Top 3 Metal Mixing MISTAKES That Keep Your Mixes Sounding Amateur

☛ Grab your FREE mixing cheatsheet and get on my list for the best audio training on the web: mixcheatsheet.com
What are the top 3 metal mixing mistakes that could be keeping your mixes from sounding pro?
These are mistakes that I made for years in my studio...
But once I figured these 3 things out, my mixes went from demo-quality to label-ready very quickly.
Here are the top 3 mixing mistakes for rock and metal, and how to fix them fast!

[@adrianamorphous]

1. Being too Shy 2. Not Using Enough Compression 3. No Power in the Low Mids 4. Being Me

[@4dmind]

Yes, indeed. Not using enough compression - that's one that plagued me for a while. Almost as bad as using too much compression.

[@TachyBunker]

ayy thanks

[@rodneyc3202]

@@4dmind haha played myself with over compression too lol

[@4dmind]

Tip: You can put an EQ on your mix bus with a low pass and a high pass to simulate lower FI monitors. Just remember not to print the plugin.

[@junkawakami3193]

cubase and reaper has a monitoring fx stage so you can put them without them also being printed

[@lordberly]

@@junkawakami3193 how about Studio one?

[@shavnore]

Or you can take a soundbar or mono JBL bluetooth speaker and route an output to it for reference. You will hear things stick out on those speakers you didn't hear in HIFI.

[@spammburgers78]

Get an Avantone Mixcube and do some of your mixing through that in mono (even 80% of your mixing). You won't regret it.

[@aciprashau]

what do you guys mean by printing plugin? wtf

[@shibbstertweets3732]

Being too shy about EQing and Compression was holding me back at first as well until I tried a full parametric EQ without spectrum display for the first time. "Mix with your ears instead of your eyes" is one of the biggest tips you gave in your series in my opinion. The lack of optical response on the screen really made me get the results I wanted and now I use parametric EQs at least 70% of the time. (The other 30% are basically scenarios where seeing the spectrum helps...) ...same goes for compression now: I always turn the GR meter off, when I'm looking for character and sound rather than controlling the dynamics. Thanks for those hints Jordan! I love how you demystify mixing approaches - cause in the end, the sound matters. No one is judging you about that 8dB boost at 800Hz if it sounds cool.

[@AudioBoi1]

yeah, turning off frequency analysers definitely helps to overcome the shy-ness in mixing. Otherwise your eyes always tell you that you are doing too much 🤠

[@brandonpratt9353]

Your videos are always so incredibly useful, the info you share is awesome! Thank you! I love your channel! 😎🤘🏻

[@podespault]

One of the few guys online that actually has amazing mixes consistently. You should have millions of subs! Wish you had more music genres on the channel but hey... you keep your no bullshit approach and we'll keep listening. I used to scoop so much low mids and wondered why my mixes sounded weak... DUH! Thanks a lot Jordan :)

[@lydfar2392]

True... 90% of the mixing and music, writing guys, with thousands of subscribers on KZbin, is mostly just entertainment... 😒

[@AlejandroRamos-dz5xb]

The third mistake is my signature mistake, so I tried removing the scoop. You are genious. Thank you.

[@gulagwarlord]

When I first started scooping my low mids on solo in my tracks years ago, I thought I figured it all out haha. It sounded great, so hyped lol.

[@sammytheman8994]

Your time and effort put into these videos are really appreciated by many my man! Thank you!

[@Lybramusic]

you helped me A LOT with this video man ! straight to the point, honest, fitting for todays kind of digital mixing and you count up almost every issue i'm struggling with. amazing. Thank you

[@SpencerMaxfield]

I’ve got the low mids problem right now and it’s something I’m actively working on. Thanks for calling it out and providing some tips! It’s good to know I’m not alone in struggling with the low mids.

[@TheMaGotT]

This is seriously the best mixing channel on KZbin. Thanks so much for all your vids, they're amazing

[@brenthernandez2186]

Your videos are soo helpful! I’m subscribed and I really love your work on albums like Telos. Please keep up the work!

[@hummarstraful]

An idea I got from Dave Pensado: If your low end is too thick and muddy, try a very tight Q cut at 220HZ on the master bus. This can work great sometimes.

