How To Clean Up Muddy Mixes - TheRecordingRevolution.com

[OfficialFrizzo]

It's refreshing to get a tutorial on how to mix from someone that speaks English.

[DefectedSalvations]

seems to be a different effect with a filter cut Vs a waves Eq cut ... Something about the tone of the cut or I could be tricking my ears ?

[BlaznRage]

Thanks for the advice!

[racecarsharkfin]

really like the style of your teaching. you're accurate and articulate. my question is how do we compensate for the lack of frequency content you're discussing while listening to the video's compressed audio?

[doftpunk101]

It IS clearer but It's thin sounding to me. :\ 

[noreaction1]

if you put the same eq on multiple tracks why don't you create an aux track and fx loop? it saves processing power

[Adamshredsify]

it really clears it up, but i feel the piano would benefit from the opposite eq

[laurabrake1]

This is so cool. High pass is what I will look into, thank you. Laura

[Michael55443]

I heard no difference.

[Uprightest]

You're awesome Graham keep it up bro!

[Stackxxable]

love your videos man please keep em comming!!!.. and i dont mind the "hey kids" makes me feel like a student when im watching his videos lol.

[MrMrme93]

It always the littlest adjustments that make the biggest difference... I Always had trouble with EQ when i first started and took me a good Year to figure that Small adjustments= Easy Better Sounding Tracks and the bigger the EQ Adjustment= Big Headaches lol unless your using EQ as an effect lol

[donniemartin1]

all your vids,outstanding thank you

[Barrymc100]

Re low mid mud - love all your stuff especially this one. I tried this 400 hz cut idea to reduce mud and it really works! -A couple of questions why dont you just send everything to a buss and cut with your 400 hz with a single band eq before your final output. secondly if this approach is just as good would you use a mono or stero buss-i am not actually sure if a mono buss would be correct-could you or someone explain when you would use a stearo and when you would use a mono buss?

[recordingrevolution]

@Barrymc100 You could do it that way, but I feel you get more control on the individual channel. If you went the bus route, you need a stereo bus to preserve panning.

[zirokiller00]

@recordingrevolution i used to take each channel but it takes years to finish and take CPU like crazy. i put em all in a bus and put and put a EQ i those that need a little be of EQ. like the teacher say. "every one has their own mixing way. just make sure shits get done right, and please name the tracks." lol

[TheProgmagog]

@Barrymc100 It is an artform to decide where to remove low mids and where to keep them. Reducing them across the board is not the best solution because something that would benefit from 250-400 Hz would suffer. I find I cut more around 250, but at least one instrument should hold some level there. Find instruments that sound "muddy" alone first and cut them a bit. Acoustic guitars, piano and vocals possibly. Bass guitar might sound fine so leave it in that case. 400Hz cut is good for Kick drum.

[TheProgmagog]

IMPORTANT!! Graham is right on the money so far from everything I have seen, and a rare exception to all the misinformed advice that people spout on Youtube. But you gotta know this:Make sure the low mids you are cutting are coming from your (accurate) speakers and not from your room! I have been fooled for years! Question:Is MY room amplifying my low frequencies? Answer:You better believe it! You can cheaply build bass traps with Corning 705 Fiberglass, wood frames and cloth covering...

[TheProgmagog]

... You can never have too much bass management so dont be afraid to overdo it. First build enough (say 8 2'X4' at least 4" thick) to fill all the corners in your room top to bottom.Then put as many as you can afford on the wall where your speakers are located. Again on any flat surface that would directly reflect to either the listening position or your microphone.Avoid too much absorbant surface aria by using diffusive materials to cover the traps, particularly on walls opposite your speakers.

[TheProgmagog]

Then, assuming your speakersare truthful, you can begin to trust what you hear. If you have a problem with mixes sounding killer in the studio and always odd anywhere else, and your speakers are accurate, do this and you will be astounded. Your recordings will also sound way better and require much less eqing.

[LagomMusik]

Great stuff..keep up the good work !

[JGCaponeIFP]

make a dvd about how to mix in pro tools i would buy it

[recordingrevolution]

@JGCaponeIFP Already exists. Just go to my website and click on the Products link. REthink Mixing is the video and I mix a whole song with stock Pro Tools plugs.

