Mixing a Song Recorded Entirely with Shure SM57s

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I had a lot of questions regarding how I mixed my previous SM57 project, so here's an entire breakdown of how I mixed said project :) That includes vocal mixing, parallel processing, guitar mixing, bass mixing, and even a little mastering!!
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(Please note these rankings represent my subjective tastes. These lists would change with different applications, so this is a bit of an oversimplification.)
TOP THREE BUDGET CONDENSERS:
🥇Lewitt 440 Pure - amzn.to/3imNwRh
🥈Neat King Bee II - amzn.to/3JOYATU
🥉Rode NT1 - amzn.to/2NUoBJK
TOP THREE BUDGET DYNAMICS:
🥇Shure SM57 - amzn.to/2P1pUXC
🥈Behringer XM8500 - amzn.to/3utvKmp
🥉Shure MV7 - amzn.to/3BfewuF
TOP THREE CONDENSERS
🥇Austrian Audio OC818 - imp.i114863.ne...
🥈AKG C414 XLS - amzn.to/3lMAgXq
🥉Soyuz Bomblet - amzn.to/3BDy2Sx
Honorable Mention: Roswell Pro Audio Mini k67x - amzn.to/3BeT9Mt
TOP THREE DYNAMICS:
🥇ElectroVoice RE20 - amzn.to/2UFdyaM
🥈Shure SM57 - amzn.to/2P1pUXC
🥉Sennheiser MD 441 - amzn.to/3S6st6b
MY CAMERA SETUP:
Lumix S5 (w/Kit Lens) - amzn.to/3xKHLVQ
85mm F1.8 for B Roll - amzn.to/3y8GcBF
My (weirdly expensive) ring light - amzn.to/3LIK164
MY STUDIO GEAR:
Audient iD4 - amzn.to/3Svvxst
Audient Evo 4 - amzn.to/3UxLZtL
Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen- amzn.to/2P4SXtl
KRK Rokit 5s G4 - amzn.to/3dIKubA
Elgato Low Profile Boom Arm - amzn.to/3DNyZKS
MY HEADPHONES -
Audio Technica M30x - amzn.to/3feOfE6
Status Audio CB-1s - amzn.to/3IfcOeX
Hifiman Sundara - amzn.to/3JvDkm1

[@TheHalfmanofOz]

Hey Ricky. I just wanted to let you know that these videos are a valuable resource regardless of the view count they attract. I save all of your audio production related stuff to a playlist and come back to them periodically. Thank you for sharing not just what you did but why.

[@cervantesthenilbog7513]

Samesies, I have a few saved to a playlist myself. Our dude here is super on point with his tutorials/reviews. He's the only person I trust. I can tell by the way he speaks and the words he uses that he's not being influenced by anyone or anything, that it's all centered around objective facts/specs; where the subjective opinions are based on those facts/specs; and the personal preferences are thoroughly explained going further. It's been genuinely helpful, and very much appreciated. If you happen to see this. Thank you homie! Keep up the awesome work. I've been torn between getting a condenser, or a dynamic, but have been leaning heavy towards just getting a couple of these Shure SM57's to get things started with my setup.

[@marlorona]

Hey bro i wanna be in that playlist i mean, i want it too

[@aprilfool24]

@@cervantesthenilbog7513 ooopoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo😊A

[@somedude8604]

Okay.. This video slaps. Always love to hear any kind of mixing advice from you. Taking some great notes.

[@AudioHaze]

Glad I could help! Really appreciate the kind words :)

[@andrewcamagay6255]

This was extremely helpful, thank you for doing this! Aside from the mixing, you've given me ideas on how to organize the tracks better, i usually put the return tracks right under the track that's sending audio to them, but I never thought of having them all at the bottom. Seems the session becomes neater that way

[@AudioHaze]

Glad I could help dude! Ableton just defaults to this layout, its super intuitive to me :)

[@reavu4742]

@@AudioHaze Mine doesn't default to this layout tho?

[@TheToobNube]

When I started doing audio there’s been this unspoken law that to make good recordings you need to have an expensive condenser mic specialized for each setting. But since following your channel I’ve seen your “Don’t get SM7B, get an SM57”. And other videos where you’d mentioned the SM57 and now this, it’s made me even more excited to pick up my own and see what I can do with it. There’s nothing like the feeling of new possibilities. Thanks!

[@AudioHaze]

Super cool to hear this! #1 albums have been recorded with only an SM57 before, so you never know :)

[@powersliding]

brilliant, this differentiates this channel from the rest...that twin mic mix is awesome

[@AudioHaze]

Thank you!

