How To Mix Better Than 99% Of Producers

[@pickyourselfofficial]

FREE Guide - The Finisher Framework: pickyourself.com/framework

[@heavymetalnewsdesk]

you said "look at this specrum analyzer" and I was looking at it thinking it looks good, and sounds great. I was actually looking at the 290Hz spike thinking that should be rolled off a little, and that was pretty much it. Great video

[@drumandbassonvinyl]

One of my mentors taught me to “Learn the rules well, so you’ll know how to break them.” That was one of the most important things I’ve learned about music production.

[@Tai-Dye]

Nice

[@thepandasdoitbetter]

EXCEPT THERE ARE NO RULES Xd

[@Nocsucal-BeatGod]

That’s phenomenal advice. Absolutely true

[@aiconic10]

Facts. Indeed, there are rules. Base concepts you need to understand. Then you can be creative and add your own spin from there.

[@whole_caveman_or_lions_den]

@@aiconic10 not even sure about the base concepts, but yeah, you need a slight understanding of some technical music terms, other than that, you just have to be creative 🙂 as long as you make something your ears can enjoy, it's all good! (Oh and good audio equipment definitely helps!!! You'll want monitor speakers or at least calibrated speakers)

[@staysmuth]

“Mix like an artist” is such an incredible piece of advice. And it’s the reason why I don’t outsource mixing anymore, even if my product is inferior quality.

[@MOSMASTERING]

and it's also the same name of a great book.. I highly recommend it! = I try and make some content on Instagram when I have time not working - made that book part of my 10 "most recommended" audio and musician related books.

[@staysmuth]

@@MOSMASTERING sweet I’ll check if! Thanks!

[@staysmuth]

@@MOSMASTERING following up, don’t actually see any books named “Mix Like An Artist” ??

[@danbient]

I really needed to hear the whole mix as an artist vs engineer thing. I feel like the vibe and energy are there right after balancing and then I tweak the life out of it.

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Oh yeah that’s a good one! A cool little heck is to save that first rough mix as a different session, export it, and then load it as a reference in your “real” mixing session. I use metric AB for referencing, makes it really easy. This workflow can help you not get too far away from the original essence.

[@realraven2000]

i always put older mixes on top of the page (in Cubase i like the split arrangement with chord and marker tracks with notes on top) - then I am always one solo click away from "am i getting better or worse? ". if I got worse, ask myself what do I prefer about the old mix?

[@realraven2000]

@@pickyourselfofficial Totally, routing is super easy, love the side chain management... as regards exporting as different session (not sure if I understood that fully), you can just click on "add track after mixdown" when making the rough mix 0- then you automatically have a fully aligned mix reference, just make sure it is routed to Stereo out and not the Master group with all the processing.

[@danceswith7wolves]

Artist Me: Chooses a resonant lead synth sound Mixer Me: Notches out those resonances i just picked out

[@pickyourselfofficial]

You’re exactly who I made this video for. You got this ;)

[@whole_caveman_or_lions_den]

This made me lol 😅

[@Platinum_XYZ]

omg I do this too!! it's a bad habit I've formed

[@NopeyNopesworthyIII]

I've done the same thing with dynamic resonance suppressors too, then A/B'd the bypass and realised how much better the sound was without it. Doing this on key elements with something like Metric A|B can be pretty time consuming but it does help to really clearly show me where I am making things dull for no good reason. Even just gain staging the EQ or DRS well can make checking the validity of using processing a bit easier IMO.

[@PhillipJohnsonphiljo]

I use the exact limiter on every single track, the audio cue to hear what is being limited is such a huge benefit. I remember producing tracks and basically didn't eq, didn't group, didn't compress or limit, zero mixing or mastering basically, because I didn't know it was even a thing. At least I panned stuff? That was over 20 years ago. It's been a fun journey even though I'd still call myself an intermediate/advanced producer at most, not a master of the craft despite well over 10,000 hours. There is never a day without learning when it comes to producing. It's like the weightlifting meme of the music world. Do you even lift? No, no you don't lift.

