How To Clean Up Muddy Mixes - TheRecordingRevolution.com

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[@CluelessKit]

its so subtle but it makes a huge difference damn. i'm prepared for future mixes

[@BraytonBeatz]

Thank you so much for this. The 400 hz cut really has improved every mix I've done. I hear a very audible change when I do it. This has really opened up my interest in eqing in general. I tend to increase the highs and cut some lows, which I never did until I came across your videos. They are very good references. When I fell my mix is done, I end up changing it because I go and reference your vids. Some of the tutorials I've watched 2 to 3 times over because they are really good refreshers :D

[@SEIZal]

this is one i knew but a BIG one for me i must admit i love that your probably one of the only people that teach protools properly ! cheers mate!

[@hugh512]

Nice job bro, I'm very new to this. At 52 I wont be going to school for this, but I do hope that I can learn enough to pass on to my 9 year old twin grandsons. God bless.

[@jmpcm]

The 400Hz is a GREAT tip!! Thank you very much!

[@MicroDotTV]

Agreed big help for removing mud to improve the overall quality :) ty

[@bryantwilson6580]

I listened to this on some really crappy laptop speakers and could tell a huge difference that made. At first I thought "wow, that mix already sounds pretty clear." But then after he did the basic eq-ing there, it brought so much clarity to that mix. I'm always impressed with your work, Graham.

[@EminoMeneko]

There also was a "hearing test" video on youtube where people was asked to tell at what point the stop hearing. The video was going at least until 20KHz and people claimed to stop hearing by that frequency or anything above 16 KHz. That was probably tinnitus at best cause 16KHz is the highest a compressed audio on YT gets and I proved it by showing the spectrogram so well, what people claim to hear, you know... :) P.S. : Thinking about it I remember also that on the spectrogram there was a sound under 16K after it reached that frequency that was dropping. I would immediately tell it was dropping and far bellow 16K so it couldn't be any frequency over 16K therefore people wasn't necessarily lying on hearing something but they did not comprehend what it was.

[@Alikhanlive]

great video!just wanted to add sumthing for my fellow musicians.when ever u're using filters to get rid of unwanted low end..try using an eq wid da highest slope. 24 db/octave or 36. graham was using 12 db/0ct slope which is not effective most of the times. if you want to remove 33 hz n below,u'll probably have to set the filter freq around 250 to 300 which in most cases will take out the warmth from a sound like snare...hope it helped...

[@IamTheAntiMartyr]

Thank you for posting these tutorials. I dont use pro-tools but your lessons apply to almost any DAW. God Bless.

[@TheRealNewBlackMusic]

Very good info. highly appreciated. we usually knock down the 400-500 with a graphic eq on the stereo buss but your way is nice. thanks for the tips!

[@briandonald]

Thanks for this video as it was very helpful when I recorded/mixed my album in 2013. I'm recording new music and glad that I had this in my favorites to review again.

[@MrVizionary2012]

most important thing I have learned from these videos... many little subtleties make cumulatively big differences.

[@Kudeghraw]

Learned a lot from this video. I couldn't really hear a difference when you turned the filters on and off at the end, but, to take a different angle on this, I figured that if you cut that much with your high pass for all those channels and it still sounded the same, then by some law you made room in the mix for other things to be present. This would benefit a 100 piece drum kit when every surface had to strive for independence. Or maybe I'm just stoned.

[@AlexandreSoma]

AMAZING! The only video i found that REALLY made me understand what "muddy" really means. THANKS!

[@Timjvidoes]

I'm sure you've been told this, but you have a great voice for radio. I enjoyed the content also. I'm a home studio guy and am going to keep these points in mind while I mix my latest project. Thanks.

[@WalyB01]

I am so happy you said that it normal to sound muddy. Was really getting worried about my interface.

[@ChelosMusic]

Awesome!!! Thank you for taking time to share your knowledge. I'm taking Mixing and Mastering classes with Berklee online and your tutorials are helping a lot.

