Grab your free Mixing Cheatsheet to learn the go-to starting points for EQ and compression in heavy mixes: www.mixcheatsheet.com
@MangoOverload9111 ай бұрын
Saturation and clipping make such an insane difference. Even using them on an "invisible" level took my master's struggling to hit -10 without destroying dynamics to hitting -6 before I've even pushed the limiters output up.
@Hollandvancewright11 ай бұрын
Agreed, and as an electronic producer half of my waveforms (bass, synths, pads, leads, ambiance) are already "sausaged," so compression mostly adds peaks rather than controlling them. It sounds back-asswards, but adding a well tuned compressor before distortion can add dynamics without creating extra work for the mastering chain. Amp simulation and clipping work a lot better on synthesized sound than traditional recording tools do. Then again, take my advice with a grain of salt. Sometimes I'll set a compressor's time settings as fast as possible to use as a weird sounding waveshaper. I never said I make "clean" music 😂😂
@shotgunndunn11 ай бұрын
Hey, if it sounds good… it IS good!!
@screendrem11 ай бұрын
More people should be doing videos on this topic. There is an absolute art to making mixes hold up to being slammed and still sound punchy. Thank you!
@theAshesofDecember111 ай бұрын
I’ve never heard anyone showcase a mix that ended up sounding like what I can to do in the studio until you played the mix without saturation, which means you may have pinpointed an exact problem for me
@RockSolidStudios11 ай бұрын
right? samesies
@martywitzberg10 ай бұрын
Here as well
@Louis1996_16 ай бұрын
Same!
@Brutuscomedy11 ай бұрын
There is no "loud" without soft. If everything hits the same ceiling, it's actually not loud and becomes fatiguing. Optimal compression of the '90s was better than smashing mixes today with digital plugins
@anglach3l11 ай бұрын
Oasis would like a word with you about how ‘90s compression was better than digital plugins… haha. (I do take the rest of your point though)
@Brutuscomedy11 ай бұрын
@@anglach3l Plugins are getting quite good, but for my own stuff at this point I am not reaching for them (for mastering purposes) but rather paying someone who uses hardware and tape even. Granted, he uses a Fabfilter digital limiter but I'm not a purist. I simply question the notion of "progress" and that things are necessarily improving over time. There is something magical, for instance, about physical tape and tape machines, not to mention real tubes and transformers.
@Durkhead3 ай бұрын
I think most music in the 90s sounded good because there was a good mix of analog and digital. They were basically using the same techniques but instead of using clippers they pushed analog compressors and eqs which actually clipped the audio the same way but it didnt have that digusting digital aliasing
@jozefserf20242 ай бұрын
Loud and dynamic is what it should be all about. 1:52 That "Master" is overly compressed and horrible, no air, no room to breathe.
@kshep3911 ай бұрын
Jordan you’re killing it with these videos as of late! Some real breakthroughs for me as a mixer happened when I dug into clipping and saturation.
@ReeWebster11 ай бұрын
Build into the composition is best tip I ever learned. Some sounds just create massive peaks when stacked. Careful layering, ducking and delaying can create space, but loud mixes should seriously restrict sound placement choices from the very start, it only gets worse the more is added. And to know if those sounds work loud, gotta work with them loud. Some sounds fall apart when pushed/squashed, even more so when summed to a bus with other sounds. Like layering, if not paying attention to it from the very start, it only gets worse. Why hope it stays together when pushed at the end, when it's easy enough to find out first, and only use sounds that work.
@TeeraLucksanapiruk11 ай бұрын
Or maybe we should just try to stop getting louder mixes in general. When people complain that their mixes aren't loud enough, usually the problem is that it's a crappy sounding mix to begin with.
@dconsmack11 ай бұрын
It’s too bad the louder a mix is, the more numbing and irritating it is to listen to for more than a few minutes. I wish this horrible trend of slammed audio would just stop. Loud mixes rob the music of feel and dynamics. It’s like being yelled at constantly.
@JakeyWakey11 ай бұрын
Taking the midrange out sounded better to me 😢
@captainconvulsion11 ай бұрын
Same.