[@ricardochiesa9829]

Im a videogame music composer, and as soon as you said listen like an artist, not like an engineer, you got me. especially in video games where there is not a single idealized professional sound, but more like profiles that correspond to a particular artisfs works aa if their mixing style part of the composers craft and an extension of the composition itslef. It's really refreshing to come up across someone finally saying this. Keep at it!

[@obiwantschernobyl5650]

that limiter trick is truly very helpful. Thank you very much. Makes you also understand better what youre doing wrong

[@BigVic687]

Doing most of the work in the mix plus just using just a limiter on the master has done me some good!! Plus using reference 2 with some good references help. Side note love your tutorials man! You give no bs advice and get straight to the point like my mentor

[@NopeyNopesworthyIII]

Someone on one channel i like uses the phrase "simplicity on the other side of complexity", which really resonates with me. Another channel says to repeatedly ask yourself during production and mixing "does removing this element hurt or improve my song?" If you can remove a track/object and cannot really tell the difference, you probably dont really need to make room for it in your mix.

[@agustinfuentessalazar6648]

Bro every video in this channel is a masterpiece

[@leongrant705]

Thanks for the tip of using the listen function on the limiter for extraneous sub bass which could be eating up headroom😊

[@JonValtandtheEvilRobots]

Lol when he says listen to this sample and tell me what you focused on, I was keeping tally of the different *instruments* I was paying attention to. I wasn’t aware of any mixing stuff - wasn’t listening for it. His Tip #1 is spot on. Glad I got to experience it. Because I always hear “mix with your ears” and I do believe it, but perhaps I don’t truly practice it.

[@artemijssaveljevs1531]

Good info! I always struggle with flute as a lead. Its have too much resonance. I start to cut ringing parts, and after that flute is completely dead. idk what to do, just to let it resonate?

[@gumbilicious1]

In my experience, people don’t really care about EQ and compression when evaluating a song. It has to sound ok with The Mix, but song writing, instrumentation and arrangement are where the song is made… then mixing helps the sound. Spend most of your musical efforts writing songs and recording, get them to sound interesting, this goes much farther than mixing tips

[@alexc9278]

Yeah, once you have a good song aka arrangement, sound design etc. mixing is easier also

[@fruityloopbeats1]

Agreed i dont know how many years I wasted trying to make perfect mixes for below par arrangements/songs.

[@Powhart]

I gotta say - this is something new I've never heard before and it is a really interesting approach

[@hippietrap]

grouping stems is such a big one. organization in general but grouping is going to help with bus processing and getting your tracks louder which is going to also help the mastering later. or that sbeen my experience great tip!

[@na_der]

Philip.. U R THE MAN!

[@tl81tl81]

Very good video. All stuff I wish someone told me sooner - would have saved me years. Well done, mate ;) thanks

[@RaoulFrench-y3m]

Very Informative. Nice & Thanks.

[@apoplexiamusic]

2:42 the problem with this mix isn’t the high frequencies. It’s the incredibly boomy, muddy bass with the heavily reverberated kick that’s way too loud.

[@albinholmlund]

I’ve looked up the lufs values for some of my favorite tracks in my genre (Swedish punk) a few years ago and that’s where I found out that not only Swedish punk but almost all punk is mastered to approx -6 lufs. And ever since then I’ve been using that as a target, and it has worked really well for me. But it has always bothered me that everyone everywhere keeps recommending that you master the tracks low. This is the first time I hear someone even mention the -6 lufs target! Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but whenever I master low volume it sounds muddy and lame. But whenever I push it to between -8 and -5 lufs it slaps 😄

[@billaveda6408]

I've measured some Trance tracks at -6db also. The loudness wars have not gone away.