[@FrightboxRecording]

It's true...works like a charm sometimes.

[@theopinson3851]

Yeah, it’s honestly been a godsend for some of my mixes. I’m surprised he argued against it. Perhaps the mistake is in having too high a Q where you’re just cutting the whole band whereas something more surgical is needed?

[@ChernobogStudio]

Cool info! Loved the info on the low mids. Reaffirms what I've been thinking about my own mixes. Great video!!

[@boldbearStudios]

Absolutely useful information, straight to the point and so true! As ever, thanks a lot Jordan!

[@ariamehr3339]

the very other important thing is know the Metal genres , talk to the bands and try to understand their music.nobody need Djent guitars or clean punchy sample drums for Black metal or crazy high end guitars for Death metal or use very high gain powerful guitars for power metal bands... etc ! Educate yourself in music and every genre you working.even try to write some 1 or 2 minute songs in that genre then mix your own songs.and no need to say if you know how to play an instrument it help you in a crazy way to mix that specific instrument.specially with drums just watching how drummers play drum can help you understand almost everything about mixing Drum.just prepare yourself mentally before you start the mix.

[@yeahuri4724]

Well said, especially during everyone consider djent is the only metal genre in 2018. Sometimes I'm lost with these tips KZbinrs are giving, cause the sound I'm looking for is not on par with their ideas. I grow up listening to 2000s melodic death metal, no one seems to talk about these sub-genres in every gear review videos or anything. Thanks for voiced out for us. Sorry for my grammar mistakes.

[@ariamehr3339]

​@@yeahuri4724 they don't talk about Metal because they are Bunch of fucking ignorant morons who don't know shit about Metal and they just want to produce it ! don't listen to them , just find a decent guitar tone for your Riffs that can explain your feelings in the best possible way.

[@koreeallen]

Regarding Low-Mid Control, Another useful trick that works for me is using a multiband compressor plugin. Bypassing the low, Mid-High and High bands and using the compression of only the Low-Mid band. Set a comfortable threshold and this much does wonders on my Heavy Guitar bus. (my lead guitars typically get a separate bus with different dynamic controls) I also do 80% of my mixing on $50 Logitech computer speaker system. (I know, it sounds amateur) But like he said in this video, Translation is tough to get a handle on. I also use $400 JBL Studio Monitors as well. (bad thing is, EVERYTHING sounds huge coming out of these) I come from the days of burning your tracks to CDs and testing your mix in the car. I found it much easier to simply switch outputs from huge speakers to common speakers. Hope this helps somebody :)

[@offtherealm5438]

It's amazing how much bullshit I fell for in the past....which castrated my mixes :-(. A lot of tips I fell for, I believe was meant to be for other, non heavy genres. It's amazing how we come full circle...to read, and learn everything we can about recording and mixing....before you know it, you realize you have to unlearn all the bullshit you were fed. Yeah, I was cutting 400Hz on everything, cause I was told this is where the boxiness comes from. Graham?

[@offtherealm5438]

@Boss Man Amen to that bro!

[@lastcall9998]

I hope you realize is not only in Mixing stuff we have had bullshit fed to us, but in "all" aspects of life. Cheers.

[@offtherealm5438]

@@lastcall9998 yeppers

[@offtherealm5438]

@DELORM Yeah, what to hell do you know? Troll.

[@robertmeyer8735]

Great, great advice in every video. Your experience is priceless my friend and for sharing it we all thank you!!!

[@JonWhiteCreatives]

Your tips have really helped me get my guitars more up front in my mixes without destroying the balance of the overall mix. Thanks!

[@Magodafloresta]

Awesome! I struggle with the exact problems you said, and this was very useful, specially the low-mids thing! Thank you very much!

[@natancopeincraft]

You know what I learned after years of listening to what other producers we're telling me what to do, just make it sound as best as you possibly can, and listen to your mix on about 3 different speakers...if it sounds good or descent on all of those speakers, including headphones, then it is probably more than likely going to sound alright everywhere else. I drove myself absolutely nuts trying to make my mixes sound like what I thought everyone else's mixes sound like...make your mixes your own. So what if it doesn't sound like everything else and it sounds a little bit too much or too little of something. Give it your own sound...screw how everyone else sounds. The most important things to remember is to add dynamic compression and EQ, make sure to pan what needs panned, get your velocities right in the mix, and make sure that you are not going over 0 db and clipping...those are my most important things in producing to remember every time...

