How to Make a Clear Mix in 10 Steps

[@dmsorensen]

Attenuating 250hz to unmask the higher frequencies has been such a valuable tip I learned here. It's definitely helped clean up my muddy sounding vocals and instruments.

[@rick_amsterdam]

You've become my go-to guy for quick, yet crazy informative tips &tricks. Love it!

[@sageaudio]

That's awesome! Thanks Rick! SageAudio.com

[@NICUofficial]

I only got to tip #4 before it got added to my private "best of mixing tutorials" playlist!!

[@sageaudio]

That's great! Thanks for watching! Sageaudio.com

[@filipjonathan]

I use Wavesfactory Trackspacer for a lot of these cases, especially side chaining the vocal to the instruments. Sometimes I even use Soothe 2 for this as well.

[@matthewfearon]

I’m currently mixing a song I’ve been working on for 13 years featuring Nick McCabe from The Verve. It has over 100 tracks, and so many layers. By following your videos I’ve got it to the stage where I can hear everything clearly, even through iPhone speakers! These tutorials are amazing. Many thanks 🙏.

[@nvme9335]

Bruh 13 yrs that shit better be good

[@summerfazed]

Make it sound like Bittersweet Symphony 😊 Ask him if he needs a songwriter, I’m writing some really good Brit pop stuff right now

[@matthewfearon]

@@nvme9335 haha yeah it’s sounding mega…it’s like a mixture between Radiohead, The Verve and James Bond 🤣

[@matthewfearon]

@@summerfazed yeah the climax of the song as in the last 2 minutes is quite Bittersweet Symphony’esk, the first 4 minutes is very trippy 😊

[@matthewfearon]

@@summerfazed Nick is very hard to get hold of at the moment, he’s had a bad time recently. Occasionally interact with him on Facebook but last time I hung out with him in person was a month before lockdown on my Birthday. He’s a lovely bloke.

[@whoisthecoppacnk]

Your videos are unmatched in terms of content value, delivery and rewatch-ability. Thanks and keep em coming

[@joemarta8221]

Man, varying the saturation plugin or preset more is so obvious in retrospect, but made a pretty noticeable difference. Killer tip. Great work as always

[@noahreineke9569]

Holy smokes. I’ve watched 100+ HOURS of music production and mixing tutorials, and I get tired of seeing the same empty “hacks and tricks”. This is probably the most legitimately helpful and informative set of tips I’ve ever seen. It goes beyond the basics of EQ, and compression, or even a specific plugin “hack” It shows practical METHODS, and it shows the actual practical application of musical frequencies, dynamics, etc, and not just a fix all plugin. Instant subscription

[@makeszense]

pure gold

[@englewoodmusic]

Another killer video! Clear mixes are freakin tough... especially after putting the audio onto video on here. P.S. these guys do excellent masters ;)

[@Macacos]

Love this quick, clear and to the point style, subscribed.

[@Sweendog]

Thank you kindly!

[@AuteriaWWinzerJr]

Chapter 3: Genius. Chapter 4: Sending all instrument tracks to a bus, minus kick, bass, and lead vocal: Genius. That means the most important transients are not attenuated, maintaining its presence.

[@stackerman2800]

have no clue why im here... I know nothing about music... all I know is that I couldn't tell a difference on any of them lol

[@luxuriousfir]

I'd like to hear you guys do a mix through on a hardcore hard rock metal song. They seem to be the hardest to mix. So many fighting frequencies. Curious how you would achieve a loud punchy mix in that genre.

[@dablizzoduve4576]

Get the center of gravity right. And the mix will quickly fall in place

[@fireby4070]

Check out Joey Sturgis Tones!

[@luxuriousfir]

@@fireby4070 love Joey!!!!!!!

[@tryaksha_]

The best KZbin Producer I ever Found... those are the things I learned in my Producers School Good Work bro....

[@BandoLyrix]

We have waited for this video foreveeeeeer .... Sheeeesh!

[@rolandmarckwort]

Great videos and tips!!

[@sageaudio]

Awesome thank you!

[@luk6405]

The best mixing channel for me!

[@summerfazed]

I forgot about that reverb trick in mastering! I would cut the bass but I will try only high freq.

[@MrArchie800]

First time I've watched your channel and will def come back because you don't mess around - just give the info and move on - Great! 👍

[@JcVillafan]

Great video! Where can I hear the full song??

[@barryzito5721]

Wow this is stout. The 250Hz boost on sides was a surprise but now I am excited to try

[@NakisuzBraze]

Ima download it thanks for sharing!!

[@jaykaye8666]

What song are you mixing? It sounds great!

[@shashanksharma17]

Keep making such real educational videos for artists specially freshers.. thanks a lot Sage Audio.. keep inspiring.. Love from India

[@jesrealvibe8346]

Nice sir may you live long.

