Mixing Technique that Changed the Game for Me

[@AudioHaze]

Here's the track if you're interested :) open.spotify.com/track/2rUXeWBOl0zzE4uchBvEvD?si=43e95d7eff5b4f83

[@lossie8086]

would love to be able to click on it, but apparently KZbin shorts has a thing against links now

[@foodwav]

Please please please name the song I want to save it

[@Motiveinc22]

​@@foodwav"Never There" by Fair View Trial

[@AMTunLimited]

My favorite mix glue trick is that I almost always have a "room verb" bus that I send almost everything to. Really short tail, literally sounds like you were in the room, almost emulates mic bleed. It's a really subtle thing that feels like a glues a mix together

[@Ramen_Sensei]

Even drums? What about the low end?

[@AMTunLimited]

@@Ramen_Sensei most room verbs have a bit of a low and high pass, so bass not so much normally, but drums are usually the loudest. Of course, it's still VERY subtle. It's one of those things where you don't really notice it if you turn it off, but when you turn it on it just kind of lifts the whole mix.

[@Ramen_Sensei]

@@AMTunLimited I gotcha! Thank you! I shall try it out!

[@marrowsband]

@@Ramen_Senseiwhen I do this, I send each piece of the kit to the verb so I can control how much of each piece is getting into the room. So my kick send level is pretty low so it doesn’t eat up the space. Same with bass. I try to balance the mix on the room send to sound like there’s a band in a room and you are kind of listening from behind a door, if that makes sense.

[@Ramen_Sensei]

@@marrowsband Awesome possum! Thank you!

[@WrvrUgoThrUR]

Mixing is THE MOST frustrating part of being an independent hobbyist music maker.

[@CharlieBravo887]

Amen. Your parts can sound awesome, but if you don't have the additional skill of mixing, you can't really show people what you want to show them!

[@verbals5]

Realest comment of the decade.

[@phil1353]

Tried this and absolutely CHANGED MY MIXES!!! This was what I’ve been looking for for 6 years! Thank u so much!

[@emreuludogann]

are you doing only mid-level compression or stereo?

[@iemon7722]

Beautiful song bro!

[@Daniel1987H]

Tried it and was instantly amazed. Also it helps using reaper if you don't have a dual mono 1176, because you can just route individual channels to two instances.

[@Bedroomstew]

The extra clarity and width 🤙🏼

[@renepetershagencomposer]

I use this Andrew Scheps Rear Bus Technique for years on every Mix

[@tontondm1419]

What is that ?

[@deswestens]

I've never seen it explained more quickly and succinctly than this, wow

[@michaelvenezia9673]

Great Crisp polished dreamy sound

[@oscaralonsorojas]

Great technique from Andrew Scheps ❤ I love doing this with the API 2500 instead of 1176. That way you can unlink the L/R channels, so you can glue your instruments but also preserve the stereo feeling by processing both channels separately, so basically you are doing parallel compression and creating side information at the same time (:

[@bolillo5013]

It really widens things out, I think I'll try this.

[@Dane_Riazer]

Fills in those spots for sure!!!🙌🏾 Ahhh I wish you had a Hardware Mixbus also, the depth it creates (especially on the reverb)

[@Terminalbeats]

Cool idea and beautiful song!

[@jamesjames77777]

Because of you, I know can’t live without a rear bus. Thank you!!! 🙏

[@fizzjuty5798]

Song is beautiful

[@Cam-on2jw]

This is genius woah. Super useful, thank you !!!

[@YokuStudio]

i use that technique since 5 years ago, and also left ready my mixdown bus, and it's having like 80% of mix... Done!,

[@ansmfella]

That's fantastically fun. Great tip. Apreeeeesh. Love your work.

[@iambenga6231]

Agreed! I use tube or Fairchild.

[@HeDrewNoyes]

Sweet. Saved to playlist 👌🏼

[@joaquimley]

Great short thanks for the content

[@whatever5922]

You’re so talented, wish I could take some lessons from you

[@JargBeatzz]

+1 bro hope you'll continue the great content !

[@AdemVessell]

Dope. Thank you

[@chunkycheesemonkey99]

Nice sundaras, i had those back in the day. Solid set

[@anjgulick6430]

Great trick for gluing high gain and drums, and sub-duing the low end. Toss a bit of parallel comp then send it to a master bus for processing. Love it.

[@anjgulick6430]

I also clap out at -10 to 12 db depending.

[@creaturecomfort5545]

Andrew Scheps!

[@thePXRTY]

Im def trying this out 👀👀

[@Rhuggins]

Essentially this is just parallel compression on the instrument buss. An 1176 isnt nessicarily mandatory. Andrew himself would change compressors often. One could also use multiband just as well.

[@JohnMichaelFord]

Sending more vocal to the rear bus is great way to get all other instruments to duck as the uncompressed vocal gets a little more separation and space to shine. Set the levels going into the rear bus first and mix into it.

