I HATED Mixing Until I Learned This Hack

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🤔 Do you find that your current mixes don't sound clear? There are too many sounds competing in the mix?
🤔 Do you then struggle to find which specific elements are actually competing and overlapping in a mix? And more importantly, what EQ settings should you be using?
In this video, Zack is going to show you the 3-steps, and questions to ask yourself, that will help you solve all your EQ problems.
What we will cover:
-how to identify which sounds / instruments are competing
-when to use regular EQ
-when to use dynamic EQ
-when to use mid-side EQ
-when to use mid-side, dynamic EQ (with a sidechain)
🔥Stuck with your music? Need PERSONALIZED help and development?
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🔔 Subscribe for more tips just like this:
@TheCosmicAcademy
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[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Stuck with your music career? Need PERSONALIZED help and development? Apply to our program… www.cosmicacademy.com

[@mvgnvm]

explaining a crucial solution to a common sound design problem but then showcasing a FREE solution is ballsy and invaluable to the community. good on you.

[@darude]

Awesome video. Once you “get” both the dynamic/sidechain concept and M/S separation with it, you start using it EVERYWHERE :) Send effects sidechain ducked with the dry signal are a great way to have nice and wet delays & verbs that don’t clutter the mix and yes, you can M/S those, too. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that when you for eg. lower the Mid, the Sides in relation get louder ie. the sound gets wider. If you use heavy Mid ducking, it doesn’t only momentarily scoop out from the range you’re scooping, but can easily make weird phasing artifacts or just sound strange as the sound pumps between normal and sudden stereo widening moments. I’m not saying not to use this technique, but to carefully listen to potential “weirdness” and also that a little goes a long way to clean up a mix, to make that vocal pop on top of a synth for eg. Just a couple dBs of ducked Mids is often enough and that won’t necessarily be (negatively) audible due to masking ie. ears tuning into the vocal, or anything that’s on top.

[@gingerdrinkr]

wtf the legend himself

[@socks7545]

wait this is THE guy

[@DominiqueHeine]

great advice and addition to what was conveyed in this video

[@benny_dryl]

Thanks Darude!

[@mvgnvm]

tfw the song name posts a comment

[@mateuszreptak7415]

Do you blink sometimes?

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

My mom swearssss I did… …once 😏

[@mateuszreptak7415]

@@TheCosmicAcademy 😂😂🔥

[@CantTellYou]

When the camera cuts away from him he's actually blinkin' up a storm making up for lost blinking time. If we could see it we'd see him blinking in 64th notes

[@Pastel_audio2.0archives]

blue eyes lol

[@UberFitRecords]

Oh my god! That’s what it is 😂 I couldn’t quite put my finger on why I found this a bit weird to watch. The info is good! I thought maybe it was that he was standing to close to the camera? But it’s totally the blinking thing 😂 thank you!

[@Beatsbasteln]

thanks for being so clear about your technique being a general technique and not just a vocal mixing trick or pro audio engineering trick of some kind. i hate when people bait like that

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

♥️👊 yessss! It’s so important to understand the fundamental concepts and tools that can be used!! Allows you to solve many problems, many different ways!!

[@robshrock-shirakbari1862]

I can't consider subscribing to your channel until I see you blink.

[@ombecarson]

😂😂

[@djscience813]

😂😂😂😂😂now I can't stop staring 😂😂😂

[@TayWoode]

I was wondering if it was a good AI

[@GeezSus]

He uses 3 eyelids to blink, he can't do it in front of us

[@tannera.3359]

Wow. I actually cannot believe the quality of this video. You are not PRODUCING you are TEACHING and I can't say I have seen this before in our production space here.

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

I greatly appreciate you saying that! I take a lot of pride in what we do here at cosmic!! I’ve been teaching for a while now (10+ years, 800 artists) and quickly learned it’s not about what “I” am capable of. That doesn’t help anyone. Instead, I need to find ways to make these topics, tools, and techniques valuable in everyone else’s music!! It’s a challenge I can’t get enough of!! Now I just get to do it with everyone on YT too haha ♥️👊

[@tannera.3359]

@@TheCosmicAcademy Well if this is how you teach your students, I applied and I hope to hear back from you guys soon. Thanks for the awesome content.

[@Topstone1]

AND, it's a good thing he has such good skin ;)

[@irishRocker1]

He is producing. He is producing better mixers!

