You Suck at Mixing #1: Preparing Your Track for a Mixdown

[@J_ST]

Now I not only suck at producing, but mixing too? What the hell Underbelly..

[@Karl_Marksman]

cool profile picture. I like the color scheme

[@hi-wm7tb]

Karl Marksman thanks

[@jujubawav3818]

and in music theory and master xD

[@rickmarr9634]

Don’t forget about Mastering 😂

[@JohnathanSammer]

mastering is the secret art of ruining the song to something else cause it sucks as it is. but probably sucks eqed as well.

[@crazymycologist]

Why does this man’s face bring me so much joy and knowledge.

[@theov3rman]

Been struggling with the unknowns of mixing that nobody seems to cover, like the stuff at the very start. You're the goat man

[@KhranosMusic]

This is literally the best channel I’ve ever come across

[@bubbaalmada5159]

dude, extract chains.......I have been looking for this. thank you. subscribed and bell smashed.

[@TheLegatoFox]

The series of all series.

[@kieranhumphreys9331]

Hey underbelly! Question for ya - how do you keep the audio track's arrangement and when they start playing in the exported individual tracks? When I try to export it, the tracks do not line up with how they were in the original ableton file. Thanks!

[@aparna2347]

hey, before you import the audio files into the new set, go to preferences and under record/warp/launch, make sure auto-warm long samples is off

[@kieranhumphreys9331]

@@aparna2347 thanks, this worked. Cheers!

[@sepultro6219]

just in time, i have 200 shit songs in phase one.

[@BoringYogurt]

feel you

[@mistersparrow]

Organizational tips are always huge and helpful, thanks a buncho

[@auino5147]

great series

[@peruvianpal2723]

Do one on exporting stems! Do we export mastered/unmastered track. Especially with different sends being used

[@kaylinrajah3595]

I hate how underated this channel is

[@kevinzhu1727]

the " i dont like journey, and this is not a string" is prolly the funniest and most unnecessary line of this channel XDD

[@JogiPiter]

A whole new seriees about mixing an asstrack? wow u amazing belly :D

[@samsmusichub]

Will def be watching this video more than once!

[@anthonysimmons568]

How the hell am I supposed to learn mixing if I dying of laughter every 5 seconds!?!

[@arthurl8385]

Good shit underbelly

[@adambhabha1275]

thank

[@cleverestx]

Regarding bouncing MIDI "into an unchangeable audio track".... has obviously never heard of Melodyne (editor edition and above) ;-) But no seriously, nice video, thank you!

[@earlgrey2130]

I always thought mixing can be done by just slapping soundgoodizer on every channel and export the mp3

[@zacharyandersen3415]

Should I export the vocals and normalize them, or should I record vocals once the instrumentals are all mixed and mastered?

[@illustrious-jaco]

WOW extract chains was a thing i didn't know existed, thank u

[@PokeABrain]

"we're committing to the track as is, as you would with your first wife"... haha; suscribed!

[@nobodys2358]

Hey bros. What about return tracks? Should they be included in stems or should they be disabled like something that be better done once again during mixing phase? Cheers

[@RemiPOSTO-qi5ot]

Yoo I have a question , if i have an automation on my synth, do I must get rid of it when i turn it to an audio track ? Because once it is an audio track i'll not be able to change my synth sound no ?

[@luisfarias134]

If it's volume you can do later but on anything you can't just do on audio, you should record it with automation, like bass tweaks on Vital or any in street vst.

[@-YSHA]

Thanks underbelly

[@davidbalogh8149]

Ok so check it

[@thev216]

That track sounds like something straight out of an luxury hotel ad.

[@skydwellingmusic]

When he said that I need to bounce my audio but that I'm not going to because I'm afraid of commitment, it's like he was reading into my fucking mind

[@casquedor4690]

Can you use a de-esser on your voice please

[@jasonm2279]

I appreciate you. Ba da

[@josephmayfield945]

Not only informative, but also funny as fuck!

