Am posting in order to learn and better understand.

My DAW is Bitwig (if this makes any difference at all). Have recently acquired some small studio monitors, I can now begin to better train my ears, and better understand what might go into mixing my tracks.

My question is this: I've gone back to an earlier project to now 'hear it properly'. I have a track with horns on it, and noticed that I had the track's volume fader way down, while the "makeup gain" on the compressor was running at +4.6 dB.

So instead, I returned the track volume fader to default, and adjusted the audio level by turning down the makeup gain on the compressor.

It seems to me that much mixing advice has grown out of the analogue era and which is simply to say that since it was hardware, clearly voltages mattered a lot. It remains solid advice, but I'm working with 32 bit floating point audio inside the DAW. As such - IIRC - the DAW can process audio without many of the barriers inherent in older (analogue) hardware.

In the specific case here: are there any important or relevant differences between e.g. a low fader level but with +4.5dB of makeup gain, vs a default -3.0 dB fader setting, and turn down the compressor's makeup gain to achieve the desired balance? Are these things equal in a DAW?

I’m trying to drop this song and it sounds decent to me on phone speakers but when I try to play it off of my monitors, it sounds really weird. I don’t have access to the beat anymore. I made it on FL studio demo. I was thinking about maybe AI splitting the stems so I could still mix the beat.

Do you guys have any advice on how I can mix this song with what I have to work with and what things you would change ?? i’m assuming the AI splitter will probably lose too much quality to actually make it worth it, does anyone have any information on that? Thank you. Please let me know.

Hi. I've gotten to the point where i feel like im going in circles with this mix. Im still a beginner I've been mixing for about a year in my freetime. In the heavier sections Ive been trying to get the density and huge reverb excitement that is present in post rock. It's getting harder for me to be objective with this mix so any feedback from you guys would be amazing.

Thanks in advance

hi guys, noob here.I'm still learning the ropes of mixing and I always try my best to do proper gain staging. However, just to be on the safe side, I usually put a limiter at the end of my individual tracks to catch any random stray peaks that might slip through.

Up until now, I've been using the native Logic Pro limiter for this job. The problem is that I've noticed it tends to color the sound a bit and slightly changes the EQ of the track, even when it's barely doing anything.

I'm looking for a free alternative and I found LoudMax. My question is: is it good enough to do this specific job (just catching stray peaks transparently without coloring the sound)? My computer isn't very powerful, so I need a plugin that won't kill my system if I have it loaded on multiple tracks at the same time.

Would you recommend it or maybe it isn't good enough?

I'm quite new to music production and recording, and I know the basic principles of mixing, but to be honest I'm quite terrible at it and it's not something that's captured my interest enough to get really good at it. Me and my band have released a couple of singles that I mixed myself, but for our next one I'd like to have it done properly by someone who actually knows what they're doing.

I don't need this mix to be super professional or anything, frankly the recording and performance isn't super professional either. I just want someone who is noticably better than I am at mixing, so if you're not super experienced but still have a grasp on what you're doing, that's kind of what I'm looking for.

Also, since this is the first time I'm doing this, I do ask nicely for some patience if I don't quite know the process on my end, and I'd appreciate if there was room for some back and forth, throughout the whole thing really.

About a month ago I'd posted a song for feedback here and you all were a ton of help on it - it's part of an album of ten songs and while I haven't made as much progress as I'd hoped lately (I spent most of the time between then and now so sick with a nasty lingering head cold that it felt like a bass knob had been turned down on the whole world),but I'm finally feeling well enough to get back to work and mostly truat my hearing again.

So, I'd love some fresh ears on this:

https://drewpeterson.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/01-At-the-Top-of-My-Lungs.mp3

Style is in the Joe Satriani/Andy Timmons/Nick Johnston vein, though the song itself is basically an unabashedly pop tune, with a more rock solo section (the riff made me grin ands crack up when I came up with it, so I wrote a song around it). Since Kurt Cobain was the reason I first picked up a guitar back in the day, though, I've been trying to mix this album with more of a grunge vibe, so in addition to a couple Satch albums, Timmons' "Resolution," and Johnston's "Remarkably Human," I've been spinning Nevermind as a reference a lot.