[@xten93]

Really really helpful guide/tips for someone who is a beginner like me.. Seriously u deserve more subs and views.. Love your style of content. Learned a lot from this.. Hoping to see more like this.. Thanks man!

[@warplordfinch4975]

You made me want an sm57 and this is extremely helpful. Thanks!

[@AudioHaze]

Hahaha glad to help!

[@nghtfall]

Great video. One note is that the ratio in the compressor doesn’t actually change when you adjust the input and threshold, you’re just changing the gain stage so it compresses more.

[@AudioHaze]

Appreciate the clarification!

[@evanduffy1015]

I actually do electric guitar a similar way you did the acoustic, but I like to double the parts and use two mics, so I end up with 4 tracks. Pan Take1Mic1 and Take2Mic2 hard left, pan Take1Mic2 and Take2Mic1 hard right, it gives a super double effect which is slightly different in each ear. Also, I am definitely going to try the parallel processing thing you're doing here, I've only ever used sends for reverb/effects

[@hjvarfjell]

Thank you. That was a very useful lesson. Thank you so much for making these lessons. I always feel like I have learned something useful after watchhing your videos. 👍

[@Jakepf]

Feels good being first on an awesome video ;)

[@AudioHaze]

NICE ONE 💪🏻

[@clarinetninja]

Great job on this! it makes me want to record more than just myself playing clarinet. I will keep dreaming that I will have more than just myself in the bedroom studio

[@AudioHaze]

Hahaha I'm sure some collaborators are just around the corner :)

[@jukkaritola7287]

Sounds musical and .... powerful!

[@reset_rt]

beautiful vocal :) fresh air is one of my favourite secret sauce plugins haha

[@AudioHaze]

It do be very saucy :)

[@kyveriver4316]

lct 440 pure mixing tutorial would be dope. For example handling condensers picking up noise and how to edit that out (like a radiator heater or so), and since its a bit brighter it would be cool to see how you'd mix the high end :D!

[@AudioHaze]

Definitely noted as a video idea!

[@kyveriver4316]

@@AudioHaze :D

[@jmclaughlin3728]

Great video. Fascinating!

[@AudioHaze]

Thanks dude!

[@tomsiegel9759]

This was super helpful to me! A lot of things that I learned by the seat of my pants that I am now going to tweak. Thanks for doing these videos! I know it was a leap for you in terms of $$ decisions.

[@ScottGrammer]

The predecessor to the famous SM7 was the SM5, which was primarily a boom mic for the movie industry. SM5's when you can find them, go for a couple of grand each, and always need their foam bodies replaced. But pull that foam off, and inside you'll find a mic that is for all intents and purposes an SM57.

[@lovesecret0119]

i actually like the pre mix more, so it all shows that a good signa and with a good room is key to good recording, my raw mix never sounded this clean even with a $500 mic

[@em8969]

Such a brilliant video

[@annekedebruyn7797]

I love the LS208! I got it recently and I haven't been using many other mics since!

[@AudioHaze]

Me too!! Look out for the review on Sunday then :)

[@rainbroski]

beautiful track. thanks for the walkthrough!

[@EvilEmpire_4u]

My dawg… thank you!!!

[@ethanparr]

Great video man! :D

[@stoatystoat174]

Like the bass compression long release sausage advice 🌭

[@thenext9537]

Sm57s are great. The 58 is basically the same to reduce the “plosives” where the 57 is lower. 57 hits just about 5khz output but basically same. You can do a whole record on 57s, and it will sound amazing if you mix it right. Don’t need fancy mics. Glad this is shown because save some money people.

[@azzydog]

Hey Ricky that was an awesome video! Great start for your new agenda. You're using some woosh sounds for visual transitions. I find that quite neat but if we are to hear the difference between on and off, it's distracting to me. If I'm not mistaking, that effect was always there. May I suggest you leave that one out for a better sound comparison?

[@AudioHaze]

Noted! Also this video was planned prior to the "new style", the big projects may take a few weeks to create, but you'll know when its out :)

[@E_chizzle]

Damn I wish you were using FL Studio because you are so thorough!!

[@evanduffy1015]

Lets GOOOO!

[@yagonagos]

This is some good help

[@AudioHaze]

Is that....Kenneth???? Your name changed!!

[@kehindea]

This is a lovely song and video. Can you do a video with the Behringer XM8500?

[@AudioHaze]

Like a full production? I already did a review a while back :)

[@GgWhyfye]

U gotta run that puig into that cla back into the puig its DABEST

[@mcclendonreport]

It’s a staple.