[@moce727]

Mate literally all your videos correct me every mistake I'm actually making, I feel like you're polishing my skills lol greatest content out there, thank you so much for this!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Hahaha really happy that these videos can help! I’ve been lucky enough to work with so manyyyy artists over the past 10 years here at cosmic. It’s me helping them fill the gaps and holes in their knowledge and understanding of tools, topics, and techniques. This channel has now allowed me to help all of you too!! Appreciate you watching 👊♥️

[@CrowkeeperStudios]

That last line is an excellent line. Quality mixes are made by quality decisions. I say something like this a lot. That mixing is ALL ABOUT JUDGMENT. You can teach people how, you can teach people why, but it's up to them to decide when and where, and that's why some get it, and others don't.

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Spotttttt on!!! ♥️👊

[@CrowkeeperStudios]

​@@hawaiirealmedia5610 I agree 100% It's actually sad how many musicians are trying to save a buck not going to an experienced engineer and instead wasting even more money, and more importantly their life.. year after year after year running in circles trying to learn how to get good recordings because they were sold the life that anyone could do it. Not everyone can be a world class guitarist Not everyone can make great recordings. That's just the way it is.

[@CrowkeeperStudios]

​@@hawaiirealmedia5610 YOU CAN learn on your own, but the issue is this. Most people are sold plugins where the sounds are essentially pre-engineered, pre-dialed in. Drum samples that already have EQ baked in, guitar plugins with all harsh frequencies notched out already, the list goes on and on. These people don't actually learn anything. And even if they did learn some concepts, it's like saying "I'm a great cook" when really the only thing you've ever done is microwave a meal some other chef prepared for you. In order to learn engineering skills, you need to be doing this work CONSTANTLY and you need to avoid taking shortcuts and actually learn the process. How to mic various things up, dialing in stuff that sounds terrible and learning how to problem solve, learning how EQ, compression, de-essing, limiting, clipping and on and on and on the list goes, AND NOT THE EZ BAKE OVEN STUFF! I mean the proper tools with all the knobs that allow you to have great control or make a trash outcome, because it's only there that you'll figure it all out. These 1 knob plugins are why people never learn.

[@M2Texas]

Brilliant. Liked and subbed. But FYI the link from that page to actually download The Masker is blacklisted by AVG antivirus. I'm not downloading that.

[@DrRawley]

I ran into the same problem. an online virus scan confirms

[@AnomieDomine]

This finally made it click why this can be so difficult. People are attacking 3D problems with 2D tools

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Happy it clicked!! I also loveeee that saying haha

[@leonardojul]

I mean... This is hands down one of the best music production tutorials I've seen in my life. Excellent job mate, and thank you very much for this

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Means a lot ♥️👊 thank youuu!! Always happy when these vids can help

[@cwehden]

Trackspacer or Smooth Operator are cheaper alternatives to soothe, though Smooth Operator has no mid/side, Trackspacer does.

[@Pictor13]

My ignorance doesn’t let me understand the 3rd trick. Isn’t the stereo field only an IMAGINARY/ILLUSORY space? In reality there’s 2 speakers at distance that simply emits frequencies at higher/lower volume. Our brain interpret those as sounds positioned in a space even tho they are not. The mono vocal is gonna be emitted on the stereo speaker, with maximum volume, hence sounding LIKE IF ít would be in the center. But it’s not in the center for real; both speakers emit it from the sides. Same for the leads that are panned on the sides of the stereo width, but basically just having different volume. So how can vocal and lead signals not compete just by spreading one on the side or moving to the center? In reality they don’t come from really different places, they still come at the same time, with competing frequencies, from the same exact 2 stereo points: the speakers. In case I’m not too ignorant… if the conflicting frequencies are the same Hz then the 2 signals only differ in amplitude. Or somehow changing stereo spreading the frequencies are changed as well? (but then I would wonder how the signals can still be in tune on the same notes, if frequencies are now different).

[@etiennedemers]

Imo, i think that, prior to all of that, the musical composition of the lead vocal and the synth (or any other part to one another) must musically let space for each other. I see this wonderful dynamic eq trick as a brute force way of fitting two parts together. In other words, if musically, the synth answers the vocal between the vocals intervention, you practically don't need to do this, and the music will be clearer, with a better play around each parts. (Very classical approach, because you can't "mix" in a live room, you "mix" in the composition)

[@DeMaesslaafjes]

but I don't understand how the 'cut frequency' of the the synth-track in the centre is not being cut out of the sides if it would be a stereo track you're producing. I thought that a centrally positioned sound just came out of both left and right speakers equally loud... So if I cut a frequency from the mid it's just cut out equally on both channels, or am I wrong?