[@albinholmlund]

@@billaveda6408 Yea. It’s literally worse than ever. The loudness wars used to be about “how high can we push this records volume without losing the sound and quality”. And back in the cd era there was really no good measurement available for how loud it was, except subjectively determining if the volume is worth the loss in dynamics. But ever since we started normalizing, the problem is that to be able to normalize, we must automatically measure the loudness, which gives producers a metric that they can try and go around and trick into making their track louder. I have a very unrelated parallel i thought about a while ago. There used to be basically an open drug market at the center of my city, and the cops kept arresting people there. So they came up with the idea to put cameras everywhere to prevent people from buying drugs of each other. And it worked great on paper, but in reality it just forced the criminals to be smarter in where and how they sold drugs. So it actually made it much harder to arrest those people that used to be very easy to spot, and it also made it more dangerous for people buying drugs since they couldn't be at public places anymore. The point is that if there is a demand, putting restrictions on it just gives people more reason to be smart about it, which will make the problem even harder to solve. I think the loudness war will end when an AI exists which actually can determine loudness with precision, making it impossible to trick the system. Someone is probably already trying to make this.

[@agapeleone5847]

I dig this... after many years of experience (learning from scrartch a decent bit)... I moreso found this vid to be confirmation more than anything but there was also some interesting food for thought. The vid is legit from all I can tell!! Great work!!

[@baspostulart]

Never thought of mixing into a limiter. I always rendered my mix and started a new mastering project. Why? In just don’t know..😂 This is going so save me a lot of time. Good advice!

[@monkmusic5994]

Mix like an artist, great tip. Can we turn it around and say: mixing is an art? Mixing into a limiter seems to be useful for genres with a constant ooomph like edm. Never do it since I do want natural dynamics for my music, guitar based.

[@spiritspun4836]

What we are talking about here really is the left brain versus the right brain approach to life. The right brain can appreciate the whole flower but the left brain breaks it down into its parts. They say that Beethoven downloaded the entire symphony from the Universe through the right brain while the left brain merely put the notes on the paper. Getting lost in the minutiae leads to averageness at best. The right brain is able to put everything in its context. Using the stem groups enables higher order artistic functioning in the brain which activates your inner genius capacity. Great video! Please share more of your tips.

[@jeremypcaulfield2474]

Great Tutorial ..❤sometimes the mistakes that a limiter demonstrates on a mix can be disheartening. It takes some patience to pull though and balance levels before trying again ..

[@royalmusicparis]

the more important is too respect some point like the volume, the panning, a good balance, a good true peak, the limiter yes is important too... but the balance is really important

[@Hexspa]

First example: kick, stereo noise, mono bass. Especially the mono bass once the noise drops out.

[@mttlsa686]

this happened to me just today. I was making a2nd mix version of a track and i've started to surgically fix some things in the main synth elements (old recording of some grooveboxes of reaktor, very articulate and with various elements each) and i ended with a perfectly balanced track with no emotion and character. So i went back to the first version, fixing just what it needed.

[@malaakangel]

I love your videos!!! But move in a world with a lot of vocals. Are you planning to do a video on your vocal clinning + effect workflow? :)

[@jesslucio3104]

Pro L2 shows the LUFS?! Wow, is there a button for that? I didnt know this. Maybe I have an older version, but was not aware of that.

[@kitchenspider]

focusing on the rhythmic sample that is panned out wide with the filter cut modulation

[@SoundPeaks]

The advice for grouping stuff comes out of the bad grouping capabilities of Ableton. In other linear DAWs this insight comes very organic and quick during the study of production. After the limiter, there should be a waveshaper if you really want to push the limits.

[@Synthpoptroubadour]

Excellent tips bruh

[@Rhekluse]

Pushing the master limiter to a specific LUFS isn't always a wise approach because you can really over-squash and ruin the whole mix trying to reach an arbitrary loudness level. It's really important to listen to what the limiter is doing so you can maintain the integrity of the mix; like the low end and the drums. It's possible to achieve the loudness you want with less master limiter workload by doing some of the heavy lifting in the mix. Cheers!

[@npawelczyk]

would you recommend disabling the limiter before exporting the track and sending it off to mastering?

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Yes, if you export in 32bit floating point (recommended). If that’s not the case for whatever reason, make sure to check the whole song for any peaks before deactivating the limiter and exporting. In case you spot a peak, lower the whole mix accordingly. With proper gain staging, there shouldn’t be any peaks above 0dBTP. And in case you see/ hear/ read that you should always export at -6dB, that’s total BS.