[@jhpv89]

highlight of my youtube day once again, getting a notification of a new jordan video 😁

[@phadrus]

The low mids tip makes so much sense it’s painful.

[@joseeduardoparra2812]

Awesome channel, I've been learning a Lot in the past dew days

[@johnpatitucci7919]

I always had an issue with gain staging. Once I got that down it sounded much better. I listened to a mix I did 9 months ago, then compared it to something last week. WAY better!

[@boivelas745]

John Patitucci I felt this. Once I learned gain staging my beats became amazing and I deleted all the old ones. Now I’m re amping my guitar and recording metal!

[@hiiambarney4489]

I find gain staging extremely ambiguous in my daw ( FL STUDIO ) . I had 0 problems doing it on the NEVE console and inside Pro Tools when I worked in a Studio. I just dunno what the frick I'm looking at.

[@selimyenahc3184]

@@hiiambarney4489 supposedly -18 dB is the sweet spot for plugins

[@4dmind]

Yes, I would call the low mids the "roar". There is a lot of juice, especially in guitars, and depending on the key, the tempo and the type of riff articulation that you can get from that area. But yes, like so many others, I had to learn this the hard way. There's just too many people running around saying that 400hz is a terrible frequency. No frequency is bad inherently.

[@spammburgers78]

This.

[@thethinkingmindz]

Wow, cutting thru information. The first guy to break into these new arenas; I'm glad you did. Thanks a whole lot. What's your recommendation on mixing drum??? Thanks again.

[@MrMllx]

Great tips! I’ve been scooping those low miss, especially since I got my new sub speaker

[@mrbungle3310]

Simple yet effective tips,some of us rly want to cut the cut frequencies and we complain because we have crappy mixes,and when im doing a more agressive honest mix it sounds better

[@mrjake123774]

Very informative. Thank you for all your videos

[@borndrumming1972]

Superb advise.Thanks Jordan!

[@sammytheman8994]

Thanks a lot for your videos man! Your effort in time put into these are appreciated by many! One thing about compression. Sometimes I feel after I add compression on my master fader (SSL Bus Comp), the mix just seems to lose dynamics. Is this too much compression or an adjustment needed in the mix? Thanks!

[@MCMusic.Studio]

Thanks again for your tips, your mistake video have been eye opening for me 😊

[@ferdax2]

Thanks for your great advice! N°2 and N°3 really helped !

[@boobo3763]

Very pertinent to me right now -Especially number 3. Huge> Thanks!!

[@thedormantmonkey]

Great video! Very helpful!

[@owlmuso]

All three points are spot on. But especially point 3. It's taken me years to realize that my mixes sounded hollow because I scooped out the low mids

[@tjzmg]

This advice just made major gains in my metal mixes. Thanks HMS

[@MonologyProject]

Thanks a lot this is confirming a lot of my thoughts!! really helps my perspective.

[@adrianbila8906]

great video! thanks for the tips!

[@FateofTheFallenOFCL]

For my snares in compressor I use a medium attack fast/medium release getting about almost 10 DB gain reduction, I know a lot of people don’t do that but personally I LOVE the punch the snare gives from that.

[@deltavistastudio124]

Nice lighting dude! :)

[@RecordingStudio9]

Though I'm not subscribed, your videos keep popping up on suggestions. Though I had a disagreement with one of your videos on Gain Staging Truth, I totally agree with these 3 misconceptions you bring out. There is a reason why EQs have up +-24db, so you can use them. Same with compression. Back in the Cassette days, 250hz-350hz was your make or break frequency and you would never cut it, but manage it to get the most power from your mix. I see these days so many people keep cutting those frequencies rather than managing them. Well said.

[@JayKayProductions]

Yup - let's try the "don't scoop the mids on everything". Sounds like really legit advice. Thanks!

[@Quant-Beat]

The low-mid, a lot what you describe there is bass frequencies (80-250 hz), which is important for the fullness and power. Cutting this area can make the mix sounding like it “hangs in the air”, despite that the sub is rich.

