General Mixing Advices
This post will give you a generel overview over dynamics and equalizing the typical instruments.
Instruments
Drums
General:
feel free to fine tune the Drum Gates at the end of the mix
Kick
EQ
Freq overview:
| Frequency | Character |
|---|---|
| 40 to 60 hz | Bottom: Tone of reverberation |
| 60 to 100 hz | Thump - air that is moving |
| 100 to 200 hz | Body of the Kick |
| 200 to 2000 hz | Hollowness, muddy or ringing sounds |
| 2k to 4k | Beater - The Klick sound can be found here |
To Do:
- wide cut arround 280 hz to isolate the kickness (low freqs)
- Damp or boost the Klickness at around 3-4.5 kHz (personal taste)
- lcut at 40 possible
Example:
Dynamics
Gate:
- Attack needs to be as fast as possible, or it will take high end away
- set release time tight
- hold ~ 50ms
Snare Top
EQ
| Frequency | Character |
|---|---|
| 200 to 400 hz | Body: Fundament of most snares |
| 400 to 800 hz | Ring - hollow ringing |
| 2k to 4k | Attack - Head of the Crack |
| 4k to ~ 8k | Sizzle and snap |
Lcut to 120 mid range 415 boot high shelf ~18hz
ToDo:
- cut arround 700hz
- Hshlv at top , 5 kHZ +
Example:
Dynamics
Compression: The Magic happens between the crack and the punch
- 4.0 Ratio
- Fast attack, 20 ms
- Hold 10 ms
- Release around 150 ms
FX
Reverb is crucial for a good snare sound use Ambience Reverb:
- predelay: 14ms
- decay: ~2.00s
- size: 60
- Damping: 10kHz
- Diffuse: 30
Send to FX Channel -> about 3/7ths
Snare Bot
Sound of the Fell.
EQ
ToDo:
- Cut low end
- Rest is same as top snare
Example:
Dynamics
- strong ratio, 10
- fast attack
- hold as desired
- fast release, ~70ms
Toms
EQ
| Frequency | Character |
|---|---|
| 100 to 300 hz | Body: Depends on the drum itself, the “boom” sound is found here. |
| 500 to 900 hz | Honk - buildup of unmusical tones, listen carefully |
| 3k to 4k | Attack - Stick hitting the drum |
ToDo:
- wide cut around 300 hz
- boost hShlv at ~6k
Gate
we want a snappy sound
- again, fast attack
- hold: ~150ms
- long release, ~650ms
Cymbals, OHs. Hi-Hat
“Hi-hat einfach muten” - Manuel Gottlieb
EQ
| Frequency | Character |
|---|---|
| 200 to 300 hz | Clank: “chink” sound |
| 6k and up | Sizzle - the “tsss” parts of cymbals, carefull tuning |
Bass
EQ
-High Pass
Dynamics
Compression is key for a good bass sound.
Piano
Keys
Pads
Tracks
Should be fine, maybe a little trim and a HiPass Filter
Akkoustic Guitar
EQ:
- Low-Cut bei ca 120Hz
- Midrange Oktaven verringern:
- 315Hz
- 630Hz
- 1.2 kHz
Dynamics
“soft knee” Treshhold: Not to low Attack: Fast - pick klick Ratio: Release time: Medium Picking: Faster Release Strumming: Slower Release
Reverb ist sinnvoll
violine
Vocals
Dynamics
- ~ 3.0
- fast Attack - ~ 16 ms
- Hold 10ms
- fast release - 5ms