[@L-M-MOfficial]

Thank you for a brilliant video! I'm trying to get better at mixing and mastering and this information is priceless! You explain everything really clearly and concisely which is refreshing! Brilliant work :)

[@naveedhossain6605]

Man I've been watching your videos forever and there's always something new to learn, thanks a bunch for these lessons!

[@recordingrevolution]

@danielx15one The difference is that you can have a HPF set to different frequencies as needed on a per track basis.

[@zeclomal2265]

I keep on learning day by day all thanks to therecordingrevolution and my songs sound much better now! It's amazing how much you can improve just watching this videos (and some others). Thanks man!

[@sbawani]

great learning from these videos on mixing....clearing the mud off from the mixing discourse ☺

[@TheProgmagog]

IMPORTANT!! Graham is right on the money so far from everything I have seen, and a rare exception to all the misinformed advice that people spout on KZbin. But you gotta know this:Make sure the low mids you are cutting are coming from your (accurate) speakers and not from your room! I have been fooled for years! Question:Is MY room amplifying my low frequencies? Answer:You better believe it! You can cheaply build bass traps with Corning 705 Fiberglass, wood frames and cloth covering...

[@ippotsk]

Even the initial mix already sounds really good, although I guess that's more to do with having good quality source tracks. :") Very nice leveling/gain staging too.

[@racecarsharkfin]

really like the style of your teaching. you're accurate and articulate. my question is how do we compensate for the lack of frequency content you're discussing while listening to the video's compressed audio?

[@EyesOnReality]

Yes, good quick tutorial on intrusive bandwidth. Cleaning extra low ends & lower mids out as you are doing in the video, does indeed aid greatly in mastering. Preventing the Mastering Compressor from swaying (needing less Attack) and Master Limiting is much smoother.

[@seekeyk]

I'm facing exactly the same issue with my mix currently, I have 6 tracks of electric guitars and drums they sound very muddy. Can't wait to try this out.

[@DOCOFTHEBEY]

This is my first time seeing your video , learned so much in about 9 mins ,that I been trying for in 2 years. I will be checking for more gems from your other videos. Thanx Alot

[@DarrenFlinders]

Excellent tutorial, had this problem and never thought about doing it this way, thanks so much, gonna be putting this into practice on my next track now :-)

[@MarkMaysey]

Thanks for the good information, I will be experimenting with some of your tips here on my latest mix.

[@stevewatkins5659]

Good informative stuff without going to technical which is great for us ludites. Thanks Steve

[@seben75]

Listened to the final outcome of this song on Joshua's Reverbnation. Incredibly engineered and mixed, Graham. Wonderful song, too.

[@mugabesunny]

man, you are an awesome guy, probably the best and easiest to understand on youtube. thanks for explaining things so easily man. really helpful!

[@JustFishin777]

Thanks for helping me get out of the mud. My future videos will sound a lot better. God bless!

[@nktxr]

Amazing how much this cleaned up the mud! Thanks Graham!

[@jordanzio]

what you can do to solve this problem is solo your busses when mixing/rendering. For example, if you send both left and right guitars to one track then solo that track and the dry guitars will no longer come through. After that simply solo your bass, drumsm vocals and anything else that needs to be heard. This way you can bus your drums and vocals too.

[@DjAlexiaTippell]

Simple ,straight ahead... and pleasant to hear ... Solved THAT annoying problem KwiK Thank You :)

[@Brownlee305]

Your The Best On KZbin ! I Look At Your Videos Over And Over Just To Practice ! Your Great Man Thanks

[@Demonbane41276]

WOW...just starting computer recording and have had this problem w/ my recordings....AWESOME job, subbing

[@DECIFERTHIS09]

I got it figured out, I messed with it for a couple weeks, and now I am getting radio quality mixes, I just edit waves, Eq and compress, nothing else, and now it's sounds so good, I am receiving business. I think the problem was mic placement and in my software sounding boxy(mixcraft), I switched to adobe audition, and a 6-8in away from my mic rule, and now it's so natural. I also quit with the weird effects, and only do adlibs, no delays or reverb on mains maybe on the ad libs though.

