Mixing 101 - Setting Levels

[@darrencook7168]

"It's not blowin' my hair back..." I had to stop the video and laugh for a minute here. Bless ya', Joe. :)

[@DavidPresent]

jajajajaj me too

[@jamiehoggle1734]

Noticed phil spector recordings had "nontraditional pannings" you're a good teacher dude ...it makes a world of a difference when someone explains things a certain way and at a accessible speed

[@ClockAgentOfficial]

Yep, used to be really overwhelmed with full band set up (and listening to my early mixes, they are awful) but once I stopped trying to do everything at once, it became a lot easier and now I have my own workflow that makes perfect sense to me (start on the drums, add the bass, then acoustics, then electrics, then vocals) Then I start adding the plugins and fancy stuff as the icing on the cake, because as we all know, GIRATS makes everything soooooo much easier.

[@dv8media578]

"Does that make sense... turn the speakers up, it turns everything up in the room so you can hear it more clearly" lol yo i lost it, but at the same time realized that your same breakdown about something i don't understand yet is what was needed. i commend your work good sir!!!

[@kbgws]

Mixing 101- getting back to basics. Excellent idea Joe.

[@b1j]

Joe just keeps putting it out there for us. He’s a treasure.

[@AndrewKeithRussell]

I've downloaded your track, and in listening to it over and over again, I wanted to say I love your voice, nice tune too. Very Impressed, and thats coming from a JUNO Awards (Canada) Judge. Love your podcasts., so natural, intelligent and confidence building.

[@bumpty9830]

Thanks, Joe! Learning a lot from your tutorials. I have a little tip to offer in return! You mentored that the first level you set (e.g. your acoustic guitar) is kinda arbitrary, which makes perfect sense. So I suggest instead of setting your speaker volume arbitrarily, then adjusting the fader on the first track, do the opposite: set your fader where you want it to end up (maybe -6 for a little headroom), then set your speaker volume by the level on the first track. (I'd normalize the gain on the track first, of course.)

[@pierremlaurin3581]

Thank you so much Joe for your good tricks, I am new in mixing and I like to do things the right way and you are the man of the situation Since I am 70 years old, I don’t intend to do a career in mixing but simply thank you to be there to help us doing nice mixes Have a nice day Pierre from Alberta in Canada

[@Deveon24]

Joe, thank you for all of your videos. You have helped me wonders while first starting out making music for Christ.

[@rjb7569]

Joe... You put out such quality, down-to-earth lessons. Easy to understand, to the point. In essence... *You da man.*

[@slimskinny]

Great video, I noticed that after I add my vocal presets on, the track started clipping so I tend to have to drop the track by 8 to 10 db to create the headroom for the mastering plugins, and if I want to hear the song louder like you said I just turn my speakers up until I put the plugins on the master bus.

[@ptfproductions9347]

Cool deal. I do the same, but slightly differently. I don't like changing the physical volume of my speakers. So I used pink noise to get my "room level" to a volume that sounds good to me. Then I leave my settings there. In the session, I have a gain plugin on the mix bus, usually at +10db. That way, I am able to run my faders with about 10db of headroom and not overdrive any of the analog modeled plugins I tend to use. Once I have my basic mix done, I'll take off the gain plugin, and gain stage all the busses going into the main out.

[@SisterIndica]

YOU ARE 100% right about turning up the VOLUME on your speakers! I have done this very thing - thought the audio was too quiet and it turned out my volumes on my SPEAKERS were too low. LOL

[@CalJenn]

Joe you are the Mix Meister.

[@Neveah_music]

thank you so much, simplified it very well and made me sit back and relax for a second

[@LordChaosWing]

Looking forward to the rest of the 101 series. This was super useful for a problem I am currently having.

[@musictosoul]

Thanks Joe! I’m fairly new to Studio One and really appreciate your approach! Keep it fun!

[@bigbruvanit]

I'm prodomitly BoomBap. Thanks to you I'm trying to expand my own horizons. Uncle Joe 4 president, fr fam 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 🖌🖌🖌 🎵🎶🎶🎶🎵 🍾🥂💰

[@mattbacon285]

Whooo hooo Studio One!

