Mixing the Midrange: Getting a Balanced, Clear, and Impactful Sound

Learn everything you need to know about mixing the midrange. Discover how the human ear perceives mid-range frequencies and how the midrange contains the fundamental frequencies and harmonics of many instruments we listen to in popular music. Learn how to reduce listening fatigue when mixing the midrange, what speakers and room treatment you need to effectively mix the midrange, and what software you should use to get a balanced sound in the mids. By the end of this video, you will have a strong understanding of mid-range frequencies in modern mixes and how to easily bring clarity to the mids in your mix.
Watch part 1, "Mixing low end": • Mixing Low End: The Ul...
Watch part 3, "Mixing high end": • Mixing high end freque...
Demo Nectar for free: www.izotope.com/en/products/d...
Demo Neutron for free: www.izotope.com/en/products/d...
Demo Tonal Balance Control for free: www.izotope.com/en/products/d...
Learn more about EQ: www.izotope.com/en/learn/prin...
Learn more about LUFS: www.izotope.com/en/learn/what...
Learn about comb filtering: www.izotope.com/en/learn/what...
Discover how to mix low end: • Mixing Low End: The Ul...
Chapters
00:00 - Intro
0:40 - Mid-range Sound Examples
1:34 - The Case for Mids
2:21 - Midrange Facts
3:36 - Mid-range Defined
4:35 - Your Ears
7:33 - Recap
8:22 - Your Monitors
9:16 - Passive Speakers & External Amplifiers
10:15 - Two Way vs Three-way Design
11:48 - Recap
12:20 - Your Room
15:42 - Recap
16:34 - Your Software
18:53 - Acoustic Guitar EQ
21:05 - Vocal EQ (Lower Mids)
22:47 - Vocal EQ (Upper Mids)
23:34 - Vocal & Guitar Together (Masking Meter)
25:01 - Building The Mid Range Bridge
28:33 - Recap
29:42 - Outro
SYNC ID: MB01HVRE3481KNU

[@mikaanatole9465]

This video is close to telling you the truth about mixing world, even paid courses wouldn’t tell you the truth. Thanks for sharing ❤

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Appreciate it Mika!

[@WarmVoice]

The demonstration at the beginning is pure gold. Within one minute you've proved why anyone, inexperienced or super experienced, should listen closely 😎👍

[@jmxsounds]

The mid is the life of the mix

[@melloman9006]

That comment is a huge help for my understanding

[@fivebyfivesound]

Aha. So since I’m in midlife, does it follow that I am the mix? 🤔

[@EZEonIon]

​@fivebyfivesound Ya, and so when Twitter trolls were calling Margot Robbie, "mid" were they actually trying to pay her a compliment? 🤪

[@fivebyfivesound]

​@@EZEonIonyeah, whatever their intention, seems like the trolls just paid her, period.

[@ABHORRANCE831]

....mids are the life.... However they can easily be pushed too far and sound awful (which is a big trend in Hardcore and Metal mixes lately).

[@ekiamediambedeka5188]

Gold, Diamond and Platinum content.

[@Bati_]

Geoff, you are absolutely one of the best educators in audio! I can't thank you enough for this wonderfully crafted trilogy! I'm looking forward to the final video on the high frequency content! Just to share it with all the fellow lifelong learners and music makers here, about the midrange and especially on the low-mid frequency region of 300 Hz, once Alex Tumay stated that "There is an excitement to low-mids and that's where the song exists, that's where everything exists." and Jaycen Joshua backed this statement by adding a remark that "If you learn how to master those low-mids, you'll be light years ahead of me and Alex. To me, if I were in the audience, I'd learn that because no one really pays attention to really down there, 'I got my low end, I got my midrange, I got my highs' but that 300 is the glue to the mix for me." After they stated these, Michael Brauer also shared an anectode on this by supporting these arguments!

[@sub-jec-tiv]

I like his shirt, too.

[@dariom4159]

I really enjoy watching this guy , it's so calming and relaxing , and of course the information is always high quality =)

[@joshuachan9531]

I can't say how much this changed my views and understanding for the better! Great teacher! Thank You 🙏🏽

[@JorgeGarcia-ej3vy]

Just want to say thank you for this excellent content. Ive learned so much from this. Thank you for making it

[@tonyedison9749]

I wanted to take a minute and say thank you for using your time to make these videos. They're very informative and clear to comprehend and I appreciate it very much. Thank you 🫡

[@rinosphere]

great detail, unpacked very clearly. Keep up the great production values.