[@justinl1743]

Seems you use a lot of Slate Digital plugins. Would you recommend their monthly subscription for someone on a limited budget?

[@midsoulmusic]

continuity is dumb indeed. Great video as always!

[@ryanshook8284]

Sooooo good

[@AudioHaze]

Thanks!

[@jameschoi0614]

Hey! I was wondering when you guys did the recording of the vocals what range of dB range did you guys record in?

[@arbi4039]

i see you use alot of slate digital plugins. i am still a beginner music maker and i just get overwhelmed by the amount of choices i can make in terms of plugins. you seem like the most trustworthy source on this so far on youtube. so i ask you, how do i find out whats best for me? what to go for? i feel like i am the type of person who has needs for structure. so it would be best for me to just stick to one company and roll with it. right now im using a mix of different plugins that ive collected over the years but i just feel like its not working. even after all this time. maybe its just my choices in terms of production and sounds that i use. so maybe thats also a good question to ask. which vsts do you recommend. quality wise. or could you maybe tell me how i can find ways to make better fitting choices with my sounds? alot of questions but im kind of just thinking while typing here. hope you read it and thank you in advance if you do. you are amazing man! love your content.

[@jv3music]

Uncle Ricky❤❤❤

[@kimpu4375]

😍😍😍

[@CorbieBass]

Great video, very helpful but unmixed version is better for that song, reverbs are so much and not good in mid and high frequencies imao

[@nerdyneedsalife8315]

Okay so question, when you had that severe dip in her vocals to take out the sibilance, it also sounded less grainy, and you said that adds air to the vocals. Noob question: is air opposite to graininess? Or was this only a coincidence in this case?

[@AudioHaze]

Which dip in the sibilance? The one on TDR Nova?

[@nerdyneedsalife8315]

@@AudioHaze Sorry I should have been more specific, it occurred at 5:14 with the box EQ Eight, it's the sharp dip right before 10k while having the aggressive bass rolloff.

[@shatteredstiks7392]

What about with acoustic drums?

[@boot5672]

So i'm looking through the web for reviews and it turns out most people experienced a lot of buzzing noise coming from their sm57. would that happen with my audient evo4? I'm a little worried cus my mxl441 picks up a lot of ambient noise from my room and i wanted to trade it for one of these.

[@jacquemusic]

Cómo se llama la canción que mezclaste? Me gusta

[@kushlinfield7106]

Random question: Is the singer Dutch? I feel like I can hear an underlying accent in her vocals.

[@AudioHaze]

Shes Hungarian :) close-ish though!

[@imeleventeen]

Is this song out yet???

[@Tomijee]

Why you use Live instead of logic pro if you have mac? Isnt logic better for recording and mixing? Im stuck at deciding between those two

[@AudioHaze]

I love live! To me it’s by far the most intuitive and creative daw out there. It’s very musical, very interactive. It also has awesome native instruments. I’d take all that before iOS integration (and it runs awesome on Mac anyways)

[@Tomijee]

​@@AudioHaze Yeah I can see that, Live feels like home someway. Like Its huge community for musicians to musicians, Logic just feels like another Apple App which is just sad because I want really like it. Would love to see video where you talk about DAWs, Ableton Live and maybe some workflow how you build songs there with little mixing&mastering elements. Ty for response.

[@BEATSFROMMYSOUL]

quick question all my recordings on the sm57 come out boomy and muddy is it because im to close to the capsule or is there a gain issue here im trying to record vocals with a clean sound if somebody can help, thanks!

[@BEATSFROMMYSOUL]

I no longer have this problem it’s all figured out :)

[@sindre1794]

@@BEATSFROMMYSOULwhat was the problem

[@BEATSFROMMYSOUL]

@@sindre1794 the sm57 needs extra gain. the problem was I was adding too much gain while recording. I find that you get the best sound by recording with your gain halfway up and with the beat turned down while recording so you can hear it, the right gain staging and the right compressor can help boost the volume and fullness of the vocal without clipping during the mixing and mastering process. Also adding boosted highs and using saturation gets that vocal to a professional high end studio sound

[@CDArnoldMusic]

This solved my problem too! Thanks!!! Saved my mix!! @@BEATSFROMMYSOUL

[@ridingdriving]

why dont you provide a service to mix peoples audio. get them to email you the sound file, you mix'em and then send them an example then after payment you give them the full file...id love to see how far you can take my narration although you might commit suicide after listening to it. then you can back up the mix as template for music or narration to make it easier to augment the next time round

[@AudioHaze]

I mean I definitely do mixing services! That's part of the outdo, where you can email me to work on a project :)