@jesusalvarado735511 ай бұрын
LoL monitor blaming ! It happens
@djabthrash10 ай бұрын
- the human ear loves scooped sounds - this video is about louder not better sounding
@toolateformediocrity11 ай бұрын
You keep surprising me with extremely useful and practical content. The difference the midrange made was night and day.
@vektacularАй бұрын
One of the keys is to use the correct kind of compressors throughout the mix….thats why the distresssor is a good tool to have handy ….but you don’t wanna be using an LA2A on a rapid repeating hi hat….do you ever take away saturation outta certain things?
@Durkhead3 ай бұрын
The track sounded better when you scooped the mids. Todays mixes are sounding terrible the new knocked loose, falling in reverse are some of the worst offenders terrible crunchy mids of just pure digital static
@DudeLifeTV11 ай бұрын
I recently came across your channel and it has significantly changed the way I mix. Thank you for all of your knowledge! I feel as if the industry has been gate keeping this info for years and just recently I've been able to dig deep enough to find the answer to my mixing questions.
@taterfight11 ай бұрын
Perfect content for me!! Now please sell these drum samples 🫶🏻
@Quant-Beat11 ай бұрын
I knew these things and used them already, clipping on buses and saturation, only slight final clipping on the master. But you highlight some more dimensions and aspects with it, so I pick up a lot of useful stuff here.
@h.p.dominocus11 ай бұрын
Did he mention where he uses the saturation plugins? Is it one plugin for each bus or on all individual tracks? I currently only use a saturation plugin on snare, bass, and sometimes vocal tracks. Not sure if this matters but Im mainly recording with analog mic pres and compressors set for more grit and character before going into pro tools. Would it be overkill adding more saturation on top of that?
@3DManShadowland8 ай бұрын
Too loud. Mixing engineers should shoot for -6 dB below Nyquist. While most mastering engineers don't mind it all the way to -3 below Nyquist it limits the room they have to make subtle changes, then push the integrated loudness to about =9.5 or so.. Going below that just really don't do very well for most tracks, taking in account True peek should stay always below zero dB. Oh well, just my thought.
@Durkhead3 ай бұрын
Mixing to try to get to a certain lufs is stupid whether your trying to make it a lower lufs or higher your just gona ruin your track just to hit a certain point on a scale that essentially doesnt matter.
@richardsp279411 ай бұрын
This is one of those gold dust videos, similar to Marc Daniel Nelson's. Doesn't matter what the genre, the lessons apply everywhere and the way it is explained is so very helpful. Really timely for me too. I've only mixed my band's stuff up to now and whilst I do a lot of this, it's all accumulated knowledge and long term templates. Having just taken on mixes for someone else I was struggling to find this balance. This video gave me the palm to face moment I needed. I'm just not doing these fundamentals right. These are the very foundation blocks I've just not done. Went back and did them methodically.... Whadya know, the mix sounded better, more balanced and ultimately came up to mastered volume with way more loudness and no big issue. My goodness, thank you!
@hardcoremusicstudio11 ай бұрын
Awesome to hear!
@tomtomson991611 ай бұрын
what is the point to achieve -5db integrated LUFS for a mix out of studio, when Spotify later pushes it down to -14 LUFS ?
@LPaul11 ай бұрын
the overall "loudness" will still be there. It wil still sound "louder" than -10db LUFS master uploaded to Spotify and got alligned to -14 Spotify LUFS
@dystonic11 ай бұрын
About Key 1, yes I've come to suspect that on my first home made mastering. My reference seemed to have a fair less amount of gain on the low end, and yet it sounded great, I have noticed that in the end it had the same LUFS as my track but still sounded louder and it was driving me crazy. Thanks for pointing that out, I still have to understand by how much am I supposed to level down that low end not for my mix to sound thin.
