Simple MIDRANGE Mixing Reference Trick

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Simple MIDRANGE Mixing Reference Trick
#midrange #mixing #mixingmusic
Ready to get your midrange under control?
The middle frequencies in your mix can get crowded, which does serious damage to the clarity of your mix.
To prevent this from happening to you, I’m going to share a few of my favorite tips for mixing midrange!
Have a watch, then leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
0:55 Why Midrange is important
2:55 Use an EQ plugin
3:30 Midrange defined
5:30 Using a reference mix
6:30 Use a multiband compressor
8:15 A few more tips
Related Videos:
3 WAYS to A/B REFERENCE Your Mix in CUBASE
• 3 WAYS to A/B REFERENC...
How I use the CONTROL ROOM in CUBASE PRO
• How I use the CONTROL ...
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Some of the gear and plugins I use in the studio:
►►WAVES PLUGINS DEALS with the following link: waves.alzt.net/c/2353421/2868...
CUBASE 12 sweetwater.sjv.io/XxQVe5
STEINBERG LICENCE KEY sweetwater.sjv.io/6bBJNN
DAW CONTROLLER Presonus Faderport 16: sweetwater.sjv.io/5bXnGn
STREAM DECK amzn.to/3OFVHaO
MONOGRAM CC monogramcc.com/shop/
SPEAKER CONTROLLER sweetwater.sjv.io/gbvG75
MICROPHONE sweetwater.sjv.io/b3WVKB
POP FILTER geni.us/8AnqW7A
STUDIO MONITORS:
KALI Audio IN-8 sweetwater.sjv.io/XxQVBM
HEADPHONES:
Verum1 V2 www.verum-audio.com/
Austrian Audio Hi-X65 sweetwater.sjv.io/vno7MN
Beyer Dynamics DT770 sweetwater.sjv.io/LPzQ6O
STUDIO MONITOR CONTROLLER sweetwater.sjv.io/gbvG75
VIDEO FILMING GEAR
Video gear shared in this video
CAMERA geni.us/My8h
CAMERA PRIME LENS geni.us/Pu7i
CAMERA MIC geni.us/zBCdmg
LAVALIER MIC geni.us/DdQTq
CAMERA LIGHT geni.us/2fruo
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[@j.stribling2565]

What an awesome tip. Thanks, Chris!

[@ImDino]

I just came here to say "yes", I do this too across the whole spectrum, it's really neat and helped train my ears.

[@LearnWithStephen]

that isolation isolation idea is so helpful. Thank you!

[@mixdownonline]

You're so welcome!

[@loccaleus1]

Thank you very much. This was very deep and helpful.

[@philfyphil]

Excellent advice, thanks a lot.

[@korkenknopfus]

Interesting technique, Chris. And simple to apply it. Thank you!

[@mixdownonline]

My pleasure, Jorge!

[@hanisiblini]

Another helpful demonstration from a great engineer like Chris. Thank you

[@mixdownonline]

You're welcome!

[@ross9868]

I find it helps me a lot when I do this for the low end, you can really pick out where the muddiness is coming from. I don't bother with the top end, I can't hear that any more :), that's for the young kids.

[@ross9868]

I tried using the speaker simulation on the IK Multimedia ARC 3 plugin, not really helpful for me.

[@mixdownonline]

Thanks for sharing, Ross!

[@ryun3307]

You inspired a lot of ideas 💡

[@ihsannisha8930]

Chris deserve that like button! very helpfull

[@3dogrecordingstudio628]

Love this!! Thank you!

[@mixdownonline]

You are so welcome!

[@traeza777]

What a beautiful song

[@mixbygygyondbeat1295]

Great tutorial like always. Like JJP would say, "midrange is life "

[@guajiraestudio3474]

Excellent advice! Thanks!

[@mixdownonline]

My pleasure!

[@JameelDLS]

Very interesting information. Thanks alot

[@mixdownonline]

My pleasure

[@thetithe466]

thank you for that! Very helpful !

[@mixdownonline]

Glad it was helpful!