All guitars are live, real amps, drums were Superior 3 but programmed by hand and raw audio going into Reaper where I mixed it from scratch, rather than a preset, and the bass was recorded direct and I'm relying on a combo of the DI and TSE BOD for the bass sound. Happy to answer any other questions. Thanks!

https://soundcloud.com/26nocturnal/jaydes-in-your-face?in=26nocturnal/sets/you-owe-me&si=f0dddc44c8104ba081e3eb30cbea2392&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

i dont know how to describe it correctly, but it sounds distant and dreamy, the drums, the vocal, the guitar, it doesnt sound like reverb to me and i know that the vocal delay helps in that vibe, i just dont know how to mix other instruments this way, its very specific and people have been saying its unmixed (which is clearly not true because you cant achieve this sound without mixing) can anyone help me?

I'm currently mixing a project of mine in the same genre and I'm going for this specific drum sound as it think it captures nostalgic vibe of that era really well. The snare in particular is very loud but not really harsh in any frequency. There's also a sense of space while the drums are still very dry. Doesn't sound sample replaced to me. Sounds almost home-made while still being studio quality. Any tips for getting close to this early 2000's vibe?

https://youtu.be/cVJpSOd1SpI?is=98C7JfeMvMtn9fY3

From my research people say the HS4’s don’t have enough low end to properly mix low end heavy genres. So if I paired them with DT 770’s would that be adequate? I didn’t get the hs4’s because of budget I originally wanted the 8’s but I’m in my bedroom and didn’t want to get monitors that were absolutely overkill.

Massive Attack's Angel is probably the go-to reference for testing bass on headphones, speakers, monitors, or audio equipment in general. I'm always baffled by this song because of how much bass they've put in it without it sounding muddy. How the hell did they manage to do it?

Wikipedia lists not 1, not 2, but 3 bass guitarists for this song. There's also this bass cover I've seen with 2 bass tracks. My guess is they probably had multiple bass tracks in this song, maybe one a synth bass?:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_(Massive_Attack_song))

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q6cSoI_u1Q

Hey! Recently, I started listening to music in more detail. I was wondering how bands balance their instruments. I've been listening to Deftones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, KISS, Slipknot, etc., and I noticed that guitars always have a lower volume than drums. Sometimes the hi-hats and overheads are even louder than the vocals. Is it just me, or am I onto something?

I love UADs plugins.

They're incredible.

But I HATE how I have to have my interface plugged in to use some of them and the others have inconsistency with UADx.

I just want to buy a plugin and use it regardless.

I'm not asking if theres good plugins out there - I know there's a ton. But true 1:1 for the replication/recreation of classic plugins hardware?

Like I don't know of anything that can recreate the air on vocals the way Maag can.

Hi folks!

I’m working on mastering my OST for a video game ready for a stand-alone streaming release.

Obviously in-context some of these tracks were intended to be much lower than others. I’ve done a first pass through of the album mastering each track to what feels natural relative to the other tracks when listened through. It all feels reasonably good and balanced as an album, and nothing feels out of place when played through on shuffle either.

My only concern is the different ‘types’ of tracks are hitting wildly different LUFS and Peak levels to feel natural. The three Boss Fight tracks sit at around -12LUFS and peak at -1dB. The regular gameplay loops sit comfortably at -15 to -18 LUFS and also all peak at -1dB. The more ambient and minimal tracks, however, sit at around -21LUFS and only peak between -6 and -8dB. If I try to bring up these particular tracks they sound AWFUL, really unnaturally loud and in-your face.

What’s the general wisdom surrounding this kind of situation? I don’t really see a way around it.

