5 minutes to better mix videos

Cubase
1

I am not sure if someone has shared this yet here but this guy is covering some real good/useful mixing tips/tricks in his 5 minutes to a better mix videos

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=5+Minutes+To+A+Better+Mix+&oq=5+Minutes+To+A+Better+Mix+&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=12&gs_upl=8225l8225l0l9637l1l1l0l0l0l0l151l151l0.1l1l0

2

Thank you very much for sharing, hko! These links are surely going to be very useful for me.

3

Much appreciated, hadn’t seen those before.

4

Thanks!

5

Needed that, thanks

R.

6

Excellent thanks for this post…31 posts x 5mins I’m going to be busy tonight lol

7

“OK, I promise I’m going to look at ONLY this ONE MORE, and then stop …”.

Well, I might have looked at all of them, certainly almost all!

Lots of good-sounding tips there. One thing I did notice that I might question a bit is his tendency to go for the “big” sound by hard L/R panning. I’m thinking that could lead to trouble for people that are listening to the songs in mono (either intentionally or unintentionally).

What do you guys think about that “vocal swarm” one?

8

I have not actually checked the vocal swarm video but I agree with you about the hard L/R panning. I had instruments panned hard left and right but have now steered away from this practise because somehow the mixes did not sound good to me (the mixes lost focus). Well, I had also used some M/S manipulation at the same time which made my mixes sound quite weird (thin and really hollow/wide/echofilled) indeed.

I tend to remember that he advises to keep levels on individual tracks not going to red. Well this may be a good practise but to my understanding there is no harm in going red on individual tracks as long as the master channel does not go to red and clip. When recording, the levels need to be set right of course.

9

I stopped watching at 00:45 of the first part, when the I heard utter cow excrement coming out of from my speakers.

10

What part of the first 45 sec of the first video is not correct, or is it simply the DAW is in a barn? :laughing:

11

Hes talking old Pro Tools fixed bit mixing bus lingo :laughing:

12

I’ve read lots of places to keep the mixes from being hot, recording so that the individual tracks are maybe around -10dBFS, and also keeping the master down a few dBs in the end. I thought he was suggesting the same practice in the 1st video, but am I misunderstanding him?

Thanks -

13

“This is crucial to getting good mixes in your DAW.” Should read: “This is crucial to getting good mixes in your ProTools.” The guy isn’t a sound engineer. He’s a bloody ProTools operator.

Indeed. I decided to watch the whole episode and he’s so wrong even within ProTools context: While old PT’s channel busses were 24-bit, which meant no headroom, the mixer was 48-bit. Quote from paper by Digidesign (http://akmedia.digidesign.com/support/docs/48_Bit_Mixer_26688.pdf):

Because Master Faders preserve resolution when trimming, > you don’t have to trim down all of the contributing faders > to the mix to obtain the optimal output level.

(emphasis mine) So he isn’t even a very good ProTools operator.

14

Everyone has heard this myth. It comes from old days when DAWs had fixed-point 24-bit signal paths. You really had to be careful not to overload your signal. With modern DAWs (like Cubase, Sonar … and finally most recent version of ProTools) it doesn’t matter. Just be sure you don’t clip your

  • A/D
  • D/A
  • exports to fixed-point files

I can recommend a nice video about this:

This issue is handled at 55:40.

15

Wonderful vid, thanks for that, Jarno!

So, would this be an accurate statement? …
“If someone has an older sound card and the noise floor is a little bit high, then by all means it’s OK to record quite hot in Cubase 6, so as to increase the S/N ratio.

Then before going out the D/A, just turn down the master fader and make sure the “post-panner” level is well below 0 dBFS.”

16

100% accurate.

17

OK, thank you Jarno.

18

I still find his EQ/delay/arrangement etc. related tips very useful and I think there’s a lot to learn for the not so experienced hobbyist mixing engineers like myself.

19

Ditto - I’m in the same boat. And what a luxury to have experts like Jarno and Split to provide much needed perspective and commentary!

20

Really good video.

I must admit I have done the blunder mentioned in the video, i.e. I have been adjusting something and thinking of hearing some results and a little while later I notice that I have had the whole effect muted or something to same effect.