[@paololuvie8755]

Wow Chris , Very useful tutorial, thanks 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️😘🎼

[@mixdownonline]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@lillehammerexperimental]

THANKS MAN!

[@paullennox2404]

This is a great tip - thanks! I have been doing this whilst mastering and comparing the mid range (reference tracks through the cue bus to control room compared to my stereo master chain sent to control room) and it should be noted that a low and high cut EQ as applied as an insert in control room (so post limiter on the stereo out bus) introduces clipping unless using the EQ in linear phase mode. It caught me out for a while and I thought there was a routing problem so hopefully this info helps some people thinking the same! Thanks for your great tutorials!

[@meetoo80]

I think this "Trick" only helps and mimics the auratone speakers, if your waterfall spectrum is tight in the midrange as tight as the aura tones it self there. If you have still frequencies in the midrange which need a long time to decay, then that will still result in a muddy tone.

[@LloydMajor]

Thanks for the class!

[@mixdownonline]

Of course!

[@sienastudio7044]

Thank you brother

[@filteredwaters9171]

This is a dynamite video! Thanks Chris!

[@mixdownonline]

Glad you liked it!

[@joelarmendariz8876]

good stuff subscribed

[@project1265ffo]

Fantastique !!!

[@mixdownonline]

Thanks! :-)

[@Bhavik_Patel.]

Thanks again bro Chris

[@mixdownonline]

Any time!

[@virendermalhotra7561]

Thanks sir 🙏

[@mixdownonline]

Most welcome

[@studioamirnaili]

Merci Chris

[@mixdownonline]

Bienvenue mon ami!

[@ramspencer5492]

I knew about this, but hadn't actually done it yet. Good tip. Going to try using this.

[@mixdownonline]

Glad I could help!

[@madmuso5]

Nice vid. In the last few years ive been doing this with bass gtr in rock and metal to help lock in the mid range of the bass gtr to the main gtrs. I duplicate the bass gtr to two tracks, one is strictly the low end, the other is the mids and up. I then add an eq to the mix buss and engage a high pass filter. Now i balance the mid range bass gtr channel to the gtrs (and rest of the track). Then remove the eq on the mix buss and feather in the low bass channel to the entire track. I can always hear the bass gtr now no matter what size system the song plays on.

[@plummetplum]

Nice tip, screen shot that one 👌

[@madmuso5]

@@plummetplum it wasn't until I watched a short clip of Andy Wallace that the penny dropped for me. He explained that he likes the attack/click of the kick drum to be at the same level and as up front as any other instruments that has critical information in the same area. After hearing that I was like of course! Yes Its one kick drum but it's made up of different sonic components which need to be balanced separately against other components of other instruments living in the same region. My mixes instantly improved after this realisation.

[@green8923]

I had been doing the EQ trick, but the soloing of the bands on the Pro-MB sound like a way better way to do it as far as getting a more accurate refference (since it isn't actually taking out the frequencies, just soloing in on what I want to hear)! Thank you!

[@robertmacbean8890]

Very useful, Chris, very useful, the beginners says!;)

[@mixdownonline]

Glad you think so! :-)

[@sterlingpowell9207]

Great video!! I do have a question about that Lynx Aurora in your rack. Is it FireWire? If so, what computer operating system are you using with that? I also have one that I run on an old MacBook Pro. But I’m very limited

[@AVportau]

good vid. might sound thin but that broadcast sound 200hz - 4khz is the bit everybody hears.... ghetto blasters with an input, bluetooth, or USB are handy. they are usually the first to sound like crap if the mix is out... sometimes it's also how the track is mastered. the glue in the mix that may just push out certain sounds whilst cooking the whole mix eg: tape burn or tube saturation, plus a multiband comp like you're using.

[@MakingMadBeats]

Hey Chris! Thx for this tip, since my mixes lack confidence in the midrange. Since I' m on Cubase Artist and it has no Control Room, I guess the same result can be achieved by placing the midrange EQ on the Master-Bus? Thx and greetings from Germany 😎

[@johnrasmussen4144]

Thank you sir! Do you lean on just what you hear when comparing with your reference track, or what you see on the EQ or multiband compressor, or both?