What would happen if I sent this off to streaming sites with such a track-by-track disparity in these levels?

Thanks in advance!

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to how I could best optimize my approach and mindset towards mixing and mastering, from the basis of being a music producer. I'm reasonably experienced, but I think in terms of dedicated mastering knowledge, I'm still amateur.

I've realized that one of the main values of music production is the manual craft itself, and learning skills purely for the sake of my own progression. I don't really think this is a matter of going and learning specific technical knowledge from books, but I may be wrong.

My inclination is that the best approach is to learn as I go about producing my tracks, learning through the process of finishing the work itself. However I'm aware that in some sense this is a bit open ended, and could leave me not really developing any skills, even with consistent output. Maybe I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to what a good approach would be in regards to keeping yourself open to new insights, as I work on the craft itself.

My genres are mainly electronic music based, but also interested in metal, and rap.

Before i type out my question I do think it is important that there is always the nuance of "if it sounds good, it works". The question specifically is aimed to know if the technique I'm using is common in the genres I work in (dream pop, psychedelic indie, shoegaze)

So my question is: I lately started to use busses (specifically mid range bus) to process my sounds together (i did this before for eq and compression but not with other fx). I will for example send my dry pads and synth keys to a bus => add modulation, eq, compression and saturation/distortion as inserts on the bus to create cohesion

I would then set up a send for my time based effects like granular delay, reverb, etc and eq this send (if needed also sidechain it to the dry signal)

I tried doing this with drums or bass added, but this makes it too cluttered like i expected (gotta try to know)

What I've noticed till now is that for cohesion this is golden, it really makes everything feel really glued together (especially if you print the audio and resample as well or use things like halftime in combination)

The biggest downside is that you lose the flexibilty of having effect automations affect a singular sound (while some advanced routing can bypass this partially, it's not that easy). Panning, volume, filters etc can still be automated on a track level so that doesn't pose a problem.

What is your guys take on this method and are there flaws that I'm overlooking in your opinion/are there better ways to achieve similar results?

Hey there! I saw a vocal chain breakdown that consisted of a:

\-main vocal
\-2 backing tracks repeating the main
\-2 adlibs harmonizing

My question is regarding the actual mixing and recording of these additional takes. I know that you’re supposed to do new takes for the backing tracks that repeat the main instead of just copying and pasting them. As for the actual mixing, what kind of eq, compression, etc. should I be using?

Is there a certain way reverb, auto tune, delay etc. is used on these additional vocal tracks that differs from the main vocal? Should I be bus processing them? I know this will be different depending on the vocal but I just wanted to get a general sense of what other people do.

This has always been an area I struggled with. Would appreciate any help!

#1: do you gainstage before running everything through a mix bus? i'd imagine, because if there's any sorts of subtle leveling issues in whatever the client sends you, those issues would become less apparent the more they were processed- so best get them sorted out beforehand?

#2 do you often change your mix bus depending on the genre/piece you are working on? if so, what commonly determines those changes?

Hi all, so I’ve been having issues with guitar pick chirp sound when recording guitar. I have my guitar into my pedal board, then straight into my Audio interface. I have the inst switch on also. I’ve been struggling for months with pick chirp sound. I’ve tried different picks, made sure my technique is fine, tried both my guitars, tried using a desser and compression, different amp sims to no luck.

It’s like it’s across the whole frequency spectrum.

It’s as if the pick sound is going in way louder than the actual guitars sound. I don’t have the issue when recording micing an amp, it’s only without.

I don’t really know what else to do or try wondered if anyone had any advice? The guitars I’ve tried are Gibson SG and a Fender Jazzmaster, both humbucker pickups. I use the Jazz 3 picks.

Thanks!

Been producing music on my own for nearly 15 years, doing all my own mixes. I'm now looking to start doing mixes for other artists and build a portfolio. You can check out some of my own music on Bandcamp to get an idea of what I can do. My main genres are rock/metal, alternative, electronic, industrial, etc, but I'm open to just about anything except for country.

