GarageBand PRO Mix Step 1: Static Mix

[@TheBandGuide]

‼️ Download this GarageBand Session + 6-Step PRO Mix Checklist (FREE) here: www.thebandguide.com/highersession ‼️

[@xavierfaison1813]

where can I find this song?

[@brianklink443]

Thank you so much for posting your workflow in real-time. This is so much more helpful than someone saying "just go do your static mix and adjust accordingly." That is over-simplified for inexperienced wanna-be's like myself. :-) Glad I have subscribed and will be wearing out your thorough instructional videos over the next year. Fantastic job of teaching!!

[@musicbyseanalexander]

Hands down the best channel I've come across for helping me understand garage band. An idea for your future videos would be pre mixing. Setting mics guitar amps etc. How to record vocals that would all be really helpful!

[@Prima679]

What an awesome guide! The best first step to making better music!

[@TheBandGuide]

🙌🏼 thank you!

[@micktonia]

I have always been a garage band fan. You have really open my eyes to the tooling and options GB has. I have high level muso friends that use logic and Pro tools, and can now not see why GB is to dissimilar in functionality. You have got me now and look forward to watch more of your channel!!

[@TheBandGuide]

It’s not! I switched to Logic from Pro Tools a few years ago and realized how similar GarageBand has become and how if you just learn the tools you could totally make pro music in GB! Hence… the channel. Committed to empowering every GB user

[@Dog_Stare]

We thank you Colin @@TheBandGuide

[@WillyBunao]

First of all thank you so much to you Colin for all your youtube tutorial videos and free download instructions and cheatsheets. Following your instructions was so very helpful. I am just starting up to do this mixing things and i think i am so happy with my first compostions result. I tried doing records and mixing before but it sounds no good, but with all your help i think i understand now a little bit to how make things good than better 😁 thank you so much and i really appreciate your efforts in explaining everything so easily to digest. Keep safe always and have a good one.

[@squeakeththewheel]

I've been recording original songs on GB for 30 years. After going through this process for 2 hours on my latest recording, it sounds 1000% better. Thanks!

[@DrB81]

Garageband for 30 years? 🤣

[@gregorycandana9861]

Man, I was so shocked. That lie’s not straight

[@Exspazament]

Thank you for all of this Colin! I've been mixing music in my own time for years but haven't advanced much until I found your videos. I'm extremely confident to share my music now that I can make it sound good (especially (individually tracked) midi drums).

[@TheBandGuide]

That’s amazing, Christophor! That’s truly why I do this. 🙌🏼

[@PushingBones]

A song that I've been proud to mix one of my own called "Lament of the Fallen". You can find it on my channel, but before watching these videos to learn more about production I thought I had did pretty well. After watching these, not by a long shot. I hope to apply these lessons to my songs in the future.

[@sarthaksachdev5062]

love your content man. really hepful. I have been using GarageBand for a long time and always wanted to learn good mixing and mastering on it. found your videos now and they are of a great help. thank you!

[@garudasomanna]

So much of information packed into this tutorial! Takes some time to digest things that I also soon happen to forget. What I understand from this tutorial is that before commencing this first step of having static mix, we need to first to prepare all of the tracks that have to be doubled [instruments for panning to R or L] and Vox to be tripled [for L, R and slapback]; after this is planned, we need to go through gain staging of every track [at which very time applying EQ to the tracks will save time further on]; After these track preparations are over, we start with the first step: Static mix. Is this understanding of the process correct?

[@ModeliserConcevoir]

Really happy to find your channel today : It's not easy to find a real method to mix correctly. I think that i'll have a lot of questions for you !! ;)

[@mikecole4489]

This was very helpful thank you man

[@callforhelp2109]

Thank You so much man for everything. You're the best.

[@nauvidatha]

Man! Thank you So much, I will show you my mixes, I'm proud. To get the techniques from you and using Garageband. Thinking it was not up to the test.

[@TheBandGuide]

That's awesome! Keep it up, man!

[@jasonderulo4184]

Thank you so much for making this wonderful content. I learned a lot.