[@akira_21_]

For a sound to be stereo it has to have a difference in what goes to left and right speakers. In mid-side processing mid is a part of the sound that is exactly equal in both speakers, and side is everything what is different. You can process these parts of a sound independently, so if you cut something in the mid channel, side information remains untouched

[@RafTime]

if i want to download the masker it says virus detected, so how do i get a virus free version?

[@LoserDub]

Hey man, wanted to say thank you for doing a proper video. As a music guy myself. I'm so tired of seeing videos where they just click a bunch of buttons. Don't explain anything, And you don't really learn anything from that. You just learn how to get their desired effect

[@moskitoh2651]

The thing I am immediatelly thinking about is, if constantly changing the eq does not sound artificial. Well a synth sounds artificial anyhow, so maybe not to bad, but if it is e.g. a piano?

[@zameerhavaldar]

This is not a Vin Diesel video?

[@shaferproducergod]

I feel like in theory this should always work but in practice at least in my experience sooth sidechain trick can sometimes make that vocal feel like its standing out too far from the mix, where as sometimes the sculpt method sounds better to my ears. I use both methods just depending on what works better for each song. Excellent video bro your channel is amazing 💯🔥

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Spot on! Each scenario usually requires finding the right eq solution. The fun part about mixing. One day, one plugin is the perfect solution…the next it may not ♥️👊

[@shaferproducergod]

@@TheCosmicAcademy Facts thats the fun part is every song is a new challenge 😊🤘🤘

[@unotoli]

One question that perplexes me is what are the methods to achieve the same mixing results without the "dynamic computation" power, using only "analog" tools?

[@shaferproducergod]

@@unotoli theres analog sidechain tools but you can also use your ears and eq or even dynamic eq to carve out space in the instruments for your vocals

[@TOKALBEATS]

You just got anew subscriber!! These 6 minutes were worth more than a whole year of my mixing classes!! 🔥 🔥 GOAT!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Happy it could help!! 👊♥️

[@blvdes]

oh my god i did not know pro-Q lets you do the mono/side thing but that is a life changer. i have always had to do a bunch of annoying splits and routing to get the same thing. unbelievable how much time that will save lmao

[@andrejnaste]

Can I have the remix used in this video? "Say it Right" Thanks :)

[@DBicakci]

my browser found virus in the masker download. anyone had the same issue?

[@blinktq1579]

This video is awesome definitely subscribing. I like the way that you think and explain. You also didn't be like oh yeah just use this very expensive program it's your only option, you gave us another way to do it. I'm going to try masker and split bus side mid on each channel till I can buy sooth. I was using fruity peak controller and just ducking certain frequencies but this seems like a better option for most applications

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Thanks for the sub and always happy to hear this could help! 👊👊👊

[@ElectroBlender]

Found this by accidental stumbled upon and man, your videos rock. Blowing my hands cool level hot🤜🏽🤛🏽🔥🔥

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

👊 happy you found it and are part of the yt fam here

[@CJMattias]

I dont think mono and stereo are that separated. Both stereo and mono are played back with the same physical speakers. Lets say only your left speaker works, you wouldn't hear any stereo. But it would still play your stereo sounds, just the "left side" of the stereo. So basically your stereo and mono are still competing for space. The whole concept of what stereo is, is not different from mono. Stereo is created through different methods, sometimes delay, sometime detune etc. It's still a sound signal that is being played by the same speaker as the mono signal.

[@CJMattias]

I'd appreciate a further explanation about this. To me, the logic doesn't make sense. I'll elaborate further; Let's say you have a 30hz very low sinewave and you have 2 subs on each side of the room. A mono sound will mirror both subs. Now if you add a stereo signal at 30hz (which you never ofc want to do), let's say you add some Haas effect; your left side sub will try to play back the 30hz stereo signal on top of the mono signal. Now let's say the signal is just 2hz, you could visually see your sub wobble un-evenly. Your sub is physically trying to compete the stereo and mono, even though Haas is considered 100% stereo. The same physical phenomenon happens at all frequencies. So to me, stereo and mono always compete.