[@SFtheWolf]

for years I've been making eq and compression moves too subtle for me to really hear, because I was taught any more than that was itself amateurish. I appreciate being given permission to experiment properly.

[@test414eff2]

I tend to have the opposite problem. I use cheap "mixing" headphones to mix and I'll give the low mids a bit of boost, and then I'll listen on speakers and it'll sound super muddy. Either way, this helped me to realize what specific area I need to focus on. Thanks for the consistently great content!

[@rakibmahmudovee5544]

"Never be shy with EQ, that's what its here for" - Chris Lord Alge

[@ybz.1417]

that 3rd point is golden, as always, thank you

[@4dmind]

Two things - there are these 2 things that got said years back that screwed a lot of people, including myself: 1. 400Hz (or so) should always be cut because it's boxy garbage. WRONG. 2. Never compress a distorted guitar. WRONG. Those two suppositions made by people I knew, or books, or videos literally cost me thousands of hours of learning time. But ultimately this was good, because now I know WHY they are wrong, and HOW they are wrong. The low-mids are important. VERY important, especially in the heavy genre. A great example of an album that honors the low mids is the album "II" by Last In Line. Great work there - Vivian's ENGL is just roaring around 500hz.

[@casualeye1633]

Good tips. Thanks

[@anthonydahl5454]

Nice Mandroid echostar in the back!! :D Love that band! Nice vid also!

[@prismatic6783]

What a good guy. Thanks for making this vid!

[@steveoooooo09]

Dude, nice choice of background music. Mandroid EchoStar is awesome.

[@resington]

Great advice man. Having cleaner tidy metal mixes is getting boring for sure. A bit of mess is best!

[@KiriakosGP]

Thanks for the video man!

[@iamstillcameron]

I make Hip Hop music, but I think that a lot of these tips can really help with my mixes. I'm struggling to get my vocals sounding steady and tight with the mix, often choosing to turn my bass down and remove a lot of frequencies that I'm not sure I should be taking out.

[@selimyenahc3184]

Look up signal ducking/side chain compression.

[@Eventual420]

Well, I suffered with mistake one for a long long time. When I was finally able to resolve the first problem, Circular Panning Law, my low resonance returned. OMG, a dream come true. It's still a mixed bag, no choice but to step on the levels and mix this with other instruments. I have no subs, on any of my playback devices, so if I mix some low frequencies into my songs, trust me, this is fun to do, and I enjoy the addition, at no time can I hear these in playback. They're always lost. I gave up on the low frequency pulses. Mistake 3, I've never scooped a low mid frequency, unless its the amplifier. Sometimes if you're trying to get the Rectifier sound you'll scoop your guitar preamp, but for the mixer I've always bumped these for resonance. Mistake 4 I would floor the amps, and the mics pick up 10 times as much resonance, the whole thing turned to mud. Too loud isn't necessary for me. We shall see, however, since I'm still trying to peel the wallpaper and melt peoples faces. I love hot Marshall sounds, time to time. I expected this to be just a other video that I disagreed with. I'm not a hip hop/techno/trance/EDM type of guy. But since I use FLS, I have no choice but to extrapolate others teachings and experiment. I was shocked that you... are a lot like me. Finally YT recommended 'the right guy for the job'. Good video. Compliments.

[@sammytheman8994]

Solid video man!! I love your channel! Also very good point about the low mids! But are there any points where you know you should scoop those out? Thanks!!!

[@shibbstertweets3732]

Well I think there's no golden rule for that, but I'd like to be proven wrong! :-) I think carving them out at first, then adjusting something else and then going back to that and bring the low mids up again until they start sounding muddy (or interfering) might be a good start... you'll be surprised how much you will bring them up again with that!

[@BrofUJu]

In my own music, sometimes I'll wait to do that in mastering. If it's getting super woofy then sure, but sometimes just a minor cut in mastering will balance it out and you don't have to kill that from every damn instrument

[@HenJayMusic]

I ❤'ed the way you mentioned why you ❤ your NS-10s 😁. I have the NS-10T's (the brown ones) they sound muffled in the low end 😫 however once I learned from White Sea Studio not to use low/high pass filters and start dipping out the frequencies to give me the sound I want then my mixes start translating like professional mixes 😍. I was so obsessed about not having the MS versions 😫. I can actually chill out now and be happy with my T's 😁 because you get a great mix on your orginal NS-10s 😂😎. Us #NS10Fan have to stick together man ✊

[@DestoTrading]

Good tips! Review of the Audio Technica M40x headphones coming?

