How to speed up the mixing process?
- This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 11 months ago by ,
shrike.
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2020-05-10 at 10:46:19 #146290,
brbParticipantHi!
It’s normal that the drum and bass you write has a lot of tracks that create the atmosphere of the track. Such as fxs, pads, short phrases of voices, amen breaks, different rides in each drop, fills, random toms, crashes, reverse crashes, impacts in the intro, etc. … How do you deal with all these elements when it comes to the mixing stage?
I want to say that cleaning out each sticking out harmonics of each such element, searching for frequencies that are unpleasant to the ear, etc. – It can take a very long time and even more than one day.
Also, the question with the room (space,spread) of such elements haunts me. You can expose each fx in room/space for half a day, or you can just make the whole group of fxs wide … But then it will sound chaotic, because each individual fx already has its own width and differs from the other. And I’m not even talking about compression and saturation in some cases 🙂 Sometimes such a lengthy process is the reason you don’t like your track or it annoys you 🙂
But after all, if you do not deal with each element meticulously, then in the end it will all give out a lot of dirt in the mix.
I would like to know how you handle all these elements?
Meticulously or do not devote much time to this?
Maybe you spend a lot of time on bass and drums, while on the rest of the elements you cut only the low frequencies?
In your opinion, is it worth it to mix fxs, fills, amens or tambourines as carefully as the main bass? Or will the listener not care and he will not notice it?
How much time does it take you to mix your track? -
2020-05-10 at 15:00:22 #146353,DAVIDParticipant
I personally try not to get too caught up in spending ages tweaking every single part of the track, as you say it can end up taking forever and I just get bored/annoyed with the track.
For similar elements that don’t play at the same time (eg. Different fx, sweeps) I use the same channel for multiple sounds to save having to process multiple channels. And I make use of bussing as much as I can.
I’m trying to force myself to strip back my tunes to as few elements as needed, both to save time and because I think the simpler a track can be the better. Majority of my favourite professional tunes out there are pretty simple rather than the crowded, complex ones, but it depends what you’re in to and what you’re aiming for I guess.
Getting the drums, bass & vibe of the track nailed should take most of the time rather than stressing about processing on the less important sounds I reckon
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2020-05-10 at 19:45:41 #146394,shrikeParticipant
There is no mixing phase for me. I mix as I go.
For me, I have found that if I just arrange and then save mixing for later, the end product comes out weaker. Sound selection matters and where it sits in the mix matters. Doesn’t matter if you have the wicked-est riff or lead, if it won’t fit with the rest of the material something is gonna have to give. So I make sure to think about what I am adding and where it will go in the soundstage and freq spectrum as I make.
It’s just easier for me that way, and provides a more coherent final end result.
But everyone is different. This is just where I have landed. For me, the final tune is akin to a painting, and how the paint blends is as important to me as the colors chosen (sounds) or the silhouettes created (arrangement).
And yeah, it held me back from the arrangement part for several years, cuz I would get lost in the tweaking and mixing. But I have focused on it so much that I can now do it in the process of arranging, can get what I want relatively quickly and it doesn’t really bog me down any more.
_-| get to work |-_
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