When I try to mix one of my songs to a professional, released song I can't help but notice that my songs seem to be muffled in comparison with those tracks.
Maybe I just don't give my synths enough high end, but I'm not sure how high I should go in Frequency Range. Any ideas to solve this "muffled" problem?
Or is it just a mastering thing?
I think all your tracks lately have been pretty well rounded mate, I wouldn't over boost your highs because that will create an opposite reaction a high tin canny sound if over done .
Try cutting as much low where not needed .
You could also try pitching elements as well to fit the mix of the track you gotta just get your ear in and trust it . Hope this helps mate
Hey Simage. I'm not an expert, but there are a few tricks to get a mix sounding right and 'unmuffled'.
If you have a frequency analyser, analyse the tune and make sure you have no frequencies at all below 40hz. Also some recommend to make sure your sub and mid range bass are not clashing.
Frequencies between 300 and 400hz are usually responsible for a muffled or muddy sound, you could just do a 1-2db cut on your master eq at 350hz.
Also for a bit of sparkle, try a 1-2db boost at 10 or 12khz. This is not a fail safe method, but you will have to try it to see what it sounds like. Also have you panned elements in your tune?
The general (very general) rule in dnb or other types of dance music is not to pan more than 75-80% as dance music is usually played mono on club systems. Kick, snare, sub, mid range bass and 'lead' vocals should always be mono (centre of the soundstage).
I have my break mono also and playing between the kick and the snare. My high percussion I have some parts 20% to the left and other parts 20% to the right. It just gives it a bit of space.
Pad sounds and swishes can be panned slightly more, but you will have to experiment a bit and see what you prefer.
All the best, Spectral
but - I would be aware that you dont always want your bass or breaks in pure mono..
If you EQ tightly enough you can get away with stereo bass (as most of the neuro boys do) and stereo breaks are often the best to listen to.
Depends on what your target is; club rig or smaller scale listening..
I'd say your style the kind of netsky style you wouldn't want to make to much mono tbh your tracks are more floaty sounds which require a fair bit of stereo to enhance the feel , if u mono to much you kill rhythm I would mono driving elements like kick snare and sub , def not hads or breaks as these are airy elements and give roll and space to your track you could mono your break as long ad you have a stero one as well the mono one could be shuffles in that instance I know your a reason user like me so u won't have the luxury of a spec analyser unless rewire which I do I use one call blue cat analyser it's pretty good also in reason when u use the eq always put the 20 hz cut on
just make sure u dont over boost your bass, and cut low ends of synths 2.
I found out that even when synth do not seem to have alot of low end, they can still be there to muffle it up a bit.
u can boost ur synths on the high a lil, but again as told in this thread, dont over do that.
and play around with stero separation.
Bass between mono and stereo works best for me.
high synths fairly wide to give a spaceious feeling.
mid synth between very wide and the bass
kicks and snare dead centre and your hats and percs a bit like the mid ranged synths.
The main reason people make their bass sounds mono is because when it's cut to vinyl stereo bass sounds make the needle jump, so if you plan on getting your tunes released on vinyl it's important to make sure the bottom end of your track at least sounds good in mono.
What i have learned recently is "The Mixdown"
There are some values that come in handy when mixing down a track,
What i've read is this
Drums: 0 db
Synths for melody & stuff: -6db
sub: -8 to - 10db
These are values that are a guideline.
Other than that indeed, look out for clashing hz's
Parametric EQ 2 is a Equalizer with a Frequency spectrum analyzer in it.
But that's in FL
so what you gotta do is look for a Spectrum analyzer.
after a while you'll be used to it and you will hear it when it's not right
Some dumb things I did in the past and well.. figured out they are dumb
- Putting the complete drum section in mono, sounds very dull;
- Boosting shit to make it loud enough, it's better to turn all other shit down and compress on the master buss to lift your levels;
- Mixing in the reds, nothing should go in the red;
- Wide panning/stereo separation on pads, use some stereo on pads, but don't overdo it, it will sound unnatural;
- Big cuts to take out mud (250Hz-800Hz range), I was setting a param EQ with a huge dive at 525Hz (which is right in the middle between 250-800) on sounds that I thought were introducing mud in the mix (mid basses and stuff) but this fucks up your mix, make small dips (1-3db) instead of huge dives;
- Not making the sub mono, you can get frequency cancelling from that it will cancel parts of you bass and take out the power;
- Putting stereo imaging on you master bus, in tools like Ozone it is damn easy to mess up your tune by adding some artificial overall stereo setup, don't do it. The stereo is created by adding a tiny delay between the left and the right channel. The result sounds "funny".
__ Check my soundcloud (exclusive tracks on there)
Guess you already have a good general idea of this, but in harsh times it might come in handy (a good overview, though you might wanna save it as PDF for the zoom): Frequency Ranges
Well, maybe bit off subject, but hope it will be of some use to you ^^
Originally posted by thechronic
Those types of lists are great to ruin your mix. Throw it away and never look at it again. You should use your ears instead of your eyes for EQing!!
I second that Chron, in the beginning I thought I had to set up a basic project with mixer busses for Bassdrum, snare, hihats, ... and copy the settings on those schemes. You'll get the worst trash sound EVER when you do that.
EQing is more a question of applying tools when needed, not following stupid rules to get instant success without knowing what you are actually doing (like I thought back then).
In the beginning I thought about frequency ranges like a light switch, if you don't need it: turn it off. So I made all kinds of aggressive EQ curves that fuck up a sound instead of improving it (listen to my first tunes on here to see what I mean with "fucking up the sound"). Then I saw some projects from other producers who had a decent sound and I noticed they were lowering certain ranges by 3-6dB instead of my dumb knock-out approach. When I started to solve things in the same way my sound instantly improved.
__ Check my soundcloud (exclusive tracks on there)
button and select my name. I'll personally kick it to the murky depths of hell where it belongs! 