[@npawelczyk]

@@pickyourselfofficial thanks for the info! so you're also saying, if you export in 32-bit floating point, then it's ok to export with some peaks above 0dBTP?

[@pickyourselfofficial]

@@npawelczyk 32bit floating point allows the mastering engineer to reconstruct those peaks and normalize everything down to below 0dBTP without any quality issues. I still don't understand why 99% of producers deliver pre-masters at 24bit. Most mastering engineers, myself included, even mention 32 bit floating point as the ideal export format.

[@npawelczyk]

@@pickyourselfofficial great to know, I really appreciate all of this info! One last question, if you don't mind--are you also "mixing into" the EQ and compressor, and you'd disable them before exporting? Or would you consider those devices part of the mixdown that stay enabled during the export of the pre-master?

[@pickyourselfofficial]

They are part of the mixbus processing. If in doubt, double check with your mastering engineer. I always consult my clients personally throughout the whole process.

[@germainfraisse4763]

So simple but so clever ! It seems obvious now, thanks for this tips !

[@aaronmichaelmusic_]

I’ve sent my demos to some big labels over a long period of time. It has only been until recently I’ve got compliments on my mixing and mastering from A&R. Honestly…. It comes down to the mix. For dance music, the spectrum needs to look similar to the Pink Noise spectrum. The mix should have 3-6 db of open headroom, and it’s okay if it peaks sometimes above that, but rarely. The big mistake most ppl make is having their tops too loud. Just turn it down. Our ears are attuned to hear those sounds easily. I don’t use “glue” compressors, I don’t use compressors at all in my mix, unless it’s for sidechaining, adding gain, and limiting a sound to get a uniform volume. My mastering chain is extremely simple. I literally only use a tape exciter, imager and a limiter. That’s it. I push the limiter to hit 3-4 db of gain reduction, again, at the louder parts of the track. I check the master fader to make sure it’s always hitting the top threshold during the main parts of the track which I set to -.1.

[@photicsonar]

This issue is very well explained by Jeff Ellis in his Video „Beat the Mixing Death Spiral“. His example with „Billy Jean“ is incredible.

[@bluematrix5001]

Those peaks make sense as correlate to the high pitched instruments that are resonants but is how those sounds are..are their core essence

[@elevan2760]

Nice vid.. quick question, why would you use such a small boost on the master bus and then follow it up with compression? Wouldn't the boosted signal trigger the compressor first, and then be compressed to the same level to before the eq was used?

[@kafkakos3618]

Hello, great video. So the idea is to put the limiter on the master as part of the mixing stage. I always thought you had to keep -6 DB headroom before entering the mastering stage. So using your method with a limiter on the master, what DB level would you aim for? I put a utility on each track and start at -10 DB on the kick as well.

[@pickyourselfofficial]

You would, of course, bring the limiter back (or deactivate it entirely) before sending it to mastering. The purpose here is to see how your mix actually performs when it’s put through a limiter. This gives you a good indicator on what might need change. The -6dB thing is a myth. But heaving a bit of headroom definitely is a good idea. Maybe check my gain staging video for more insights. 3 Essential Gain-Staging Habits For Loud & Clean Mixes kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2TRZ2uOl95pbMU

[@unclemick-synths]

I wouldn't worry about the -6 dB thing - just make sure you're not getting overs. When I'm mastering I'll adjust the input level anyway so as long as everything is good and clean, there's no problem.

[@rickgeahci5384]

One very important method is to use reference tracks and own ears. When you get there where you feel it sounds good, then you're almost ready! Less is more.

[@drizzlemaan]

I automatically trust anyone with a Dutch accent who does mastering videos 👍 (Very good advice and video 🙏)

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Thanks a million, I really appreciate it. The accent is German though 😂🫶🏻

[@DenisVolga]

I completely agree about feeling in music and everything (not emotion.."two big differences" ;) ). But... What kind of feeling or even emotion in this video track? A rhetorical question.