[@AgustaAgusta-s1e]

thanks Colin, this is helping me much so far!

[@leif3762]

Thank you for all your videos! helping much!

[@chrishyslop2154]

Many thanks for an excellent series, it's been a huge help as I try to seriously mix for the first time. Question: I record clean then use GB guitar amp emulators for my electric guitar tracks. At what point in the 6-step process should I turn on the amps and pedal boards?

[@humphrey9174]

Thank you so much for your mixing guide!

[@ForrestOfFangHorn]

I just discovered your channel. Very informative. I am new, so my question is, What do I need to do if I already added automation and panning BEFORE I did my static mix? Is it a lost cause or is it possible to still do static mix?

[@Gee-no]

Lotta good info. Thanks.

[@kaohillfolks9355]

thank you so much for the video. And your band's song "higher" is really nice!

[@TheBandGuide]

Thank you! You'll hear it a lot in this series... haha

[@Bouffdaddynz]

Can you make a video for us Hip-hop/rnb artists who will primarily focus on vocals please! if I found this channel 5years ago I would've saved so much money. i got my mixing to a decent level then never grew my understanding from there because I felt like it would be too much time and work on my own...smh. better late than never!

[@luckyduck8297]

Love the song ❤

[@Rickyivesofficial]

Dude I watch your vids all the time for reference and have done pretty much all what you’ve said with my own tweaks etc I just can’t get the vocals I have sounding good or to fit they either sound to up front or too loud sometimes I’ve tried turning down the volume in the mix etc is there any help you could suggest? Or is there any chance you mix follower tracks on GarageBand? 🙏❤️

[@57RickH]

I’m normally an iOS/Garageband/Cubasis guy but I may have to fire up my PC with Mixcraft and have some fun with this

[@TheBandGuide]

Oh nice! Absolutely, same principles no matter what DAW you want to use

[@amolbhatia1449]

What a great video. The question may be silly but you would eventually be enabling all the plugins on all the tracks right? As I see that they’re all disabled for the raw mix.

[@evanseymour4172]

Golden!!! Wow thanks

[@TheBandGuide]

🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@pratyushmanral]

thanks a ton man ! and great song too !!

[@Kika_singer]

Wooow I am so blessed I have found your channel. I am about to start recording by my own and hope your channel walk me through :-)

[@TheBandGuide]

That’s amazing! I’m excited to hear what you do with it!!

[@Kika_singer]

@@TheBandGuide i would like to actually ask you. Im recording my vocals to karaoke instrumental base which are pretty good ( not as good as they should be though). How would you mix it? Or would you touch the karaoke instrumental or would you focus just on the vocals? I dont know how the curved line should look. Im lost 🥵🥵🥵 I would like to see what you would do with my raw recording and learn it from you, what, where and how would you do it 😍😍😍 now Im feeling like Im sinking in a pond of so many info

[@jamaleadris1677]

I would certainly take your course. Price would be my only issue. I'm not sure how much it is. Is it live or prerecorded because scheduling would be my other concern.

[@batistaclyngdoh8291]

such an excellent tutorial . I have downloaded & installed the mv meter from the link you've provided above but I fail to open or find it in my GarageBand .PLEASE HELP !

[@miketaylor1665]

Hey. Did you restart your computet?

[@WinnersCircleSA]

What is the difference between Static mixing and gain staging. Im confused coming to this part. Do i do them both or i just do 1 at the beginning of my mixing session.

[@marekchrzestek2186]

Hi, Very good lessons. I follow it:-) thanks I have installed mv2meter in my garage band and after opening of this plug I see only skin with manual sliders adjustement instead of clock meter. Could You help me please, what `I have done in wrong way?

[@TheBandGuide]

Thank you! This video should show you how to fix that kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYmWcqGVmc16a5Y

[@klingerlima906]

Direto do Brazil, grato.

[@TheBandGuide]

Amazing! You’re welcome 🙌🏼

[@johnnyk4551]

Good channel. Thanks for the education. I’m a lil bummed the TBProAudioMVMeter won’t work with the Mac M1 chips. If you know of anything else I would appreciate it.