[@peterelfman]

Excellent video!

[@adriandriats2204]

it worked! thank you so much!!

[@jakobkoprivnik6372]

I never saw so many useful tips in 1 video, that's amazing!

[@beatsxhenrywav7720]

giving out absolute gems!! thank u so much

[@charlescaruso8178]

This has been BY FAR the clearest most non-waste of time, to the point videos I have EVER come across! Bless your soul young man! - - - Quick question... What do you recommend to use for the ghost kick track sample for side-chaining? - - - A closed hi-hat, clave or woodblock?

[@RolandDeschain1]

Outstanding tips, especially the one about sidechaining the vocals to make them clearer. Great work.

[@romeocruz1986]

Thank you for all the dope videos, appreciate it! 👍

[@lukkaa1133]

Worked, thx

[@deeksmusic]

tbh, im struggling to hear the difference between some of the before and afters, even with headphones. is there a good way to train my ear for this?

[@sandeepthapa6316]

Where we can hear full version of this song??

[@nicksnyder699]

6:48 so soothe2 is just slapped onto the vocal chain or is there something more complicated going on?

[@MihaiOnilayoutube]

Thank you !

[@nectariosm]

@2:15 couldn't you just high pass the side chain input so that the compressor only reacts to the short transient of the kick, instead of bothering with a ghost kick track?

[@trackertv9712]

use Gate into s/c send signal

[@nohvembr4555]

That would not work if you dont have a solo kick track

[@Al69BfR]

The „trick“ with the vocals sidechaining all the instruments: Could it be also a solution to use a M/S Compressor, a M/S multiband compressor or even a M/S dynamic eq to just compress the mid signal in a specific frequency band without touching the side signal or would this be a problem in mono if the attenuation isn‘t strong enough so the mid signal get‘s buried by the side signals in mono?

[@darbomusic]

Great video ❤️

[@vd12]

is it just me because i can't seem to hear the difference between on and off

[@jaeeaux1989]

What's a good alternative if you don't have Soothe 2???

[@zbox98]

Weird I’ve been putting soothe on the music bus with the vocal as the side chain source, the opposite of the tip here

[@darbomusic]

Wow nice @03:12 ❤️

[@whackoization]

Just a tip of caution to beginners, be very careful with the 250hz EQ trick because it's incredibly easy to overdo it.

[@ARKTNDR]

But what song is this?? Its really good

[@matthewmcclure3181]

I apply a HPF to every track in my mixes nearly 100% of the time. It was one of the first mixing steps I learned, and without question this technique remains one of the most impactful. However, when it comes to clarity in the low and low-mid frequencies, there is one "instrument" that continues to challenge me no matter how many songs I mix and produce... my lead vocals. My vocal range is fairly deep and thick in the lower frequencies. Unfortunately, the tail-off of my vocal EQ curve looks nothing like the well defined and steep slope demonstrated in this video. That wouldn't necessarily be a problem on its' own, but the 125-300 Hz range also happens to be where my voice sounds most emotive and rich. Ducking the bass guitar helps, so does elevating the HPF by a few db before a -18db slope begins. But I still feel like I'm sacrificing a bit of the better part of my vocals. I've also tried applying some precision cuts and boosts to carve out space, moderately effective, but not nearly as effective in the lows as this approach is in the higher frequencies. It's the back-end transients I'm trying to protect/enhance. If anyone has suggestions, they'd be most appreciated. In terms of plugins, I have most of the "usual suspects" we see in Sage Audio tutorials. Perhaps I've taken it as far as I can manually with Pro-Q 3 and my solution rests in a trick I haven't discovered from another plugin I own like: Soothe 2, Punctuate, SplitEQ, Claro, Gulfoss, or even Melodyne (shocking what can be done with this tool - I don't really think of it as a pitch correction tool anymore). Perhaps it's aliasing or just a general overload of too much harmonic content, though I'm less confident in my abilities to address this type of issue beyond over-sampling. I don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water, so to speak.

[@nvme9335]

Mutiband compress the 300 hz

[@geewasabi]

One question. What if i have a very heavy overdriven guitars. Is it advisable to put saturation on the chain?

[@wandisilemela9867]

Thanks 🇿🇦

[@matrixate]

On the Soothe insert, I was expecting you to side-chain the vocals, then you mentioned that you wanted to clarify the mix. I had to make a cup of chamomile tea soon after.

[@trishh4223]

whats the song?

[@sukhi.rockstar]

Always Gem Videos 💕 Thank you❤❤🙏

[@saeedsalehi1804]

very good

[@MrKornea]

Do you have same tutorial with built-in logic plugins ? fabfilter plugins are specially cheap...