[@greensleeves32]

Enjoyed the video and will be watching more! I need help with workflow in my 150+ track sessions lol

[@HANGINGOUTWITHAUDIOPHILES]

Been loving these videos. Great work. I know great artists that are also naturals at mixing precisely because they mix for the feel all the way and even with a few flaws that wins for me every time. All these tips are great. Subscribing !

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Thanks so much for the great feedback, I really appreciate it! I just found your amazing podcast. What a gem! Instant subscriber as well 🙌🏻💯

[@tomschlaiss5735]

Wieder ein gut erklärtes Video, viele Grüße

[@tubeo94]

11:54 this only worth the whole video and earned my sub. This is amazing.

[@benmontclair8849]

Ditto

[@masada12]

Great tutorial! Helped a lot! What can I do about these artififacts that you described when heavily pushing the limiter?

[@ZefParisoto]

Categorizing every sound into a preset group stem doesn't align with mixing like an artist for me. Grouping / routing stuff together is great, but I'd recommend to keep it intentional for specific instruments when you want to do bus processing on them instead of doing it out of habit. But maybe that's just me!

[@Meleebeatsprod]

Important Question: do you take off the limiter after mixing into it and before you export the track ?

[@acumaici]

Excellently done Thank you for quality content 💪🏻

[@xgmode]

The listen function is the delta on other limiters that have it also.

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Exactly, thanks for mentioning this!

[@benmontclair8849]

Care to elaborate?

[@xgmode]

@@benmontclair8849 e.g. TDR Limiter 6 GE has a DELTA knob on the output module.

[@foreverthestudent]

You know you're doing something right when you've never watched a video and you're already doing most of the things in afromentioned video Great video btw.

[@DaniellePatoirMusic]

150 stems.. that’s nuts… I want to hear the final product..🎉good job to you

[@realraven2000]

i like the grouping capabilities of your DAW. in Cubase i often do folder tracks for organisation and group tracks for summing and volume / stem automation. in your DAW this seems to be combined into groups?

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Yeah to be honest, for mixing client projects I actually work in cubase because I find the routing options more flexible. But Ableton definitely has a nice UX if you keep things rather simple and don’t need tons of return tracks.

[@klubstompers]

In Cubase, i have set up a default arrangement, so when i open Cubase and start a new project, i already have my groups and vst's i commonly use in the those groups sitting in the group, and as i add new tracks i put them under that group track; Kicks, Subs/Rumble, Perc, Leads, Stabs, fx/sweeps, vocals. You can select all the tracks under that group track and color them if you want.

[@shortcutDJ]

i really like your channels name. well done naming things is very important

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Thanks so much! The origin of this goes back to a mental model I’ve adopted from Seth Godin: seths.blog/2011/03/reject-the-tyranny-of-being-picked-pick-yourself/

[@barryzito5721]

Curious what your meters read before your mastering chain. -6dB ish?

[@heistworld]

Amazing video! If it's alright to share, I am wondering what model of Audeze headphones you use for mixing and mastering?

[@alejandromagana1554]

I have an eternal question that I have never seen it answered and that is: how does a properly mixed track look like (I KNOW it matters how it sounds first) but my gut feeling as in pro standards there must be a “defined” way a pro mix looks in its waveform before sending it to mastering. Do you have any resource, idea or any comment really about this? I’ve checked the mixes from my own music that I get from the engineers I hired in the past, but now that I’m starting to mix my own stuff I’m curious about details like: how dynamic can I leave the mixes? Is it good that it has very minor peaks within the waveform? Etc etc

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Great question! To be honest: It really depends on what the song wants to be. So there can’t be one ideal-looking mix. I’ve seen mixes that looked very weird on analyzers plus waveform but sounded great. I’ve also seen some that looked super nice and balanced but sounded boring, lifeless, and muddy. I know that this isn’t the answer you were looking for but it’s the only real answer I can give you.