[@subradiant_music]

This video is awesome, perfect for the A.D.D person with the video production! haha I actually wanna pay attention more than others.

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Hahaha that’s the ultimate compliment so thank you!! 👊

[@frngecringe]

Trackspacer is also a wonderful dynamic style EQ thats pretty affordable!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Yesss!!! 100%!! 👊♥️

[@guimellon]

Man, I've been struggling for years trying to understand when to use Dynamic EQ and this video just blew me away! This was by far one of the best tutorials I've seen and you're a great teacher! Thanks for all the valuable knowledge and tips on this video. Keep up the good work!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Thanks! Always happy to hear it helped! 👊♥️

[@CMSpida]

Wow! So after 15 years of making music, I’ve never heard this explained so well!

[@Vignolamaxime]

This type of video is all I can ask for. I loveeeeeeeeeeeeee this format. Straight to the point, friendly person, insightful tips, teaching you what you should look up for... and not just '' Here is how my mix sounds good''. Thanks for explaining the process. 10/10 !

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

So glad! Appreciate you watching and dropping the comment ♥️👊

[@JK-gn5jr]

Too hyperactive feeling for me. I had to stop the video. Same issue on all american stuff. Best regards calmness lover slow Finn. 🤗

[@zynthio]

This is a great tutorial, clear and concise. Also want to say how refreshing this plugin website is - no signing up, no checkout process, emailed download links, etc. Free plugins, just hit download and it downloads

[@X-101]

lol windows picked that plugin as a virus

[@AntiPattern123]

THX for "The Masker" tip. I recommended ppl with smaller budget the Trackspacer from Wavesfactory. Only thing missing in this (except M/S) is the Low- and Highpass. Should be no big deal with another eq in front.

[@benreiter7218]

So you’re saying that Trackspacer has a mid/side mixing ability?

[@AntiPattern123]

@@benreiter7218 You can choose between stereo- or M/S-mode. In M/S-mode, the Pan-knob behaves differently. If you choose M/S, the pan knob attenuates the mid-band (by turning it to the left) and it attenuates the side-bands (by turning it to the right). Ideal for kick and bass seperation (without compressor-pumping) or bringing vocals more out.

[@ACABSTUDIOS]

I don't think that masker plugin actually does anything. I can't see or hear any difference

[@SoundCodex]

It is not as easy to use as it seems. Anyway try to use it to reveal masked freqs (it was originally designed for that purpose)

[@ikirusha]

The masker broke my audio. it turned into distortion anytime i messed with knobs. Same thing for all their other plug ins.

[@SoundCodex]

If you are using it in FL Studio there's no much to do for now... it's a known issue. Try use it in a project at 44.1KHz (the SR at which the developers tested the plugin). Cheers

[@MunitorLP]

Great video! Let me add that in my opinion the plugin "trackspacer" does an even better job than the two you mentioned. Yes it's 60€, but its dynamic with sidechain obviously, you can high-/lowpass and you can select mid/side or L/R focus. Also you are able to set attack and release times, which is useful for some cases, however I did never use it, as it does such a great job on more or less default settings.

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Thanks!! I use Trackspacer too haha another good one. Little more of a broad stroke than soothe though. I find it to be less subtle, and more obvious sounding…which in some cases is exactly what I want!!

[@ssso-m5j]

I think it worth mention that you can also do that for free with lives stock plugins ( env follower & EQ8, even with M/S etc)... 😅

[@DilanJay]

How about bass and kick. This has always been my issue for years.

[@lotharofthe]

Any fabfilter plugins that compare to this plugin?

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Pro-Q will get you mid side dynamic eq (with a sidechain too)!!

[@Hogzz]

A good tip for those FL Studio users is using Patcher as an example, take a stereo shaper, split mid & sides, route TheMasker on the mid, problem solved :P Can't really much say how to do it on other daws!

[@hampsonpaul3531]

Patcher is some plugin ..Anything can be solved with Patcher ..

[@eomusic11]

Can't one just do a sidechain compressor on the competing sounds? than using dynamic eq?

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Yes but it does duck the volume of the entire sound. This can be fine in some instances, but others it might sound too dramatic and obvious. In those cases dynamic eq’s are much more transparent and natural

[@kevinmalisek9353]

so static eq for shaping the sound and dynamic to mix it with other elements.. makes actual sense

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

👊♥️

[@1ATOMM1]

What software do you guys use to screen record and edit the videos? the quality is soo good! Especially love the 3D perspective at 00:24, any insights on how was that done? Keep up the great work!!!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Thanks! I screen record with QuickTime and then edit the videos in premiere pro. That 3D perspective shot was just done using FX in premiere!

