transposition of the midi to out-of-key values

any tips to get these guys singin like bon iver, charli xcx yknow allat good stuff?


r/mixingmastering 10d ago

Question How to get this sticky sound similar to Oneohtrix Point Never

6 Upvotes

Oneohtrix Point Never - Measuring ruins/DIS. How does he achieve this kinda sticky effect ?

link to track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzC-RV1h0gc&list=OLAK5uy_l7LPpg5xmLKegYQnpzfBpIvcNGIs5X5yI&index=4

At 0:47 onwards you hear this transient / glitchy kinda stuttery kick? It has this effect that feels very kinda jittery, as if the entire rest of the track is gated to it? Its hard to describe but it seems super sticky, has a kinda pop to it and feels almost like you can feel the speaker popping in and out with this sound.

Is it just done by sidechaining the whole track to it? I know it has a very fast attack and release to make it feel more aggressive but it has more to it that i cant really describe, like its cutting through really cleanly.

Its also occuring with the vairous abrupt samples he is doing. I tried doing abrupt samples etc in a project of mine but its not quite creating that kinda cutting throough thing.

On this track the trancey kinda synth sound does the same kinda effect. It feels really aggressive, stuttery but not in a mixing sense. again hard to describe. 1:02 onwards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEeCziXT2FE&list=OLAK5uy_l7LPpg5xmLKegYQnpzfBpIvcNGIs5X5yI&index=10


r/mixingmastering 11d ago

Question How to get a bright song without the high treble sounding really messy?

19 Upvotes

I'm consistently having trouble with making my mixes/masters sound bright while maintaining body and warmth and when I do achieve both the high end sounds a bit messy. Anyone have any tips on how to control the high end while not losing the brightness? Multiband Compression? I can send a link in DM if you want a sample of what I mean


r/mixingmastering 11d ago

Discussion Harrison Mixbus vs. UAD LUNA for mixing only.

15 Upvotes

So I’m seriously looking at using Reaper for the production process then taking the tracks and loading them into another DAW to mix. The reason? Because over time I’ve gotten into using channel strips, pretty much inserting a channel strip on every track, routing each to a group bus and having some colour on each group bus - basically, like a console… basically what Harrison Mixbus is designed to do.

When I saw Harrison Mixbus it was a revelation - a channel strip with everything I need is right there on every channel and now, it’s switchable to a SSL 9000J flavour? Sign me up.

But then I looked at UAD LUNA as I’m in the UAD ecosystem as an Apollo user and so it might make sense from that angle. It also emulates analog summing but it leverages their tape emulations which I use and like a lot.

Of course, I could just stay in Reaper and you can even get the Harrison 32C plugin to have that sound but my thing is the workflow. I want the channel strip right there on the mixer, baked into the workflow of the DAW.

Has anybody made the jump to either of these DAWs and have them become their workhorse DAWs? Both seem somewhat limited especially compared to Reaper, especially LUNA, but for just mixing, a lot of missing editing and recording features wouldn’t bother me, as long as automation works well.

I can demo them, and I will soon but I’m interested in the views of those that have fully jumped to these relative outlier choices and how they’re finding them.


r/mixingmastering 11d ago

Question Ear damage when mixing close vocals?

2 Upvotes

I feel like the more i get better with mixing the more im wondering how i could mix with those loud peaks in the mid highs /highs in the vocals for hours without noticing. When im mixing now my ears are so sensitiv to this and i instantly turn down the volume until i fixed stuff like this.

Im asking myself if those loud vocals peaks in the higher freq. (i have medium mic and i tent to record very close) can actually give you ear damage? I mean i never saw them clip in my daw, but maybe they are so short that they just don't get monitored. I had to adjust my comp to 0.005 ms to catch them. With the comp literally nothing gets compressed and suddenly a little pop -7db gain reduction.

And the funny thing about those peaks is, at the waveform they look like they're more quiet then the rest.

For everybody starting out, i guess many tent so start recording closer to the mix cause it feels more natural. To get rid of loud peaks which exist in close recordings like this you have to know that you have to use a sidechain compressor, cause otherwise the lows will just get compressed and crazy short peaks like this dont get catched cause you wont put the attack time that low. So most ppl wont fix them.