[@AccuracyXVolume922]

Great video, this is my beginner mistakes. I keep getting the same muddy/woofy sounds. Sounds great on studio monitors, but not quite what I need for my mix when I listen through headphones/car etc...

[@alexdrouin4872]

Great video, thank you

[@adamwasthefirstman]

Ha! I was about to say "but the drums" right before you got there. Though, if it's a sparse track, I'm all about the low mids in the drums. Actually kind of my favorite sound for them. Don't tell anyone! Great video!

[@philippgrunert8776]

Very valuable information

[@emilandersen8628]

thanks for the tips

[@fuzzypanocha]

Hit the nail on the head my man, this is some amazing advice but sadly people don’t listen. I have friends who tell me how to mix all the time and yet they wonder how my mixes sound so good. I’m always saying I told you so Hahahaha

[@BoyOfLol]

I was thinking tip 3 when I clicked on the video. Man it's so true, you can butcher a mix by taking out those low mids.. I just realized this not a few months ago! Thanks for sharing! May I also suggest a tip #4? Not high-passing things. It really makes you lose a TON of energy in the bass. Simply high passing 40hz on the master bus adds SO much clarity and SO much punch to the kick. It's really a wonderful trick.

[@mrbluez2898]

i usually brickwall below 30hz

Thanks for sharing this videos bro

[@thebearsound1717]

Excellent!

[@timossenfort1710]

I mixed a track on hifi ampbion set up and I carved all the low mids out! There's a lot of sub but no low mids. Good insight

[@chrisgebauermusic]

I mix the low mids slightly higher than I'd want but then control them with a multiband compressor. Works for me if anyone wants to try it.

[@Matmax42]

Exactly! I had thought recently that audio producers are doing their mixes on some kind of krk rokit 20hz - 20mhz monitors, and they're forgetting that mostly people are listening to music on some 40$ rig with unknown playing frequencies.

[@NateReutter]

So good!!

[@solarnewborn]

I've been watching your videos for a while now, I'm even on your mailing list. Just wanted to say, cause I never did, YOU DA MAN

[@kaislivesoundchannel4706]

All the natural texture of instruments is located in the low mids. They almost seperate themselfs from each other of you have strong low mids

[@l3eatalphal3eatalpha]

The conservative eq is especially true on stems with amped settings where the original player/producer has been too shy. 9dB at mix time could easily include 6dB that might have been tracked.

[@h1de]

I agree with you on all points but I think the whole moderate eq comes from getting it right from the source so you avoid those "excessive corrections". Unfortunately we don't always have the luxury and you got to do what you got to do.

[@monkeyrobotsinc.9875]

Amazing video. You rule.

[@OTTOAUDIO]

Jordan, What’s your favorite plugin compressor for vocals ? Also what’s your favorite overhead mic technique? Spaced? ORTF? XY?

[@TheHumanPorcupine]

He uses a distressor on the way in and a CLA76 while mixing.

[@peterrainman]

totally agree about #3 !!

[@Sailor1010]

I was always told not to compress distorted guitars because the distortion is essentially compressed already

[@pastilance1]

Thank you!

[@GuyXVIII]

I really like your approach of "letting go" of rules and numbers. I have a question about bass guitar mixing (and guys if you wanna drop your tips, feel free): I always multiband my bass guitar at the start of the chain (low-mid-high and about 3:1 ratio, pretty mild settings) to keep said bands under control and level the instrument withing itself. pick attacks are more consistent, lows don't overpower everything and the mids get clearer. thing is I do it in "dreaded solo mode" otherwise I won't hear the nuances of the different bands. Am I ruining it? Am I solo-obsessing? What is the meaning of life?

[@fret2fret221]

would you slightly boost mids? maybe around 300 and only maybe a slight 2-3db boost.