[@StephenPreston0723]

Great video and persepctive!

[@marceloribeirosimoes8959]

Cool!!! The down side is we can do worse arrangements because tools like these... But the tips were great!!! Thank you!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Thanks!! You bring up a great point though that’s worth mentioning! These mixing tips can’t fix a poor arrangement. Proper instrumentation and arrangement of those sounds comes first, because it can avoid 99% of the “mix” problems we face!

[@derhova]

The Masker doesn't work in Cubase on a MacStudio. Unblocking malicious software in Security settings doesn't make a difference either.

[@cheapshotfishing9239]

If u aint learning from cosmic academy ru rlly even in the competition

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Hahaha ♥️👊 much appreciated

[@jjmathewson2160]

This is fantastic! Would highly recommend Fuser, which is quite similar to Soothe, but helps detect m/s vs mono requirements. Also deals with phasing issues too. Doesn’t do the regular resonance adjustment aspects of Soothe2, but for de-masking, its the most complete IMO

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Fuser is an insanelyyyyy good plugin!! It’s seriously becoming goat status in my eyes!! 🐐

[@bmmusic]

Thank you very much. Greatest video.

[@sokoleski]

Love the clarity of your videos... and length is just perfect for my short attention span ADHD brain. BIG THANKS...keep'em coming ⭐

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Thank YOU! Appreciate you watching and dropping the line to me! 👊♥️

[@TmonkeyWins]

This video is mix headroom BRERAKTHROUGH material. This guy is very clear and concise.

[@Jackeesh]

I'm just impressed of quality of your video. Do you have a video course about mixing? I would buy it right now. Btw, I have visited cosmicacademy website but didn't find a video course, there is only full-scale coaching, I think I don't need it now. It would be great to start from a simple course.

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Thanks Jack! Unfortunately, we don’t have video courses😬! We’ve been running this personalized development program for 10+ years where we work with artists in small groups and 1 on 1s. Happy the video could help and appreciate you dropping the comment! ♥️👊

[@donpakka]

Great mixes don't need to be "balanced."

[@ShanHexis]

Once you got decent amount of knowledge in production! Explore yourself with plugs. There is no perfect balance, perfect Loudness or any shits... you won't learn by watching tutorials until you try yourself! - noob

[@EtymTV]

This is something I understood already, but the clear explanation just made it that much easier to know exactly when to use. Also - MASKER?! I thought I needed soothe 😮

[@nameparalysis]

Love the video. Could you please provide some examples of a static issue?

[@shobley]

But surely... if the vocal is "in the middle" it actually means it's equally coming out of both sides... unless we're mixing in X.1 surround sound now.

[@DEATHLESSBeats24]

A lot of questions I ask myself that I never found nobody answering, thought i was crazy lol

[@MikeBrayton]

You would think we would want to use this all the time then. But that's not the case. Thousands and thousands of mixes have been done without the power of digital dynamic EQ. Knowing WHEN to use it, that's the key. And i'm not sure i've got that figured out.

[@ReeWebster]

I try to think of the sound as energy: those parts u want it at a consistent level, reach for dynamic eq. Or when u want it to bounce around as dif sounds are triggered, then reach for static eq. You’ll want to achieve both methods at dif parts of the song, and likely depending on the genre too.

[@riveratley]

Wow thanks so much!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

You’re welcome! Happy it can help

[@GrumpyGr3g]

Production is far more important than mixing, imo. This technique is a a good solution to solve problem, but also a good solution not to take any artistic decisions and just kill everything using a super advanced process that could be not done with right production. Just automations and better decision during production. Always am skeptical about this technique. When I try it, I feel like yeah it's for sure clean, but this kill tons of feeling and pumping effect can be heard in a subtle or not way. But just a matter of tastes in the end. Props on the quality video and explanations tho.

[@matthijshebly]

Check out Bertom Phantom Centre, which is an absolute dark horse for creating space in the centre... It's emphatically NOT a widener... It uses FFT to calculate things in common between L and R, and can then either remove that commonality, or amplify it. There's nothing like it. It's also 100% FREE.