@Brutuscomedy11 ай бұрын
Scooping can be great on a Marshall amp but not ideal for mixes. 👍
@Derpadeedooda10 ай бұрын
I like a scooped sound and a loud master. Fml
@Durkhead3 ай бұрын
I think it sounds good when you scoop the guitars and then raise the mids on the vocals it always feels like a puzzle piece that fits right in
@alesnovak290611 ай бұрын
Totaly agree 100%...By using saturation and cliping(wisely) on tracks &busses can give you at least 6db more headroom on master buss with almost no unpleasant side effects
@yoyoma442411 ай бұрын
hi question , when using those do i use makeup?
@OnyxSkiesXIX11 ай бұрын
Shout out to Mike, he did a couple masters for me and absolutely nailed it!
@ExcelMaha3 ай бұрын
All ur tutorials songs sounds aggressive
@vektacularАй бұрын
Wow!! Shout out to both you guys for that mix!
@donaldpleasant7839Ай бұрын
I mean, it sounds terrible.
@timinglismusic67078 ай бұрын
If I'm mixing an album of songs that would fit into the soft-rock or adult contemporary genres (think Beck, Morning Phase) would you still use clipping on the drums to control the transients?
@RockSolidStudios11 ай бұрын
@arpantoppo32666 ай бұрын
what's in that external ssd??
@StarOnCheek6 ай бұрын
Something I discovered just this week is that the more clean, in-key and digital the source material is, the less your advice seems to apply. I made a little experiment dnb demo with no samples, only synths just for fun, even the hi-hats were in key, and for the first time ever ended up with a tight loud slammer of a master peaking at -3.5 lufs when normalized to -1db. In that mix I tried adding saturation using FabFilter Saturn 2 but pretty much every time it ended up completely removing the punch and I ended up removing all instances of it. I also initially mastered the track to sound quite midrangy with a lot of 700hz energy but in the end decided to target a different reference track and changed a mid-range boost that I had on master to a high shelf and that gave me a whole +1 lu. Of course, maybe I am just really bad with Saturn and maybe my mix had too much midrange already so the original master just overcooked it but i find it surprising how much I want to agree with you and how much this advice would have not helped that experimental demo.
@thekobsta11 ай бұрын
Nice! But, where's the delay at 3:03 coming from?!
@mrcoatsworth42911 ай бұрын
Huh, is he maybe switching to his actual mix bus at the end instead of the print?
@thekobsta11 ай бұрын
@@mrcoatsworth429y, maybe 👍
@vektacularАй бұрын
I think it’s just holding the level
@sebaz100210 ай бұрын
Your videos are great the content absolue pro.... but for me its realy difficult to handle with the music genre.... ;-) i tryed some heavy metal music back in the 80s... but this is not my buisiness anyway thanks for your great work....
@jesusalvarado735511 ай бұрын
Hi how loud do you monitor with the CLA 10 ? SPL ? And what VTPC setting you ended up using ? Thanks.
@Fire-Toolz11 ай бұрын
i found this album through your mentioning of it & it's soooo good. i listen regularly
@hanselromero395011 ай бұрын
ayeeee cool to see you here
@DoritoStyle11 ай бұрын
I hate to be contrary, but it seems like all you've done is pre-master your mix without "actually" mastering it on the stereo mix. Is the secret just layering compression?
@robonguitarnz7 ай бұрын
This is awesome, saturation is something I dont know very much of, I only know through the sound differences, not the theory, these vids are very reassuring while delving into the mixing world.
@mikeskis78879 ай бұрын
I don’t know what I did other than filter my guitars once, but once I took out the top end fizz it’s almost like the “desired notesy tone” just absolutely got louder and stood out more in the mix. This has happened only one time and I don’t even entirely know why
@green892311 ай бұрын
To tie into some of your other lessons, balancing the mix for solid, exciting midrange does many beneficial things. For one, getting some low-mid/a little high-mid content going for your bass and kick adds a bit of clarity and definition to them and helps them be distinguishable in the wall of heavy guitars. Next, it also makes these instruments much more audible on bass-light speakers/headphones, which helps a lot with translation. Finally, that midrange content almost cues your brain into filling in the blanks as far as how loud the lower instruments are without those very low frequencies actually having high volume/amplitude (more bang for your buck)
@vincesoliveri11 ай бұрын
This is the ticket. My mixes started to get way louder when I started putting a lot of focus on the overall EQ curve on my mix. A lack of mids, specifically low mids will always leave your mix sounding hollow and quiet. This problem always happened to me when I boosted a lot of high and low end on my guitars, which sounded great in solo but left the whole mix sounding weak. A great tool to keep the curve of your mix in check is Tonal Balance Control by Izotope. This visual tool is amazing to check the balance of your mix and is extremely helpful when you are mixing on less than flat monitors or in a acoustically poor room. A total game changer in my opinion!
