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I totally understand the concept of a mix down, just applying that is somewhat more difficult...

For instance, I';m working on a track, there is not a TON going on, but the main issue is, the bass/midrange bass takes up sooooo much room, I can't fit other necessary stuff.

Example: I've got this metallic wobble going on, sort of a cyberoptics/djahsta style thing. I've got a huge fx chain on it, and it sounds pretty close to what I want.

Issue is, the mid range patch itself takes up nearly the whole damn spectrum, aside from a highpass that lets the sub layer come through.

All I've really got to fit in are drums. I've tried sort of, starting with the patch, cutting for the kick, cutting for the snare, and then percussion, but by the end of that the patch is so diminished from what it was before, and even then it still sounds muddy.

Is the trick here just some really clever sidechaining? EQ sidechaining?

Also, say for instance, I wanna cut at 200hz for the snare, would I want to just make an entire notch in the bass sound at 200hz? Or a big dip? a small dip? Or would it make sense to automate an eq to notch 200hz when the snare comes in? What about all the other elements?

I can generally get volume levels to be how I like them, but I feel thats pretty useless and if frequencies are still clashing and giving me an inaccurate representation of the mix.

I know my thoughts here aren't very organized haha, and I KNOW there are a few threads about this stuff but I've read through it all and it's all a lot of ideas not actual techniques/methods...

Working in ableton, using almost entirely built in stuff, I've got LFOtool which I hear you can use to sidechain nicely, but I can't really find an efficient way of doing that.

Turn things down?

You could also just play your bass patch and cut bits from 80 - 150 hz and test where the kick should be and notch anywhere between 230 - 400 where you think a snare or clap might sit. Most of my snares are actually at 240. I like the brightness!

Alternately, you could also just play your bass in a different key. Where the "key frequencies" aren't clashing with the drums. Try playing it 2 or 3 semi tones higher or something. Or lower. See what works.

There's also a whole spectrum of sound outside of the middle. Giving the mid/higher register of the bass some width may save headroom and gives it room for other stuff.

There's more than one road to Rome. If sidechaining is better for you, do it. Personally I prefer more transparent sidechaining (it can be done) over ducking, but if you like the ducking sound then it's a great mixing tool. Though I mostly sidechain to add groove myself

Ideally, when you EQ you only want to cut out frequencies you don't want, or don't need.
You don't need to EQ the shit out of things to fit your drums in, just turn everything down a fit them all in together.

What you could do is sidechain your bass to an EQ, so your kick, snare, clap, whatever, triggers the EQ on the bass.

I think notch filtering? might help. Idk if that's what it's called, but you just use an eq and put a lot of notches out of frequencies so that you are taking away "notches" in the spectrum.

I always have this problem, too.
Interested in replies

turn everything down, bring up the drums, and start again from there.

I'd sidechain the kick frequency, and the snare. Hihats are not that hard to fit, at most a 1db dip at 10k should suffice.

azuk wrote:I'd sidechain the kick frequency, and the snare. Hihats are not that hard to fit, at most a 1db dip at 10k should suffice.

There is a whole thread about people wondering how to do that, please tell us!

bouncingfish wrote:

azuk wrote:I'd sidechain the kick frequency, and the snare. Hihats are not that hard to fit, at most a 1db dip at 10k should suffice.

There is a whole thread about people wondering how to do that, please tell us!

Sidechaining EQ is quite easy. We had a thread about it the other day - use the search.

http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=260793

http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=259001

Sharmaji wrote:turn everything down, bring up the drums, and start again from there.

The simple solution is usually the best one. +1 Sharm

There is a time and situation for all these side chain tricks, but honestly why does every sound in a mix these days have take up 3/4 of the frequency spectrum.

^ Seriously.

mixing down a tune with alot of big, exciting sounds is akin to invading a small nation. If you send in the tanks and bombers and infantry, you've started off well.

If you deploy 10,000 rabbits weilding scalpels... not so much.

(multi-band sidechaining/ .5 db cuts near 200hz that approximate where your snare is/etc/etc/etc = 10,000 rabbits with scalpels)

big things first. then deal w/ the details.

Sharmaji wrote:^ Seriously.

mixing down a tune with alot of big, exciting sounds is akin to invading a small nation. If you send in the tanks and bombers and infantry, you've started off well.

If you deploy 10,000 rabbits weilding scalpels... not so much.

(multi-band sidechaining/ .5 db cuts near 200hz that approximate where your snare is/etc/etc/etc = 10,000 rabbits with scalpels)

big things first. then deal w/ the details.

I agree with this but when I mentioned sidechain EQ I kinda meant more than a .5dB cut

Kind of like asking how to paint like Vermeer