[@alejandromagana1554]

@@pickyourselfofficial thanks a lot though for taking the time for answering, I’m just trying to make this right from now on ❤️🫶🏻

[@sastra.schrnz]

These tips are so simple yet so effective 👏

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Thanks so much, happy you got something out of this! 💯🙌🏻

[@turbofuntime]

Im curious, how is it that when listening to the clipping at the end of your video, you are able to tell thats its from the bass? Is it because the rhythm of the clipping matches the kick?

[@jkdan3602]

Really cool advice about using there limiter 60-70% through the mix. Going to try that going forward! Thanks :)

[@pickyourselfofficial]

You're welcome :)

[@billaveda6408]

Isn't clipping the same as limiting? I've always thought that compression is a soft limiting (like pushing the amplitude of a waveform down) and that limiting is a hard ceiling (clipping the top of the amplitude).

[@josepe217]

I see you use a SSL 4000 E on the master bus, I ever read do not remember where, that this console is made it to individual tracks and not good for entire mixes? Any thought? thank you

[@pickyourselfofficial]

I’m using the glue compressor which is an emulator of the SSL bus compressor (bus = mixbus aka master channel in this case), so it’s not the compressor of an individual SSL channel strip. Hope that clarifies it :)

[@maxtilman7160]

The thing that always pops up in my mind if I'm limiting a bus or group, is that I'm maybe overdoing it. I mean, limiting stuff is great but isnt it a problem if you limit your busses AND slap a good ol' limiter on the master? Does that make sense?

[@gbigbo_zjebeezjeboo]

great tips !! Is this listening function also available in Ableton stock limiter plugins ? If not, how can we achieve this ?

[@pickyourselfofficial]

My 100% honest reply: I think you can get VERY far with Ableton's stock tools, but at least one great limiter for the end of your chain is a good investment. The Ableton Limiter might be okay for single tracks but it's just not suitable for mastering. Same goes for the FL Studio Limiter and most other stock DAW limiters.

[@gbigbo_zjebeezjeboo]

@@pickyourselfofficial any idea about IK Multimedia T-Rack TR5 plugins ? Suitable for mastering ?

[@pickyourselfofficial]

I don’t have personal experience with them so all I can say is that pretty much every mastering engineer I know uses the Fabfilter L2, Ozone Maximizer, or Bettermaker Master limiter. But there are exceptions for sure.

[@Pattarns_Music]

TDR Limiter6 is a good free alternative to last you until you get something like pro-L2. @@gbigbo_zjebeezjeboo

[@KitKalvert]

Great video thank you! I presume you disable the limiter just before sending the mix off to mastering?

[@getthejackets]

Nice video , LCD’s helped my mixes a lot

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Yep, definitely!

[@profonicstudios]

Appreciate the video! There’s deffo a few genuine gems ! More power to you! 🫡

[@socratesson4320]

Very nice ...subscribed.,

[@Collins777]

Great video, really appreciate the info. Does anyone know how to enable the LUFS meter on the pro L-2? Ive been using the youlean loudness meter this whole time, and I cant figure out how to enable the extra meter in the pro L-2

[@imalasound]

Thank you 🙏

[@MIDI-A-LLC]

What used to be your go to limiter before pro L 2?? Thanks for the video!

[@guybraham1483]

so i get why you put a limiter and it helps hearing mistakes you made, but after correcting them do you take the limiter off? cause isn't sending the song to be mastered when you already limited would make it harder for the mastering guy?

[@spiridonadara7851]

Why having your true peak on? on the master limiter ?

[@OfoeNelson]

For 150 stems breaks down to about 15 stems layered 10 times right? Does layering really make a difference if its the same sound

[@MikeCervello]

Great video. Subscribed! 👌🏼

[@chrisb6296]

"Mix like an artist" - mainly stereo separation and levels?

[@Drsuds]

Great video man

[@mukeshpathak7302]

Hey bro. A quick question, currently I'm producing (2 years in now) and doing mixing of my tracks but for mastering I just use Bandlab's free mastering service ..and release my tracks with that. As I want to improve my productions and mixing, I don't spend time mastering... Do you think Bandlab's mastering is okay? Or should Invest time to learn mastering as well?