[@MagnetikMagnitude]

Thanks mate! Just wanted to say the way your explain yourself is fantastic, your english and communication skills is top notch.... now .. can you do a full version 1 hour long in more detail of how to mix down... and in logic pro 9 ... hahaha... asking too much? :P :) but really can you? haha

[@pskelton1000]

Thanks for all of the great tips! It's really helped me mix on my original songs.

[@Disciple]

Man thanks a lot, I was wanting to watch something as graphic and precise as this. I'll put it to practice right nao!

[@recordingrevolution]

@floyd1411 This video just is an illustration of what a HFP can do for your tracks. I normally would have a few more EQ tweaks on a 7 band EQ for the drums, but would of course include a HPF. The song you're hearing isn't mine, just something I mixed. The artist is Joshua List.

[@ajcblanco]

all other tutorial channel are wack. this is the best man wooo i love it thanks

[@AlexEscalante]

Super easy procedure, great results! I'll go and try this like... right away!

[@SEIZal]

@Jg191984 you see how on his screen the meteres on the mixer.........the mono have one....the stereo are two right beside each other in a single channel on the mixer....the mono also have one PAN knob the stereo channels have 2 PAN KNOBS in a single channel

[@adamditroia9103]

Great video! Thank you for these tips. Very well done. Clear and precise, pleasant voice...nice work!

[@JNpMusic1]

i think its 7 people who think they know better, yet probably dont have any videos themselves. a great video indeed here! thumz up.

[@recordingrevolution]

@faruge67 Hold OPTION (or ALT) while you COMMAND (or CTRL) click any one plugin in. All the plugins in that row will bypass too.

[@MobileDecay]

When I first started recording i used jack up the highs. Lol. I've heard other people do that to. I like to get my sound to record exactly the way I want it so i don't have to do all this eq everything stuff. I record small test clips and mix them down until i'm happy with the sound out of multiple types of speakers so when i record I need very little. Then for the most part i can press record and play. I think people need to work on there sound before thinking about recording.

[@scottlebrun6782]

me too.... first started... as in my first 15 years. hahaha

[@MobileDecay]

Scott M 😀

[@rickd423]

you are right to an extent...but when u are trying to get rid of that "muddy" sound out of your vocal u will solo & unsolo it to see how it sounds by itself to make sure your not cutting to much from it, but the only thing that really matters is how it sounds in the mix

[@TheToneLounge]

I usually use EQ 7-3 as you can perform all these functions within the one plugin.

[@SEIZal]

@bullardsJoe when it comes to HYPASS filter its not somethign you should be able to hear when your cleaning mudd that was his entire point......you basicly slide the hypass filter to the right until you hear the sound of your instrument changing.....once its changing you know youve gone to far so you slide it back till you cant hear it being eqd again........keeep in mind you wouldnt do this for kick drums....and a bass that rely on low Frequencies..

[@recordingrevolution]

@jonnyharder Song is called "In This Death" by Joshua List. Google his name and you should find it.

[@SEIZal]

@bullardsJoe thats exlcuding his point about the 400 khz range you SHOULD be able to hear that

[@chazmology]

For this Vintage guy you demo is very much appreciated. Now if you are familiar with the Focus Scarlett 18i20...you could show me how I might mix to a mono version for a radio broadcast that I do on line. I have been recording thru a six-channel mixer I use for live concerts...solo..I put a bose cd player to it as well as a pro-recording mic..thru an Ion tape converter onto the EZVinyl program...etc etc. USB style...Dell Precision 390,,beefed up. Thanks my good man, for this vid. Appreciate it

[@synthoelectro]

Thanks Graham good video, helps greatly.

[@jbbarne]

Just wanted to say thanks for your work! This stuff helps me tremendously!

[@bhishmamusic]

Watching your video feels like Okay it's just two minutes went but suddenly Re-play button comes in at 8:47 and I search for your another video. Thanks!