[@GetSongsDone]

love it!

[@doublempro583]

3:47 you've got "one" fader for each track 😉

[@juanwaissman1]

Excellent timing. I have a voice abs guitar track and mix tonight. I will walk this path in the session

[@RODAREZconAmor]

Excellent I really needed to know this. Thank you Joe

[@tudorgheorghe4532]

"will not blow my hair back" only that one from other parts!😅 Me too same bouling!

[@MichaelKen-qe1gu]

Thank you Joe,, very good stuff

[@jimmyk9998]

Hey Joe this is Jimmy K. I think the approach of mixing by feel is important. I use and app that reads Db level. I play what works for me as a reference cd. Adjust to 70 to 75 Db . Then I bring up each track and build my static mix. For me I generally end up near -12 Db leaving me plenty of headroom to further the process in the mix. In the world of Recording your a real treasure. Thank you for what you bring to the recording industry. Les Paul would be proud .

[@philfyphil]

The new independent listen bus is great in S1 as there is always such a big difference in volume when switching between the song and the same song in the project (with all the mastering plugins working). So now you can get the song sounding louder without pushing it all through the main output faders and clipping the outputs.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

One thing you can do is this. Have two volumes for your speakers. One for mixing, and one for mastered/loud stuff. That's what I do.

[@brical1176]

This might be one of the most helpful videos I've watched. Thank you

[@charsnexion7438]

I kind of got to this video a little late but it was very helpful for me as a begginer to know the process you use so I can have a starting point for mixing my own music. Thanks a lot man, keep up with the good things you're doing for us musicians and noob (pros as well) producers. Cheers!

[@lovedesireemarie]

I really needed this video. Thank you so much 🙏🏾💜

[@ghostwriter1440]

Nice, thanks for sharing!

[@khrystinasmith2531]

love your techniques and love your voice keep doing what your doing im learning by watching your vidoes

[@FranssenMark]

I tend to have to decrease the gain for most tracks I get from others. They are recorded almost to the max mostly. Clipping the mains at once when I hit play after I imported the tracks. It’s so nice to have quieter recordings! More people should record their tracks at lower levels. That’ll help your mixing engineers so much!

[@stpeteslim4198]

Thx joe ur the best I justed subscribe .. love your content..simple and clear to the point

[@drumswagger1]

Thanks for this I needed this information

[@robertcarter9649]

Epic "Strong Bad Guitar" reference! Kindred spirit, brother. I too release a lot of home studio CCM (its's not just a hockey reference!) A friend at church just recommended your videos and I am getting so much out of them. I use Studio One too, so SUPER pumped to delve deep into your experience and hard earned wisdom.

[@nedim_guitar]

7:37 The chords sounds like Monkey Wrench by the Foo Fighters. I think music is fascinating, because we can have same chords, but with another melody and arrangement, it's a totally different song.

[@BukanIbuMu]

One in ten

[@ChrisGilland]

Jill, it is things like this that have always puzzled me when it comes to mixing and getting levels correct. This video was absolutely amazing! I will definitely try some of these techniques next time. Doing one track at a time, rather than thinking of things from the bigger picture definitely seems to be more useful. You definitely know what you're doing, and I highly respect your knowledge.

[@Banditman]

I'm not sure I agree with the concept of changing the "physical" volume in the room on a per track basis. I feel that leaving my physical / in room volume alone allows me to better judge the tracks. By keeping a consistent level in room, I know that when the mix is "right", the volume will be right. If the volume is too low, it probably means the tracks are too low. If I've got a bunch of tracks that are sitting too low, I'd prefer to simply clip gain them up so they are more consistent then zero out the faders (zero, not unity) and ride them up to set my static.

[@contraspower6302]

Great video helped me alot🔥

[@theofficialjizzy]

Thanks, great Video. What do you think about 96 kHz and that it "gives more headroom".

[@dwaynestevens706]

Hey there Joe how r u ? When you said massaging the levels do you mean as you go on in the mix if you had more tracks let's say. You would have to readjust the levels of the guitar and vox accordingly but not changing the relative volume between those two. So I'm saying the guitar and vox have to be turned down just so that everything else would be able to fit volume wise right. This is why I like to start with the vox because the vox should be the loudest and then everything else just go right under it.

