Mixing tips.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

This may seem like it has nothing to do with ambient......it does not, and yet it has everything to do with getting a good dare say great mix regardless of genre.  Put this through your best monitoring system. The differences cans be subtle.

Just came across it, I really dont know how I found it....still, quite enlightening....enjoy

P.S. This man has serious credentials.

The Top 5 Things To Do Every Mix - Into The Lair #69

Top 10 Mix Mistakes (Part 1) - Into The Lair #54

Into The Lair #38 - Instrument Levels in a Mix

[Castleview]

I just watched all 3 of them and I really enjoyed them. While I'm not a fan of pop music, which is what he clearly works with the most, I definitely respect his abilities and he definitely knows what he's talking about. There are things that I know I can take out of this even as an ambient musician. My favorite piece of advice was when he said to know what's important. I think that right there sums up what mixing should be about.

A good mix won't make a track go from bad to good though. If a guitar doesn't have a good tone for example, mixing is not going to make it sound better. Good mixing of it in that case might make the song as a whole sound a little bit better but sometimes, you might just be better off re-recording something. I know I've re-recorded stuff before just to make sure I got the exact sound or if I decide that I want a different layer in the track instead that works better with everything else that's already there.

[El culto]

Hey Julio,

was curious and started with the 3rd video - i had very hard times to follow the video as these song IMO is just crap and the voice is getting completely on my nerves. For the changes he made…which changes?  I think he should first switch his monitors and get rid of the NS-10 - not being surprised he had such troubles to mix the track (how he can hear low end or even the bass?) OK, he may have a subwoofer, but at last "good to see" those Yamaha´s are there to make it more professional 

"Urban Element" ?     

Sorry, but when I heard this statement, I really had a strong need to stop the whole video immediately.

I do like exploring videos about mixing skills, but this guy just feels like a fool, speaking a LOT but has nothing really to say….best of all was the text message arriving.

Greetings,
Tomas

[Castleview]

Hey Julio,

was curious and started with the 3rd video - i had very hard times to follow the video as these song IMO is just crap and the voice is getting completely on my nerves. For the changes he made…which changes?  I think he should first switch his monitors and get rid of the NS-10 - not being surprised he had such troubles to mix the track (how he can hear low end or even the bass?) OK, he may have a subwoofer, but at last "good to see" those Yamaha´s are there to make it more professional 

"Urban Element" ?     

Sorry, but when I heard this statement, I really had a strong need to stop the whole video immediately.

I do like exploring videos about mixing skills, but this guy just feels like a fool, speaking a LOT but has nothing really to say….best of all was the text message arriving.

Greetings,
Tomas

I thought that song sucked too but it wasn't his music so I don't fault him for that. Some of those things he did say, like you pointed out, were really goofy but I wasn't that surprised by that. I think the other videos were better TBH.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Crap they are Tomas, the songs.....yet I found some interesting perspectives on mixing that I consider on a regular basis that Ive not heard spoken about.  Dont judge a book by its cover as they say 

I loved the bits where he is checking his text messages.....brings the whole message home.

The reason I posted these is because they touch issues that should be considered regardless of musical taste or genre......good mixing skills are essential to understand and have command of as we most often are the musician and the engineer....same person different hats.

I found some things in the videos that I felt were important an worth sharing......there is always room for us to improve are mixing skills, even if this did not do it for you 

[El culto]

Crap they are Tomas, the songs.....yet I found some interesting perspectives on mixing that I consider on a regular basis that Ive not heard spoken about.  Dont judge a book by its cover as they say 

I loved the bits where he is checking his text messages.....brings the whole message home.

The reason I posted these is because they touch issues that should be considered regardless of musical taste or genre......good mixing skills are essential to understand and have command of as we most often are the musician and the engineer....same person different hats.

I found some things in the videos that I felt were important an worth sharing......there is always room for us to improve are mixing skills, even if this did not do it for you 

Hey Julio,

don´t get me wrong…i do like that you always post things in this section! This times it just didn´t worked for me.

I think i have a personal problem with the presentation and general behavior of this guy…it just feel wrong and fake for me and reminds me more of a protools + yamaha advertise (a la "see i have the real professional tools")  . Also, generally speaking I don´t like this "we" talking when it comes to "training videos" as it makes the whole thing ending up in a "hey we are all friends and know each other" party.

I didn´t spend time on the other videos as i can´t cope at all with the music he used. For me just a pain in the ass just to look at it and having this annoying music played in the background. If I hadn´t stopped the video i saw, probably i had thrown my pc out of the window 

On a more serious side…just seeing his screen some meters away (and not knowing exactly what he´s doing) is completely useless….as i said before, he talks, talks and talks….maybe that´s is what he likes most.

Greetings,
Tomas

[ffcal]

Hi Julio,

Like Tomas, I had a tough time getting past that Disney channel music.  At least the embarrassment was tempered by my listening through phones.  I got through the first video and most of the third.  The mixing tips on the third video were almost too subjective for me.  I could hear what balance issue he was raising about the guitar and the lead vocal, but couldn't hear the differences he was attempting to point out with the other instrument combinations.  The whole mix also sounded too compressed to me.  At least for me, mixing for ambient differs quite a bit from what he was doing.  I prefer a more open approach to the overall soundscape.  That scape might eventually build to a sound wall or a crescendo, but the mix ebbs and flows and is rarely a static thing for me.  Because of that, I prefer not to have my instruments "sit in the mix" as they might in a pop song.

The videos are good food for thought, though!  My first reaction to those lava lamps in the background was, "stoner alert!"

Forrest

[Castleview]

I think some compression can be okay in ambient music. I've tried it recently to get one of my really low drones under control and it worked for that. I wouldn't apply it to a whole mix though.

[ffcal]

I think some compression can be okay in ambient music. I've tried it recently to get one of my really low drones under control and it worked for that. I wouldn't apply it to a whole mix though.

That's true.  Subtle compression can help keep a low drone under control, and I think it also can help with lead instruments like guitar or violin, too.

Forrest

[APK]

From Forrest: "My first reaction to those lava lamps in the background was, 'stoner alert!'. "

 

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Must be my early love of all things synth pop because I really have no issues with the music, it is not synth pop but definitely pop and I actually quite liked the music on the second video sort of Seal like.

I think the music serves to illustrate what he is saying...certainly he mixed it so he can talk about it and what he says makes sense, well at least to me.  Delivery is important and if that rubs you the wrong way then you are not going to stay around to hear the message.

Good basic mixing is fundamental to all music genres....granted within ambient this tends to become very abstract and most rules go out the door which is exciting, however the basic principle of getting a good mix still apply and that is what this man is suggesting.  Its like constructing a building...you have to get a solid foundation before you can go up and what you design will express your own architectural inclinations but the building will not stay up long if you screw up the part few people see.

Food for though as Forrest says and I respect that it may not be to everyones taste. 

[petekelly]

Pretty interesting (I can only comment on the 1st vid, as thats the only one I;ve watched). Goes to show there's no immutable 'right' or 'wrong' way to do these things - each to their own.
Regarding his presentation, he does have something of the 'lugubrious' about him.
 
Couple of things @ 3:23, he mentions boosting at 20K - is this for the bats out there ?
A 5:42 I see what looks like a pair of the evil 'beats' heedphones...

I don't diss pop music at all, it's much more complex to do (good pop, that is) than most of it might sound.