@analogkid455711 ай бұрын
I guess nobody has a volume knob on their stereo system anymore. I prefer huge dynamics above ear fatiguing crushed mixes.
@garettjackson17916 ай бұрын
Modern mixing is ass, it's all loudness with no substance.
@unclesixer11 ай бұрын
Thank you, was just struggling with some dynamics last night and limiter on master track was too much, will go back and limit drum bus a little and i think it will make a big difference.
@rothzn11 ай бұрын
bitcrush everything.
@greghillmusic11 ай бұрын
No
@mjk525411 ай бұрын
I make mostly modern pop with some rock elements sometimes and I've learned so much from Jordan. Incredible video once again. ometimes
@a1paradox197 ай бұрын
I can’t seem to find many videos about this, but how does this work with submitting to Spotify? They want it around -9db to -14db. So they would have to be bringthing the master down by 4-5db. Any insight would be greatly appreciated
@Durkhead3 ай бұрын
Dont worry about it make it as loud as possible without compromising sound quality. If that ends up being -10 lufs great if its -6 lufs whatever just make sure your track is loud and clear
@jorgedejesustejedavaldez528311 ай бұрын
Nice video, really good tips and concept, the problem is that the beginners overdo and then the mix sound too harsh and flat because there is not dynamic. You need to do that with taste.
@seitsen11 ай бұрын
I have never done clipping, so it's totally new to me but i want to experiment. What would be good clipping plugins? Looks like I only have soft clippers in my arsenal, are they the same thing at all?
@jamjuice11 ай бұрын
The guy in the video created one called BSA Clipper.
@huberttorzewski11 ай бұрын
flatline is good
@robgillanofficial11 ай бұрын
There is a good free clipper called K-Clip Zero as well
@seitsen11 ай бұрын
Well i tested a free plugin called GClip on a snare. Yeah, totally works (i mean clipping in general) if you want that slamming sound. I still don't know exactly what's the difference between clippers and soft clippers. Can someone explain?
@huberttorzewski11 ай бұрын
@@seitsen soft clipping is rounding off the peaks (more signal is being clipped but more gradually, it starts clipping below the threshold a bit) while hard clipping is shaving it off as soon as it's above the threshold (hard cut of the peak). Generally drums like being hard cliped while other elements like being soft clipped/limited more
@cristianibarraOfficial8 ай бұрын
I NEED USE YOUR TEMPLATE DEFINITELY , I LIKE HOW IT SOUNDS EVERYTHING
@MADCOWVT5 ай бұрын
Dude. This explanation is pure gold.
@kinghengkeithleung39314 ай бұрын
very helpful and clear - thanks!!
@thisisj8811 ай бұрын
Great video! I agree that focusing on loudness in the mix is where it is at. Make's mastering so much easier.
@cecilia_mackie11 ай бұрын
That’s superb! Let’s connect?
@anastav691511 ай бұрын
Omfg whats that song called? Sounds killer! Thanks for this awesome video once again..
@randomselect64511 ай бұрын
Auras (band) , if I ain't wrong , and Jordan usually mix them
@SilvermainMusic11 ай бұрын
Phenomenal channel. Thank you once again HCMS!
@SteveH4es11 ай бұрын
Hey Jordan, what’s your thoughts on the mix on the new blink album?
@BukanIbuMu7 ай бұрын
I'm not Jordan but the album sounds like a pop mixer doing punk rock.