[@harmonic712]

Try Rosetta for Mac.

[@chinxmusicuk]

I can’t find the TB PRO audios? When I go on my plug ins and and go on audio units it’s just the apple section that appears for me

[@alecsgme84]

Hi Colin this video is great! I just have a question I download the YouleanMeter instead of the VUMeter so where should I put the attention when I'm doing the mixing? Thanks!

[@TheBandGuide]

I would definitely only use the YouleanMeter for mastering. The VU meter is a much better tool for mixing and uses much less computer processing power!

[@romilbhakuni2102]

I'm so happy today that I found this channel. I've been trying to record songs using Garage Band for a few months now but I never came across such good tutorials. I wonder how come you have such few subscribers! I am currently mixing a song and it does go to around -2.5 to -2.7 like 3-4 times throughout the song (surprisingly not in the chorus part which is the loudest) but the average stays between 4 to 8. So, should I be reducing the volume of all the tracks or can I ignore this and move ahead?

[@TheBandGuide]

Thanks, Romil! I'm still a fairly new channel! I would say you are okay at those levels, but keep an eye on it. If you start to see it going much higher as you work through the other steps, I would add a gain plugin (Utility>Gain) after your compressor on your master track and just turn the signal down at that point.

[@romilbhakuni2102]

@@TheBandGuide Thanks a lot for your quick reply. I'm going through your other tutorials, they're awesome, very easy to understand for a newbie like me.

[@DanielDiezVillegas]

First of all, congrats for the channel and many thanks for your inspiring tutorials! I have a question about static mix: you mentioned this step must be done without any effects up, but how to work with it if I previusly created a “colin’s real drum sound” set of tracks (PCOMP, PCRUNCH, ROOM, ...)? I must turn off their effects or what is the best way to mix it?

[@TheBandGuide]

Great question! Think of those effects as part of the recording phase and separate from the mixing phase. You might adjust levels in the mixing, but don't think of them as effects. They are just part of the "drum sound." I hope that helps!

[@arnaudontrack499]

precious

[@keenanslittlesister4604]

Thanks for this! I do question, your MV plug-in has all these presets but mine not does. Did you get those separately?

[@bigsby1]

I downloaded the mvMeter2, but there is no Peak Standard preset; the only available Preset that shows up is called "Init." Any ideas?

[@miketaylor1665]

Dude, same with me. Did you ever find out how to fix it? Please let me know.

[@bigsby1]

@@miketaylor1665 Yes. If you select "Init" there's another little window just below that and to the right, it will say "Init" as well but there are left and right arrows next to the window. You can scroll with the right arrow until you get to "Peak Standard."

[@paulinew6190]

Hello! And help! When I put the vol. at +0,0 Db on one of my track, it automatically goes back to another volume the second I play the track...

[@huss2600]

Hey i had trouble accessing the plugin, can you help? i downloaded it, and went to find the plugin on mac but it just ended up being a weird component file instead of something i could have in my garage session. Help would be highly appreciated since tried to apply the things in this video which required this plugin.

[@thebrokenorder]

Hi Colin, Let me proceed this question by saying you have the best GarageBand based channel on KZbin. Thanks for all the great information! I have been using the mvMeter2 and near the end of my mixing I went in to the Master track and turned off the mvMeter which boosted the volume by several decibels. Is this normal? I have it set to Peak Standard just like you show in the video.

[@thebrokenorder]

I figured it out. It looks like the pre-gain knob was accidentally dragged to -4.0 db when I changed it to Peak Standard. My question now is does that knob on the meter affect anything but gain? Theoretically I can adjust all of my track volumes by 4 db and nothing will change with the other parts of the mix like compression?

[@TheBandGuide]

First of all- thank you! 🙏🏼 I had a hunch that might be it! It depends where it is in your signal chain- if it’s the last plugin, it won’t impact any of the plugins before it. If it’s earlier in your plugin chain, it will impact any plugins after it (from top to bottom)

[@031661gt]

HI Colin, Just walked thru the "Static Mix" step referencing your mix which I downloaded. Thx for this tool btw. When referencing between the two, I still hit slightly above -3 on the meter, and my lead vox and a few other instrs don't sound as up front without adding db's. Not sure why. Thoughts?