[@parthwaves]

Beautifully explained! Though I think this trick needs to be used with care. Even with dynamic problems, we might still want a static EQ for a more natural and musical sound where the channel’s frequency response isn’t constantly fluctuating in disregard to itself.

[@GiftFromGod]

went from getting the VST I thought I needed before I wanted to jump into fixing a project of mine. Saw the Virus threat comment on the Masker's page. After I saw enough of "its a false positive" I thought "ah f it lets bypass all security and allow it". But for the sake of it I sent the file to virustotal now that I had it and not only was it red all over the site but someone actually confirmed the very source from where the trojan came so I spent the night with potential damage control -_- have any allternatives to that plugin you'd recommend?

[@SouhailEntertainment]

Introduction and Goal - 00:00:00 Establishing Balance in Mixes - 00:00:31 Focusing on EQ for Balance - 00:01:04 Identifying the Focus of the Section - 00:01:33 Static vs. Dynamic EQ Problems - 00:02:01 Using Dynamic EQ with Side Chain - 00:03:01 Free Dynamic EQ Option: The Masker - 00:03:31 Applying Dynamic EQ Beyond Vocals - 00:03:59 Considering the Stereo Field - 00:04:28 Using Mid-Side EQ for Stereo Sounds - 00:04:57 Combining Dynamic and Mid-Side EQ - 00:05:32 Conclusion and Next Steps - 00:06:09

[@els1f]

This whole "I'm not going to show you the result" thing is brilliant! You're explaining the how to in general and not a bunch of "best practice" things that tend to suite only specific cases. I love it! 🙌🔥

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Really appreciate you watching and dropping this comment ♥️👊 You know what it is, we work with students who make alllll diff genres. I’ve had to learn how to make these concepts work for everyone! The way I like to think about it…If I teach you how to drive…you can drive any car, right?!

[@YngHstlr]

I’m only here for moose

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Aren’t we all! It’s Moose’s world…we’re just living in it! 🫎

[@bexiexz]

needed!

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Happy it helps! 👊

[@down_dance]

I just knew that some tips include sidechaining and i absolutely HATE that my cheap stupid trash daw doesn't support side chaining in the "cheap" version. There 3 ways for me now: 1. manually automate everything (tedious) 2. export the individual channels and use the side chain of a different free daw 3. just keep producing trash music that is poorly mixed Tbh I might just stick with the third option -.-

[@AaronRuperto]

just made a lightbulb go off for me. This is so damn clutch. THANK YOU

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Let’s gooo! Happy it helped! 👊♥️

[@CyrusAugustus]

Damn brutha! Droppin gems and bombs and sauce all over the place over here!!! 😅 This was incredibly valuable to me at this point in my journey! Thank you so much! 💯 PS... got a question I've been wanting to figure out for a while.... I wanna be able to control the mid vs sides separately, like ur doing, but for WIDENING not just EQ... and with a free plugin, bc I'm broke af and invest in gear rather than plugins when I get the chance 😆 The free Ozone imager doesn't have bands, only the paid one they have does. So if I wanna widen the higher frequencies but not the lows, I can't, bc I have no independent control over them... or vocals, I use alot of layering of vox takes, and do different things with different layers, I guess I don't need bands for that actually, I could just widen specific layers/tracks and focus the main center ones, by using the imager separately on different tracks.... I think... but the widening of the instruments, or whatever, without widening the lows, that's where I'm really stuck... in the mastering stage specifically... so I guess my earlier solution won't work after all, bc the master is just working on one track that includes everything... So yeah... I've seen it done how I wanna do it with fancy expensive plugins I can't afford rn, but how would I go about tackling this problem without paid plugins? That's my main question. I can't even USE that imager at all in the master for that reason... bc any widening I do widens the bass/etc. too, which sounds like garbage to me so I just don't bother trying anymore. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! 🙏💯 Cheers! ✌😎 🔹🔷CYRUS🔷🔹

[@cyberoach]

Man. I've been making music for years. My mind is blown away right now. This is pure gold.

[@NillerVision]

While those are great techniques, one should not be afraid of a little frequency competition, IMO. Especially if you are using saturation or (emulated) analog compressors on your busses and master chains. The occasionally build up of frequencies can make those plugins work a little harder from time to time and add variation and expression to a mix. If frequency competition/ build up is a persistent problem, you should probably to solve it in the arrangement rather than in the mix. Shout out for sharring the LIM plugins :)

[@dachreport]

Soothe 2 is a great plugin and all but its $209

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

That’s what I talk about the masker! Different strokes for different folks!