[@DoctorMcFarlandStudios]

the houses have definitely changed :) Hope to see you at NAMM.

[@jimhart1959]

Great content, as always!

[@dexceptional]

Hi Joe! I've been seeing a lot of your videos, Thank you for all the good work. I've only recently begun mixing; kindly advise me on where to begin.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

My mixing course will get you there the fastest: www.homestudiocorner.com/mix

[@Oeg925]

Such a great channel, loaded with knowledge.. thx Joe

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Thanks Desley.

[@philz7227]

I love Joe's tutorials. This one about the static mix is good, but something is missing. Shouldn't the room monitor speakers be set at an appropriate db level and left there so you don't fool yourself about the volume? Adjusting speaker volume to suit a low volume track seems to be just adding another variable to get hung up on.

[@PokeABrain]

Joe could you please show the way to 'finish' all levels in a song...? i am assuming you wont put a compressor in all main buses.. or maybe you do? so after you level everything.. do you just a limiter in your master track? or what do you at the end to make it as loud and clear as possible? Thanks!! nice song too btw!

[@JohnathanMonroe22583]

I would like you to do a hip-hop mix. I would enjoy you changing it up

[@gustafkey1608]

Hi Joe, I like your all explanation 'bout mixing...I using VST Instruments for almost anything for instruments, usually I make all sound midi data for all Instruments before I bounce to WAV... How do I get proper volume level for all my vst instrument?...

[@dcurtaincall]

Do you track all of your vocals off axis like this? Even if you were tracking another artist?

[@rdominguez1967]

When will you be doing a course on Studio One?

[@erictorres5935]

Great video filled with knowledge!! Keep up the good content .

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Thanks Eric

[@brianhiggins4614]

Wow! I never knew about this! I have been recording with my faders up at zero, where Studio One sets them. Actually, I haven't even so much as looked at the mix tab until I get my single, classical guitar track cut down to to size, isolated, and stitched together. So I should go back and look at all my previous recordings? I have had a lot of clipping problems, I solved them with the limiter, and recently compression, or just turning down the volume. I just recorded a track last night, this time I had the faders down to -44. Do I need to turn down the dial on the Audiobox preamp also when recording?

[@brianhiggins4614]

I went back and looked at previous recordings, and although I did record with the faders up at zero ( doink!), and I did frequently have clipping at the initial playback, it seems I was able to remove it. The wave form tops on my finished pieces are variable heights, no clipping is visually evident. What a relief. But I did waste a lot time correcting that, and from here on in, my faders will be well below zero.

[@jamesfitzgerald1840]

So what I'd really like to see is setting levels in a recording session - the vocals, the guitars, the drums, etc. Some people say around 0 db, some say just don't let the meters clip (hit the red peak indicators) , some say 10- 12 db below 0 db. Sure like to see a video of this.

[@dillontaylor8035]

🤦‍♂️ typically you record the tracks where you want them in the track. An example would be, I wouldn’t record a kick drum averaging +5 db just so I can turn it down later. I work with professionals every day. I just like watching Joe’s videos to see other people’s ideas.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Super conservative. Don't clip. That's it. REally simple.

[@zachsandquist4234]

Question for ya, how do you effectively set levels when and instrument (say an acoustic guitar) is very dynamic? Like the intro is very soft finger picking and the chorus is loud strumming. Is it best to leave it as is or clip gain every section to be more balanced?

[@marsrivers]

What studio one version are you using? The trimming and phase button are new???

[@believe-in-righteousness]

Thanks

[@jimflys2]

Anyone.....where do you set your interface gains? At 11 o'clock, 12, 1 or 2 o'clock? Then the gain on the DAW at 0? Then for unity your faders are typically at...?

[@laneoswego6989]

Im not really mixing but setting the peak to peak level on exported wav files to have someone else mix my song, with master at zero I bring up the channel volume to set export db level of “peak to peak” for each channel what headroom do you recommend? 3db on each high and low or more headroom like 6db on each side?