[@DPVE_93]

So great! keep up the good work. Helped a lot

[@TheBandGuide]

🙌🏼🙌🏼 Thank you!

[@DidierSajnoWebDesign]

Hi Colin, Finally got to the static mix stage, what a journey it is to finish a song. Ok, our music is 90% midi and the rest audio (vocal and samples). I've created the stems as uncompressed AIFF (committing as you suggested :) and dragged them in a new project. Now seeing the waveform I realise that all tracks are very very quiet ( +/- -20dB). It would appear that the monitors were set to loud (no volume button on the hifi so no 'benchmark') and as a result we kept turning down the volume of each track in GB over the course of the creation of the song! 1. Do I go back to the original song and crank up the volume of each track and re-export as AIFF for final mix, as in your video? 2. In order to prevent this to happen again, is there a way to make sure the monitor (hifi) are at a 'correct' volume setting? (I'm thinking of something like playing a reference sound and measuring the db with an app on my phone perhaps? Thank you

[@TheBandGuide]

Hi Didier- It's true- a lot more goes into it than most people realize! There are 2 ways I could see addressing this: 1) Assuming you can see the waveforms well enough to move around in your session, I would just add gain with a gain plugin (under utility in the plugin list) at the start of your signal chain. 2) If you can't see the waveforms and therefore don't know when different sections are playing on each track, I would probably re-export your tracks as you mentioned To avoid this in the future, I would recommend just checking levels on a meter. I talk about that in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/enPCdq1mgZ18nK8 An accurate meter is the most surefire way to know you have consistent volumes. That being said, if you are always recording/mixing in the same place with the same setup, finding ideal monitoring levels is a great idea and can be a timesaver in the long run. I hope this helps!

[@DidierSajnoWebDesign]

@@TheBandGuide Thanks Colin, I appreciate you've taken the time to comment. This is very helpful, I'll try the gain plugin first, and bear in mind the meter in future!!

[@sameerjassal6841]

Hey Colin, you mentioned turning all plugins off. I use a lot of electronic synths and software instruments in my song. Because they aren't recorded, I use plugins to alter the sound sometimes like distortion. For the purposes of the static mix, would you leave such plugins on or off if they contribute to the sound please?

[@TheBandGuide]

Great question! I would leave on anything that is creating the "sound" as you want to hear it.

[@sameerjassal6841]

@@TheBandGuide Thanks, really appreciate the response! I reckon this process has the potential to work wonders!

[@mackenziefowler962]

Ok I'm sure this is a dumb question but so when Im watching the mvm and adjusting the volume, the peak does not change even at the extremes. And it's often hitting -1 and more even when I move the volume for that track way down. Is that because I recorded it wrong or am I misunderstanding how the mvm works?

[@nathanelder5285]

Love your videos! Very helpful.

[@TheBandGuide]

🙌🏼 thank you!

[@alternateghost5188]

any ideas on what the mix should be if you used a already beat from youtube ?

[@BillyMoonMan]

The vocals seem smoothed out slightly already. Arethe vocals somewhat compressed at the time of recording? I hear some pitch correction already.

[@mchoneyofficial4761]

This walkthrough is great! Clever idea.

[@TheBandGuide]

Hey, thanks!

[@Ab_25_]

i;m having trouble keeping my meter pinned in the corner when its in the master track like you said. anyone know how to keep it up while in other tracks?

[@mchoneyofficial4761]

Can I go back and re record parts after going through these mixing steps? Thanks!

[@TheBandGuide]

Absolutely! I often hear a "final" mix and go... dang... this guitar part or this tambourine would add a lot here... so I add them! I definitely don't start over- I just find the space they need to fit in the mix

[@jonnwhalley8942]

Great video. Do you keep the master track volume at 0db whilst mixing?