[@TheOtherAcapellas]

I didn’t know there was a name for this but I do this with the SSL 6 hardware mixer where I send instruments to cue 1 and then press the cue 1 button on the master out to mix cue 1 with the full mix

[@xrabbz2010]

This is the technique that gave my mixes the last t percent they were missing, that amd tape machines

[@NRG2]

Wow!! Thank you!!

[@danielsgrunge]

Wow, just wow

[@DylanWOWilliams]

Valuable.

[@phil1353]

Thanks buddy!

[@helieb7140]

Super interesting technique, can definitely see what it would bring. I'm just wondering, do you also send the effect busses into it? Like a vocal reverb bus? Or just the instrument tracks?

[@gordontubbs]

Bussing in general is the #1 pro mixing technique. If you're just mixing every track and hoping it'll all sound nice in the end... that CAN work, but bussing will take it to another level.

[@adamrozek5782]

Bussing is mainly a technique to glue loops after u altered and mixed them already. (Talking about chords or other patterns u create for your song) Atleast for me it makes low sense to bus different percussions or other things that need EQ and other effects that can't be applied on all together

[@lalocura1828]

One thing too is that on that rear bus aux whatever is being pushed first on the threshold say a kick drum. That kick drum will drive the rhythm of the compressor. But if you send more of the vocals into it then the vocals will drive the compression. Find a nice groove and drive into the compressor having certain elements louder than others then that'll help get an overall blend.

[@shabberto]

Yasssss this is sick

[@MOLTEN_IMP]

Been experimenting with something similar

[@rhn4710]

so a parallel compression bus on anything non rhythmic. Good stuff. Although I'd rather have control over the single groups, as I personally see it it's a bandaid for something you can do with more precision. It surely does have its own sound and vibe though. Ever tried sidechaining your bus with the main percussive elements (kick, snares, highpassed toms)?

[@JRJMC]

Great sounding mix and song! I'm not sure how to word this question. The rear bus runs parallel with the regular mix of the instruments and vocals correct? So percussion is left on it's own in a dynamic mix and everything else has both a compressed bus mix (rear bus) and a dynamic mix that goes straight to the master. How prominent is the rear bus in the overall mix typically?

[@AudioHaze]

Great question! In my mixes yes percussion does not get sent to the rear bus, although I do have a few parallel sends that compress the kick and snare, and sometimes a distress or for the whole kit to add energy. Answering how much the rear bus is sent to the mix bus kinda of depends on the vibe you want! Pop is often more compressed than other genres like jazz or indie, so I may send more of that signal on a pop track :)

[@Ilove1073s]

I saw a great interview of Andrew scheps, he says that nowadays he uses less and less parallel compression, he has a vca to controll every parallel channel and it sits around -20, very low, it's really for color and he seems to really not overthink it

[@wesleywild-s9x]

Use 2 mono compressors and treat the left and the right slightly different

[@gabrielmead0ws]

How much of the rear bus typically makes it in? I know you'd have to just listen to get the levels in the sweet spot on a song by song basis, but is there a general spot that the gain on those buses tends to sit at?

[@danielkane5316]

No bragging here, just surprised. This makes so much sense that I assumed this was basic stuff. I’ve been doing this for years. I send it (mix minus percussion) to a stereo group which has a Tegeler Creme and an SSL Fusion on the inserts. Works very well indeed.

[@Fossiil-Records]

It's called parallel compression.

[@thierry.lavallee]

The you add a copy of the main vocal track again on top to bring it up to the front.

[@josealejandrogarciarojas1115]

Freaking good tippp

[@vukan.mp3]

you can also just put OTT on the master but yea this works too i guess

[@BrunoVitorelli]

Whats is Ott bruv ?

[@vukan.mp3]

@@BrunoVitorelli over the top. its a compressor plugin that defaults to the most compressed sound ever, which is why people joke abt it. it can actually sound nice if u use it at like 5-10% wet

[@BrunoVitorelli]

@@vukan.mp3 cheers bruv ! appreciate you

[@robertsimpson5801]

Credit: Andrew Scheps

[@shabberto]

OMG this advice legit was the secret key to unlocking the potential of this absolute masterpiece I'm currently cooking and I'm so so so excited by the results. Its sounds so full and bold and heavenly and consistent. Couldn't thank you enough for sharing this advice! Xxx

[@zechpatrick]

TBH i thought this is another BlaBla Tipp but it Sounds actually really good…! Thanks man👍🏼

[@adriatic.vineyards]

sick!

[@panema0]

is this inspired by radiohead? lmao

[@kev1257ful]

i thought that literally a second after hearing the song lmfao

[@panema0]

@@kev1257ful loll ngl it's so good

[@_NEMES1S]

Yup! Go watch his video on the creation of this track. He talks about his inspirations near the beginning

[@panema0]

@@_NEMES1S it actually was?!?! i'm proud i caught that out, lmao

[@WillyJunior]

Can we all just quit laughing our asses off please

[@elya5593]

The song is great. Band name? 🎉

[@AudioHaze]

It’s my song actually! Coming out soon :)

[@supercompooper]

Don't run in fear! Fun from rear!