[@tudorgheorghe4532]

Do you have a presonus digital mixer ?that you run with presonus studio one DAW ? Because i see you were their t-shirt ligo😊

[@mikewaldron4492]

Nice video dude. Shows how many pitfalls can be found with just 2 tracks. Personally, I'd have looked at getting the track audio tracks to -18 (or whatever folk like to balance to these days) with the faders at unity. Not a fan of moving faders too early, maybe I'm just too old school... 🤣. An idea for a video I'd like to see you do is a simple... ish buss set-up. Guitar buss, with L&R rhythm plus a lead / Vox with a lead and L&R bv's. Maybe a bass. Perhaps simple drums (Kick/snare/tambourine?). 10 tracks? Just to give your viewers a quick guide to bussing tracks, then levelling busses against each other. Then possibly showing with a bit of mix buss EQ/comp? Not really any videos that show busses, without there being 50+ tracks, which is probably a bit overwhelming for people just learning how to do it. Just an idea. Love your mellow teaching method, very soothing. P.S. Can't believe that with your sandwich analogies, you never managed to get in "It just doesn't cut the mustard..." 🤣🤣🤣

[@ItsNicolasNotNic]

Hey Joe or anyone who knows... I don't have any instruments connected. Just vocals and instrumental (beat). Should the instrumental track and vocal tracks be set to L+R or just one or the other? Should they be stereo or mano? What's the point of these? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[@earthtonhom1626]

Do you offer courses that cover setting up the recording session and mixing and mastering Session?

[@RahulSimaro]

Your new setup looks epic. Your decision of choosing this angle than the stairs was right. It looks very nice on camera 👍

[@ghettot419king]

Your videos are great, but I have a question. Is there a way to highlight breathes in-between lyrics and turn the volume down on them.

[@beatswallad1400]

de-esser??

[@MrDii35]

Thanks Joe… You have great and very helpful videos.. 👌🏽👏🏾 God bless you #diiwilliams

[@saintrighteous8416]

Is in negative -18 db good for Christian rap vocals

[@oscarlopez1463]

I... I’m such an amater that I’m afraid of disagreeing, but I have to. Maybe, in a two track song you can start the mix with such little gain stage but I don’t think it’s gonna work with a whole band. In my opinion, there’s not enough ceiling and it’ll clip. The meters shouldn’t go higher than -14 db. If there’s something I’m missing I’d appreciate some guidance. Thanks so much! I love this channel. I wanna make that clear.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

As long as it's not clipping the master bus, that's all I care about. Setting specific decibel "numbers" to hit is arbitrary and doesn't really do anything for the music. Gain-staging doesn't have to be so mathematical.

[@juanwaissman1]

Also, it’s useful to me to step into the process in parts. I mean, record part DO NOT engage a plugin. Then clean the takes. The mixing mode

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Nice

[@nate4732]

How far should you have turned your speaker volume up when figuring our a good level of track volume? Thanks!

[@prodblbb]

just a bit confused here when u started with the guitar is it the gain u turned all the way down to the volume (it looks like volume)

[@JeanLoupRSmith]

Quick question: I don't have studio monitors (yet) so I only work with studio headphones. Does it make a difference when setting up levels given that with headphones you don't really have a feel for how it sounds within the room? Is the approach the same or is there something different to do when working with headphones? Thanks

[@ClockAgentOfficial]

I still use a combination of headphones and monitors (depending on who's in the house at the time) and from experience, as long as the headphones are decent, they're a perfectly good way to mix, and you can still get a 'feel' from them for when something is too loud/ quiet.

[@philfyphil]

The only way I seem to be able to get a good balance with low end is by using monitors with a sub. In my case it’s Adam 5” monitors with a 8” KRK sub. I then often switch over to my Sennheiser 1990 Pros for mix balance. In a very small room, I would favour good headphones over monitors if you had to choose one or the other.

