Your raw tracks should sound this good

[@bennycole1257]

Al Schmidt said it best (paraphrasing): “the better you become as a mixing engineer, the less work you have to do. The amateur studio guys have a way harder job than I do. With the tracks that come to me these days, I basically adjust a few faders and I’m done.”

[@AJPMUSIC_OFFICIAL]

I agree so much. Mixed a band recently that recorded at a good local studio with a great engineer and the drums sounded so good from the get go, I love doing them myself but this guy was much better than me and the room was far better than mine. Saved me an hour or two of premixing set up.

[@Fexiheit]

You have a weird definition of "raw tracks" :D

[@diegooliveirabenjamin]

Coming straight out of the board it doesn’t mean “raw”, it can be recorded and processed on the board, eq and compression is on, so I don’t know if that’s a valid example. Can’t confirm because I didn’t see the recording process, also I’m not hating, in fact I’m a huge fan. In any case that’s a good point, heat right on the source is the way!

[@empiar5481]

By that logic the only way to get raw takes is use DI, no effects pedals, no amps etc. because they’ll all affect the sound.

[@mrcoatsworth429]

Well he clarifies it in the video. He says maybe a rough EQ and a compressor on the vocals and drums for tracking.

[@TwoScoopsOfTubert]

Also sounds like the tracks were already quantized/edited in the "raw" versions which I think is the biggest factor when people hear it and think that it "sounds" great. Not a fan of quantization, but I'm not hating either. That's a lot of music these days. Gimme the filthy stuff

[@empiar5481]

@@TwoScoopsOfTubert Jordan edits a lot as he goes along. Point of the video is that before you even start mixing the song (throwing a variety of plugins on each individual track) it should already sound the way you want it to, so that the mixing stage isn’t about making the song sound good, but instead about emphasizing the elements that makes the song sound good/cool.

[@TwoScoopsOfTubert]

@@empiar5481 Yup totally get that, and like I said I'm not hating on that or anything but it is a bit misleading when referring to them as the raw tracks. It would be great to hear a truly raw take (say the drums or vocals) without any editing for a real insight as to how the *recordings* sound prior to editing and mixing, since that's the real gold we're trying to capture in the recording process.

[@MixReady]

Wouldn‘t we all love our raw tracks to sound that good.

[@twilightbiscuit]

both your rough and mixes sound so good, man. I think it's one of the few channels where you can be sure that the host definitely knows what he's talking about 🔥🔥

[@bradsmithstudios8881]

All the KZbin tutorials I see use amazing source tracks, it makes the job easy(er). I wish more tutorials would cover getting the best results possible from poorly produced source tracks, which is what a lot of mix engineers deal.

[@SoundAloneband]

Raw tracks usually will have some processing during tracking ppl. Eq compression etc on way in. Most boards have channel strips or digital interfaces have dsp u can print on the way in.

[@AustinFoundMusic]

Brooo who is that second band? Sounds awesome.

[@claytongouin5605]

Wow. The differences are subtle, but make a difference. I found your videos a few years ago and your opinion that your raw tracks should sound as close to a final mix/master as possible really stuck with me. I took it to hear with my band and our most recent release definitely benefited from this thought process. Keep up the great educational content. It does make a difference for us home studio musicians and recording/mix engineers.

[@The_Absurdistt]

Fck it, I give up... your raw tracks sound a million times better than my final mixes....

[@hardcoremusicstudio]

Don’t give up, just learn how to do it!

[@matthiaseisterer2240]

To anyone wondering: Second track is Heavy Hearts - Tranquility

[@antonycharest4719]

Thanks that’s a great discovery for me!

[@DrummingElk]

Dude.. This is an eye opener. The raw tracks sound great! Thanks for the insight, always love your content!

[@mikesperling9878]

Those new videos are so eye opening for me. They really got me a step further to professional mixing. Especially the compression video is the best one so far. Now i really now how to use my comps the right way. Thanks jordan! 🙏

[@soulschizm2424]

Really good info as usual. I’m still pretty new to recording and mixing, and I’m definitely finding that each new song I lay down is easier to mix because I’ve started demanding better initial performances.

[@giantsmoy]

Hey Jordan, do you achieve this with intense / moderate processing or mainly from mic selection / placement, instrument tuning, performance, room? If processing, what differs in term of mindset between tracking and mixing, do you think of it differently? Thanks for this awesome and eye opening video!