@Louis1996_16 ай бұрын
Great content man, so helpful 👍🏻
@BobDietrich111 ай бұрын
Do you ever use a transient shaper on your drums?
@jakestoneshow9 ай бұрын
Thank you for this !!
@hectormann184311 ай бұрын
Spot on! Thanks for this!! 👍🏻😊
@avasta.10 ай бұрын
-5 lufs? Wouldn't that mean your song will get turned down by -9 dbs on streaming services or am i missing something? 😅
@Durkhead3 ай бұрын
Thats not the point though, by bringing up the loudness he is bringing up sounds that were quiet and the listener wouldnt normaly hear making the track more interesting and sounding fuller
@avasta.3 ай бұрын
@@Durkhead Ah yes I understand a bit better now. I was a total newb when I made that comment 😅but thanks!
@Durkhead3 ай бұрын
@@avasta. so i just got home from work and im kinda tired and i was watching this video reading the comments and i guess i kinda went on a reply spree idk. Thers just so many ppl worried about the wrong things
@zimouspero11 ай бұрын
very nice infor
@misterjohnnymusic11 ай бұрын
clipper at drum buss is great tip dude
@Gedagnors11 ай бұрын
Thank you so much!!!!
@marcevo354011 ай бұрын
Gee.... I must totally be off here I do my mix's at -14.5 LUFS. Am I doing this wrong ? Mind you, looking at your track you seem to have almost zero dynamic so perhaps were on a different page.
@mrcoatsworth42911 ай бұрын
Well what kind of music are you mixing?
@marcevo354011 ай бұрын
@@mrcoatsworth429 Yea that's what I just went back to check and yes I do mix for SoundCloud and KZbin and that's exactly what's required sorry my mistake. But I do still keep things quite dynamic. Total low zero to total high max. And anyway I do find this slightly ridiculous. Dont they put a volume knob for a reason?
@nilespeshay173411 ай бұрын
ears > eyes.
@RockSolidStudios11 ай бұрын
depends on the track - this one was full force balls to the walls but if you take into account softer parts of the song and intros outros etc or a more dynamic less in your face song then I would expect to see a lower lufs #
@em896910 ай бұрын
Thanks mate👏🏾👏🏾
@mikem620611 ай бұрын
What is this from?
@SayajinKanak11 ай бұрын
Wow
@chris_nalder11 ай бұрын
haha.... Love you work...
@SchibbiSchibbi11 ай бұрын
excellent video
@j.lombardo11 ай бұрын
Plot twist: EQ IS dynamics
@djabthrash10 ай бұрын
How ?
@BurntMcgurnt11 ай бұрын
I always make my lead guitar louder with a few db boost with the ssl around 700 I'm really surprised more people don't do that its amazing!
@DaveJLamar11 ай бұрын
I do this also, but with an API! :)
@BurntMcgurnt11 ай бұрын
@@DaveJLamar good call!
@alessandrosummer9 ай бұрын
A broad boost between 700 and 1K works the best in this case 🙃
@STAR0SS11 ай бұрын
As a listener if I hear over processed "loud" tracks like this (talking about the master) I skip it immediately or lower the volume if I really care about the band so it can be tolerable. It's just irritating and unpleasant to listen to.
@drtyslzy11 ай бұрын
Awesomeeee!
@kelvinfunkner11 ай бұрын
pure gold as usual!
@elonthebass687011 ай бұрын
I’m sorry your mix is great. But that master is trash. Sounds scooped and oddly out of phase. Hit me up and I give you a master that will knock your socks off.
@mrcoatsworth42911 ай бұрын
You got a portfolio, Mr. Mastering Pro?
@marc_lgi11 ай бұрын
you don't apply saturation on distorted guitars right?? Only drums/bass?
@tommyface575611 ай бұрын
THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE DEVILS MUSIC... ALL THAT NOISE SHOUTING... IS THIS ACTUAL MUSIC OR NOISE
@eancurtis933311 ай бұрын
Lol
@BukanIbuMu7 ай бұрын
While hip hop stars doing some clean and angelic lyrics.