[@Stackxxable]

love your videos man please keep em comming!!!.. and i dont mind the "hey kids" makes me feel like a student when im watching his videos lol.

[@CaptainVasily]

Very helpful and straightforward. Thanks and keep em' coming'.

[@sxoverton]

Right! That cumulative low midrange buildup is like industrial background noise. Viva subtractive EQ.

[@AlephZero86]

On mac hold Alt+Cmd while clicking on the insert. This will bypass all the plugins in the slot you selected in every track. Or hold Alt when choosing a plugin or a bus to put the bus or the plugin on all the tracks in one shot. ;)

[@yehonatanfranco]

saved my mix men!!thank you!!

[@TheProgmagog]

... You can never have too much bass management so dont be afraid to overdo it. First build enough (say 8 2'X4' at least 4" thick) to fill all the corners in your room top to bottom.Then put as many as you can afford on the wall where your speakers are located. Again on any flat surface that would directly reflect to either the listening position or your microphone.Avoid too much absorbant surface aria by using diffusive materials to cover the traps, particularly on walls opposite your speakers.

[@rickd423]

because then if he wants to do something else to a certain track it will completely change the sound. by putting the instance on each track anything he does to that track after that will keep that sound instead of adding a newer plug in before it makes it to the high pass that is on the master fader.

[@fromtheposse]

i agree with you, Graham seems to be a nice guy. He makes it for free and it seems to be really good informations.

[@elmori616]

I am no expert, but I can tell you the following... Remeber that all the tracks should be EQd differently, he says in the video, that he tried to "not waste time", but, one should really search for the right frequency in each track... That is why you should have eqs in each track. You can have a stereo track, submix, and do a "general" eqing, but remember, whe you eq so much tracks, always do little things... Hope this helps...

[@LetsBOriginal7]

this helped a lot with a particular mix i was having trouble with. thx

[@shaytan1313]

i will definately give this a try with my hard drive recorder.. i already use eq to cut useless freqs but the 400 hz deal may help other traks to sound better thanx again

[@MatiChooseName]

Cutting frequencies like this may give a nice bassy airy sound but can cause problems later when your trying to get your mix to translate through to worse quality systems like laptop speakers. You should only cut if the sound requires it. Its important the sounds are well balanced in every frequency range and later cuts like this can be made during mastering if required.

[@recordingrevolution]

@Barrymc100 You could do it that way, but I feel you get more control on the individual channel. If you went the bus route, you need a stereo bus to preserve panning.

[@Tekkerue]

louisuniverse, You're ignoring the fact that he specifically stated you should set the highpass individually for each track (as in DIFFERENT settings). He only re-used the same setting for speed in making the video. Were you not listening? Also, putting the high-pass on each channel allows you to cut out the low frequencies BEFORE adding other channel effects like compression. You can't do that with a send. The staging of your effects is important and makes a big difference in the overall sound.

[@TheProgmagog]

@Barrymc100 It is an artform to decide where to remove low mids and where to keep them. Reducing them across the board is not the best solution because something that would benefit from 250-400 Hz would suffer. I find I cut more around 250, but at least one instrument should hold some level there. Find instruments that sound "muddy" alone first and cut them a bit. Acoustic guitars, piano and vocals possibly. Bass guitar might sound fine so leave it in that case. 400Hz cut is good for Kick drum.

[@fakedad916]

Hey Graham, can you point me in the direction of a good video on editing my recordings in regards to timing and tuning, or possibly put one up yourself? Would greatly appreciate it, thank you so much for all the time you put into these great tutorials.

[@terb99]

You sound very intelligent. Good luck on your mixes.

[@urbandecayable]

to my ears when I compare both bypassed and eq'd, the eq'd seems clearer so he accomplished what he was claiming to do. Perhaps you should try sharing your enlightenment with the rest of the world someday.