[@jou4dounie793]

This guy is the Bob Ross of music

[@emberset2]

My tracks all have like 125 audio tracks by the end. I don't even want to think about bouncing all those down, but I really should stop procrastinating and learn proper mixing...

[@nobodys2358]

Yeah I feel you. What about your CPU? CPU on my machine kinda dies when the project grows so it naturally forces me to go towards the proper mixdown process. Cheers

[@emberset2]

@@nobodys2358 Yeah CPU starts to be a problem around 100 tracks, and I start freezing things. The problem is I'm still working on arrangement at that point. Maybe I could just flatten each track individually as I commit to it

[@erickoslosky8519]

yo i keep trying to export the stems and every time i bring them in a new session the timing is off. Elements are coming in sooner or after when they should. has anyone else experienced this ? Thanks

[@aidan0972]

turn off "auto warp long samples" in preferences under the record warp launch tab

[@MrLabYoshi]

Can you just freeze/flatten each individual track for mixdown?

[@funkybrewer6298]

Is it better for the audio quality to export everything into individual stems? I just freeze and flatten my tracks. That basically works the same correct?

[@hpetty9404]

never have i learned so much while being insulted literally the whole time.

[@cyborgchimpy]

2:10. that was a personal attack :(

[@Divine_Creative]

This channel is beautiful

[@willh3346]

How would you approach this when you are using send and return tracks in your original project?

[@ephemeralinspiration1218]

I think this happened to me, and I had to export those separately via Master output (individually) as the send/returns have to output 1 & 2 (I think that's right)

[@alfonseeeee]

I have mono!!?

[@Snenors4pres]

ISSUE: I bounced my tracks to audio and put them in the new live set, but the tracks were all out of time.

[@gabrielberton4266]

Hey man im having the same problem rn, did you figure out how to fix it??

[@Snenors4pres]

@@gabrielberton4266 yeah its in the preferences I believe, there is a setting for it but don't remember what it's called. Someone else points it out in the comments but haven't located it yet

[@Snenors4pres]

@@gabrielberton4266 Preferences -> Record, Warp, Launch -> Autowarp long samples

[@tans1151]

Will “normalizing” also take away any audio automation? ie. fade in/outs

[@ace-smith]

normalizing is just raising the volume of the whole product so the highest peak is at the loudest possible volume. it doesn't change dynamics at all. so no.

[@donnill]

o k suh chek et

[@TheLegatoFox]

I feel like this series was made out of extreme frustration after so many nights of mixing others peoples shitguits

[@AlexS-er3my]

I'm sure one of my lessons influenced this hahaha

[@jdstarek]

UHNK ^Same.

[@slammerton]

Whenever I bounced all the tracks and put them in the new project the starting points of the various tracks don't fit anymore. They seem to start random within the song. Does somebody know where the problem could be?

[@slammerton]

I just had to freeze the tracks, I don't delete the comment just in case somebody has the same problem

[@amondhawes-khalifa1949]

This man teaching us the basics while simultaneously roasting us like the burnt Thanksgiving turkey that uncle Ted forgot about.

[@xx__xx8737]

He can go ahead and burn me, I'm into that shit.

[@redactedyt9477]

@@xx__xx8737 agreed...

[@le-0ne]

mixing is how i'm gonna turn all my garbage into gold

[@spliffsoldier]

Aditya Srivastava mixing is more of a finishing touch rather than a fixing method.

[@le-0ne]

yeah that's the joke

[@benh.635]

@@le-0ne Eh, I'll fix it in post

[@cosanostra3462]

@@benh.635 hahahahaha classic

[@dexterthecat0271]

0:40 oop-

[@bennie1079]

I have a horrible habit of mixing whilst creating. I want everything to always sound good.

[@MiketheNerdRanger]

It's okay to do some mixing during the production phase so it doesn't sound really bad during it. Just don't "complete" the entire mix just yet.