[@chriscamarena6343]

Wow,I do hear the differences especially in vocals and drums.Amazing how good the raws sound.

[@davidhayman9330]

I was surprised how similar they were! It really drives the point home...thanks, very helpful.

[@shdsky]

so those are not RAW raw, i mean all the components are processed to some extent right?

[@empiar5481]

He had EQ on the drums, but everything else is pretty much raw. People are mentioning EQ and compression on the way into the board, like using a distressor on the vocals, but if that’s the basis for not calling these tracks raw then you can’t even use the EQ on the guitar amp, or even the tone knob on the guitar itself for that matter because then you’re changing the tone on the way into the interface. When tracking electric instruments there’s some amount of processing occurring no matter what. Only other thing Jordan did was a rough balance of the levels, but they’re not very different from how the tracks were captured in the first place.

[@bigmike2149]

Bro I am completely sold! Where do I sign up! 🤘🔥🔥

[@leonardojobst6784]

I lern that years ago.... the 75% of a good mix is a good source of tracks well recorded and well playing.. thats it...

[@Mix3dbyMark]

Those are rough??

[@kylerferrill8252]

Track as if there’s no mix, mix as if there’s no master

[@SuperJonSluggo]

I think you just put something in my head that's going to be there for a very long time, thanks! ( Trk like no mix, mx like no mstr )

[@calebhohneke8482]

So here's the thing with people saying "this isn't raw". You are technically correct, but when you think of "raw tracks", think of them as your starting point instead (doesn't matter if EQ and compression is applied) When you go into a studio that has analog gear, they are going to compress and EQ the signals going into the session. That's just a fact.....The same can be applied with plugins if you use them and render them into the wav files/ Or if you have UAD equipment...printed on. All it does is give you an easier time of going from A to B.... I like to think of them as semi-raw tracks When you use nothing and have legit raw unprocessed tracks, then comes the time to tame the beast. It's way harder at that point and you may lose your vision for the mix in the process of trying to wrangle everything in from scratch. Now if you start with a somewhat processed mix like the example above, you are already 50% or more on the way to the final mix. So the adjustments you make after can be calculated and efficient without potentially losing your ears vision during the process. It's less taxing on the brain and ears to do it this way and MORE IMPORTANTLY can help you make better decisions during the recording process with better aligning instrument sounds/tones/mics so that everything is easier to glue in.

[@lpjdrummer12295]

Please pin this comment. Getting it right in the mix means getting it right when tracking. Getting it right in tracking means getting awesome takes and printing great sounds. Printing half-baked sounds (unprocessed or otherwise) is gonna give you a half-baked mix. And you're not going anywhere unless your starting point is great. Demand more of your performers to play with great tones and timing, and get great takes.

[@DekcerwTeg]

Hey Caleb! I would like to offer a bit of friendly disagreement! While I completely agree that nailing it at the source is crucial for the mixing to be the best it can be, this video still leaves me clueless as to whether or not I'm obsessing over that dang snare mic too much, or if I really just need that fancy compressor, or if the drummer just sucks. Yeah, I get that it's gonna get compressed and eq'd, and I would even argue that you don't need analog hardware to do most of that (yes, in the tracking phase too), but I these before and after comparisons didn't do anything to tell me whether or not I'm on the right track. Just that I'm not there yet. 🤷 Still, thank you Jordan for this video! I am definitely thinking about how committing to moves earlier on moving forward. Cheers!🤘🏼

[@raysouls5510]

Do you have any video mixing and mastering for hip hop?

[@raybeeger1529]

Great! It's clear that all songs are well recorded!!!!

[@em8969]

What is the second song, that rift is gorgeous

[@Gregorfriday]

your rough mixes sound like my final mixes

[@pdxgoathead]

Thankyou for sharing this. It's nice to get a reference point from someone else! /cheers

[@Rick_Johnson82]

I’ve got a pro plus Jackson 7 sting. I’ve been playing for 30 years. Ryzen gaming computer, Scarlett’s 4i4 and presonus interface. Presonus studio one 2. Architect only plug-ins Molly and gojira . Positive grid helix native and own hammer irs. Heavy hitters and a countryman di box. It doesn’t matter what I do. It’s good on clean tones but as soon as it runs through distortion it sounds in audible. Far back and tinny. Very Harsh to listen to and flat. Also there a small amount of doubling going on. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. It’s the second computer and still the same. I’ve even tried a new daw , how can I solve this. I just sat in my music room for days now and I’ve tried everything. Is it me?