[@ethiofficials]

any plugin in waves or in stack plugin which can replies sooth 2 tell me?🙏🙏 it doesn't work on my software but i like how it clear things

[@artg7909]

right on👍

[@domothepersonality9507]

What song is that though?

[@sourabhlohani9676]

what is the name of this song?

[@darkdimension5151]

Can someone please help me by explaining what I'm doing wrong. I've watched alot of tutorials on how to mix and master but even when I have 3db of headroom or more and I try mastering with ozone maximizer or pro l2 my work doesn't come close to those out there, and when I put a meter to check the lufs I have -9 but it cant compete with other songs that are -9. Pls someone help this is so frustrating

[@jojomarino7327]

Oxford Inflator is a great tool for squeezing more loudness out of your masters. Can be used on groups subtlety and on master chain. Saturation on every insert before EQ, compression etc + saturation on the busses too. Saturation has a compression effect and when applied across the board brings up average loudness. Subtle limiting on the busses. To much low end in your mixes perhaps, making the limiter distort when pushed. Transient build up creating to much dynamics, so to get to your desired LUFS you are getting crazy gain reduction on the limiter? Try clippers and transient designers and try arrange music so multiple transients aren't hitting at the exact same time. Tracks clipping subtly pre fader ? Deleting noise in between instrument parts. It all adds up.

[@UncleBenjs]

Use a mastering engineer, it's what they're for. Anything that your mix is lacking, means your mix isn't finished, and makes no sense trying to master a mix which you could fix in the mix. Mixes are supposed to sound like an absolutely finished record, and THAT is when you send to be mastered, by a professional mastering engineer who can provide unbiased ear, hearing on very high end monitoring, in an extremely well built and treated room. It is quality control by someone who is able to catch what you missed. If anything needs fixing in your mix that you couldn't realise on your end, the mastering engineer will be able to point this out to you and help you fix it, otherwise if its suble things or achieving a good end level, they're the best to achieve that for you

[@crostofor]

cool stuff :)

[@elsuavoh6740]

I did all of these cuts not too aggressive and now my mix is thin 😑

[@spencermilam6858]

These are cool tips but I think this video kind of reinforces the idea of trusting your ears for a mix instead of using these tips as set rules. They're ideas for a mix but they're certainly not THE way to make your mix sound cleaner. The mix to me sounded way better before he started side chaining the vocals and the "EQ Clarity" stuff at the end. Made it sound so harsh and certain high end frequencies were sticking out pretty badly.

[@nvme9335]

This

[@UncleBenjs]

100% agree, the result just ended up overly fizzy and bright in the highs, with no sense of weight or warmth, yet wasn't clinically clear either

[@ScottThePisces]

Step 1: Listen to Dr Dre 2001

[@KingFelix]

your dope

[@DJONTHETRACK985]

🔥🔥🔥

[@Bsimracingnews]

Seriously. Don't we all watch too many KZbin videos? It seems that 9.6 million people are trying to teach 6.9 million people how it is done. Every single one of them can be interesting. That said, most people I know who are moderately successful, rarely watch video tutorials, but spend their time being creative, and go by ear. Incidentally, 90% of their audience does not care about compression, saturation, Luvs, Dynamic range, volume... They just care about the tunes. After a million videos, a beautiful tune that is badly mixed still wins it from a technically superb mixed and mastered track you don't like. I guess tutorials are great when in doubt, or when you are looking for alternative methods. But It's so easy to turn your music-making hobby into a Social Media watching addiction. Somebody should make a video about that problem.

[@Michaelvan-g3q]

Dude!!! (Dudette?) You are SO right!!! As the saying goes... "lipstick on a pig...." Sure, maybe all this technical jibber jabber means something to some people, but really.... who the hell as all these plugins that get "hyped" in these tutorial??!! It starts with a good song.... and good ears on the knob twirler. That trumps "accessories" every time. At least in my humble opinion 🤗

[@soaribb32]

The one I didn't get is reducing 250hz.

[@skeptikcro]

FOLLOWED GUIDES AND MADE THIS : kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5_SnJ-Vosipd9E

[@omnione7894]

❤

[@tylerkennedy4203]

Can I also get how to make a nasty mix in 10 steps

[@rcemusic]

Show us that other EQs and compressors besides fabfilter can work. Geez.

[@mozap5565]

I dоwnloaded everything is okay

[@georgesprackling6210]

Would be great if you could hear the effect, but no un less he's a gain staging wizard there in no F, ing difference.

[@UncleBenjs]

How can you not hear the difference? He went too far with the processing and it sounds worse than the original, fizzy and distorted with too much brightness compared

[@MiguelNoyola1]

Not a fan of the side chain bass like this example. Especially have to listen to the arrangement standpoint.

[@XPJV]

Misleading...

[@pthamunyela7242]

I'm your first viewer.. at least mix and master a song for me free :-)