[@TheBandGuide]

Great question! I do. If I need more or less volume, I always adjust it on the device- preferably interface, but if I'm just using my computer I'll adjust the computer volume

[@Eurobailey80]

Thanks for the video. Going to work my way through the series. Is part of the reason for leaving the volume quite low (-3db peak) to leave headroom for compression / limiting?

[@TheBandGuide]

That's exactly right. You want to leave headroom for the mastering stage. It's also good practice to leave at least -3db (-6db would be even better) peak in early mixing stages to make sure you aren't clipping (-0db) if you need to bring up the volume of anything in later stages.

[@031661gt]

Colin, Excited to begin your 6 step series, i'm an "old dog learning new tricks"!, I've downloaded your track to follow along of "Higher", which opens in garage band, however,...i hear no audio when i hit play. Ive checked the output settings on my mac which are assigned to the macs internal speakers, but no output. any clues for me? thx. Tom

[@TheBandGuide]

Hey Tom! Excited for you to dive in. Yes- the faders on all the tracks should all be set to 0 so you’ll have to mix each track up to start hearing volume

[@031661gt]

@@TheBandGuide ty

[@Ladywhisper7]

Hi Collin! Is this whole process applicable to midi tracks (the green ones)? Thank you for this free and precious content!

[@TheBandGuide]

Absolutely!

[@Ladywhisper7]

@@TheBandGuide Otherwise may I ask you how do I turn a midi file into audio file? I tried to look for tutorial but I don’t find any for GarageBand 🥲

[@h.mantri]

@The Band Guide, I don't see the Factory Presets in mvmeter plugin. What's could be wrong?

[@miketaylor1665]

Same problem for me man. Did you ever figure it out? Please let me know.

[@h.mantri]

@@miketaylor1665 There are two dropdowns. The below one which is on the right side of TBProAudio logo has the presets.

[@gunface1978]

Thanks! Great content

[@TheBandGuide]

Thanks, Sergio!

[@Jcmessengers]

for some reason the link for the Mvmeter2 won't open mvMeter2 Plugin: @t 😔

[@kimhardin-hudson]

Hi Colin! I downloaded your Pro-Mix 6 Step checklist and now I'm in the process of going through the videos - and taking notes :) I also followed your "Make GB drums sound real" guide and watched the videos for that. They sound AWESOME now, btw. So bc I did that, my drums and drum effects were basically mixed first, but I noticed that you started with the vocals on this video. Does it hurt anything if I've started the mix already with drums and then do vocals, bass, guitar & background vocals? Any previous clipping I experienced was being caused by the drums anyway but that's all fixed now. Thank you in advance for your response! I'm SO close to finished with my first song!

[@TheBandGuide]

Hey Kim! That’s GREAT to hear! And a great question. It’s not a problem at all as long as there isn’t any peaking! I sometimes start with drums too, actually. I’m stoked to hear your song!

[@woonawoona]

do you use a vocal rider ever during this stage? if you ever use one, do you always wait until the step where you start adding plugins?

[@TheBandGuide]

Great question- by a vocal rider, do you mean a plugin that is riding the volume of the vocals?

[@jamaleadris1677]

Colin I noticed during the static mix on the master track you had the EQ switch on. You mentioned step 1 should be done before plug-ins. Is the master EQ the exception to this rule?

[@jamaleadris1677]

I figured out what I was doing wrong. This was a song that I'd "mixed" before watching your videos. I deleted plug ins and turned of eq on individual tracks but did not undo previous eq adjustments. This made my static mix without eq lower than with eq on. I made the adjustments and I'm off to step 2. I really appreciate guidance. Your videos are the best.

[@TheBandGuide]

Awesome, Jamale! Appreciate the kind words. This is EXACTLY why I have this channel! To answer your first question- the EQ is “on” there but there isn’t any actual EQ processing on it yet. I definitely wait to do eq until after I’ve set my static mix. And don’t forget you can use the volume slider on the far right of the EQ to balance the EQ volume after making EQ adjustments!

[@sonalsethi98]

Love this! I was wondering how you actually use the MV Metre2 though?

