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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: May 2016
Posts: 368
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 368 |
I agree with Sundance - mix everything as a whole around your vocals.
A technique I use is:
Turn the volume down on all your tracks and then turn up your tracks in the following audible order: 1. The most important track (typically your lead vocal)- none of the other tracks should be able to dominate this track 2. Then the second most important track (typically solo instrument) 3. Third most important 4. I think 5. You 6. Get 7. The Idea 8. Your least important instrument should never be considered louder than any of the other instruments.
From experience - limit the number of tracks to a minimum - I've been quite surprised to find out - less is more! (yes I know - it's mentioned everywhere)
Then make sure to use panning to create space and the sense of air around each of your tracks.
Use EQ to avoid congestion in the low freq - cut in every track except bass and kick/drums. Adjust bass and kick/drums, so they don't compete for the same frequencies at the same time - this might need a dynamic EQ to get right.
Use EQ to cut out treble of your less important tracks - a bit like when your hear sounds from a distance the high frequencies are usually not audible at all.
Time for Volume Automation and Compression on each track, to make sure each track sonically stays in their sorted order as decided above.
Then individually on each track preferably as a "Send" (not inside the track itself)- if needed Add Effects (Modulation, Distortion...carefully, Filtering act) Add Delay Add Reverb - use an EQ and cut out all below 300Hz and Above 4000 Hz before the Reverb Plugin/Device otherwise you'll find it very hard to control you low- and high end(Less is more...) Use a reverb with PreDelay especially for vocals to postpone the reverb effect slightly, as it gives more clarity to your vocal.
In the end I usually add a slow compressor on the (Master) Output Track to glue everything together. (A lot of Mastering engineers will tell you not to - and they are right....but I like it, because it adds a tiny scent to the total audio)
The pros: You get better control of your mix You can tweak all your tracks until you get the result you want Fix it in the mix gets so much easier It feels awesome, when you manage to put a sublime mix together
The cons: It takes a lot of time and practice It sometimes feels counter intuitive, because you almost have to start from scratch at every song you make You sometimes reach the state of dispair and just wish to stop existing :-)
...the alternative solution: Buy Waves CLA Plugin Suite, this will get the job done quickly 9 out of 10 times), it usually sounds pretty good and professional - and it's not too pricey. Yes! you're left with the features (and limitations) of the plugin, but it's time saving.
...the ultimate alternative ...and expensive solution: Get a pro to do it for you
I don't know if this was what you asked for...but now at ended up writing it anyway....*pressing submit now*
MacMini M1 - BIAB2021 - Logic Pro X - iZotope Music Production Suite - Scaler 2 - far too many Waves plugins and Line 6 Guitars and boards + a fantastic Yamaha THR10ll mini Amp - Avid MBOX Studio
Peters' Garage is available on all major streaming services
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
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Watch the video.
You can see all the 2026 videos on our forum!
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