[@Fyrlink]

wow. thanks gordon ramsay.

[@igglueextra5336]

wintergrift seriously

[@nozlamate5384]

Lol

[@toshiyer]

Lulz

[@forestpill]

whattttt???

[@klibstar8197]

My favorite part of mixing nightmares its when the host Gordon Ramsey says “ok so check it” and then when he says “finally, some good fucking music”

[@benja303]

4:47 Extract Chains - Lets you seperate a drum rack into individual Drum racks. Been on Ableton since 2014 and did not know that.

[@benja303]

Label your tracks by BPM

[@benja303]

Assign track color to clipa

[@DEEP_PRACTICE]

Me either! This function is so huge. Thanks Underbelly

[@kxngbishop]

please postpone YSAP until you're a few episodes into YSAM. i speak for myself and a lot of producers when i say we direly need these tutorials.

[@papa_da_engineer]

"because once we begin the mix down process we're essentially commiting to the track as is, like you would with your 1st wife" 😂 😂😂 😂 💀💀✊

[@fakshen1973]

Normalizing your tracks may not be so cool for quiet or subtle elements. You're fishing around at the bottom of your faders, which aren't very accurate. To each his own. Every technique has pros and cons.

[@THEdavidschockett]

Great point here! Is there any tangible difference between (a) normalizing a particular track and (b) just adding a gain utility to it later? It seems like it's safer to NOT normalize, and then just add gain to individual tracks as needed if they're too soft. Am I missing something?

[@MrOnlyeye]

why not just turn it down like you would other elements?

[@austonsmith536]

@@MrOnlyeye well... maybe its too good to turn down? If Beethoven turned down For Elise... he probably wouldn't have done very well composing since... he was deaf. Say word?

[@benanderson89]

@@THEdavidschockett Adding Gain to quiet audio = "wow, nice noise floor!"

[@birdrustler]

Yeah I didn't understand why he normalized the stems. Maybe I'm dumb?

[@MonsterDubClub]

Ooooo I need this series as much as Derick needs Uncle Joe’s hand me down slippers.

[@trevorbagels8943]

If anyone's having problems regarding track length when importing all your rendered tracks, be sure to disable autowarp long samples in preferences.

[@Snenors4pres]

Thank you!

[@loganmiller3167]

life saver of a comment frfr

[@eliotlallemand9863]

Thank you so much !

[@MisterExcelsior]

Thanks for talking to me like i’m stupid, it actually helps.

[@vatinklin997]

never clicked on a video faster my entire life

[@thenobs123]

It's actually insane how informative and well thought out these videos are. Every single one I learn something new or see something in a way I hadn't before. Subscribed

[@BIOSsupport]

Wowsers! Good stuff! But I suck so much at mixing, that I actually forgot to turn the auto warp option off before importing the audio files. So everything was just messed up. It took me a while to deal with that. Just like you after you're parents broke up! :) I'm such a Dingus...

[@kawaiib2928]

I did the same mistake and your message helped me to find why my mix was f....d up! Thanks! Peace!

[@lonelysky9650]

Thank god for this comment, if it weren't for this I'd be stuck haha

[@quibster]

Thanks man, I was boggled by this too.

[@soulofglebb]

i love yo uso much

[@bevilhive]

Mixing?! Damn, I thought there was a step I missed!

[@rudeflex2659]

"now i dont really wear hats but i might have to because my bald spot is growing" HAHAHA. Why haven't i found this channel before. Informative yet comedy gold

[@Oversampled]

I mixed my shitsong for the first time consciously, thanks man

[@neosonixyz]

no way you're here 😭

[@ligalegend]

big ups for bringing up that bold spot topic

[@2pacalypse93]

when i put those single audio tracks into a new set, the tracks are completely diswarped and not set correct. How Can i fix this?

[@panlat7931]

I have the same issue, did you manage to fix it?