[@TheBandGuide]

I just set it on the master track, set the peak standard preset, then keep it up and keep my eye on it to make sure I never go over -3db as I’m setting my volume levels

[@sonalsethi98]

@@TheBandGuide Thanks!

[@johnnypereira8784]

Hi can you show me how to download my meter

[@Splaze]

So If I understood this correctly, we use the mvmeter so we can see which track is loud and lower it so it blends together nicely. How low should we lower the tracks?

[@TheBandGuide]

Great question! We are using mvmeter to watch the overall volume of our mix as we bring up the volume of all of our tracks to make the sure the entire mix of all the tracks never gets too loud. There's no "right" level for any given track (you have to decide that with your ears), but the overall volume of all the tracks combined should never exceed -3db

[@e.martinmusic]

Hey there, great series, and thanks. I’ve downloaded the mvMeter2 and placed it in the master track of my projects. In some cases, the mvMeter2 shuts off when I go from individual track to track. I have to turn it on again in the master track, to see it. I have restarted my computer. But the mvMeter2 only floats above the entire project and works - on some of my Garageband files, and not others. Do I have it set up properly? Any ideas? Thanks!

[@SuperSj10]

Did u download Mc meter on MacBook? I can’t seem to get it for my iPad and my GarageBand layout looks very different than his too.

[@TheBandGuide]

‼️‼️As long as this comment is pinned, I'm still listening to mixes! Keep sharing! Also, don't forget to download the 6-Step PRO Mix Checklist here: tinyurl.com/y4ztb9oh

[@kimhardin-hudson]

So, Colin, I completed this step, master track and eq and had started compression (started with the vocal) when it dawned on me that maybe I should check my mvMeter again and make sure I’m still under -3db. But I’m not, it’s over. Is that ok at this stage? It’s the vocal causing the problem where I sing loud in the choruses. I have done the gain automation as well and keep turning the gain down on those loud parts but it gets to the point where it gets drowned out. I’ve messed with the compressor settings too but still, if I mess with it too much it just sounds bad. So is it even important for me to keep checking the meter throughout the steps? And if so, is it cheating if I just gain down the whole meter on the master (like you did to the vocal on the “how loud should you record video.”?) Geez that was a long question, I’m out of breath lol...hope your holiday was great!

[@TheBandGuide]

Hey Kim! I promise you every single mix engineer has been there. This far into mixing, it would be totally fine to just turn down the output on the meter to get it back in that -6db to -3db range. I actually just had to do this on a mix yesterday!

[@TheBandGuide]

Oh and happy new year!

[@kimhardin-hudson]

@@TheBandGuide awesome, that’s a relief to hear! Happy New Year to you too!

[@thetimebeing6117]

Thanks for this series. Mixing and mastering have always tough spots for me, as well as getting the right volume out of the initial recording. What I am most curious about right now is how you establish your bpm and then quantize for consistency. Do you record first and then figure out the bpm, and then have a technique to fix the live recording to the tempo grid with out changing the pitch, or do you figure out your bmp, record with a click track, and then fix it to the grid? I use mostly analog electric instruments, but this has been a problem in various contexts.

[@TheBandGuide]

Thank you! This is a great question and something I plan to cover more in the future. It's probably more than I can sufficiently answer here, but in short... I always set BPM before I start recording and record as close to the click as possible. My recommendation for getting a good BPM is recording a quick demo (often just guitar and vocals) of the chorus and listening back a few times to see if you feel like it's the right tempo. Sometimes I'll even try this at a couple different tempos. To quantize... it depends on exact components. If you are using live drums, your best bet is to get the best take in terms of timing and performance possible, then quantize to that as opposed to the grid. This is trickier, but can work. This is because there is no way to group tracks, so there is no way to edit all the drum mics at the same time (maybe the biggest limitation of GB). If you aren't using drums or are using GarageBand drummer, your drums will be perfectly quantized and you can edit to the grid. Flex timing can be awesome for this for a lot of sources as long as it's small adjustments. I know that was a lot.. and TBH I'm just scratching the surface. But I hope that gives you a good starting point!