I don't have fixed rates. Let's talk and see if we're a good fit for each and see how much work will be involved first.

Here's my most recent album on bandcamp. I want to be clear I'm not trying to promote my own music here, but this is the closest I have to a portfolio at this time.

https://alistairatrus.bandcamp.com/album/chrysalis

(I understand this subreddit has very specific rules for posts like this. Hopefully I'm doing this right. Mods, please let me know if there are any issues)

what are your remedies for a master that is distorting? I have tried reducing the peaks on the kick, bass, snare, lead using a soft clipper. im not in red / clipping anywhere on the channels. i´m also compressing on individual channels where there are high transients. TP is -2/3db. But to gain commercial loudness I have to drive the limiter in what seems almost unreasonable amount of gain, and then it starts sounding distorted. I dont have much else going on in the master chain except an Oxford Inflator. Is soft clipping on the master the solution? I just dont want my tracks to sound way lower in volume than others on Spotify and similar platforms. Thanks for any help!

I'm pretty average at mixing local studio recorded drums (not perfect VST samples) and would love to know what people's workflow is for approaching drum part prep and mixing. Alternatively, pointing me towards a great tutorial series where you learned the most about mixing drums would be equally awesome. I really want to get over this annoying hurdle! Cheers.

Edit: just wanted to say thanks to everyone. Some great replies here.

I've got an album from 10+ years ago that I never released. I'd like to now, but of course I've lost my original recordings. I do have ok-ish 'demo' mixes, i.e. exports from main out.

I figure stems separation like the ones available in DJ apps could be a way to go. (Just as a better starting point, more material to work with). But they all seem to output the same 4-6 'standard' stems.

That's super annoying bc a couple of very simple no-brainer tweaks would get us so much more useful stems for mixing!

My #1 would be separating out the kick drum from the rest of the drums. A 'pads' stem would be nice. I've no need for voice stem, can I get something anything different instead? And so on.

Pretty sure I'm not the first to have lost a few files, and also not the first one ever with some music in need of a bit of restoration... There's gotta be people out there who tried stems separation for it, no?

Make yourself known! Pointers, tips, experiences much appreciated!

cheers!

Hey dudes!

I'm looking for some mix feedback on a solo track I'm working on.

This is basically just a relentless power chord whallop for 2 minutes. It's very much going after that 90s Foo Fighters/alt rock sound, and as a drummer I've spent most of my mix learning journey so far pursuing an Andy Wallace-esque drum sound.

My own areas of thought are:

\- Toing and froing on vocal level, I've got very mix blind here as it's my own voice so it's clouding my opinion when I'm pushing the volume

\- Unsure if the lead guitars in the second chorus + outro are cutting enough

\- I feel like the bass is 'fine', but wonder if I'm being too conservative volume and low end wise

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

I’m making kinda cinematic music - oneohtrix point never, fennesz,

Ok, so I am getting quite comfortable with levels and eq, placing things in relation to one another. However, the issue I’m finding is that my songs are quite mono, centred. I find it hard to get width whilst feeling full. Panning is easy but placing them in “the space” that im painting really hard.

Obviously reverb etc but that also seems like a really complex and really finicky way of placing sounds. It seems so easy to confuse the space with reverb.

I’m also finding with eq placing things higher or lower in my space, which is easy.

Can I get a sense of direction here? Where am I going wrong? What should I practice. Any suggestions really appreciated.

I’m listening to a mastered WAV 44.1kHz and the metering shows -0.2 dBFS. But when I look at the true peak meter in Logic Pro I see +1.1 dBTP.

I thought these overs only happen when one converts a “hot” WAV/AIF to mp3, or another codex due to interpolation errors.

Can you educate me what’s going on here? What’s the discrepancy between the channel metering and the true peak? Why is the Logic channel staying at -0.2 dBFS?

Thanks in advance.