Boosting a frequency will reduce the available bandwidth for the rest of the bands and may cause a noticeable reduction of the perceived dynamic range. However, in the scenario where you are working on a sound like a Hardstyle Kick, a Hardcore Kick, a Reese Bass a Hard Drum & Bass Snare, etc.where in the FX chain you'll have distortion, limiting, or clipping this approach can be rewarding because these effects impose strong boundaries and limitations. As a rule of thumb, this is useful for single tracks but if you are already working with decent headroom in your master channel, this should not affect much the final result. Subtractive EQ frees up headroom while Additive EQ eats it up. Subtractive Equalization: We all know that in the digital domain the max volume is 0 dB. At the beginning of every session compare the old versions with the new ones with an open mind and see take notes of the improvements or flows.
To do that, I save different versions of your Ableton, FL Studio, Cubase, or Logic Project at the end of your studio session and export them to audio. I would also add to always try to set up your project in a way that you can easily roll back to the previous state of your mix and try to compare the different stages with one another. In FL Studio, you can load your FX chain with the patcher in the mix slot so that you can easily enable it or bypass it at will In Cubase or Logic Audio you can either duplicate the channel and compare the 2 versions (one with an empty fx slot and one with your fx chain) or route your channel to a separated send with your fx chain or just manually disable one by one the fx slots to do an A/B comparison.
To make sure you are on the right path, if your DAW supports it like Ableton or Bitwig, setup an FX Group where you can easily bypass and enable the whole FX chain you are using to do an instant A/B comparison In other DAWs this can be achieved with a little workaround.
Set up your workflow in a way where you avoid destructively editing and, if you really have to, save a backup to always be able to go back to how things were. There's a third-party tool from Izotope called Neutron, you can set it up on every channel of your mix and visually see where frequencies clash, and have a general idea of how your tracks are interacting with one another.Īvoid destructive editing: We all want to move forward but is normal that in the process we do mistakes or take sub-optimal routes.
So when you are processing an instrument, always try to objectively listen to it in context and see if your FX Chain is really adding clarity to the full picture. In the grand schemes of things is way more important to check how your track sounds as a whole and not how every element sound on its own.
If every channel is being boosted on the same frequency range, is very likely that your mix will sound flat and harsh: so before moving on to the next stage, make sure that every piece of the puzzle blends in smoothly with the others. It may happen that some channels sound good on their own but when combined with others frequencies clash and phasing issues take place. This topic is really wide and thus I tried to condense some tips you might not have heard a million times.I hope you guys will find it useful! ?Īlways put elements in context: Every track is a Puzzle: each piece makes sense in context and you should always keep that in mind when you are processing the elements of your song.
When comes to music production, is extremely important to know how to make a professional mixdown. For those who prefer to watch a video version instead of reading: