60 Tips To Help You Get Better Sounding Mixes - Mastering The Mix PDF

60 TIPS TO HELP
YOU GET BETTER

SOUNDING MIXES
© Mastering The Mix 2019 Page 1 of 66

CONTENTS
Introduction 4
Polarity vs Phase Explained 5
Small Home Studio Ideal Monitoring Volume 6
Soft Clippers & Hard Clippers Explained 7
Super-Efficient Progress Tip 8
Mixing For Small Speakers 9
Start Your Mix in Mono 10
How to Get Intimate Ambience in Vocals 11
Skills Audio Engineers Students Need 12
Volume Vs Gain: Loudness Explained 13
How To EQ Vocals 14
3 Ways To Ensure Your Mix Sounds Great 15
Learn From The Pros #1 16
Top 3 Techniques For Mixing Background Vocals 17
What To Listen For When Using Reference Tracks 18
Top 3 Pitch Correction Tools & When To Use Them 19
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Mixing Samples 20
Here’s Why Your Mix Sounds Bad in The Car 21
4 Ways To Achieve a Professional Mix Using Panning 22
How To Create a Great Sounding Track Using EQs 23
How To Choose The Right Microphone For Your Voice 25
Why True Peak Matters 26
The Right Way To Side Chain Audio Signals 27
4 Ways To Make Vocals Clear and Professional 28
How To Master to an Exact True Peak 29
How To Make Your Beats Loud Without Distortion 30
3 Ways to Make Your Kicks and Snares Cut Through The Mix31
Bohemian Rhapsody Structure 32
Mixing Foo Fighters Guitars 33
Compressor Explained: Soft and Hard Knee 34
How To De-es Vocals Properly 36
Frequency Spectrum Division 37

What is 32 Bit Floating 38
Add Tremolo Before Your Reverb For a Unique Space 39
Automate 40
Top-end Balance 41
Open Back Headphones vs Closed Back Headphones 42
How To Set The Perfect Vocal Level in Your Mix 43
Build Your Mix in Mono For a Solid Foundation 44
Stem or Stereo Mastering? 45
Layer Your Synths to Sound More Unique, Not More ‘Full’. 46
Start With the Important Things 47
Try Adding a Dynamic EQ Before Your Reverb to Smooth Out the Sounds 48
Bass Space With Levels 49
What ‘Attack’ Means in a Compressor 50
What ‘Release’ Means in a Compressor 51
What ‘Knee’ Means in an Expander 52
3 Ways To Fix Your Muddy Mix 53
Mastering For Apple Music 54
Use Stereo Width to Reduce Masking 55
Dealing With Rejection 56
Which Compressor Gives A Great Final Glue to Your Mix? 57
What Does the Threshold on an Expander do? 58
What is the Difference Between: FIR and IIR Filters 59
Why Level Matching is so Important 60
The Importance of Creating a Well Balanced Mix 61
What is the difference between: FIR and IIR Filters⠀ 61
What is Harmonic Distortion? 62
How To Set The Perfect Monitoring Levels For Your Home Studio 63
What is Sample Rate? 64
What is Loudness Range? 65

Introduction
Hello!
Thank you for downloading this eBook! I hope you get inspired with some fresh new ideas to
inject into your music productions.
Mastering The Mix’s single driving goal is to help music producers get better sounding mixes.
We do this primarily through free education.
We’ve been posting content on our social media channels daily for over a year now and we
intend to keep the posts coming. If you want to join the 188,000+ producers that are getting
these tips, you can follow us here: https://www.instagram.com/masteringthemix
Some of the posts involve our plugins, which also come with educational guides. You can
download the free trials here.
Enjoy, and get your music sounding better than ever!
Tom Frampton
Director
Mastering The Mix

Polarity Vs Phase Explained
'Changing The Phase' and ‘Reversing The Polarity are terms that are commonly confused by
beginners and pros alike. They do not describe the same process.
The polarity is the signal’s position above or below the median line. Flipping the polarity
inverts the positive readings to negative and vice versa.
Phase is related to the delay or change in time of an audio signal. The phase of a signal,
relative to the starting point, is expressed in degrees. A 90° phase shift, is a quarter of a
wavelength. It follows that a 180° phase shift is a half-wavelength and a 360° phase shift is a full
wavelength.
How is this is applicable in music production? If you were recording a bass guitar DI AND a
bass amp, the DI signal would hit the DAW quicker because the amp takes longer to recreate the
input signal. This can cause the time alignment of audio to be out of phase
In a separate circumstance, if the DI signal was duplicated and one of the signals had its
polarity reversed, the two signals will cancel each other out and you would hear no sound.

Small Home Studio Ideal Monitoring Volume
'We hear frequencies differently at various volume levels. We hear less bass when it's quieter,
and more bass when it's louder. Keep that in mind when mixing and mastering.
85dB SPL is a common suggestion for monitoring level, but this is for larger spaces.
Most home studios are smaller than 142 cubic meters, so 73-76dB SPL C is a more appropriate
target (reference pink noise @ -20dB)

Soft Clippers & Hard Clippers Explained
There are several types of clipping plugins available, many with similar controls and others with
additional features. However, there are two distinct styles of clipping: soft clipping and hard
clipping. These two styles are used to describe how aggressive the waveform peaks are being
clipped and the amount of distortion that occurs.
Soft clipping is less aggressive in that it reduces the peaks gradually rather than cutting them
off by gently transitioning between the unclipped section of the waveform and the clipped
section. Soft clipping begins to reduce the peaks before the threshold level and then
progressively increases its effect as the input level increases so that the threshold is never
exceeded. Soft clipping is less harsh than hard clipping and is known for adding warmer harmonic
distortion. It also provides a smoother, more “musical” sounding distortion that retains more
punch.
Hard clipping introduces a more aggressive distortion effect. It functions like a limiter by
chopping off the peaks at a set threshold rather than smoothly reducing them. Excessive use of
hard clipping creates a harsh distortion that is often unpleasant when pushed to greater amounts.
Hard clipping also provides the highest apparent loudness. However, the heavy distortion is
known to reduce low bass frequencies and punch.

Super-Efficient Progress Tip
Coming back to a session with fresh ears? Want to make fast progress? (You should!)⠀
That first listen when you sit back in your chair is golden, treat it with respect. Listen to your
whole track from start to finish (no pausing) jotting down notes as you go.⠀
You'll get a fresh perspective as well as digesting the track as a whole. Any problems will stick
out (note them down).⠀
You'll now have a to-do list that will iron out the majority of the main issues in your production.
This process is so much faster and more effective and musical than sitting down, listening to the
chorus, pausing, going to the verse etc.⠀
Try repeating that process until your track is done!⠀

Mixing for Small Speakers
Pro Tip: If you choose to use the EQ technique, save the eq setting as a preset so you can
work quicker in future.
To take this technique further, sum your mix bus to mono. This will simulate the experience of
listening on an iPhone or in a grocery store.

Start Your Mix in Mono
Even if you just try this technique once as an exercise, it’s worth doing.
It might change the way you approach mixing. Whatever your workflow entails, having a grasp
of phase issues and how to deal with them gives you a lot more control over the mixing process.

How To Get Intimate Ambience in Vocals
A plugin like Abbey Road Chambers offers lots of small spaces. You can use H-Delay or any
other delay plugin to set up a slap delay to create a subtle atmospheric feel on your vocal tracks.

Skills Audio Engineers Students Need
Take Notes! As an assistant, the lead engineer is going to depend on you to take notes of
settings and organization of the session. Most things have full recall now, but there are still some
parts of a session that may not (like patch bays, and vintage gear) so you should be the one to
take detailed notes of where things are so that you can easily recreate the session when the need
arrives.
Gain staging is a skill you need, especially when digital clipping is so unattractive to the ear.
Knowing how to feed your pre-amps and your recording mechanisms with sufficient signal ratio is
something you want to be sure to understand, but in most recordings, these days signal ratios are
sufficient enough where you don't have to constantly worry about recording "hot". Working with
analog outboard gear (where noise is often added in today's recording) is where this skill comes
in handy most.
Assistants and interns are usually the first people in the room for a session so you want to
always remember how to set up a session, how to get signal from your mics to your board/DAW,
and how to make sure all of your equipment is patched into your session engineer’s
specifications. In turn, you also want to know how to break down a session by yourself, roll cables,
put up the mics correctly, and turn down your monitors before you turn off your amps so you
don’t blowout all or a portion of your monitors.
There will always be problems, so a way to be a big part of a session is to be logical and
efficient while troubleshooting. Knowing how to trace your signal, and find where the problems
are occurring is an often-overlooked skill, but a vital one. If you aren’t getting signal from the
guitar cab in the overdub booth you need to know how to trace your signal flow and determine if
the patching is wrong, if the cables are shorted or if you are bringing in the right channels e.t.c.

Volume Vs Gain: Loudness Explained
The loudness of an instrument AFTER processing doesn’t change the tone of the sound. But
BEFORE processing, it definitely will. This is the concept around distortion. For instance, to distort
a guitar sound, all you have to do is overload the guitar amp with gain because the speakers can't
process the guitar cleanly. causing distortion.
This same technique also applies to your mixes. If the gain of your sounds are too hot, it will
start to distort within your plugins when you begin mixing.
This is you should never underestimate gain staging. It is a very important factor to consider if
you want great mixes!

How to EQ Vocals
If you want the vocals to sound warmer, cut the highs rather than boosting the lows. You
should always cut to make something sound better, and boost to make something sound
different.Then boost later to give your vocal a slightly different character if you want. It’s always
good practice to apply your cuts before compression and your boosts after.
Most voices are centered between 120-250Hz. This means that, in most cases, everything
below 50Hz is rumble and noise. Cut it off if you don't have an extremely low voice.
A wide, gentle boost between 2-6kHz can improve clarity. If your vocal recording sounds
muffled or a bit too warm, try applying a wide boost of 2-3dB between 2kHz and 6kHz.
Remember to boost after compression. On the flip side, if the vocals sound harsh, try reducing
these frequencies.
Most instruments are centered around 250-350Hz, If there are vocal tracks in the mix, it would
cause buildup in these frequencies.Try a cut of 3-5dB around 300Hz. But be careful, this will only
work on vocals that already sound full. If the vocal sounds thin, cutting around 300Hz will only
make it sound worse! If you have a muddy mix but the vocals can’t afford to lose anything around
300Hz, cut the other instruments around this frequency instead.
Learn more about mixing vocals here: https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/mixing-

vocals

3 Ways to Ensure Your Mix Sounds Great
1. The main problem is in the room itself. Treating a room is not extremely expensive. Simply
placing effective sound absorption at key reflection points will make a significant difference in the
accuracy of your monitoring.
2. In addition to your primary monitors, get a set of reference speakers. This could really be
anything — big speakers that bring out the lows, small speakers that emphasize midrange, or
even headphones. The idea here is to have a secondary listening system that changes your
perspective.
3. Listening to records you like the balance of and taking note of what’s emphasised and
what’s deficient should clue you in on your own system. Switching between how your mixes
sound on your system versus how they sound over at a friend’s system and in the car can also be
illuminating. Being consciously aware of how your system is skewing the sound will help you
adjust accordingly.

Learn From the Pros #1
"A big mistake new audio engineers make is thinking this job is easy. Just because you
look at
tutorials and tips online doesn't mean you are a professional.
It's like playing Call of Duty and assuming you have all it takes to go to war. You have to
practice! Dedicate your time and effort into mastering your craft".
- Wavy Wayne

Top 3 Techniques for Mixing Background Vocals
1. When a vocal track is intended to be a layer of the lead vocal track (like a double or simple
parallel harmony), the layered effect is more easily achieved without stereo separation. Try
limiting the bandwidth of the background vocal track(s) with high-pass filtering, or limiting the
articulation dynamics of the background vocal track(s) with de-essing (even if there aren't too
sibilant)
2. The goal with this type of background vocal technique is to create a stereo instrument that
is clearly distinguished from the centered lead vocal content. Try a static 80-110ms slap-back
delay panned left to provide symmetry for the right-panned background vocal elements. Be sure
to vary the delay time for the complementary right-panned delay by at least 10%.
3. The objective is to get a group of individual audio tracks to behave as a single instrument.
Group processing is a simple and effective way to achieve this. For Instance, A stereo-linked
compressor across a background vocal subgroup will help create both dynamic and tonal
homogeny within the group. Processing the constituent tracks individually can’t provide the same
effect.

What To Listen for When Using Reference Tracks
For a deep understanding of how to use reference tracks check this out: https://
www.masteringthemix.com/products/reference

Top 3 Pitch Correction Tools & When To Use Them
1. Antares Autotune: If you know how to identify pitch and scale, you can make autotune work
for you when mixing. Set the retune speed to the fastest possible value, and set the tracking to
“choosy” and you’ve instantly got a recognizable, “hyper tuned” effect.
2. Celemony Melodyne: Melodyne is a magical piece of software. Use it to correct the pitch of
a vocal performance without making it sound like it has been tuned. You can do some creative
things with Melodyne, but it works best for subtle massaging of vocal performances.
3. Soundtoys Little AlterBoy: Use Little AlterBoy for hard-tuning effects, and take advantage of
the formant, drive and different modes to achieve different flavors, depending on what the vocal
needs. It is one of the most fun, creative and versatile plugins for mixing and tuning vocals.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Mixing Samples
A common mistake with using pre-processed samples is choosing one with reverb and delay.
In some cases, it’s possible to reduce the delay and reverb effect by using a noise gate of your
choice, but it’s difficult to completely remove this type of processing from a sample. Just avoid it

Here’s Why Your Mix Sounds Bad in the Car
Your mix won't translate until you’re familiar with your room, your room is treated, and you
know your monitors well. Do NOT attempt to purchase expensive monitors before putting up
any treatment in your studio. Room treatment is ALWAYS more important than expensive
monitors. If you aren’t hearing your expensive speakers properly, there is no point in having
them.
Read more here: https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/why-does-my-mix-sound-like-

trash-in-my-car

4 Ways To Achieve a Professional Mix Using Panning
The center of your stereo image needs to be your core. The best way to give your mix a solid
core is to keep lower frequency sounds in the center. That means kicks, basses and anything else
below the 120hz range.
Automated panning will let certain sounds move across the stereo spectrum through out your
track. This is great for music layering and getting sound with more movement because the
implied space that panning automation creates highlights all the width you’ve created in your
mix.
Hard panning is a good place to start when you want a wide mix. Try some hard-pans to give
your mix instant space and room to breathe. But once you understand where everything is sitting,
you can experiment with the other space.
Check your pans on headphones. Monitors will give you an idea of how your pans are sitting.
But any sound in an open room will leak into both ears. Get a sense of where each part is and try
to see your mix as an entire sonic image.

How To Create a Great Sounding Track Using EQs
Instruments that have a higher fundamental, will also contain information in the lower
frequencies as well. The lower frequencies that these sounds contain may be muddying up your
lows. Performing a simple high pass will give your bass sounds more room to punch. Instead of
performing specific cuts or boosts, use the high and low pass filters will remove unneeded
frequencies on a broader scale.
When you want to find problems that exist within a track in your mix, EQ sweeps is the
solution. When you are applying this technique, Make sure you stay focused on the problem
you’re trying to cut. Boosting the gain in any area will make parts sound less than ideal. Don’t cut
everything that sounds bad automatically. Stick to pinpointing one specific fix at a time.
Keep your bandwidth narrow for cuts. Remember that a cut is removing information from your
audio, so the wider your bandwidth (Q), the more character you’re removing from a sound. Only
cut what you need to. As a rule of thumb try to keep your cuts no more drastic than 3dB.
Anything more can be a little heavy-handed. But, as always, there are no real 'rules' and it’s
always the taster’s choice.
Try wide bandwidths for boosts. Boosting with a narrow bandwidth can make frequencies stick
out like a sore thumb in the mix. A wider bandwidth (Q) helps to make your boosts a bit more
natural to the ear.

“As an audio engineer, always remember that the artist’s vision is the first priority. Don’t let
your ego get you to the point where you don’t want your name on a track because it wasn’t
mixed the way you wanted.”
- Lu Diaz

How To Choose the Right Microphone for Your Voice
Matching a microphone to your voice is a great place to start. Your microphone choice affects
the way your voice sounds. They add color to their input signals. Find the right mic that fits and
complements your voice.

Why True Peak Matters
The true peak reading shows the peak of an audio’s waveform as it will be heard through
speakers.
When monitoring the peak of audio, most people use the output meter in their digital audio
workstation (DAW). In most DAWs, this is a ‘sample peak programme meter’ and only shows you
the maximum sample peak value. However, when any digital audio file is played through analog
speakers, a conversion takes place that often increases the peak.
During this digital to analog conversion, the stepped digital audio samples are rounded off to
give us a natural listening experience. Consumer speakers as found in laptops and cheap earbuds
can’t handle peaks close to 0dB well and the conversion causes clipping. This can give the audio
a distorted sound.
The best practice to avoid this is to master music to a maximum peak of -1dBTP. This gives
plenty of room for conversions that happen before the music reaches its audience.

The Right Way To Side Chain Audio Signals
If you are tweaking the ADSR knobs and you cannot hear a significant difference, check to see
that you have turned down the threshold. Listen to how the sidechain reduction would affect the
bounce of the song.
Remember, less is more! When turning up the threshold knob, let the applied effect be subtle
enough for it to make a difference. Too much dynamics would destroy the stability of the mix

4 Ways to Make Vocals Clear and Professional
1. For a modern sound, the dynamics of vocals need to be consistent. Every word and syllable
should be at roughly the same level (allowing for human expression). Use automation to manually
level out the vocal before compression.
2. Your lead vocals need to be upfront and in-your-face. Applying reverb to the vocal can push
the vocal further back in the mix. Instead, use a stereo slapback delay to create a space around
the vocal and add some stereo width. Use low feedback (0-10%) and slightly different times on
the left and right sides. Delay times between 50-200ms work great.
3. Sometimes EQ alone isn’t enough to enhance the top-end. By applying light saturation, you
can create new harmonics and add more excitement.
4. If you’re recording in a room that’s less than ideal, room resonances can quickly build up.
Find these resonances using the boost-and-sweep technique and then remove them with a
narrow cut.

How to Master to an Exact True Peak
There is a relationship between LU (loudness units) and dB (decibels) that gives an easy
formula to help you hit your target levels with precision. To put it simply, 1 LU = 1 dB. So if your
master has a reading of -12.3 LUFS int (integrated), and your target is -14 LUFS int, then you
would need to reduce the gain of the master by the difference, so 1.7dB (-12.3 + -1.7 = -14). I
would recommend reducing a plugin on your master chain that increases gain by this amount (1.7
in this case), such as the gain on your limiter. If your master was too quiet with a reading of -20.1
LUFS int, you would need to increase the gain by 6.1dB to hit -14LUFS int.
Note: The LUFS:dB relationship becomes less consistent as the loudness increases. A 1dB gain
increase of a track measuring -7 LUFS int might give you an increase of around 0.5 LUFS Int. At
this loudness, the limiter reacts less transparently to the audio.
It’s not always necessary to hit your targets with this kind of precision, but knowing the formula
gives you a greater mastery over your music and may help you be more efficient in the studio.
Learn more: https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/how-to-master-music-to-get-an-

exact-true-peak-and-lufs-reading

How To Make Your Beats Loud Without Distortion
If the beats you upload online are not as loud as your competition, gain staging might be your
problem. You make beats louder by keeping the levels well balanced and moderate when you
mix.

3 Ways To Make Your Kicks and Snares Cut Through the
Mix
In a lot of the songs produced by the pros that you hear, the drums just cut through the mix.
This is because they use Transient Shaping & Sidechaining to make sounds compliment each
other. It is an art, and like all art, there are a few things you need to understand if you want to
apply this technique in your project.
If you choose to use compressors for sidechaining, turn the threshold down. This is extreme
but important. Next, figure out how much attack and release you need first, then readjust the
threshold to taste.

Bohemian Rhapsody Structure
The instrumentation remains consistent with Queens classic line up, Freddie Mercury singing
and playing piano, Brian May on guitar and backing vocals, John Deacon on Bass, and Roger
Taylor on drums and backing vocals. While the guitar has over-dubs and doubled parts to give
the song a thicker sound, it’s the rich vocal harmonies that provide the sense of an epic and grand
arrangement. ⠀
Below we can see where the different instruments enter the mix to create different sonic
textures for each passage. Notice the sparse instrumentation of the intro and outro and the dense
arrangement during the guitar solo and rock section.⠀
⠀
Creating a single cohesive piece of music out of dramatically different melodies and tempos
points to influences from the symphonies of Beethoven and the operas of Mozart. Mercury said in
an interview in 1985, "It was basically three songs that I wanted to put out and I just put the three
together.” ⠀
The transitions are masterful and seamless, keeping the flow of the music through intelligent
use of dynamic performance. For example, the ballad builds it’s intensity as it gets closer to the
guitar solo. The guitar solo stops abruptly to introduce the opera which is in keeping with the
dynamic changes of that section. The opera becomes denser as it approaches the rock section,
and the tom fill helps connect the two. The rock section gradually winds down as it transitions
into the peaceful and sparse outro. Making the transitions flow musically from one section to
another helps the sequence and continuity of the song.

Mixing Foo Fighters Guitars
1. The first stage in getting the guitars to work is to make sure the guitars have slightly
different tones. Dave Grohl’s guitar tone is slightly more distorted and has a touch more weight in
the low-end in comparisons with Chris Shiflett’s. ⠀
2. Mixer Rich Costey also applied a different EQ to each guitar to help improve the separation.
⠀
3. Costey automated gain boosts to the channels when there were melodies that needed to
be featured.⠀
4. He panned the rhythm guitars hard left and right and the melodic guitars slightly inside
them.⠀
Costey used two Urei 1176 compressors on Grohl’s guitar channels, to pump the sound up and
give them a more aggressive vibe while barely compressing. He used the Gates Sta-Level
compressor on the clean guitar during the intro, with quite a lot of compression and a very slow
recovery, plus a 33609 with a very short recovery time on Chris' rhythm guitars. ⠀
He EQed the octave guitars in the final chorus with an API 550a in addition to his console EQ
to help them cut through the plethora of other guitar channels already in the mix at that point.
Costey tends not to compress distorted guitars very much as he feels it can make the tone of a
record overcooked, though he’s ready to break his own rules when if the song calls for it.⠀

Compressor Explained: Soft and Hard Knee
In normal or hard knee compression when the signal reaches the threshold the unit
immediately begins to compress at whatever ratio is set. In some situations, the compression
becomes very easy to hear (which is often not desirable) as the signal amplitude moves above
and below the threshold. This is usually made worse when using high compression ratios.
The solution is to have the compressor gradually enter into compression at a lower ratio
before the signal reaching the threshold. The ratio is gradually ramped up as the signal gets
louder until, at some point beyond the threshold, the full compression ratio is reached. This
slower onset often makes the compression much more difficult to detect.
The process is called “soft knee” because of how the compression ratio looks when plotted on
a graph. In normal compression, the knee (which is the point where compression begins) is an
abrupt angle (how steep depends on the ratio) whereas in the soft knee it is more of a curve.

“About 80% of my time mixing, I listen with one Auratone speaker, so yes, in mono! Dre
always told me that if I could get something to sound amazing on crappy speakers, it’ll sound
brilliant on normal speakers. So I try to get a great mix on the Auratone, and then I’ll go to the
NS10s”
- MixedByAli

How to De-Es Vocals Properly
The detector is where you choose the frequency that triggers the de-esser to engage, while
the suppressor determines which frequency is being ducked.
As a general rule of thumb, setting the detector and suppressor to the same frequency is fine.
You want to find the frequency that makes sibilance the most noticeable and set your detector
and suppressor there.
The monitor allows you to solo the frequencies you’re attenuating. In Logic, you can solo the
detector, suppressor, or sensitivity.
Strength is where you decide how much you want to attenuate the sibilants. As you listen to
your looped section, gradually increase the strength. At some point, the sibilants will be too
suppressed and the vocalist will start to sound like they have a lisp. Once you’ve found that spot,
you’ll want to decrease the strength a little bit

Frequency Spectrum Division
The reason this image is important for producers has more to do with balance than frequency.
Having a professional mix begins with great sound selection. If your sounds have more high-
end and are lacking low end, that track would sound dull and uninviting to the ear. If you have
sounds with too much low-end, the mix would sound muddy. No mid-range sounds? The mix
starts to feel empty and lifeless.
Master the art of balance, and your music will sound professional.

What Is 32 Bit Floating
Most experienced engineers don’t need to worry about headroom as they probably already
know how to make sure levels are never clipping when they aren‘t supposed to be.
It is best to work in 32-bit floating all the way through until mastering to avoid any unnecessary
conversion artifacts. Once the project is mastered, you can have the mastering engineer convert
your audio file to whatever sample and bitrate you need.

Add Tremolo Before Your Reverb for a Unique Space
Experiment with modulation and panning plugins before and after your reverbs to create
super-unique spaces.polarity reversed, the two signals will cancel each other out and you would
hear no sound.

Automate
A mixing console, whether it’s an analog desk or a window inside your DAW, is your
instrument. Riding or automating the faders is where your creativity shines through as an
engineer. This is the human element that gives an otherwise electronic process an organic
infusion of personal touch.
It also plays a functional role in highlighting channels that might otherwise get lost in the mix.
If there’s a guitar lick or tom fill that should shine through at a certain point to add value to the
song, then the faders should increase during those moments.

Top-End Balance
Understanding whether you need to compress, expand, increase, or decrease your top-end is
crucial to avoid a harsh or dull mix.
Listen to the high-frequencies of your music and determine if they have the following
characteristics (you can use a level matched reference track to help you tune your ears to what
the right sound should be).
DULL / HARSH / LIFELESS / TOO PUNCHY
The above characteristics all have negative effects on your sound and require changes. Below
are the solutions to the issues.
Issue= DULL | Solution=BOOST

Issue= HARSH | Solution=CUT
Issue= LIFELESS | Solution=EXPAND
Issue= TOO PUNCHY | Solution=COMPRESS

Open Back Headphones Vs Closed Back Headphones
Whats the difference between 'Open Back' and 'Closed Back' Headphones?
Open back headphones allow air to pass through their ear cups to the speaker element. This
means that pressure can’t build up and affect your sound, and there aren’t little echoes inside
your headphones.
What are closed back headphones?
Closed back headphones are headphones that are completely sealed around the back, only
allowing sound out where it can reach your ear. This means that while your music may not be as
natural-sounding as it would on an open backed set of headphones, closed back headphones will
block out a lot more outside noise.
I use closed back headphones for recording, and open back headphones for mixing and
mastering.

How To Set the Perfect Vocal Level in Your Mix
1. Fire Up REFERENCE followed by LEVELS on your Master Channel. (Free Trial available from
the link in our bio).
2. Hit 'Mono' in LEVELS, then use REFERENCE to jump between your track and a reference
track using the level match feature for a fair comparison.
3. Adjust your vocal to match the loudness of how the vocal sounds in the reference track.

Build Your Mix in Mono for a Solid Foundation
Building your mix in Mono forces you to carve out proper space for each element in the mix.
When everything is in mono the congestion and masking is more obvious, helping you deal with
it more effectively. ⠀
Once your mix is working in mono, THEN start panning and widening the mix. ⠀
This workflow will result in great sounding mix with each channel having incredible clarity and
space in the mix.⠀

Stem or Stereo Mastering?
Do you prefer to stem master, or stereo master?⠀
There are two types of widely accepted mastering practices. The first is stereo mastering. This
is where the audio engineer enhances and prepares just one single audio file for commercial
release.
The second is stem mastering. Stem mastering gives the audio engineer a greater amount of
control over the master as the sounds are separated into groups of similar sounds. This allows the
engineer to make discreet changes to individual sounds within the mix as well as applying the
standard processing of stereo mastering.
The goal of both are to get the music sounding as high quality as possible.

Layer Your Synths to Sound More Unique, Not More
‘Full’.
Don't layer only to bulk out the sound. Layering is about creating a unique sound that
captured the listeners attention.⠀
Try layering 3 or more sounds to make one chord with the idea of making it sound 'unique'
rather than 'huge'.⠀

Start With the Important Things
A track needs to start with foundational elements. If making a dance track, it’s unwise to spend
time thinking about the mixdown before a foundational groove is laid down. Likewise, if a
melodic track is being made, focusing on sound design and complex production tasks is nothing
more than a form of procrastination.⠀
It's not that you MUST focus on composition and ignore sound design while doing it. Or that
you MUST do all your mixing after composition, sound design and production choices. It's about
knowing that great foundations lead to a better final result with less trouble along the way.⠀
Also consider that jumping between creative tasks and logical tasks means that our brain is
continually having to stop, switch and regain momentum, only to have to suddenly reconfigure
and restart the process again.

Try Adding a Dynamic EQ Before Your Reverb to Smooth
out the Sounds
A harsh channel can lead to a harsh sounding EQ. Controlling the over-powering frequencies
before the audio hits the reverb can dramatically change the tone and feel of your whole mix.

Bass Space With Levels
BASS SPACE identifies if any channels within your mix are outputting unwanted low
frequencies.
⠀
For your kick and bass elements to sound powerful and clear, they need as much space as
possible. To use BASS SPACE first mute your kick and bass elements within your DAW. The
frequency bars in the central display area will give you a reading at 40Hz, 80Hz 120Hz and 160Hz.
They will jump into the upper red half of the circle if there is too much low-end energy. If this is
the case you need to identify which channels are outputting the excess low frequencies. Mute the
individual channels one at a time until the bars drop into the green to find the culprit and then
use a high pass filter to clean up this excess low-end rumble to maximise the clarity and power of
your track. Be careful to not remove the material you actually want to hear in your mix.⠀

What ‘Attack’ Means in a Compressor
Attack is the amount of time it takes the compressor to react to the incoming signal. If the
attack is immediate or super fast, the compressor will catch the transients of your audio material.
This can be really useful for when the transients sound a bit sharp. You can use a compressor
to make the transient feel a bit blunter, and therefore a bit thicker.
If you want to add some leveling to your audio but you want to leave the sharpness of the
transients intact, go for a slower attack time.
Learn more here: https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/how-to-use-compressors-

when-mixing-music

What ‘Release’ Means in a Compressor
Release is the amount of time it takes for the compressor to return to a non-compressing state.
A fast release will mean the compressor will stop compressing quickly after the audio is no
longer over the threshold.
A slow release will mean it takes longer for the compressor to stop working once the audio is
no longer surpassing the threshold.
I like to set the release to work rhythmically with the audio that’s being fed into the
compressor. For example, If I’m compressing a kick, I will set the release to just long enough that
the compressor returns to a neutral state before the audio re-triggers the compressor again.
For a more obvious and pumping sound, you might choose to go for a longer release.
Learn more here: https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/how-to-use-compressors-

when-mixing-music

What ‘Knee’ Means in an Expander
What is the knee on an expander and how does it affect your audio?
A soft knee means the expansion will be applied gradually as the signal approaches the
threshold. Hard knee means the expansion will be applied quickly as soon as the audio surpasses
the threshold.
It's not binary and you can drift between a hard and soft knee to get the expansion reacting
differently to your threshold.
Focussing on getting a musical sounding knee is a small step you can take to getting your
mixes and masters sounding more professional.

3 Ways to Fix Your Muddy Mix
Having too much mono energy will overload the compressors/limiters, especially if a lot of
those sounds are stereo and don't necessarily need to be right in the center.
When you are blending the bass and kick, be sure to use a narrow Q to cut frequencies.
Experiment by side-chaining your reverbs to the kick so the kick can punch through.

Mastering for Apple Music
Apple transcodes the lossless file given to them to AAC (advanced audio codec) at 256kbps.
During this transcoding process, the peak of the audio will almost always increase. If you’ve
mastered to 0dB using the peak programme meter found on the master channel in your DAW,
then your music will be digitally distorting when it’s streamed by Apple Music.
You need to leave around -1dBTP (decibels True Peak) of headroom to anticipate this
transcoding process. This SUPER SIMPLE step will mean that your music isn’t distorting when it’s
reaching listeners. Check out the 15 day free trial of our plugin LEVELS which has a highly
accurate true peak meter… 16x oversampling for you nerds. Hit the ‘MFiT [Mastered For iTunes]
preset and check your last master to see if it had this issue.
Lear more here: https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/producing-music-for-apple-

music

Use Stereo Width To Reduce Masking
Masking is when one sound in your mix conflicts with another in a way that impairs it's clarity.
This can be constructive or destructive. When it negatively affects your mix you might want to
make dynamic, frequency or stereo positioning changes to improve the clarity of the conflicting
channels.
One effective way to reduce the conflict is to adjust the stereo width of the channels so they
aren't occupying the same stereo position.

Dealing With Rejection
Even platinum selling artists receive rejection. There are countless stories of how artists faced a
long struggle to get to where they are. Their grit and determination were fundamental for their
success.⠀
Rejection, false promises and disappointment are all part of the journey. To overcome
adversity we must learn from our failures and try again with an improved perspective.⠀
The greatest songwriters may have one hit for every one hundred songs they write. Don't be
disheartened if your writing standard fluctuates. Listen objectively to your music and be brutally
honest with yourself. Is this track an excellent display of my musical talents? Could this open new
doors for me? Would the songwriting and production impress my favourite artists? If the answer
to any of those questions is no, then get back to the drawing board and work hard on whatever
you need to improve.⠀

Which Compressor Gives a Great Final Glue to Your Mix?
The G series Bus Compressor is an audio production legend….
It is the secret behind countless classic recordings. It is a simple unit with a simple purpose; it
makes complete mixes sound bigger, with more power, punch and drive. It brings cohesion and
strength to your mix without compromising clarity.

What Does the Threshold on an Expander Do?
Ratio sets the rate of gain increase. The higher the ratio the more extreme the upward
expansion.
When the ratio is 1:𝑥 for every 1dB of signal over the threshold, the expander will increase the
signal by 𝑥dB. So when the ration is 1:2, and the signal is 1dB over the threshold, the expander
will increase this to 2dB. So 2dB over the threshold becomes 4dB, 3dB becomes 6dB etc.
To give you a ballpark idea, 1:1 is no expansion, 1:2 is light expansion, 1:3 is moderate, 1:4 will
be substantial.

What Is the Difference Between: FIR and IIR Filters
Digital filters are limited in that they can only operate on the current sample, past samples or
past output samples and then just add multiples of these samples together as a new output
sample.⠀
If we just add current and past samples then this is known as a finite impulse response or FIR
filter.⠀
If we use the output samples, that is the output of the filter is fed back into the input, then we
call these infinite impulse response filters or IIR filters.

Why Level Matching Is So Important
The human ear is easily fooled into believing that louder songs have a fuller low-end and more
clarity in the high frequencies.
You can try this for yourself; listen to the same song at different volumes and you’ll get the
feeling that the bass and clarity is improved with an increase in volume. This is just an effect and
the true tonal balance is unchanged by volume adjustments.
When working with audio, this is an incredibly important factor to consider. If you have a
reference track that has a super-loud integrated loudness measurement of -6 LUFS, and you
compare it to your unmastered mix measuring -20 LUFS, it would be a totally unfair comparison.
The loud reference would sound amazing and your mix would sound a bit pathetic.
With our plugin REFERENCE you can immediately level match all the audio files in your project
so your comparisons are fair and objective.

The Importance of Creating a Well Balanced Mix
One of the most challenging aspects of music production is mixing a track to sound well
balanced across the frequency spectrum.
Having your high-frequencies too loud in the mix will make your track sound harsh.
Too much energy in the mid and low-frequencies will make your track sound muddy.
Having too little energy in these frequency ranges is equally as problematic.
What Is the Difference Between: FIR and IIR Filters⠀
Digital filters are limited in tha
Learn more: https://reverb.com/uk/news/how-to-bring-tonal-balance-to-your-mixes

What Is Harmonic Distortion?
The harmonic content of a signal is what gives a sound it’s timbre. This is what makes strings
sound different from a flute. Harmonic distortion adds new harmonics that are musically related to
the input signal. This introduction of new harmonics changes the character and timbre of the
sound, often resulting in a richer and more charismatic tone.
To illustrate this, see how our harmonic distortion plugin IGNITE (A module in our plugin
ANIMATE) introduces upper harmonics to a simple sine wave.
IGNITE introduces odd-order harmonics which are known for enhancing the grit, and adding a
rough edge to audio. This can be compared to the sound of analog tape saturation, which more
often than not introduces odd-order harmonics giving the sound added depth and richness.
Listeners are drawn to these complex and interesting timbres as opposed to simple and basic
sounds. It adds excitement and clarity to audio giving them more sonic information to digest.

How To Set the Perfect Monitoring Levels for Your Home
Studio
1. You first need to decide what digital level you want to mix to. If You’re mastering audio for
streaming platforms you might calibrate to around -14LUFS. If you’re making club music you
might choose a figure closer to -9LUFS.
2. Now you’ll need a pink noise file for the calibration. The pink noise file should match the
level you chose in step 1. The pink noise produces an equal amount of noise across the frequency
spectrum. If you have an untreated room, you can restrict the pink noise to 500Hz-2kHz to
minimize low-frequency standing waves or reflections. Open up a test oscillator in your DAW and
select the pink noise setting. You can use LEVELS to adjust the pink noise to the ideal LUFS value
of your future music projects.
3. An SPL meter is now needed to measure the acoustic sound-pressure level produced by
your monitors. You’ll need an SPL meter with a C-weighted filter option, which is flatter than the
A-weighted response which is commonly used for general measurements. The SPL meter will also
need a ‘slow’ or ‘averaging’ mode. Some phone apps can also be surprisingly accurate.
4. Now you need to work out at what volume you want to listen to your audio in your studio.
Most home studios are smaller than 142 cubic meters, so 73-76dB SPL C is a more appropriate
target.
5. Now we bring everything together, play the pink noise file and adjust the monitors to match
the ideal reference level for your studio. Let’s say you wanted to master audio to -14 LUFS and
you had a small home studio between 42 and 142 m³. You would want the -14 LUFS pink noise
file to sit at around 76dB SPL (C).

What Is Sample Rate?
The sample rate, in a nutshell, is the number of samples per second in a piece of audio. It is
measured in Hertz (Hz) or Kilohertz (kHz). Bit depth, in a nutshell, relates to the dynamic range in
audio. In slightly more detail, the bit depth is the number of ‘bits’ of information in every single
sample. The more bits, the more dynamic range. A CD will host 16 bit audio. Whereas iTunes and
DVD audio supports up to 24 bits which can accommodate a larger dynamic range.
Learn more: https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/113159685-sample-rates-and-bit-

depth-in-a-nutshell

What Is Loudness Range?
Loudness Range [Measured in LU (loudness Units)] will tell you the statistical measure of
loudness variation of your entire track. This long-term reading will give you an idea of the
difference in volume between the verse, chorus and other sections of your track.
As a general rule, I would recommend aiming for a Loudness Range above 5 LU if you wanted
to create a track with tension, release and an epic chorus that explodes out of the verse. But this
suggestion can be taken with a pinch of salt! If you’re aiming to create a track with a consistent
energy throughout then, of course, you would end up with a lower loudness range.
Loudness Range isn’t like true peaks where most people can agree that clipping doesn’t sound
good. Loudness range is subjective and totally depends on the material you’re working on.
Understanding what loudness range means can help you achieve your musical goals. For
example, if you felt your chorus didn’t give the track enough of a lift, and your loudness range
was a low reading, that might encourage you to add some automation to create a more dramatic
dynamic difference. On the other hand, if you were looking to create a track with a relentless
drive, or any other constant vibe, but your loudness range was over 5 LU, you might have missed
the mark. You can use our plugin LEVELS to monitor your loudness range in real time in your
DAW.

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60 TIPS TO HELP

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Enjoy, and get your music sounding better than ever!

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Try repeating that process until your track is done!⠀

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DULL / HARSH / LIFELESS / TOO PUNCHY

Issue= DULL | Solution=BOOST

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What are closed back headphones?

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Do you prefer to stem master, or stereo master?⠀

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Learn more here: https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/how-to-use-compressors-