[@whoisdin]

Mistake #3 hit hard(probably because i didn't scoop the low-mids. HA)... no but f'real, that's a really good way of framing it cause now i can see and hear where i've been going wrong. thanks.

[@zandernoriega]

Number #3 is literally the story of my mixing life. LOL. Thanks for the tips!

[@fret2fret221]

for tip 2, waves has a great plugin called renaissanceAxx that's great for adding some bite to your guitars.

[@JacobDurocher]

I love that plugin! I also love the JW guitar bus glue! 👌🏼

[@mikewallace1270]

Good stuff.

[@junkawakami3193]

about analog emulation, yes it's true that you want to avoid what's called "Aliasing" but nowadays most of them have internal oversampling feature (most of them are likely to be 4x to 8x but some also go up to 16x, or even 64x) so you get that pleasant analog glue without the digital trash

[@roberthaskin1723]

Joey Moi is really good at getting power out of those sub frequencies

[@PaulKretz]

*I had one time...* to overcome myself and put 2 or 3 EQs one after another to cut out around 40db of freaking ~350Hz on kick drum! That was painful but lead to a real metal kick sound.

[@MarcoPrimeau]

Getting it right in the way in makes mixing a lot more easy. ;)

[@anthonycronk2001]

Hey Jordan, What amp do you use for your Ns-10's?

[@Yanthungbemo]

I've been guilty about the low mid thing and I'm still struggling with it plus everyone has something different to say about it and it makes noobs like me confused. I try to get that modern, thick, focused, solid-sounding rhythm guitar tone but they end up sounding "fluffy" and vintage-warm if I don't carve out the low mids. If I do carve out some low mids (400-700Hz), they sound thin without that "oomph". To bring back its weight/depth I try boosting around 100-250Hz but it becomes too boomy (yes I do use multiband comp). I'm at my wit's end. Adding tape saturation is helping a bit in thickening it up though. Also, almost every video will tell you to remove the "mud" in the low mids at 300-500Hz whether it's drums, guitars, bass, vocals, etc. etc. Then where do I use the low mids? 😅😅 I'm confused.

[@joemarta8221]

For guitar, spend less time doing post tracking fixes. Spend more time getting a really strong thick tone at the amplifier or amp sim and especially focus on getting a great sounding cabinet and mic placement (or a great sound IR). Pay attention to phase misalignment for manually recorded guitars, that will drain all the thickness from it. There's a reason a dual rectifier with a tube screamer over mesa oversize 4x12 v30s cabinet is so common. Tried and true. Also, look at the performance. Pick technique and pickups will greatly affect how metal staples like chugging and pinch harmonics sound. Remember that Bass is going to be most of your low mid sound anyways so make sure your bass tone is strong and gels well with the rhythm guitar. Last thing to check is your guitar tuning. Remember every pitch corresponds to a Hz value. Downtuned guitars will sound thicker in the lows because the fundamental pitch of the notes are lower for your open low string chugs

[@Espresso101]

So if you only have 8' drivers for studio monitors, Would you consider headphones as an alternative to small speakers?

[@atreyfall3812]

I think that the key for learning how to EQ is to analize others mixes with spectrum anslizer. If you want to emulate others EQ the way to go it's not to copy theyr settings, becouse the starting point Will not be the same, so you don't need the same settings. Most of experienced mixers notice what they need by ear but when you are a begginer you don't know what you need.

[@sergeevspredator]

great advice

[@GLENNKEARNEY1]

LOVE IT

[@heavymetalmixer91]

The low-mids Mud VS Power thing is very hard to handle indeed. Btw, for a newbie what mixing mindset would you recommend? Top-down mixing? Classic? Another one?

[@ASJerrell]

heavymetalmixer91 I’m not Jordan I know, but top down mixing has jumped me so many levels so fast. DONT however use any coloring plugins top down to start. Just eq and conpression. As we grow, start building a mixing/mastering chain with color for your signature sound. Learn to color the individual tracks the way you want first.

[@HenJayMusic]

@heavymetalmixer91 If you want my opinion 😇. I would clean up the mix first (like removing any hisses manually, then printing the compressor to balance out the levels for each sound) then I would be grouping all my tracks to groups and then do the Top-Down mixing thing 🤓.