[@sashawpgd8343]

Make all the audio tracks the same bpm in the warping mode

[@christianbrizarr7742]

Go to "preference" when "Record warp launch" and when click on auto-warp long sampels so it is off. This may fix it

[@hankjohnson3902]

Importing stems or parts Example: Receiving stems or parts from an artist for a remix. 1. Open Live's preferences to the Record Warp Launch section. 2. Turn off Auto-Warp Long Samples. This is important to ensure that start markers line up exactly at the beginning of the audio files - even if there's silence at the beginning - and that no warping or audio degradation will occur. Also turn off Create Fades on Clip Edges, otherwise clips with a sharp attack (eg. kicks) will have that attack slightly muted on the first beat:

[@baptiste6110]

@@hankjohnson3902 Thank you so much ! ;D

[@smooooth_]

Lookibg back, Underbelly's analogy game is unmatched. Don't @ me.

[@slunkzilla]

"color of piss, i've been enjoying that lately" i died at how unexpected that little comment was

[@retrorebootmusic]

"Extract drum chains" *cries in Live Lite* At least drum racks can have effects on each sound in the rack.

[@hillandrewdavid]

I have a fresh perspective on my life, mixing, and music thanks to this video

[@oskar-yk4bi]

hello, i have a problem, i've done everything you said but when i drag and drop my audio files (and press command), everything is now in disorder, like there is no more structure, the snares don't clap on the tempo with the kick, the piano is playing alone without the other instruments etc.. i may have failed something, if someone could help me it would be nice ( and sorry for my english btw)

[@elliotreidy4043]

I have the same problem.

[@knutfunk1735]

I have also the same problem. What am I doing wrong?

[@oskar-yk4bi]

for those who have the same pb, it's actually not a big problem, you can just skip this stape or do it in an other way

[@oskar-yk4bi]

and i forgot to say i was on ableton 9, maybe the pb come from this, anyway like i said earlier this is not a mandatory step, we can easily do otherwise

[@KidRobertCudi]

I had the same problem because ableton automatically warped my audio files. Deactivate warp and drag your starting point to the beginning. Hope this helps!

[@lonelysky9650]

anyone having an issue where once you put all the audio files into the new track to master, that everything is out of time to the production track?

[@mun3144]

me

[@benwedeen8064]

me

[@benwedeen8064]

turn off auto-warp in preferences

[@HARALAMBIEV]

@@benwedeen8064 Thank you very much !

[@MoveTheMouse]

I knew where you were going when you normalized the bounce down but when you said "Do it better the second time ya dingus ok?" I lost it.

[@piomusco1020]

Guys I need help. I use Ableton Live 10 and everytime I export all individual tracks to put them into a new session, my arrangement goes to shit and the tracks are not set in the right place. I don't know how to fix it.

[@RC6207videovariety]

I was having the same problem. If you turn "Auto-Warp Long Samples" off under the preferences tab then that should fix everything.

[@matricepeinard7879]

@@RC6207videovariety Wowz thank you ! I was starting to get pissed

[@4evrshx]

Dammm when he said, “it’s cuz your afraid of commitment” kinda hit too close to home 🥲

[@funkyshade]

Great idea to do videos on mixing my man! This’ll be very helpful to people. Keep up the good work, appreciate ya.

[@darthvildar9311]

“Okay so check it”

[@CJ_Walks]

Came in expecting to learn how to mix; left with a deep understanding of my commitment issues.

[@tarabostespunk]

My man teaching us how to mix while roasting us every other minute but couldn't be bothered to edit out the loud sound he makes with each breath he takes

[@Mrspkey]

This is helpful, thx. Just two questions though. 1. Isn't normalising affecting the dynamics? I have tracks where I play soft harmonics with my guitar. Normalisation feels wrong for these sounds. Thoughts? 2. I noticed you had hi-hats, snares and individual drum hits exported as stereo. Surely these would be better off as mono?