[@thetimebeing6117]

@@TheBandGuide Thanks, this is what I figured, but would love to see a video on it. Another question I am working through: I use drum machines like something from the Arturia series or a BeatStep Pro controlled old Boss DR. Rhythm (way more awesome than one would imagine). I'll often record a minimal modular set in which everything is midi clocked, but of course there is sometimes slight drag, likely cause by cable length, etc, and the bpm will often be ever so slightly off from GarageBand's, requiring some tedious fixing. Anyways, looking forward to the rest of the series.

[@wozzywick]

I wish you'd explained how to loop part of the song!

[@miketaylor1665]

Hit the loop icon. When the bar turns yellow, grab and drag it from each side to the spot you want looped

[@matthewflanaganfh5787]

Hey Colin, when I pop on the MV2 and start bringing up the volume in individual tracks, I start to hear some popping, graininess and the it all seems to drag. This is only after I bring up one vocal track. When I turn off the MV2, things sound good and normal, but having the MV2 on seems to drag the whole thing. What am I doing wrong?

[@TheBandGuide]

Hey Matthew- not totally sure why this would be happening. Could be CPU processing with your computer. I often find restarting my computer resolves these kinds of issues... I hope that helps!

[@matthewflanaganfh5787]

@@TheBandGuide Thanks! I'll give that a try.

[@lenakinard]

tried to set mvmeter preset to hih peak but I don't have that for a option. is there a way to add that on?

[@TheBandGuide]

Hey Lena! I've noticed sometimes plugins and plugin features load fully after I restart my computer. You should also be able to access the presets by clicking the top middle of the plugin where it says "Init" and going down to factory>Peak Standard. I hope that helps!

[@jasonbailey3420]

I've been trying to figure out how to download mvmeter2 for a while now but still cant figure out how.

[@TheBandGuide]

Hey Jason- did you download it from the link the bio? Once it’s installed, you might need to restart your computer for it to show up. It will be in “audio units” at the end of your plugin list. If it’s still not showing up at that point, try going into your settings and making sure audio unit (AU) plugins are enabled

[@LGBLAT]

When you looped the loudest section first when you started mixing. Would that affect the volume of the track lets say the beginning of the song as well or is it just that section you looped?

[@TheBandGuide]

Great question! It will affect the volume for the entire song. It's not uncommon for the song to need some volume automation to be at the ideal level at different points in the song

[@DidierSajnoWebDesign]

Great tute, thanks. Why are the synth/strings audio rather than midi tracks? My songs use lots of electronic, would you recommend to convert midi to audio when the song is ready for the static mix? ...and lastly you suggest not to peak over -3 on the max meter, why not closer to red, say -1?

[@TheBandGuide]

Great question! I personally prefer to convert everything to audio to help separate my "writing/recording" phase and my "mixing" phase. Otherwise, I can't help but keep tweaking the midi instruments or parts. Having healthy dynamic range (-3 to -6) on the output gives most flexibility during mastering. It also leaves a little space for accidental volume increase when EQing and compressing or if you just find later something needs to come up 2db more. If you don't leave space, you'll have to figure out how to turn down every other track... and that's a huge pain. You can always turn up the volume after with a limiter- which I recommend before exporting to listen in a car, sending to a friend, etc anyway!

[@DidierSajnoWebDesign]

@@TheBandGuide Thanks Colin, that is very helpful. I love the idea of 'freezing' the tracks... so, I guess every musician out there has to do a 'last' tweak to the composition :)

[@TheBandGuide]

@@DidierSajnoWebDesign Absolutely. Committing is huge.

[@a-1151]

Hey there, if I’ve got a track where a guitar is doubling the bass part should I merge the tracks together?also should the instruments (guitar,bass,kick,snare, hi hat, etc) already have EQ And the vocal part already has EQ (since it’s a cover) should I leave it? Great tutorial by the way

[@TheBandGuide]

Thank you! I wouldn’t merge the tracks so I can maintain control over them. If you merge you won’t be able to process them separately and cut out/highlight anything that’s not sounding great in each individual track. If the vocal EQ is part of the ~sound~ I say leave it on. If it’s EQ to help it sound better in the mix, I would turn it off until you’re in the EQ step!

