Mixing a Song Tips and Tricks
Updated: Jun 15, 2020
When it comes to mixing & mastering a track , whether its a music producer or an artist everyone is afraid for various obvious reasons which includes various technical & non-technical aspects to improve the sound quality of overall mix.
Below are some quick tips & tricks which anyone can apply to create a better version of their track :
1) Volume Levels
Yes! the fundamental of Mixing is adjusting the volume levels of each and every track
( stem ) according to their role in the song. Which sound the artist want in the front of the listener should have more volume level & the sound elements which artist want in the background should have less volume level.
Pro tip:
Always make sure that Drums & Vocals are the Loudest element of your track.
Check your reference songs while adjusting the volume levels ( try to match the same volume levels of your instruments).
2) EQ (Equalisation)
1)Yes! simply removing all unnecessary low end frequency (generally below 100 - 1.5k hz) (depends on instrument to instrument)
can help you removing the overall muddiness of your mix .
Pro tip:
Removing low end of : Vocals, synth, instruments like guitar , piano , pads etc can help removing the muddiness of your track.
Don't remove too much of low end, sometimes it removes the smoothness (warmness) of the song so keep a check on that.
2) Enhance high end ( 15000 - 20000 hz) frequency of specially vocals or any instrument which you want to give some air or want to keep that in-front of your listener.
3) Remove harsh frequencies: There are a lot of techniques for the same just google/youtube "Removing Problem Frequencies In Your Track"
& whichever methods suits you try it on your mix.
3) Side-chain & Eq kick & bass: (PRO-TIP)
Use side-chaining technique to reduce more muddiness in the low end .
Use plugins like Kickstart by Nicky Romero on your bass to make your kick sit comfortably on it.
Pro-tip:
Check kick is playing in which part of frequency spectrum .
Cut (EQ) your bass slightly (-1.5 db - 2.5db) in the frequency spectrum where the kick is playing which will give kick more room to breathe.
(same technique can be applied to kick which can give bass more room to breathe).
4) Check mix in mono (PRO-TIP)
Yes! Always check your mix in mono & check if the track is losing major elements inside the mono mix.
If the mix is sounding very dull in mono then go back to your mix & change the desired stereo stems into mono or decrease the wideness of the instrument/stem.
Repeat this process until you find a better sounding mix in mono.
5) Pan:
Its always a better idea to pan your instruments /stems instead of using stereo plugins.
Pan your instruments to left & right up to 40%-50%, ignore hard panning unless necessary.
5) Keep volume level of every instrument between -3db to -6 db .
Yes this step is where i see a lot of musicians and producers are making mistakes.
This is very crucial step for the mastering stage as very less headroom is provided to the engineer to play / experiment with your track
Pro tip:
Pul all your instruments in the mixer chain & select all of them & reduce the volume until you see the volume level in master-chain is hitting between -3db to -6db
6) Send for mastering to a professional team of engineers which can hep you improving your track in much depth.
For more information speak to our professional engineering team or visit: