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Cubasis/general basic mixing tips? real noob stuff mixing advice don't beat me up please
Hello!
I am trying to get a clean mix in cubasis but I am encountering some classic beginner mixing problems I am hoping my family on the AB forum can coach me through
One initial Cubasis 3 interface question- on an iphone, is there any way to get cubasis to show the peak levels for each channel without having to use an analyser plugin like 4pockets on each channel? Right now in order to get a clear sense of where each channel is peaking I have to slap on an instance of 4pockets Analyser for each channel which is cool, it works, but it's a bit of a drag having to jump between mixer view and plugin view just to check levels + is slightly cpu inefficient
My other question is- any tips for getting the balance right as I am mixing? I keep falling into that classic problem of being deceived by relative volume....let me boost the lead.... cool now the flute sounds quiet let me boost that a little... cool now the secondary piano is a bit quiet.... should probably bring the drums and the bass up a little bit so they can poke through a bit........ wait a minute.......... now everything is starting to clip + sounds flat
What I'm describing seems to me to be a perceptual issue on many fronts, as the volume of one thing is boosted it changes the relative perceptual volume of the other elements- I'm about to do the -18db gain staging move to all of my tracks and start over with all the tracks set to silent and gradually bring them up- but how do I keep them from just escalating up and up and up while balancing everything out?
My track isn't that complicated, bass, 3 pianos set to different ranges, vocals, drums- it's dense but nothing so crazy like a 20 part orchestra------- the reason I bring this up is that my goal here is not to apply some tricky technique so much as it is to learn some quick + efficient techniques/approaches that will allow me to wrangle a track into something that sounds balanced clear and open while maintaining the punch of individual elements
Comments
There's no quick fix. Like with anything, practice and experience are invaluable.
But you've already hit on the best way to start. Turn everything to 0 then starting with drums and bass, bring everything up one channel at a time. Don't turn any single track up too high, you won't want just drums peaking the output or you'll have no headroom for the rest of the mix.
Once you're close to a reasonable mix, save and duplicate the project and try again; Having a backup means you won't tear your hair out when you ruin a mix that was pretty close to what you're after. Try and work out what effect turning one channel on has on the others. When everything is playing, mute channels one at a time and see if the mix is better; Chances are there are tracks competing with each other. Fixing those might mean changing the sound or what you're actually playing. You can't fix everything in the mix. You can also think about EQ so that the sounds complement each other rather than try and compete, but if the tracks are competing too much, you might be better off either changing one of them or removing them entirely. Less is often more.
Also think about placing sounds in the stereo field to separate them and give them space.
Don't expect to get it right first time. Just keep trying over and over and iterate. You'll get there. Don't try and look for a short-cut and don't use any fancy mastering plug-ins until your mix is already 99% there.
Once you've got a mix you're relatively happy with, leave it alone. Come back to it in a couple of days with fresh ears and listen again. Try and work out what is working and what isn't and fix those things one at a time.
Oh, and don't worry about the final volume until the mix sounds right. Whilst you're working on the mix it will almost certainly sound very quiet compared to commercial music. That's absolutely fine. Most commercial tracks are way too loud anyway ;-) You can worry about making a good mix louder once you get a good mix :-)
The level displays/meters in Cubasis is far from optimal (It should show RMS/Peak value for each channel and proper Peak/RMS/LUFS on the master bus too without having to load additional analyzer plug-ins).
It would be a BIG help if the currently blue level meters were 'color gradients' (Green>Yellow>Orange>Red).
This is such a 'no-brainer' I won't even bother tagging LFS in this post.
It's like they have to realize something on their own too.
It's way easier to set the levels with color-coding especially on smaller screens.
I'm back to using Renoise & Logic on my Mac and using the iPad as a 'sound module' when needed...
...but I do keep my iPad and all the apps up-to-date.
This is actually something that could be of use without focusing too much on levels...
...do it by ear to a pink noise reference
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/mixing-pink-noise-reference
Cheers!
Already some great ideas here. I’m not an expert at all. Someone like @Tarekith has much more experience.
1) Do the start from 0, but make sure your monitor volume is loud enough. We often trick ourselves with increasing individual levels when listening at a decent, non exhaustive volume is better.
2) Panning for Left/Right spacing.
3) Reverb (and sometimes volume) for Front/ Back spacing.
4) EQ as last resort.
5) Remove anything that doesn’t add to the mix.
We tend to not notice - there is a mini Mixer channel for each individual track in the Inspector on the left which you can use while viewing the plugin output on the right without having to switch to Mixer.
Thank you- I know this part, I’m more speaking about a channel fader that also shows a numerical value that corresponds to the track peak value
MONO! mix in mono! no joke try it. then when you got levels and eq sounding good in mono - release the stereomix. and be amazed. (mixing and mastering is a nonstop rabbithole, ahole even... stay on the same tools / headphones / apps learn them)
I don’t know much, but I know this... don’t overload with FX, especially compression and reverb, try to have each instrument inhabit its own frequency range with EQ, if necessary, and pay a lot of attention to panning each instrument to an effective place in the sonic landscape. You mention flutes, so it sounds like you are doing one of the more subtle genres of music. Less is more when it comes to acoustic stuff, IMO. Trying to build up a large string or brass section can muddy the mix.
For me it’s all about avoiding the “Mush” factor. If it’s sounding mushy, then I don’t got it right!
No thread on mixing is complete without these ...
hahaha eggbox
+1 M O N O
@wim loollolollo
@wim 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂brilliant!
He reminds me of Superhans from Peep Show
The easiest way to avoid this problem is to use sub groups (obviously this requires Cubasis 3, since v2 doesn't support them). Send all your drums to group one, your bass to group two, and any music to group three. If you're also adding vocals they should have a group as well. Then you're not battling with twenty faders, just three or four. If the whole mix is clipping you can bring the three/four group faders down.
It's infinitely easier to balance a mix if you work like this. In my experience the main issues are with the drums relative to everything else, or the vocals relative to everything else. But with everything sent to a group (or bus, whatever you want to call it) it's much simpler to balance things out.
Agree with @richardyot.
The most important tip I can give: Learn to use your ears and learn to hear what's wrong before touching any knobs. Listen to your favorite music and compare. The more clear an idea you have in mind of what to fix, the easier it is to solve that by doing adjustments.
Good sound doesn't come from the most expensive effects but rather from the knowledge how to use effects. Great mixes can be done with the built-in factory effects as well.
Also, with lots of tracks, you have to we tracks not to sound optimal on their own but optimal in the mix.
You need to be aware how tracks collide/overlap and make adjustments. Otherwise you end up with mud. Sometimes it means making adjustments that are different from what you would do if trying to make an individual track sound best on its own.
There are some good articles and videos that teach this. It is a skill like learning to play an instrument.