I need to work on my mixing

I mix all my music in logic and this is the basic strategy i use (by the way i know fook all about mixing)

Kicks - Compression
Snare - Reverb
Samples - Channel EQ

and then for master i just sort of make everything louder. Ive been making beats a month, so go easy on me. Just wondered if you had any tips or tricks.

Many thanks

dont limit yourself to only using certain techniques (ie, only using reverb on snares)...what about drums?? drums need some reverb luvin to!

learn the equipment and just experiment bro

I recently spoke to a friend of mine who went to college for engineering. He was explaining to me that a lot of mixing is panning and fitting all your tracks in the stereo field. Don't be afraid to dig around in the mixer and pan sounds around. It makes your mix sound less cluttered.

im not an expert or anything but i did go to school(and graduated)in sound engineering(i dont work in the field though) i agree that until u are fully comfortable with mixing dont use specific techniques,learn how to use busses properly ie sending the whole drum kit to a stereo bus, it has aslways helped me to not leave all the frequency cleaning for the mastering process, mastering isnt magic ,...., mud is mud, if u try to visualise whereure sounds are in the mix it can help, knowing what frequency range sounds r in and then thinkin about that. learning some basic sound behaviour ie what sounds like its louder even though it isnt and panning is very important but watch out if ure panning a sample that was a stereo sample to begin with u can end up with undesired results, fyi bass and kick drums can be tough to effectively pan because by nature those hz ranges arent very directional, watch out if puttig rev on a kick u can end up with mud all over ure low end really quick.

an ex: when i mix my kit(i mostly make hip hop) i try to think of it as a real drum kit ie kick in the relative middle snare slightly left hhat nudge more left toms spread out across the stereo image same for cymbals if there r any i also like to compress my whole kit using a bus dedicated to the kit especially if ure usind hits that come from all over (as opposed to using only hits from one chopped up break) if u do it right i find it just brings the kit together and makes it gel nicely. if u think about a stage and how musicians would b placed if they were playing live it can give u ideas on where to put ure sounds in the mix.

hope this helps and that u ddnt already know everything i just wrote,
mixing is a load of fun and can be as creative as the composing stage if u really get into it it can open a whole new world for ure beats

TheRiot wrote:
Kicks - Compression
Snare - Reverb
Samples - Channel EQ

Let me stop you right there... mixing/mastering isn't really about applying compression to this and reverb to that or following a set formula. What you're describing there sounds more about producing a track.

Take half of what anybody says here with a grain of salt on the subject (including myself) since all of these things are far more art than science. What I will offer though is that once you're working on your final mix, for the most part the only thing you should be doing is adjusting the gains of your individual tracks/samples. Pre mixing you should already have a decent sound from EQ/FX/Reverb or whatever, when mixing you're just trying to make sure that everything has the proper volume so you can hear everything clearly. Sure you can EQ parts as you find issues, but personally I'd suggest starting over with mixing attempts after resolving the issue. Personally, when I'm mixing I'll start by dropping the gain on every track and then bringing the Kick in so it measures about -6db (maybe -10/-12db, but depends on how much headroom you need) on the track outs, and then bringing in the snares to a level that sounds proper with the kicks. Then bring in hats, percussion etc. Once your drums are set, start to bring in the bass and then instruments and finally vocals. Plenty of people have their own methods, so to each there own for sure.

As far as mastering goes, this is typically the step where you put the sheen on the track to resolve issues in the frequency spectrum that need to be fixed either to make them more or less prominant. Often you'll see a final pass on enhancing the stereo field and finally some magic compression to maximize the volume of the whole track.

Personally I'd suggest rather than finding the 'science' in it, I'd just try and come up with your own process. You'll find far more consistent results if you practice mixing/mastering and don't be afraid to go back and tweak something later that you decide you could have done a better job at.

Later!

Ok man thanks

Start with great sounding samples and do a little eq'ing as your making the track... Shouldnt have to do too much to the mix if you do this right.... My mixes sound great without any real compression or reverb or anything like that.. I also went to school for audio engineering....

Like someone mentioned before. There's no set formula that you go by. Learn how to use your ears, then learn what it is you need to do & use (if necessary) and move on from there.