"EQ'ing and mixing"

I have a concern when it comes to making my beats.

I feel as if some of my sounds do not mesh well with the overall composition (as far as volume is concerned and not so much placement or sound type). I'll modify the general "volume" of a sound as opposed to messing with the "highs" and "lows" as i have read from other beat makers mixing styles. The beat usually sounds great in my headphones, but when they transition to car speakers and/or LOUD speakers, they become very suspect.

Wondering if anyone had a, not necessarily "laws" per se, but more so guidelines that they follow when mixing percussion and various instruments. I understand that this is a vague request but i would love some feedback before i go and purchase any of MPC-SAMPLE's e-books (which seem helpful from the sample passages that I've read so far). This ignorance is a direct result of my inferior knowledge of proper mixing techniques..but I'm definitely willing to learn!

Any input is greatly appreciated. My beats knock and sound good, but i feel as if they could use some proper mixing techniques in order to take them to the next level.

This may not have been the right board to post on, but i see it this way, if you want to share your knowledge with another beat maker, kudos! If not, just leave the post alone and keep it moving...

thanks for reading, my fellow Boom-Bappers.

ArloThePro wrote:The beat usually sounds great in my headphones, but when they transition to car speakers and/or LOUD speakers, they become very suspect

haha all too familiar

this book really helped me --> http://www.mixingwithyourmind.com/

it steps back and looks at the whole recording process with an open mind, ignoring any bad habits that have formed and focusing only on getting the best sound from the off, and working with the room.

learn to hear your room.

listen to the same song (a song that you know very well) daily, in all your environments, with cans, with monitors, learn how it changes and reference that same track while mixing your beats.

acoustics is a science. there's a reason why most of the best mix/mastering engineers are 40+.

awesome, thanks! I'll look into it asap (at work now lol)

what i am working with in the environents aspect, are just some good studio headphones-thats it!

i don't have monitors (yet, getting before the end of 2010). i work on the mpc in combination with my laptop (has FL studio).

thanks again man

You can actually do a lot of good if you learn your headphones very, very well. They don't have to be super high end, but you have to understand how what you hear in them, translates to the outside world.

Learn that one pair thoroughly and you will not need to buy different monitors for every listening situation.

thanks for the feedback man. i usually switch from in ear's to my studio beat making phones..guess i'll stick to the studios..

btw chrishayter, i just got the mixingwithyourmind ebook (153 pages)...i got it from a good friend of mine called, T. Orrent

you just have to keep messing around with your FX and learn your headphones/speakers like stated above.

Personally what i do...i find a song that has similiar sounds in it that my current song has and i listen to it on speakers, my headphones and my car stereo and sometimes even my dvd player. i make multiple copies and add different EQ and play them back on all of them. i determine then what i need to do....knock off some low end, add certain filters, lower volume for certain sounds....then keep narrowing everything down till i get the mix im looking

the more you do this and learn your speakers/headphones....it wont take nearly as long as it does you now to know how much EQ to add and which way/how much to pan certain sounds.


most things in music, if not all, comes with time and hard work.


ALSO...


if your wanting a certain sound to really stand out, thats usually where EQ comes in and if your current bass or percussion doesnt match, maybe you need to find different percussion sounds or a different bass that will "flow" with that certain sound albeit a sample or a background melody.

i've changed drums tons of times in the middle of a song, just so i could get them to match perfectly with my samples/basslines.

wow, thats an interesting standpoint. I'll try it out asap (in the car, home speakers, and phones) and see what needs to be done...

all of your help on this is a good look..thanks fellas

ArloThePro wrote:btw chrishayter, i just got the mixingwithyourmind ebook (153 pages)...i got it from a good friend of mine called, T. Orrent

ahh.... a good friend of mine picked it up for me when he was traveling in Australia. That was about 5/6 years ago; it WAS the only way you could get a copy then.

The car test is classic... its gotta pop on an old stereo. As most people aren't going to listen on a flat response system I have a old 'hi-fi' that i like to check balances on.

A little compression goes a long way for suspect sounds.


Tucking in low lows and high highs is essential... below 60 hz, and above 15-16k


as long as you have a good volume mix of the sounds, try to isolate which tones are problems by muting and unmuting tracks while watching your master fader graphic display.

when you mute a track and the volume on the master sinks or changes its bounce drastically, you will know that is the problem.


Dont try to make your MIX pound.


Try to make your MIX flat.


Then worry about bringing something up if it needs it

Learn your headphones and do A/B's a *lot*...

The problem with mixing on headphones is that you'll tend to make the bass heavier to compensate for the lack of low end bass. On just about anything else this will result in muddy/bass heavy tracks that sound sloppy.

To compensate, you're just going to have to learn how to mix in the bass/highs so that they are okay on the headphones, but not overwhelming on loud speakers.

Personally, for this kind of reason I tend to just work on the rhythm/feel of the track and leave the EQ/mixing stage for when I have access to real speakers. I mean obviously if you need to EQ a BD so you can hear the Bass do that, but expect to have to revisit that tweak again later.

much obliged fellas

NearTao, mp3, The Grublet, chrishayter, DPM, nogginj...HELLA PROPS!

Fung45 wrote:[color=lime]Monitor level - set it and forget it. Alot of engineers make the mistake of turning up their monitors as they mix, this is no good because you change your reference.

Its a good point. The Fletcher and Munson graph is worth a look if you're interested - it shows how the human ear hears frequencies at different decibel levels.

http://www.webervst.com/fm.htm

great info! its funny, i am documenting everything you guys are giving me here

i will try most to all of the methods and see what works best..there goes my weekend

thanks again fellas (chrishayter & fung45 for recent posts)