[@felixando7492]

Good insights thank you. One question, do you think it is better to use a second gain staging plugin like ableton’s utility to push the volume that goes into the pro-l instead of letting the pro-l do the whole work? I noticed that sometimes for very quiet mixes where I need to push the gain dramatically on a limiter , it introduces a lot of saturation before I even reach the target lufs level, but when I split that task with another gain plugin, I seem to be able to reach that loudness without any noticeable saturation.

[@tavmsc4]

solid vid as always

[@Cramz]

I just add a trimmer plug-in on the master buss with +6db and once I’m Done I take it off 💥 you have -6db of headroom for mastering and yes of course the goal is to hit near zero

[@MrMikomi]

Clear and easy to follow. Thanks.

[@exposingyouthetruth6443]

why don't you use linear phase when cutting low end? This always results in phase issues with my kick. Also need to fix fabfilter latency issues after using linear pahse eq.

[@pickyourselfofficial]

It’s a case by case decision. I’d say 80% of the time “natural phase” mode sounds better to me. The slight phase shift is often the less intrusive artifact compared to the pre-ringing introduced by linear phase EQs.

[@vincentvandeperre1670]

why cut low end on a kick at all ?

[@altseason_musik]

gold advice

[@Elecdon]

on the point. helpful as always. thank you!

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!

[@socratesson4320]

The snare you use in the kick or Drum tops stem? Just wondering ..:)

[@ilyesh1]

Do you ever group kick and bass together and process them ? Or kick + hats, Perc,etc.? Or kik + bass + rhythm everything else? Thnx

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Here's my video about exactly that, I hope it clarifies your questions: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIHNk4BvhaigoMU

[@evanwickstrom7990]

Is there no way to measure loudness build into ableton?

[@audiunt]

Please explain ‘density’

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Great question! It’s the feeling when the track comes together during mastering. The soundstage feels right, the elements are connected just the right way (subjective balance between coherence and separation in the sound). It’s one of the few subjective sweet spots the mastering engineer (or producer who self-masters) has to find. I’ll put together a DIY mastering tutorial this year for sure in which I’ll cover this.

[@Pulquencius]

What headphones are you using?

[@pickyourselfofficial]

Audeze LCD-X Creators Edition. They're beyond amazing.

[@Lo-r3s]

Can I listen to the artifacts on a stock limiter or in the L2? Also can artifacts be tamed by adjusting release on the “glue”? Thx! Great vid!!

[@amarug]

I am a mechanical engineer and a hobbyist composer. It's funny how we put priorities differently. When I compose I can fuss around ages with harmonies and voicings to the point of going nuts, I can search for the right sound effect and instrument forever, EQ them and what not. But the moment the tracks are done, I can somehow take a "step back" and listen to the song like a "consumer". I open the mixer and really just blitz through it at the speed of light. It is honestly 0.1% of my time in the overall process. For all the constructive criticism I get, it has not once been about mixing per-se. To me the harmonies, melodies, dynamics and fundamental textures are so much more relevant than fussing in the mixer about something no one will care about at the end. If you attend a live classical orchestra concert it sounds heavenly.... with zero "mixing", just instruments changing pitch and expression over time.

[@MagnusThorJonsson-v8z]

Would you export your master wih the limiter engaged on the master bus or just mix into it then disengage it upon export?

[@pickyourselfofficial]

If you send it off to mastering (or self-master in a new session), definitely take it off or lower the threshold of the limiter so that it barely does anything (maybe captures the odd little peak here and there). In a best case scenario you’d export it without the limiter and the track still stays below 0dBFs. If you export at 32bit floating point, the mastering engineer can even restore sections that go above 0dBFs on the master channel.

[@Durkhead]

Bouncing to stereo and then trying increase loudness is kinda backwards

[@k1ttyF158er]

The REAL reason top mix engineers turn out better mixes than most people is that their source material is better. When I get tracks from big studios, they almost mix themselves. Tracks from up & coming artists & producers always seem to have far more issues that need to be fixed.