[@Chefwanbeatxx]

I like your lessons even if I have watched you for a very long time. I like your intro sir. Keep teaching us blood I’m Chefwan Beatxx from Ghana ❤🎉

[@AudioReplica2023]

Ive been thinking about this exact problem fo about a year now., and you just hit the nail.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@tenalock]

very good information, thank you

[@TheCosmicAcademy]

Glad it was helpful! 👊

[@mthomas1091]

I guess I’m wondering “why ONLY duck the middle?” when the sides & voice ARE going to be on top of each other (when you check your mix for mono-compatibility) 🤷‍♂️

[@Soso-km8er]

Superb information! But I am wondering if this is really required, as mixes in the 70s and maybe 80s probably didn’t use it and still sound very appealing. My best guess is they often sacrificed transparency and dynamics to make space, balanced out via volume and then let the bus compressor and limiter figure out the rest. But actually I don’t know.

[@7rollface]

TL/DW for people who don't want to be freaked out by the extreme close-ups burning into your soul: use a dynamic EQ/trackspacer, and treat the mono/side signals differently (assuming you're not worried about people listening in mono).

[@sirreal2290]

I need the shit this dudes doing because people tell me I have a resting bitch face… at least I’ll be smiling. Also, there are several point in this video where I had to pause it and physically talk to myself about how you are incorrect… you aren’t completely wrong in most of the statements, and there is some good advice in the video. But I would not consider EQ after stereo imaging, for the simple fact that once you are focusing on the stereo imaging of the mix, the EQs for the whole mix should be determined before so that the EQ after the stereo bus doesn’t re-mix the sounds in places and pockets I don’t want it to end up inadvertently. Also, most of the time due to streaming it’s going to be compressed and most likely loudness squashed anyway… and most likely EQ’d without the listener even knowing, or to their own liking. So really the goal is to get it as even as possible so that whatever device it’s being played back on can do its most to bring out the tonality of the system/headphones that the track is being played back on. Exp. Apple Music, AirPods. Most of the processing for the track is done on Apple Music, and then squashed and repacked and then unpacked by the AirPods, and sent through a binaural imaging program, then played back through the drivers, all while being effected by the actual positioning of the listener. (If the listener uses the head tracking stuff) another example is with Dolby atmos. Why would I EQ sounds after stereo imaging? When i can just EQ them before so they sound the best before they meet in the final mixer? I mean I can apply an EQ to the final mixer, but what really is the point?

[@alexdierickx3504]

Soothe is not a dynamic EQ, but a dynamic resonance suppressor. Although I agree side chaining a dynamic EQ can be a tool when needed (shouldn't be a substitute for proper balancing and mixing), you won't get the same result from resonance suppression.

[@alltiagocom]

I see an issue with the Soothe approach (or any other type of plugin that does the same thing): Soothe is indeed a dynamic plugin, but it's not technically a dynamic EQ (the way it's shown in this video), because its purpose is to work on problematic resonances (as stated in their website). What that means is that problematic resonances on the vocals are not necessarily what's masking the vocals when the synth is playing. The vocals could have a problematic resonance at 2kHz, for example, and Sooth would see that as a frequency to reduce, so it reduces it on the synth. That doesn't mean it will carve space on the synth. If anything, it will actually accentuate that frequency that's problematic, because now the synth's 2kHz is carved out, giving more space for the 2kHz of the vocals to "shine through". Maybe 400Hz is still being present on the synth, but not triggered by the vocals, because it's probably not seen as "problematic resonance" by Sooth, and those 400Hz is what's masking the vocals. So Soothe and similar plugins are not the answer to this problem (not totally and not the way it's presented in this video, at least). Plugins like TDR Nova or TrackSpacer are more appropriate for the job (even though TDR Nova is way more limited, because it has just 4 bands it can target compared to TrackSpacer's 32 bands). Maybe Soothe and similar plugins can achieve some kind of balance, regardless, but it's not because they are dynamically creating a "frequency game" between the vocals and synth (or other instrument) that way it's shown in the video. Hope it's making sense...? Another issue I see is the MID/SIDE approach. Yes, when things are being listened to in stereo, that makes sense. Why reducing the frequencies on the sides when the main instrument (in this case the vocals) only exist in the middle? The problem comes when we have the song collapse to mono (clubs, mono speakers like phones, etc). Whatever is on the sides is now in the middle as well, and since we didn't reduce the frequencies on the sides, we end up with the exact same problem. So I don't think this is a good technique. Also, our brains are only able to focus on an element at a time so when the vocals is the main focus, our brain is not paying attention to the synth and its frequencies. And if the ducking of the frequencies on the synth (or any other instrument) is so extreme that can be "heard", then I guess we can assume it's too much ducking. I don't think a balanced ducking will be that noticeable in a mix context. This is just my opinion and in no way negates the quality of the tips in this video. Dynamic EQs are indeed very helpful. I just think it's important to truly understand if we are using them "properly" or if we are tricking our ears.