[@enriqueimayoshi1559]

more videos like this please! 👏

[@andreysiga7583]

thx a lot for showing all that kind stuff. so useful

[@mixbygygyondbeat1295]

Cool video thanks for sharing. But most home studio dont own great gears for tracking all they have is a laptop a budget mic and a focusrite sound card

[@RealHomeRecording]

Exactly

[@delorusclaiborne3274]

So am i to understand that you are saying when tracking you are doing most of the work through hardware on the way in... This video suggests that no hardware was used during tracking? Or you in the box all the way?

[@SavBeatz97]

What genre would the last two songs be considered?

[@Arkansya]

lesson for bands : get good, then spend for a good studio and tracking engineer, better value than spending on mixing Bad takes

[@southsidesoderlund]

But..how to avoid latency when inserting plugins? I have a fairly new Daw with RME adat Wich I can record at 64 samples..but with plugins in realtime for 16-24 channels I maybe have to raise to 128 or more samples introducing latency for the musicians..?

[@Sheldonatello]

When you say raw tracks, that means they were tracked with a mixer including additional effects right...?

[@metalfather8139]

I thought you were going to do raw guitar bass tracks vrs bus treatments an mix sounds just missing rAw single track play

[@shivr3270]

with risk to offend you, on 2:38 I liked better the rough mix. Amazing tracking, could not be better

[@SuperJonSluggo]

Great vid and nice demonstration of the principle you are trying to get across. Ty... also the scream @ 5:50 punches hard, is there a backward reverb or anything like that or just great arranging?

[@PetrisonRocha]

Can't do this without outboard compressors.

[@JoeyFTL]

What band is the first example? The song is absolutely killer.

[@MediaBoy13]

Kingdoms

[@mitchdeathblossom]

Im trying to define what "RAW" actually means, as everyones definition takes on a different version of this especially in the recording world with different access to gear and microphones, to my ears this isnt what i would consider raw takes as they have been edited and glued and sample enhanced, i was expecting the literal recorded stems untouched to give a better example. The meaning of the video does stand true though, crap goes in, crap comes out, and vice versa!

[@AdviceandAdventures]

Indeed. Raw to me means just the microphone, microphone preamp and converter. No processing in between. As soon as you put an equalizer or compressor in there then the signal is no longer raw. Of course my recordings using an API preamp into an API equalizer and then compressed with a Distressor are going to sound better than using a Focusrite Scarlett pre with nothing else!

[@brandoncooke6564]

@@AdviceandAdventures In the modern days of mixing, I really believe raw is whatever is "tracked" or whatever has been "printed to 'tape'" without any processing in the box. Any outboard gear that was used beforehand is irrelevant in this example because he can't undo whatever processing went on before he received the tracks, and that, I believe, is why they are referred to as "raw" tracks. If you can't go back and edit whatever processing has already happened, then that track is as raw as you, personally, will ever know it to be.

[@thor_nay]

Amen. Real world raw is not this raw. This, CLA-mixing videos, etc. make sense when you have top notch tracks recorded by top assistant engineers who edited and pre eq-ed and pre-compressed everything to the smallest detail

[@liemisenkeittiossa]

Good stuff, nicely recorded!

[@oyoyoyubilinegra]

Jaw dropping video

[@atcordice]

Foundation is key to a great mix

[@victorloya1590]

Hi Jordan, do you récord at 48 or 96khz? thanks

[@hardcoremusicstudio]

48

[@EvilBlakey]

"This is kind of in a totally different genre here" - Continues to play literally the same song for the entire video

[@tvtime1505]

horrifying crushed sounds

[@gafarbello107]

Like it was said, who is that second band you tracked? They sounded dope!

[@guitarcontrol]

It's Heavy Hearts and the EP is Jacoba

[@normjones6916]

raw mixes sound killer as is:)

[@dougleydorite]

Raw can take on many different forms

[@brotherj22stops84]

nothing but noice the vocal one angry kid ....