[@joshfoyer]

Gainstaging will be the same either way. As far as "getting a feel" goes, I think thats subjective to whatever you're used to mixing on. Ive heard of mixers that say they know they have the low end right when they can feel the vibration on their pants from their subwoofer. That's a very subjective thing and by no means is something universal. Getting a mix that translates has much less to do with whether you mix you on headphones or monitors and way more on referencing pro mixes and time spent in whatever listening environment you have. SonarWorks EQ correction can be really helpful too as far as hearing a flat response goes. Headphones work great

[@TheFinalGamerRN]

Hi Joe! Great video! One thing that pops to mind, would you do the panning before the static mixing (this video)? Because at least for me, things tend to sound waay louder when I hard pan them, what do you think?

[@GabrielPassarelliG]

Panning is part of the static mix, but normally you do it after setting the levels. In fact, it's very helpful to set first levels in mono listening, then checking how levels translate to stereo and just then do static panning. Hard panning something should not feel louder, in fact it should feel quieter, because playing that sound from 2 speakers tend to sum the signal and rise it up to 6dB (but because of room acoustics and phase relationship, it normally sits around 3-4dB louder than hard panned). That is why there is a panning law, to compensate for that kind of sum and make the mix translate better once downmixed to mono.

[@GabrielPassarelliG]

What you may be experiencing is some kind of masking added to the fact of the panning law of Studio One raising everything in the sides up to 3dB to compensate for that summing of 2 speakers in a room (on headphones it's difficult to understand). While everything competes in the center, masking may be hiding some elements behind others, and when you separate them through panning, they stand out more and appear to have been increased in level. Specially if you are mixing on headphones.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Sure. Pan first, level next. Doesn't matter.

[@ChrisGalesMusic]

When would you use normalizing a track?

[@michaelharacopos6550]

Joe I watch all of your videos and learn so much from them but right now I could use a video from you on how to fix drums that’s are out of phase. PleeeeaSsseee

[@HomeStudioCorner]

move the mics?

[@michaelharacopos6550]

@@HomeStudioCorner haha I would if I was there when the recording was happening.

[@SkateTobby]

maybe a strange question... but... should you use peak tamer on the invidual channels? i have times where i feel like i get good levels i start to do a test master just to check everything and i feel like the dynamic all of a sudden is wrong... even tho it felt right before mastering... do you have any good tips?

[@salintium]

One thing I hate is listen to mp3s, wavs,or soptify at one speaker level then another song come on and it is too soft, so I turn the speakers up then the next song is too loud and I am blown away. My fear with your speaker solution is just that. Your thoughts?

[@spydestroyer]

Greetings Joe ! As I download from your dropbox and listen to your song Lies I was wondering if I can do a remix of this song ? The remix would be in a progressive trance/ EDM genre . I like it so much it's an ear worm really . Many thanks and Cheers from Montreal Canada .

[@gqsmoove9652]

What did you do on your mix prep step for gain staging?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

nothing

[@michaeltablet8577]

Thanks again ! That song is really catchy. When will it be released?

[@korkenknopfus]

Oh, it was already, in 2015. Search for the EP Free, a rock version.

[@michaeltablet8577]

@@korkenknopfus thank you!

[@korkenknopfus]

@@michaeltablet8577 I forgot to mention the song’s name: it is Lies.

[@yaboiavery5986]

12:37, won't that mess up your levels? EQ is adjusting volume, just in different frequency ranges. Same goes for compression.. It seems like a leveling session after the effects would be smart

[@marnofranck6204]

Do you level your mix before or after mixing? After gain staging, I start to mix my track then setting levels, but I see a lot of producers gain stage, leveling then mixing. What are the pros and cons when doing it both ways?

[@DavidLeeKing]

There's a step before this that always slightly confuses me. Getting sound from your instrument into your audio interface (I use Focusrite stuff), and then getting appropriate levels from that to your DAW. I can do that ... but sometimes I have to, for example, turn the drum overheads way down on the audio interface (no pad button to use) to get a good level into the DAW. My question - is that the normal way to do it? Or is there something else I need to do between the mic and the interface, like get a db pad adapter for my xlr cable)? Seems to sound fine in the DAW, but I learned this stuff way back in the 90's, with tape and boards that had "normal" gain and volume controls, and this seems a bit different than that! Just curious!