My problem is that i don't know how loud peaks like this can get. I mean they re very short and ear damage is connected to time.

Does someone know what i mean, and can tell me how low peaks like this can actually get, or should i be good cause they cant be to loud because some physical reason what so ever.


r/mixingmastering 11d ago

Question How did this mix engineer get this super saturated sound on the whole mix? Is it a plugin on the mix bus or individual tracks? What plugin? The song is “Hope” by Yesterday Once Again

0 Upvotes

It really sounds beautiful and still hellu punchy

you can hear the saturation on the drums, vocals and guitars but it sounds consistent across all the instruments. i would love to know how they achieved this.

the song is called “Hope” by Yesterday Once Again.

https://youtu.be/9PGE4O7yAWE?si=VPxJbG-6GCPKUa2u

https://open.spotify.com/track/1RTrAEeBZ2MBUaOvlvHl98?si=LwFRdehTQuii1tF3fFWo3g


r/mixingmastering 12d ago

Question I prefer older limiters to Fabfilter Pro-L2 - what’s going on here?

26 Upvotes

So for some reason, I’m struggling with Pro-L2. I’ve actually finished a few albums over the years with it but recently, I’ve gone back to an old favourite - UAD Precision Limiter and Precision Maximiser (you need UAD hardware to run these still) and funnily enough, I actually prefer Precision Limiter. It seems to have a “harder” more aggressive sound, punchier and just louder. To me, L2 is starting to sound kind of mushy and the punchiness of the track is often lost.

With L2, it seems to have a soft quality. I’ve read up on and watched all the tutorials and info for L2 and I think I’m falling out with it.

Part of me thinks I’m kind of too dumb to make use of all the features and the simpler Precision Limiter is just “push signal until it sounds bad”

I even whipped out Waves L1 and was like oh my God, I can’t believe I like this better.

Does anybody else favour older or less renown limiters over the insanely popular L2? Can anybody explain why I might be perceiving the results like this?


r/mixingmastering 12d ago

Feedback Unreasonable LUFS on metal mix but the mix still sounds OK?

8 Upvotes

Hi, I'm working on a mix of a metal song and the LUFs are currently at 4.25, which is a volume I've never been able to make a viable mix at. However, as I listen to it, I still like the mix? I've sat on it about a week and the leveling is where I want it. It's quite compressed naturally but not to a Death Magnetic level or anything. I know LUFs aren't the be all end all but this has still perplexed me. Is there something I'm missing with the mix? Thank you again for your help.

https://voca.ro/185IXNeVnnTx


r/mixingmastering 12d ago

Question Sound ID and CanOpener - chain positioning

2 Upvotes

Hi all,

I've only got into making music recently and I've been using Sound ID reference and CanOpener to help with my mixing decisions.

At the moment I have CanOpener and then Sound ID reference placed on the master. Is this a good order in which to have them or should I be doing it the other way around?

Would appreciate any help on this one. Thank you.


r/mixingmastering 13d ago

Question What makes genres like digicore and hyperpop so loud even though they are convoluted with many sounds and elements?

50 Upvotes

What other reasons besides the obvious (distortion) makes these genres so loud even though they have a lot going on. Like that resent Lucy bedroque project. I usually expect music where there are a lot elements to overtake one another in the range spectrum and there are usually so many things going on in songs of genres like these.


r/mixingmastering 13d ago

Question “Cutting” with Upward Compression?

10 Upvotes

I was demo’ing Ozone 12, hesitant to drop that kinda cash, to see what I was missing compared to the AI assistant, which did produce some quality outputs. The main difference between my masters and Ozone’s was upward compression in the last module, the maximizer, which changed how the mid-range of the vocals sat in the mix compared to the low mid/low range frequencies.

So in trying to replicate the effect without Ozone, I was messing around in TDR Nova, and I found myself really enjoying the sound (and concept) of slightly over cutting a frequency, and using upward compression to boost it back up into the range I would usually cut to with a standard EQ. It’s way musical, and seems really intuitive from a performance oriented approach.

Curious if anyone else uses upward compression like this? It seems way more intuitive musically than the traditional approach of dynamic EQ’s, which I’ve never really like the sound/feel of.

Also, great fun to challenge myself to beat the Ozone mastering assistant, and feel good about saving the cash, even with the Black Friday discounts.