[@agondistortion]

Did you mix this on headphones

[@lucawch]

could you make a tutorial on how to do this exactly in ableton live? I would highly appreciate that

[@AudioHaze]

Check out my weird mixing tips video from December 😁

[@crispy_vinyl]

The easiest way is to add a return track and send your vox and instruments there.

[@atgred]

Andrew Scheps trick.

[@gigoe]

sick!!!!🫶

[@camerontaylor7561]

Do you do this aswell as a 2bus comp?

[@carlfolcojr.3497]

How about doing this using analog equipment

[@samchoate1719]

The diagram was in series but it seemed like the compression was in parallel?

[@hurricanejesse]

I can't hear the difference, even not on my yamaha speakers. What does "glueing together" mean in this context?

[@foljs5858]

when he adds it back in the difference is huge...

[@WeedGaara420]

Great camera comp, doesn't look like a shitty indie film trying to be professional or gurus trying to sell you shit it looks authentically good

[@demseyemson9831]

One question I have about this, do you send to the aux using pre or post fader sends?

[@professorxt]

What's your software bro

[@Binkley447]

Are you sending equal levels of all instruments to the parallel bus? If not, what’s your philosophy for deciding on levels?

[@AudioHaze]

I generally send around -10 to -5 from each instrument unless I want a more prominent instrument, then I’ll send more :)

[@BoneLocker]

​@@AudioHazeI guess you could choose post fader if you wanted it to follow volume changes?

[@jakeyboy2929]

Is there a longer video on this? What kind of settings on 1176?

[@JohnLuria]

Do you also route the fx channels to the rear bus?

[@desktorp]

instructions unclear drenched entire mix in 100% wet heavy reverb wiener stuck in ceiling fan

[@Robbie_Lyons]

do you put the bass in that bus too or leave it out?

[@itaibarak2526]

So the rear busis just parallel compression right?

[@TheMAU5SoundsLikThis]

The only issue I have with these a/b comparisons is there is a clear db difference between the a and b. If they were the same volume I would be able to truly hear the difference.

[@wesleywild-s9x]

It's in my template

[@mauriciochavez3564]

good drum sound overall, a tutorial maybe?

[@AudioHaze]

On the way 🫡

[@JazzyFizzleDrummers]

With rear bus off were you gain matched?

[@lovannie]

Really nice song though !

[@TheGilTV]

would you do this as the first step of the mix or after you've already done what you needed to do to the individual tracks?

[@AudioHaze]

I usually do this after the rest of the tracks are sitting where I want them :)

[@rmmancham9137]

😮

[@Ric0x_xDolor]

Did you ad an eq and roll off all the high end as well? Or is it just turned down significantly?

[@tubeo94]

Damn it’s a big difference

[@thomasfoster4091]

You have much better ears than I do.

[@tubeo94]

@@thomasfoster4091there is a jump in the voice volume when he turn on and off.

[@TAP7a]

Isn’t that called New York compression? Or am I misremembering?

[@andrewkigen]

Is the track louder or am I just perceiving that?

[@whatever5922]

What software do you use?

[@fuzzjohn]

He's using Ableton Live.

[@captainiglo5179]

Why is it parallel

[@mrsullyrox]

Worked great for me. Check out my Zepplin cover on youtube, heartbreaker I used a separate drums track from Yoyoka and this cleared it right up

[@shaferproducergod]

You can also use waves mv2 directly on the master and it has the same parallel compression effect

[@briancase6180]

Yes, 1176 can be a compressor, but it's essentially a limiter. That's why you like it for this purpose.

[@richardvxa]

Sounds like upwards compression

[@snarf1504]

You look like Tus from Prince of Persia, if he was an audio nerd.

[@Tom-hk6ub]

Everything has such a narrow dynamic range that it hardly makes any difference anyway.

[@walktheplanck7490]

I'm sorry but are you mixing for +/-??

[@Tallstreehouse]

I think it's worth noting that this has to be done with a stereo track. Mono will cause weird phasing and if you don't know the difference you will be very confused as to why this trick isn't working. That being said, my template has 3 master comps on seperate return tracks that I blend to taste. Great stuff, makes a huge difference to the end product.

[@oservoasafe]

i think i need college, didn't notice any difference

[@Lyy0n]

It's hard to notice difference through KZbin videos, the audio just won't be as good as if you were actually doing it.

[@distortingjack]

If your compressor has a dry/wet knob (or even better, separate volume controls for dry and wet) then you don't need to have the compressor as a send, but rather as a main instrument buss or submix. Using submixes for everything is definitely a good way to foster sonic consistency - you just need to manage the gain staging a bit more carefully

[@macaroon147]

Mixing don't really matter though

[@11Stormtrooper]

That did exactly nothing 😶

[@wyansas]

I can't hear a difference