Whered you learn to mixdown and ..

[Frodo Bassbins]

Where did you learn to mix a tune down and get it sounding profesional. (if you can do this)

I am tired of writing tunes that sound flat and bland because i know nothin about how to eq / limit / compress correctly. and also have no idea how to mixdown a tune so it sounds professional. IE. every sound is very distinguishable from one another.

I am not talking about choosing profesional sounds to begin with as i know that is something completely different, and something im also looking into. but basically im asking about where you learned the technical side of audio engineering.

im sure ill get alot of the same "just practised and slowly learned over time" but i have been trying to do that myself for about a year now and i havent gotten anywhere. does anyone have an epic source that teaches these things or some truely epic advice that can get me on my way to being able to make profesional sounding tunes.

thanks in advance and sorry if the question was vague.

[hudson]

Man, I'm sorry, but the only answer is "practice". Read everything in the production bible, apply it where it sounds good and just keep going. It might take years. If you haven't gotten anywhere at all, then you're doing something wrong.

[Shum]

Became good friends with the in-house engineers down at a local studio during a recording session I was involved in. Ended up hanging out at the studio loads and just kept my eyes and ears open.

[Shum]

It's also worth mentioning that having "professional sounds" (which I read as quality audio sources) is very much part of a good mixdown.

[TheBassTest]

keep listening. your ears will teach with time

[Kombatant]

Some of the masterclasses, in particular Reso's, have a lot of info about mixdown, there is also a lot of tutorials on YouTube and guides written online. Ozone tutorials are a good place to learn some mastering tips. I also look up a lot of tutorials on the individual elements, compression, limiting, spreading etc. There really is a lot of information out there

[jrisreal]

to get all instruments distinguishable, you gotta make sure they don't conflict and if they do, eq it so that they dont.
for mixing, just listen for any instruments that seem too quiet or too loud and figure out some techniques of your own from there.

[Shum]

keep listening. your ears will teach with time

[makemerich]

where are your mixes so we can offer advice?
i am still learning myself but i learned SOME stuff at recording school, most of it though, on here and books and magazines actually.

id say the biggest killer is write your compositions in contrasting frequency ranges and counter parting rhythms.
also get a frequency analyzer (spectrum analyzer) so you can see where you have a lot of action going on.
then learn to notch filter. another extremely important technique in electronic production is ducking/side chain compression. if do these things your mixes should have a little more life and it wont be like one continuous note of contstant noise, making the song seem flat.
dont forget silence is also a HUGE part of music.

[dubmatters]

http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f ... =moneyshot

I begin my making sure all my levels are correct and each part sits well together. As well as leaving plenty of headroom.

Then use subtractive eqing to get rid of any unwanted frequencies.

Bearing in mind I've been producing on and off for years its taken a long time to get my music to the point where I'm happy with it.

[amphibian]

Where did you learn to mix a tune down and get it sounding profesional. (if you can do this)

I am tired of writing tunes that sound flat and bland because i know nothin about how to eq / limit / compress correctly. and also have no idea how to mixdown a tune so it sounds professional. IE. every sound is very distinguishable from one another.

I am not talking about choosing profesional sounds to begin with as i know that is something completely different, and something im also looking into. but basically im asking about where you learned the technical side of audio engineering.

im sure ill get alot of the same "just practised and slowly learned over time" but i have been trying to do that myself for about a year now and i havent gotten anywhere. does anyone have an epic source that teaches these things or some truely epic advice that can get me on my way to being able to make profesional sounding tunes.

thanks in advance and sorry if the question was vague.

I'm still a newb (less than 1 year experience), and I'm trying to teach myself this now. Best thing to do is practise, and play with EQ by following the basic techniques (add a marker, maximise, find the sweet spot, drop it down to a less audible change). The more you do this the more familiar you'll be with what sounds "right" for your tune.

[+3]

Honestly, Dogs on Acid, lots of engineer interviews in music mags, and years of practice. I spent many years alone / w friends, creeping along with limited results--once I discovered forums and got in the bookstores my production level shot up 300%. Keep reading. Keep asking questions. Keep mixing.

[zerbaman]

Funnily enough, practice, but I think the real improvement was done in the time I went 2 months without producing due to a sound issue, I had been listening to this tune a lot, and I just noticed things differently I guess

[paravrais]

Honestly? I'd say forget everything you ever read on the internet and start *really* listening as you mix and make your decisions based solely off what you think will sound best based on what you can hear. Don't do anything unless you know *exactly* why you're doing it.

[Radiant]

In my bedroom, reading books, listening to music and checking on forums. (Listening to music being the biggest factor by far.)

[zerbaman]

. (Listening to music being the biggest factor by far.)

Sums it up really.

But I rarely mixdown myself tbh, my mum normally does it for me

[societyloser1]

Try to find a copy of the mixing engineer handbook by Bobby Owsinski...
It's really not that hard to understand, not to long & it really improves your mixdowns.
EQ & compression is something you'll learn over the years, but read about it... (http://www.dnbscene.com/article/88-thin ... q-tutorial)

Other usefull links:
http://www.dubstepforum.com/this-thread ... 74832.html
http://tarekith.com/assets/mixdowns.html

& if somebody speaks dutch... pm me, I did my dissertation on mixing, I could send it to you!

[kaiori breathe]

I don't think I ever read anything about it, just slowly learned by trial and error. Still don't really know anything about it, just use my ears.

[+3]

This “just use your ears, trial and error” crap is CRAP.

Read some books. Ask some questions. There are people out here who have already learned what you want to know, and are experienced in it--so use their knowledge. This is the entire basis of Universities and Schooling in general: Learn from books & Teachers. 4 years of complied knowledge is faster than 20 years trying to learn it in a shed. This goes into mixing. You can progress very slowly on your own, or actually spend that time trying to apply things others have already figured out. Applying it won’t be easy. That’s a journey in itself. For instance, becoming a Master at using compression may take years. But that’s fine--so why should it take years in the first place before you know what a Compressor does? You could have simply read that and used all that time figuring out HOW & WHEN to use it.

[hifi]

i learned a lot from macc and just messing about most of the time. i guess i have sort-of below average mixing skills. not quite there yet but i can get my mixes sounding good enough.