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

I might suck at mixing but you suck at de-essing. Nice channel, cheers :)

[@rohamtavakkoli7562]

Hey underbelly can I take a non-shit-song like Rebecca Black's friday and turn it into a shit-song using mixing?

[@samuelkroghlarsen3652]

This is so great! I've been waiting for a good mixing tutorial on youtube for a while, and I'm really excited!

[@Cp_9900]

Fyi if Ableton is fucking up the arrangement when you import to new project you need to turn off warp in preferences before exporting.

[@jakebelowmusic]

Me: Oh hey, some mixing advice, this sounds helpfu- UB: YOU HAVE COMMITMENT ISSUES Me: Well then Einstein, how do I mixdown a failed relationshi- UB: DO IT BETTER THE SECOND TIME YA DINGUS

[@silasch11]

What if my sound is dependent on the automation that is dependent on the effects? Shall I turn them off anyway?

[@jacobcurley3659]

Good example would be Dubsteb Growl Bass, obviously the automation there is part of the writing process. That means if youre fine with how it is right now, dont turn it off. What you turn off is stuff like fade outs.

[@caughy]

For some reason when I dragged all the audio clips for the individual tracks they weren't all in time with each other and warped. even though the BPM is the same as the original. Does anybody know how to fix this? Please let me know thanks!

[@Snenors4pres]

I am having the same issue.

[@akrizamusic]

Normalizing applies a compression algorithm to your tracks which is not a great idea. Don't do this. This is bad information.

[@nobodys2358]

Whoa. Is it mentioned in ableton's manual anywhere?

[@officialrisc877]

Hey, I have a Problem. Evertime I export them all just like in the Video and place them afterwards in a new Set they all have different Lengths and are they are not on the right place. Its looks like he is cutting the start of each audio i dont know I hope someone can help me.

[@CaptInsaino3]

I second this

[@mattiamarani3236]

Hi, whats's up! Underbelly, thank you so much for these Tutorials, they are very helpful and especially fun. I would like to ask a question to you and to everyone else if you'v got some advice! How do you handle layers when coming to the Mixdown stage? I am referring to those instruments which might be composed by different layers, as it could be a bass sound for example (separated into Low/Mids/High)... do you bounce the 3 different layers into a single track and mix the resulting bass sound with the other instrument or do you keep the layers separated and bounce them to 3 different tracks in order to mix them more properly afterwards. Thank for the help. Wish everyone a good time!

[@noahlim8731]

whenever i bounce all the tracks to audio and put them in a new project for some reason all the tracks or "sausages" arent the same size and it fucks everything up... can anyone help):

[@gabrielberton4266]

Hey man im having the same problem rn, did you figure out how to fix it??

[@MikeRenouf]

WOWZERS! This is probably the most valuable video I've seen from your channel. I will use all these techniques on my shitsongs from now.

[@josh.0]

i love how patronizing you sound like you're talking down to me like im a child. you hear it a lot but that still doesnt change how funny it is. thank you for doing what you do

[@Mooondoggy]

When I drag them into the new project, everything's out of time and sounds like shit... any ideas?

[@Mooondoggy]

The tempo is correct when I drag them in btw

[@RidesInforests]

Hi got a question. always have lots of reverb return tracks coming from drums from early on in track creation. should I get rid of those too before mixing??

[@morten1]

I love when a video can be saved in both my 'Life' and 'Funny' and 'Music Production' youtube folders

[@Epik420]

Hi

[@prodby.yourstruly]

This man is the Bob Ross of producing😂😂

[@luisfarias134]

Funny thing said about KUSH After Hours, but totally different styles check it out and tell me what you think.

[@bolsops]

God bless your acid sense of humor

[@MattMosca17]

"I don't like Journey. and also, these are not strings." I'm dying at work (and using their wifi to watch this)

[@kevnor7909]

Thanks for the tip with extract chains on the drum rack, that will save me a shitload of time for my next shit song!