[@davefhill]

Geoff, thanks for your videos! Your presentation and teaching on all your videos is top notch. When I need to learn something new I always check first to see if you've covered the topic. 👍😃

[@KennethGonzalez]

Between this and your last video, I've gotten a lot more insight into how to use the tools at my disposal better. I'm really looking forward to the next video in this short series. Thank you so much!

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Glad to hear you find our tutorials useful! Keep an eye out. There's more to come ✌️

[@ositotovi]

Man!!!....God bless you for each minute of your life that you have given me for free in this exeptional video!!!!.Thank you so,so,so much!!!❤

[@ZeekBurse]

The way you explained all of this was both extremely insightful and easy to comprehend! Thank You!!!

[@AlanScott1]

Brilliant info as always, thanks Geoff.

[@papimoshodi4245]

This is heartfelt and warming information. Thank you so much!

[@lumpielump3576]

just brilliant - thanks a lot for the lesson!

[@florianstrobel9065]

Love the series! 👍🏻 Thank you!

[@DavidDavis-FA-photog]

Thanks for this explanation and helping me with the big picture.

[@richardmillingtonmusic]

That's some really useful information - thanks Geoff 👍

[@phixphixation7261]

This is such a great series, I quickly where able to make a track sound much better using the right tools without changing the instruments. This is pure gold!

[@gustavoviana2]

That's exactly what I expect to hear from an audio engineer... When you start a video with a well-treated vocal that's proof of your work! Awesome content!! 🎶🎶🎶

[@Proctra]

A great video for every level of creating music, especially great for someone who's getting back into the ins and outs of mixing/mastering again! No fluff! Thanks for this!

[@southstudyspecialaide4934]

these are some of the best mixing videos I've seen

[@jaimomo65]

Great video, very useful, thanks!

[@1erwayne]

Great Video Jeff!

[@real.demesure]

Very well expressed. I wish I had this when I started ❤️

[@jfklmk13447]

Thanks for the video! Great stuff!

[@milesfilmco.9503]

I was so excited to see this pop up

[@caciquemusic4953]

This is just PURE GOLD

[@EftimStudioRE]

Great work! Your videos crafted with knowledge and care convinced me to buy the Music Production Suite.

[@Ben-Jamminalot]

Awesome Jeff!

[@soheilkhamisi]

Jeff manchester and Izotope ♥️ We all owe you a big one .

[@majesticbubfish9633]

this series is soooooo good!!! also your voice reminds me of Buzz Lightyear. thank you so much Izotope for this series! my mixes are instantly drastically better already!😂

[@R9IsTheRealRonaldo1]

With a notebook with me ive learned a lot i think. thanks!!!!

[@user-zl9zv5zz8i]

With love Eupatoria city!I see every video!It's fantastic!

[@djjuno106]

Excellent video🎉

[@kmx_music]

Awesome! It would have been great to see an example of how to fix a hollow mix with a dip in the mids.

[@eaglepass5170]

Great job!! Thank you!!

[@alp740]

high quality, as always!

[@sub-jec-tiv]

Excellent info, fantastic presentation, and a golden retriever puppy. 10/10

[@LloydMajor]

Thank you for the class!

[@stuartwrigglesworth9339]

Excellent

[@jangahlaroots]

Powerful information🎼

[@mustechnology]

Пример качественного профессионального онлайн обучения! Спасибо!

[@lun-xbeats7847]

give it up for Manchester by nature cool bro no 1 explained like you do

[@mark-ze4en]

I find it interesting that a video about recognizing and controlling frequency ranges ,,has subtitles provided.

[@_TheViewer_]

Always gotta take care of the MIDS!

[@pawel9450]

great. THX!!!!

[@PatrickObiang]

AMAZING!