@tommyface57567 ай бұрын
Uncomparable friend but i do agree some Hip hop is also terrble but this is just total NOISE ON A WHOLE DIFFRENT SPECTRUM. LOL.........The frequncy of this vocal and music disrupts the soul ... If this person was outside macys screaming like this we would call 911 .....while snoop raps some negitive stuff about his real life expericence in the ghetto that the usa created..... and the hip hop music has melodic beats melody and honest feelings this is just like ten metal bins and there lids rolling and flying all over the place close together down a tight stair case... Where is the angelic art in that? Its like a 400 pound person trying to beat usain bolt in a race... Just 2 diffrent worlds from hip hop music.....This is ust noise with NO SOUL..... @@BukanIbuMu
@andivax11 ай бұрын
On Smartphone the difference is minimal
@nilespeshay173411 ай бұрын
I hope nobody's out there mixing, primarily, for smartphones.
@andivax11 ай бұрын
@@nilespeshay1734 me too. But reality is cruel, man )
@Burglecutter11 ай бұрын
I couldn't listen to that music for even two minutes, let alone mix it.
@aguydoingguystuff62898 ай бұрын
Then don’t.
@Burglecutter8 ай бұрын
@@aguydoingguystuff6289 I won't.
@progressivelibertarian257011 ай бұрын
Good education for folks!…but, -5.5 LUFS is the absolute max and there is really no reason to have to tolerate the loss of fidelity that comes with this level. The loudness wars are over due to fact that streaming services turn down loud masters, and, for CDs, the idea that fans cared about average loudness was always bunk. No music fan would like an album more than another because it was smashed harder. That was some bunk that record labels were pushing. That said, some music, like metal, needs to sound up front and compressed but -7 or -8 is more than loud enough. Of course it depends on what the mix can handle as you’ve pointed out, but I would not recommend that any mixer really try to squeeze the last bits of dynamics out of their mix. Also, music that is mastered “loud” actually sounds worse in high fidelity playback systems and also worse when cranked up in volume compared to music with more dynamics. When you crank the volume knob up in your car to rock out, you will enjoy the more dynamic version of a song more than the less dynamic smashed version. Finally, I’m seeing folks who now know that the streaming services turn down music to -14 get this confused with the peak volume that a mastered track needs to be set to. You don’t want to set your mastering peak limiter to -14!!! Set your output level to -0.2 peak or so and then set your LUFS average level to what the track wants to sit at maxing out at something like -7 or -8 or so for metal music like the example here. The tighter the mix, the easier to get loud, but most mix engineers won’t have the skills so they should be happy with -8 or -9 max. Of course folk music or other styles will be different. -12 LUFS would be “plenty” loud for a folk acoustic song. Cheers!
@peterpeper483711 ай бұрын
didnt you have crappier "music" to use?
@MrJasongonzales2311 ай бұрын
Hey Jordan great video, I'm a little confused about how your masteringengineering - 5 LUFS. I thought that the goal is about -14 LUFS because the streaming services will normalize to that anyway. Can you say a bit more about your approach to this I think it might even be a good future video.
@progressivelibertarian257011 ай бұрын
Master for CD, let the streaming service do what it does.
@SycamoreWillow11 ай бұрын
@@progressivelibertarian2570I understand what you're saying in rational terms, but is this really a best practice that folks are using? For one thing, I don't have any bands that want to make CDs. They all do streaming and occasionally will do cassette and/or vinyl. Anyway, I don't disagree with what you're saying but I am curious to know what pros out there are doing and really the WHY of what they are doing. I'm not a pro but I like to do good work when I work on albums for people.
@RockSolidStudios11 ай бұрын
No that's a bad idea I've heard lots of people say not to do that. Make it as loud as you want dont worry what spotify will set it to
@SycamoreWillow11 ай бұрын
@@nilespeshay1734 This is very helpful. Thanks for this. It's good to know that the internet still has people who know things and explain them patiently and carefully.
@Brutuscomedy11 ай бұрын
@@progressivelibertarian2570even though basically no one buys them anymore?