[@Seanitzel]

To save time for anyone new coming here searching throught the comments... The Masker doesn't work on Mac, developer can't be verified and no way to go around it unfortuinately. Happy mixing

[@sapiotone]

@TheCosmicAcademy You're not one of those "Tantr-eq Mix" gurus, I've heard about, are you? 👀😄

[@phildimopoulos6010]

how can you tell where frequencies are overlapping? that's where i'm struggling... like I know my bass and bass drum overlap, and I know any lead guitar melodies and vocals overlap etc. but where/how can I see this happening so that I can EQ them independently (or via sidechaining)?

[@erkamau9629]

The problemi with mid side approach is Mid has also Side infoes, let's think a stereo track panned all hard left and hard right, with no center, and sum It. You see that Mid in generale is differenti from Center....

[@CreativeMindsAudio]

Amazing and I’d totally use soothe 2 for that if it wasnt’ such a processor hog (rightfully so though) my 2019 MacBook Pro can’t handle more than like 2-3 instances 😂. Wish i could run soothe 2 in side chain on nearly every track though that plugin is freaking magical! Another trick i do is side chaining compressing certain instruments out of the way as a ducker (say lead guitar when the vocal is present). In general though side chaining is freaking amazing and under utilized for solving issues. This is a very detailed version of it that you got going on and it’s smart. I may rework some of my side chains to dynamic EQs in my template. I’ve used it before for certain things but didn’t think to widen the scope to this.

[@felixwood8693]

thank you, great video! I was wondering if the same result can be achieved with Neutron 4's Unmask module, seem pretty similar, though I don't know if it has midside?

[@dangernow]

You sir, are a God. This is exactly what I've trying to figure out and so well put. I didn't search for it, was looking at something else and this link appeared on the side. So glad I clicked the link. Subscribing now.

[@markmendozavano]

I was worried it was a Soothe2 ambush video at first, but turns out I actually learned something today!

[@mikedavidson4203]

Variably changing EQ to match a variably changing sound (as all sounds are) will introduce variably changing phase relationships in your mix. Not saying you shouldn't do it but proceed with caution. This is not a solution invariably free of unintended results but it can still a solution (variably).

[@astralgod6448]

What if your bass/drums are competing with important frequencies of the vocal. And the bass/drum is mono? What would you do then?

[@DJChrisCollins]

Mr. Edward- I was pretty lit when I got my hands on Soothe. The phase issues can be annoying. Definitely important to use a visualizer to check your ears. - Patient zero.

[@ahmtTyln]

Old time engineers were doing this technique by hand manually back in the days. Tweaking the Q and the freq gain etc. manually must be pain in the .ss considering everything in the control room was pretty much analog outboard gear at the time.😏🤨 Respect..

[@kaancanwav]

exactly the video i needed!! Thank you so much!! But I have a question! How can I found the “input”option in fl studio? Pls answer me its very important for me

[@musician1971a]

While I definitely think this is a great tip, or these are great tips, I also think that if this is required something was already wrong before the mixing process. And I mean the arrangement. Choosing a sound that fights the vocal is a bad decision to have in the arrangement. A lead synth that needs to be ducked while the vocal is sounding is out of place. You should have a different sound playing that line, or nothing, or something different entirely. Tricks like this make us lazy in our production. The end result is potentially tiring to listen to because there is too much going on. But that doesn't take away the fact that this is absolutely sound advice for the situations where the arrangement did not take into account that frequencies can be clashing and cause a mess. But the main work should have been done before that, the actual production part of writiong, arranging and recording a song.