[@maneli_yt5403]

Thank yo very much for this

[@richardervins]

Excellent! Now we need part 2. 😊 Instruments, mics, preamps, recording tools and of course recording rooms have their own characteristics and they all claim their frequency spectrum. When you try to let every instrument in the mix have it‘s own place in the mix you may kill the characteristic frequencies defining that instrument. Most of the time a guitar player can tell what type of pickup is in play. But sometimes that is not possible, because the signal has been altered too much. This applies to practically every instrument. If you invest in a Black Beauty and the engineer makes it sound like your standard Yamaha snare, as a drummer you‘ll want to kill him. 😁 So, maybe we‘ll even need more than one part in this series. 🎸🪕🎺🎻🎷🪗🎹🥁🪘🎤🎳

[@juanfelix4035]

This is awesome

[@topsymusic3733]

Great ! Thank You

[@cozzitarcisio4553]

This video is a gem

[@BetweenNowAndForeverOfficial]

Amazing video

[@bassimprovjams3772]

As a bass player Mids are so crucial for me, especially depending on the place I’m playing in the studio I can cut mids but live my kids are what make me cut through, and I’ll drop my bass

[@cbrooks0905]

Something interesting about global eq I learned recently while trying to mix an acoustic piano/vocal track that was recorded in subpar conditions. This pertains to something you mentioned in the video: Tonal Balance showed me that I had a pretty sizable bump right around 600 hz. So I went to the piano, first, because the vocals are number one, and I scooped a little out at 600. It left the piano sounding weak and wonky. Ok, so I tried to scoop a little out of the vocal, where I actually heard a little quackiness anyway, and although it seemed to create some separation, ultimately it was the same thing; it left the vocals weak and wonky. I was a bit discouraged until I had the bright idea to just scoop a little of that 600 out from the master/mix bus. That did the trick. Somehow more separation was there, and it just sounded a little better. What I learned was to try every avenue until you find what sounds best because the most "common sense" thing might not always be the best solution, and that sometimes the balance at individual levels might actually be fine, but the balance as a whole can be off. .

[@nikkiraves1493]

what a great voice, you could be reading an eye chart & i'd wanna listen!

[@woodward_alan]

He is such a great teacher! Would like to see these using meral guitars

[@George-xs9so]

Excellent video! I still try to mix without removing too much mids. Wish singers didn’t cup their $2,000 mics! Also wish bass players didn’t remove all mids and send only lows and slap highs!

[@-a-insan7283]

thanks

[@4dmind]

One of the things I see all the time in rock, hard rock and metal is too little low-low-mids - there is a tendency to have a scoop somewhere in the range of 300hz to 600hz, and while that dip is part of the genre of rock, I see it taken way too far. This takes a lot of smoothness, perceived loudness, wideness and intelligibility from the mix. This video has been phenomenal however - lots of review for me, some new ideas and reminders - review is reinforcement and I could benefit from hearing it at any time. This whole series is phenomenal. And finally, Tonal Balance by IZotope is a central piece in my workflow and templates, for mixing and mastering. I use iZotope's entire core line - Ozone in particular has become superb.

[@nelsonm_]

LOVE this video!!!! Thank u!!!! Please do a video on fletcher Munson curves

[@thaexception3406]

Comprehensive - niice

[@johnjhonny646]

good video

[@nailalzuhairi2690]

Thank you, as Always, great originized Contents

[@wethepeople6940]

Crank up the mids!!!!

[@robfrancisco8396]

Wish someday you can make a video about piano solo eq, it is so difficult

[@Yogeshbairaagi]

great

[@Bhodisatvas]

I have always felt this, mids are like the train tracks that the lows and highs ride on on our journey through the song.

[@waedi73]

From Bob Katz : The mids are the key to music ! True !

[@peterwilson2107]

Out of curiosity, did you fully roll anything off in the EQ? It seemed like there was no true high passing or low passing cuts above the low end . You did some low mid control for sure, but I was just curious about that.

[@joeking9760]

Mid freqs matter! ✊

[@BORDERLINEdelusionBANDmetall]

How do you balance the high end without messing up mids?

[@DenisVolga]