[@BrokenCompassRecords]

if my raw tracks sounded like that, i wouldn't do any mixing xD

[@JosephAnidjar]

both of these are mixed. one is just more polished

[@zachskatesstreet]

dude pin the freaking songs in the description, some peple want to the name of a freaking song

[@calebneff5777]

Literally how is it possible to get raw drums this clean. I can get everything sounding great in a short time, except that I spend dozens of hours just to make my drums sound bad, but better than raw. Good drums with good heads and good cymbals tunes well with good mics.

[@calebneff5777]

I have tried everything I can possible think of an I still have an unusable amount of hi hat bleed in my snare mics, and unusable midrange in my overheads. I am literally about to totally give up on live drums altogether because I have been at this for 2 years and cannot get my drums to sound a tenth as good as anything I listen to. All my other stuff sounds great and I know what I’m doing, but my career will die if my drums continue like this.

[@cameronmurphy5850]

I once felt exactly like this. I found that using the best and most appropriate drums and cymbals helps a lot as well as getting good at tuning and fine tuning mic placement. Of course the drummers ability and consistency is a MASSIVE part to play.

[@RafaelSequera]

@@calebneff5777 he process the drums while tracking, he applies eq, compression and all in the process, so he doesnt have to do much later... But if you havent tracked the drums yourself you really cant do much about it...

[@calebneff5777]

@@RafaelSequera I track drums pretty often, but mostly for genres where processing is minimal and the drum sounds are more cohesive. I'm tracking some metal drums now and I'm just lost at how to get my snare to be big enough to cut through everything without a ton of bleed.

[@calebneff5777]

@@cameronmurphy5850 Maybe I should spend more time on my overhead placement and tuning my snare. I love how it sounds in the room, but it is pretty dull under the mics.

[@davidobrien4436]

Its pretty easy when youre using drum samples for everything lol

[@madmuso5]

If you watch the making of Metallicas black album you can hear how close to the final mix the raw tracks actually are.

[@Djole_NS246]

I like raw mix better. It is way more natural, more human. Today's production is too artificial and generic. I am an old guy :)

[@shakazulu5246]

Well recording is 90% of sound., so far we hawe learned that..at least, if guy pro... like you can add that 10% of magic... great, super..but all examples that i have heard so far already sound great, i have never heard that some mixing engineer made magic 90% out of 10% of bad shitty mix..it is just the way it is....

[@3rett115]

I'm sorry, but those vocals are nowhere near raw. You can hear effects as well as dynamic & EQ processing on the 'before'. What am I missing here?

[@thedisbelieverdoom]

in real life raw tracks doesn't sound this good. That's why we have to do all this fancy stuff with drums, bass and guitars. these examples sound just like finished tracks before and after exciter+maximizer. I'd like to hear the difference between real raw and finished tracks

[@peterorany]

Hi i have to say that Your tips are great thanks! Highly recommended. But ONE thing maaan! What is RAW??? 🤣 Soooo... Thanks bye!

[@rebelmastermind2350]

Whining about definition of RAW = They fix in the mix 💩✨

[@VudooChild]

Yeah definitely not “raw” like the title claims.😒

[@mikehines14]

I usually love this channel. Jordan always has great stuff. I think this is a little misleading too though. He said "yeah I did some quick stuff during the rough mix" well then it's not raw anymore.

[@youraverageguitarist]

Not raw tracks, already mixed, edited and adjustments made on professional equipment. You think raw drums would sound like this, your crazy. Misleading video and not really that helpful.

[@taimildyas1126]

This is cap.

[@RafaelSequera]

Those are no way "raw" tracks LOL... Most of the time you wont get that kind of "raw tracks", it is unrealistic...

[@hardcoremusicstudio]

Watch the whole video, I explain it. As usual people want to nitpick words instead of catch the main point.

[@RafaelSequera]

@@hardcoremusicstudio I watched it all my friend...

[@RafaelSequera]

@@hardcoremusicstudio I understand the main point is to track as best as possible, doing some level adjustments and eq while tracking, but thats exactly my point, sometimes that is not possible to do, specially when someone else is tracking and they send the tracks to you...

[@chetsenior7253]

An expert can handle anything except for a new problem.

[@redlightclinicdrummer]

That “band” is definitely acacia strain.

[@IvyMike551]

Invaluable tips and knowledge… unfortunately total garbage music as the source (at least the 1st song). Fuck.