[@mixdownonline]

I mainly lean on what I hear in this case

[@skysavvydrone]

Hey Chris, great video as always. One thing that was perhaps a little elusive, however: After isolating the mid range using the techniques you demonstrated, what, in fact are you listening for? Obviously a mix that has severely chopped off both the high and low end is gonna sound, well, not-so-good, which I get is the point Given that, what are you trying to achieve when isolating the mid range? Is there something you're listening for in particular? What is driving the mix decisions in isolation? Thanks again!

[@phnxjordan]

Super late reply but what you’re listening for is any masking between any instruments or vocals. And then if you hear any you do what you have to do to get some clarity and distinction between them

[@mylesm7187]

Hi, is there any way to see the list of the full gear you are using

[@darrenbrook4641]

Chris - great video.. Would it not be better with the cuts in linear eq mode in Frequency2? Could the bands not being used be turned off?

[@mixdownonline]

Sound's more natural with the bands ON. Linear EQ for this is not very useful imo :-)

[@DanieleZandara]

I've been using the solo tricks on multiband compressor very often. Sometimes to make my ear rest a bit, I also produce my track soloing the mid range. I didn't get why you haven't used the cubase stock multiband compressor. It works perfectly for the purpose.

[@mixdownonline]

The MBC in Cubase works well, but you can't change the band slope at the crossover points

[@Byron101_]

@@mixdownonline : for this task Cubase MBC works also very good. original NS10 and Aurantones are not linear in the midrange, so this EQ technique is only approximately an additional control only.

[@bigboss-qv7pe]

Why do you produce with midrange only?

[@vainsacrosanct2014]

Hey Chris and thanks for sharing this with us. It's actually a good tip to compare your mix with a reference track. I use another brand of plug-ins to do the same what you do only with the software I use I am able to import a reference track directly into the eq plug-in which is super handy. It really helps you getting along. Thanks again and cheers!

[@mixdownonline]

Yes, they're some good plugins for that purpose out there. Which one do you work with?

[@vainsacrosanct2014]

@@mixdownonline I use Izotope 9. Very cool features. Especially the tone balance plug-in. That really helped me a lot. Fabfilter's also very, very good.

[@johnwalter6410]

Hello Chris

[@ElmerLa]

I have Cubase Pro and I would LOVE to use Control Room but Cubase never remembers my interface or my routing… after a reboot - gone. Even saving a preset doesn’t work… it might work once or twice but eventually the preset seems to get wiped and selecting it changes nothing. I’ve seen this issue pop up in many forums and nobody seems to be able to solve it :/

[@MarcelloDiLorenzo]

I’m confused: Puig said the midrange is 600-3,500 hertz, not 250-4,000 hertz! Furthermore: with what criterion should I choose the curve? Why 24 dB?

[@mixdownonline]

I refer to the whole mid-range that includes Low mids, mids, high mids. Puig probably refers to what he considers the mids. There's no specific reason why 24db/oct, lower db/oct will give you a smoother cut transition

[@Mandy-Lane]

what about putting a dynamic plugin on the master buss and solo the lows, mids and highs frequencies? i do this sometimes to get it balanced. thanks for the tips..

[@Ninjametal]

7:15

[@mixdownonline]

It's right there in the video...Check @Guitar Ninja's link :-)

[@alainpatry]

Chris, is there a way to change the label of the C1 button in the control room to say something like "Reference"?

[@mixdownonline]

Hey Alain! As far as I know, you can't

[@unstopology]

I mix primarily on my earbuds that came with my phone. I'm getting much better mixes now. I have studio headphones and monitors but they don't give me a good representation of what people will hear from their devices.

[@3dogrecordingstudio628]

I'm gonna ask a question inside MCC........ thanks Chris!

[@mixdownonline]

Excellent :-)

[@simclimie6045]

👍

[@user-2Hteyasizyc]

How sufficient is this trick using the promb opposed to the actual auratone? Is it a lot harder to dial in with this trick? I ask because, just because i hear the mids soloed doesnt mean i can tell if the guitar or the bass has which frequencies of mids, where i assume the auratone is more full and able to pick it out better. Im not used to mixing in only band specific ranges, thats why i ask about the auratone. What do you prefer?