[@icedout8236]

thanks man. big difference in my mixes. great tip and video

[@Ghostlymuso]

Good advice Graham....low freqs are a problem.

[@freddylawyer]

good song

[@EdBedHeadMusic]

It'll have no warmth and sound pretty empty. The moral of this video is to make the mix less muddy, not empty in that frequency. With that being said, when I master personally, I use ozone, and on ozone's eq I usually take out about a dB of everything between 200Hz-500Hz. I'm no professional, but It definitely seems to help in the end.

[@PharaohLawLess1]

Thanks again, brotha. I'm just seeing this video and it has helped me

[@recordingrevolution]

@thefambaxley Not my song. An artist named Joshua List.

[@floyd1411]

Hey Graham.. cant tell how much i appreciate these free lessons.. that have been soo helpful to me.. cheers mate.. i do however have a few questions... now i notice in yr other videos for EQ in particular drum EQ.. In this video use the 1 band filter and nothing else.. soo how is it done.. do u bounce the drum tracks with the eq that wld fatten it, individually and then apply this 1 band eq?? or what?? also where wld i get to listen to yr songs .. they sound great..

[@ivanmilborrow]

Nice, beginning to hear things even on you tube clip, thanks to some awesome tutorial vids. thanks.

[@feggak]

All you have to do is make the send prefader and then drop the level of the original track, it doesn't have to be an insert and you save cpu if you are going to have the exact same eq on multiple tracks.

[@plasticsoul9051]

You are my hero! This is exactly what I needed. Thanks so much for posting this.

[@ShSwStudios]

He would also need a proper linear phase EQ so there won't be any kind of delay. It's no coloration, just cleaning up so you've got to be careful. And you must be careful: it's never just one frequency you wanna reduce. Imagine you've got 80 tracks to mix, so if you take down these around 400 all the time it's gonna sound worse! If your root note in a song is a "G" or an "A" it's better to stick away from working in that area.

[@Officialgaetano]

Alot of people disregard the importance of subtle things like this which makes the big difference at the end of your mix

[@DCayce]

perfect.... exactly what i’ve been needing... thanks!

[@DECIFERTHIS09]

I also quit super sculpting the vocals eq, I just do a hp around 100hz and do a couple scoops around 350hz -3db and a boost around 1500-2k +3db, but I never boost or cut more than 5db on a vocal, if it sounds bad still, then I will cut the opposing freq out of the instruments or I will redo the vocals.

[@MartMart]

I've heard a lot of people say that its better to do the mixing on the crappest quality speakers you can get..I've heard some even suggest using the ipod earphone things for mixing..that way your pretty much guarenteed that you mixes will sound good anywhere? Would you agree with this?

[@Tekkerue]

TVmedifore, Ah ok, I thought you were implying this technique was what made your mix sound like crap... If it is a mixing general issue, then the key to a good mix starts with a good recording. I know that is a cliche response, but it's 100% true. You can hear from this video even Graham's completely unmixed tracks sound pretty friggin good. I speak from experience that "turd polishing" with EQ and effects will only get you so far. Did you record all of the instruments or are you using samples?

[@usfenderfsdlx]

400 is frequently really bad on electric guitars. top tips man!

[@CervenkaMusic]

Wow, subbed! Finally someone who explaines it well :) Gonna apply this to my productions! :)

[@mhazani]

Cool tutorial - the universal low-midrange reduction was new to me and makes a huge difference in the mix. Is there a particular reason you didn't do both on the same plugin though? Would save you some serious processing power, especially if you have several dozen tracks.

[@synthoelectro]

boost a little mid, not much and try to use a shelf eq on the lows, if it goes past 6db + then something else needed to be done.

[@ShSwStudios]

That's to Barrymc100, not critisicm on the video, it explains best for a beginner what to do, and were to build on! It's important not to show an indiviual mixing style but the basics.

[@Adamshredsify]

it really clears it up, but i feel the piano would benefit from the opposite eq

[@TheZackw419]

GREAT tutorial, im so grateful for this and all your other vids!