[@a-1151]

@@TheBandGuide ok great, well I used your steps would you like to here what I made?

[@robbietuckermusic]

Is anyone else having issues getting Peak Standard selected? I can select it using the < > arrows in the center but it still says EBUR128 SL in the top left.

[@a-1151]

yes do you know how to fix it?

[@robbietuckermusic]

@@a-1151 Actually I realized if I just c < > arrows slowly, allowing a few seconds between clicks it changes properly.

[@Rickyivesofficial]

I’d like to send u what I got so far and see what u think… x

[@jordan.na.dzielni]

I wouldn't say that I'm especially proud of the mix, but I'm beyond glad that I happened to mix this song. This was the second part of the oldest jazz workshops in Europe, place I've been to before. A band of my friends - wonderful musicians, decided to play and record something special. Although you probably don't understand any Polish... You will feel it ;) I'd make a remix of it at some point of my life, I just need to find the stems. Enjoy the ride: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h53ZZHmjfZedqMU Btw: awesome lesson! Thank you, gonna apply it to my project after playing around with the example. The example song is great, too!

[@TheBandGuide]

Hey thank you so much! Glad it was helpful. Love this mix you did!

[@jordan.na.dzielni]

@@TheBandGuide cool to hear that! I'm applying your tips to my own song and there seems to one part that sometimes flips the meter way above -3, around -1.5. I say 'sometimes' because, for some reason, the meter you've shown is not consistent on my M1 Mac mini. I'd blame not mixing exported, static stems but a project with dynamically added FX to track for that. To the point: how bad is that if the rest of the song sits at around -4.5db? Could I automate the part afterwards, so that it doesn't drop its load on my ears, or is it some fatal flaw that I have no way to get around other than leveling the volume down until it's in the range?

[@JamuulAllah]

im so confused i dont even know if the meter is telling me whats the real level lol, i honestly tried this and it was worst.

[@sbriansharp]

Here’s “The Ghost”. I’ve still got a lot of work to do, especially since I just discovered these steps. soundcloud.com/brian-sharp/the-ghost-v31/s-poNxZic8qlc

[@quercastillo5387]

I made this cover of a song last Christmas, the song is Little Drummer Boy! Perhaps you would like to hear it? :D

[@TheBandGuide]

Would love to!

[@quercastillo5387]

@@TheBandGuide Great! How do I send you the file? :D

[@TheBandGuide]

You can email to [e-mail]!

[@seanjennings8704]

Hi Colin, really impressed by this series of videos: clear, concise and lots of useful tips. They are certainly my favourite mixing-mastering videos on KZbin. I've always wanted to learn this aspect, but in the past I just been content to play with a band on stage. Since we (band is called 'Cabin Fever') can't play gigs in the Covid era we turned to home recording. I notice you offered to listen to others mixes; if offer is still open, here is my mix of a my song 'Nightboat to Tangier': kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWKoo6ileqhqnqc I'd be interested to know what you think of the mix (I'm really just learning so I expect there is a lot of room for improvement!). If you don't have the time, no problem. Thanks. Sean Jennings.

[@TheBandGuide]

Hey Sean! I'm glad to hear they have been so helpful to you! This track is great and I think you did a great job with the mix- it really captures the right vibe for the song. Sounds like live drums too?? Very impressive, sir.

[@seanjennings8704]

@@TheBandGuide Thanks a lot, Colin. Appreciated. Yes, a real drummer. But he had just one mic for the whole kit. So, copied it 3 times, isolated low, mid and high and did my best to bring out kick, snare and cymbals. Anyways, thanks for the encouragement! (obviously, I'm a subscriber)...cheers...

[@a-1151]

@@TheBandGuide Hey there Collin, I am struggling to get the peek standard is there a way to get it

[@Android-eo3pq]

can't listen to this higher song smh