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Turning things down is normal.

[@sekritskworl-sekrit_studios]

Out of curiosity, Joe... Do you typically set initial levels on the monitors, instead of adjusting the clip gain? I'm not trying to arguing that you shouldn't... I was just curious (I'm very much a NOOB). ....It's just that it seems like that would seriously impact your monitor reference levels over time. I you're not accustomed to certain audio ranges for certain degrees of level, then you're constantly re-learning what sounds like "generally appropriate" levels, making for vast inefficiencies over time.. Am I wrong on this?

[@darryldouglas6004]

Joe, what do you think of the NORMALIZE function in Studio One? I use it often. Is it a bad idea to lean on it too much? What am I gaining, losing, missing. Seems like a lot of people avoiding it in these how to videos.

[@ianmclean5541]

I would like to know the answer to this question myself. I don’t see a downside to it.

[@landandair7662]

hey doing u record bands like pro studios do in nashville im try build pro studio and not shore how get sponsors by persons or brand that u need build pro studio any help would really help :)

[@jvices]

Hi Joe, is an option to loop record and have a preroll before each loop in S1? thanks!

[@HomeStudioCorner]

I don't think we've implemented that yet, but it's on our list.

[@jvices]

@@HomeStudioCorner hey Joe I just found the request here, and it seems like we've been waiting a long time for this. Any chance you can pull some strings and get them to do this sooner? thanks, answers.presonus.com/2804/feature-request-markers-independent-markers-loopable-preroll?show=2804#q2804

[@dsallday3691]

Appreciate what you do. Question? When I record my vocals the recording sounds low. I’ve adjusted volume and it is still low. Now mind you I’m a beginner to the production side of things but I’m a seasoned lyricist. Can you help with a video for those in our community dealing with this issue? Thank you in advance!

[@rivervaughanmusicstuff5771]

Sounds like a gain staging issue going into the computer. Double check your gain settings on your interface and make sure the input isn't clipping or nearing the clipping point of your DAW when you're recording. You could also try adjusting the track volume like you saw Joe do in the beginning of the video. You want your wave forms to be visible and clear, but not to the point they clip whenever you sing into it. One little clip won't murder your recording, but a whole word or passage that's clipped will. I like to aim for a peak of -6db and an average of -18 when doing any recordings. If you're one taking a dynamic performance, talking volume and not note choice, adjust your gain to your loudest part and then compressors will let you bring your lower volume vocals up to a similar volume. I had to do this with my vocalist buddy who went from a very soft verse to a belted ending chorus that he says hurt his stomach. Also, if you're doing multiple vocal takes to double up your vocal, keep in mind that something called phasing will be important to learn about. If you have inverted phasing, which I can't explain without images sadly, you'll cancel out your sound. Just about every DAW I know of has a phase invert button for it's tracks, so it's an easy fix once you learn what it is. Hopefully that helps you out.

[@TheFranchfry]

Idk if anyone else caught at 1:52 when he explains the entire universe in terms of music and how we exist in unsymmetrical harmony but not chaos…

[@dwaynekendrick_]

When to use fader vs trim?

[@khaypee]

Is it adviceable to do this before EQ and compression or after?

[@LordChaosWing]

In the vid, he expressly says to do this before EQ and Compression

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Yeah this comes before plugins

[@MDCapitanio]

"It's not blowing my hair back"

[@tudorgheorghe4532]

By the way sometimes i heard a lead shaker ! Yeap more the sometimes !😅

[@marklondon2008]

Are you no longer with Presonus?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

No I still am

[@Acko-hf3qu]

I'm an Acko....

[@gqsmoove9652]

Mix in context. Try not to solo too much

[@nautica7084]

8:50 That's a trump reference

[@dillontaylor8035]

Pro Tip: Voc for vocals. Vox could be an amp. AG for acoustic

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Nah Vox = vocals all the way. 😂

[@dillontaylor8035]

@@HomeStudioCorner Blackbird disagrees 😅😂 to each there own

[@b1j]

Joe just keeps putting it out there for us. He’s a treasure.

[@ChrisGalesMusic]

That is the truth!!!!