Questions/Problems. * Opening a project i got message that 970 files are missing. With Search i found some missing files, it became 270, and these can't be found anywhere (i've searched all folders /sub..sub_subs/ in my big folder dedicated only for StudioOne, all back up /mirror/ folders on 2 external drives). It is an old and very extensive 'precious to me' project, and redicilous thing is, for example there is a guitar solo, i splitted it at some points to get rid of some noise when i was not playing, now the solo is there only in pieces; all channels are ripped off here and there. Plus other issues. * Yes, as a rule i have a 25 minutes save; "use cached plug-in data on save"; "ask to copy external files when saving document" all on/checked. * I didn't change nor names, nor locations of working folders and files (though i have this project saved under different names as versions). * What i did is: i replayed some important stuff and added two old stereo tracks of this project/song to blend left-overs on channels with old stereo mixes (with mistakes, unbalanced, but it is better something than nothing, there is no way i'd re-do everything due to circumstances and basically it is impossible to replicate the guitar/drums/real percussions with their previous settings, especially if i don't have some guitar or pedal or a keyboard anymore). I alligned everything nicely (time, buses, volume,..), corrected, blended everything nicely, and put vocals at the right level (up and with different settings, that's why mainly came back to this project), clicked "save". Logically, the DAW asked me "do i want to add these files", obviously, i clicked "yes" and...1475 files for each added stereo track started copying. In panic i pressed "cancel", but it was too late. Where these files are from, why?! Why stereo tracks came with so many files? * But this is not all: i had plenty enough of memory space (workable 450-500GB free), now i am in the end of red zone with 78GB left. I went to media folder to look for duplicates: no duplicates, but there are about 6000 files there (and some of them are not from this project). Agh.. * But this is not all again: i started clearing up the space on pc and the more i delete or move ...the lesser space i get on computer...now it is 50GB. * To free space and continue working i thought that i would mirror the path, create the same folders in external drive, link the project to media files there, But i am afraid to make things worse in this and other projects (especially considering that freeing the space now works for me the opposite way). * What is wrong? How can i fix all that mess?

[@corderowashington7289]

Have you tried the CLA10s

[@seekingrafael5630]

I’m in a mid range crisis

[@LearnCompositionOnline]

Lol

[@gcruishank9663]

Yes mids are very important and I would say you need the best speakers you can afford that give you a very accurate representation without colouring the mids or any other frequencies. That's why I went for ATC's. Amazing midrange, but also great bass and highs.

[@deadgrafixcom]

Which ATC's you've got? They're pretty expensive, right?

[@leirumanuel]

My head explode with this video

[@B2svn465]

Where did you get the stylish absorders in the back?

[@ar_snl]

Wow I didn't even think this hard about midrange

[@technodust7833]

Is Yamaha hs-7 a good overall monitors for its price?

[@MadGearBand]

Getting a like for the pup

[@joksimovic5573]

❤

[@bigdap100]

This is the secret that JJP talked about years ago.✅✅✅

[@StratsRUs]

Learn by Doing

[@Absbcyj]

5:57 duck bro 😵‍💫

[@dtauscher93]

What do you mean by localization?

[@ManchesterMusic]

In this context, localization means the position of the audio elements within the sound field.

[@dtauscher93]

I see. Thank you

[@TheColorofQuantum]

Mixing is so damn harrrrrrrrddugggghhhhhhh

[@OliseForel]

RIP Libs 21:34

[@zoozeonja158]

😎👍😎👍😎👍😎👍😎👍

[@mohammadalif3650]

I can honestly say the mid-life crisis applies to mids and life.

[@necroticpoison]

600-2k is the core mid or the mid mids imo. It's best to divide the mids into 3. The mids are the most important part and the feel of 200-600, 600-2k, and 2-5/6k are all different.

[@arseniy]

I always thought 5k is highs start

[@hellcat5music]

So, I've got a question. Ozone has EQ. why would I want to use tonal balance on a master chain if ozone has eq already in it? I can see usefulness on like a mid+side pre-master mix track, but it would seem that adjusting instruments would be a better focus if your tonal balance is whacked. good tool for seeing that though, and being able to put a name to the frequencies you need to adjust.

[@otherhalf444]

Tbh I'm really shocked to see such broad cutting here! All the tuts and videos I've watched regarding EQ says that you're supposed to "boost broad and cut narrow!" At the same time, "trust your ears" has always been a big one too. I think the issue is worrying too much about technique instead of just listening. I'm way too concerned with doing things wrong lol

[@sonicjihad7]

Been having a mid life mix crisis over here

[@planetclay]

been watching videos all day here on YT and have to wonder why SO MUCH BASS on your voice?

[@LearnCompositionOnline]

Testosteron plugin

[@planetclay]

@@LearnCompositionOnline LOL

[@projectnemesi5950]

He says in the video he cant tell the difference between a man and a women's voice when mixing.

[@silkroad1201]

"You have NO bass in your mix bro!" - NS10s