[@mixdownonline]

That's a trick if you don't have Auratone type speakers, but if you do, I prefer Auratones

[@Byron101_]

hint: for this task Cubase MBC works also very good. original NS10 and Aurantones are NOT linear in the midrange, so this EQ/MBC technique is only approximately an additional control only...

[@watchaddicts1213]

Chris, off topic, but...I know YOU [being Mr. Cubase] will know (maybe there's a video you've done): Me...MAC Mojave, 32GB RAM, Cubase 11 Pro. On any given day, say, I have a couple of instrument tracks (soft synths) loaded and as I play on 1 of the tracks, the great sound crackles up and I get a dropout. After reading something/somewhere and proceeded to TURN OFF "Activate Multi Processing," which was ON as I encountered it. I 'think' the problem MAY have gone away (have to test it more yet) but-- DID I MESS UP by turning off A.M.P ?? My processor: 3.2GH Core i5. Thanks Chris. PS. I have a bad habit of having 30 websites open in the background in Safari--not playing videos or anything...just open. Perhaps THAT is a big drag on processor.

[@kingslavd661]

Thanks for the video but what do you do after adding this? Do you then go eq each individual channel until it sounds right in your master that has only midrange turned on?

[@Tekkerue]

Yes, that is exactly right. What I've been doing is adding a completely different EQ plugin that I'm not using anywhere else in the project to make adjustments while listening to only the mid range, because in Reaper I can bypass every instance of a specific plugin at once. This way I can bypass every EQ plugin that I used while only listening in to the mid range and I can toggle between what I had before and after to hear the changes in the full mix.

[@kingslavd661]

@@Tekkerue thanks

[@royalranting119]

It really depends on the Genre. Especially when you do music like Trap Beats which is very reliant on Sub Bass and Clear Highs the midrange thing has less priority. Plus people mainly listen to music on headphones/earplugs where the whole frequency spectrum is present.

[@mixdownonline]

I've been mixing professionally for more than 20 years, and getting the midrange right does not depend on the Genre. Get the Midrange right, and your sub bass and top end will mix itself way easier. It's like the 80/20 rule ;-)

[@ramspencer5492]

It really doesn't depend on the genre. How the low-end is styled and mixed does... But you need to bail the mid range first. The bass and kick still need to be mixed in proportion with your lead voicing instruments or vocals. Your hand still needs to also be in balance there..... And not cause eardrum bleed. It all starts with the mid-range.

[@rome8180]

I feel like it makes sense to go a bit higher than 4k.

[@Abear138]

Anyone else hearing that hook in their head like 🎶Mid Range, Mid Range🎶 after watching this, or is it just me?

[@HamzaSamaraMusic]

Can you download a full song video from 0

[@pattanrecords]

Give me the back ground sound it's nice 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@themiwsound6321]

dj-eq in cubase do the same thing that pro-mb in this video. But dj-eq is simpler, it has only 3 buttons

[@mixdownonline]

Good alternative, thanks!

[@aytuggumusoglu]

Abi are you Turkish your accent sounds American im confused. Thank you for the tips by the way.

[@ankanmunakokkeli9255]

I'm Negan

[@johncostigan6160]

If you don't think mid-range control is important, take a look at the holes in the sides of your head and tell me the're not mid-range survival sensors!

[@mixdownonline]

😂😂😂

[@mikesparks3398]

I was looking for a video that shows more of what to do to fix your midrange. This video basically just shows where the midrange is…not how to fix anything.

[@mikesparks3398]

So it’s not really a midrange trick. More of just isolated midrange

[@golden02122]

What about low mid high frequency buss fode vocals and stereo imaging for how implemented. Its a must and none of you show the reality of this situation which is how real engineers mix why isnt this been shown it must me you dont wnat to or dont know how to facts why isnt this shown to the public 🤔 it taught in music schools you have all the gear you want there no other way. Talk about this please 🙏