[JGCaponeIFP]

@recordingrevolution What The Website Yo

[MrUnique27]

You rock Graham!...right on bro, thank you :) Oh hey! Um can you tell me how to bring up the Loops dialogue box, so I can choose from different loops within pro tools?

[recordingrevolution]

@MrUnique27 Look for my video on auditioning loops in Pro Tools

[MrUnique27]

How do I copy and paste effects to every track Graham? Other than by originally copying and pasting. Is that the best way?

[recordingrevolution]

@MrUnique27 Hold Option (or ALT) and drag over.

[Lainey37]

Love your vids man, can't wait for your January 5 minute videos!

[MrVizionary2012]

most important thing I have learned from these videos...

many little subtleties make cumulatively big differences.

[mugabesunny]

man, you are an awesome guy, probably the best and easiest to understand on youtube. thanks for explaining things so easily man. really helpful!

[shawnteer23]

That was amazing.

[ChelosMusic]

Awesome!!! Thank you for taking time to share your knowledge. I'm taking Mixing and Mastering classes with Berklee online and your tutorials are helping a lot.

[wilfan12]

Genius.. Huge difference.. From Amateur, to semi pro quality in 6 mins.. Well done!!

[soulessdelu]

single bus .By me the harder way it s the probably the best way and very original the every time and that s eq and sweeness using now rule,but record with the those rule,sometime it s help ,somethimes don t depend if you already imagine the song structure for the first time in head.To me the eq and efects automatization it s the biggest thing can get from a song,but end with a hight price studio product and lots of chocolate sleppy nights.Cheers!

[soulessdelu]

You right about that , understand your point of making quikly for purpose video but still i don t like it how it s sound after by y2b compression .hiih,enyway i dont advice you put the same filters on kick and base also it s make not sow much difference between ,sow maybe some phase tip on those 2 and mix it on a

[rootvalue]

Thank you for the upload!

[FaithfulYoungServant]

GRATE VIDEO. YOU CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE! BIG TIME



[jonnyharder]

very nice tutorial. but what I like even more is the content of that song. is it anywhere online?

[recordingrevolution]

@jonnyharder Song is called "In This Death" by Joshua List. Google his name and you should find it.

[T2KTV]

Hey Bro..I really Appriciate your videos :D I will buy the Jumpstart bundle Pretty soon :!

[danielx15one]

thanks for all these videos. i rewatch them everytime it's time for me to go into the mixing phase of a song. quick question. with adding these one band eq's to all the tracks...would'nt it be faster and less cpu power daunting to just have one eq on the master fader? if there gonna be the same on all tracks..what's the difference?

[recordingrevolution]

@danielx15one The difference is that you can have a HPF set to different frequencies as needed on a per track basis.

[faruge67]

Great videos. I'm really learning a lot form these. Just a quick question. How did you by pass all EQs at once? What's the keyboard shortcut for that?

[recordingrevolution]

@faruge67 Hold OPTION (or ALT) while you COMMAND (or CTRL) click any one plugin in. All the plugins in that row will bypass too.

[djAlrus]

i love these lessons :)))

[floyd1411]

Hey Graham.. cant tell how much i appreciate these free lessons.. that have been soo helpful to me.. cheers mate.. i do however have a few questions... now i notice in yr other videos for EQ in particular drum EQ.. In this video use the 1 band filter and nothing else.. soo how is it done.. do u bounce the drum tracks with the eq that wld fatten it, individually and then apply this 1 band eq?? or what?? also where wld i get to listen to yr songs .. they sound great..

[recordingrevolution]

@floyd1411 This video just is an illustration of what a HFP can do for your tracks. I normally would have a few more EQ tweaks on a 7 band EQ for the drums, but would of course include a HPF. The song you're hearing isn't mine, just something I mixed. The artist is Joshua List.

[dazzy1975]

Excellent tutorial, had this problem and never thought about doing it this way, thanks so much, gonna be putting this into practice on my next track now :-)

[tomtefar1988]

"...the recording revolution D.OT com..."

You really accent the DOT-part when you mention the adress, sounds kinda funny. Like.. no way? I thought it was DASH com ;)

Anyway, thanks for the great video. I got a track with this problem. It sounds so weird but I never understood what was wrong with it. Keep 'em coming!

[dmandavidbeverly]

Great video!! Thanks for sharing

[fr618]

nice work, helped a lot! Btw, what is the song and the band you were working on in the vid?

[recordingrevolution]

@fr618 "In This Death" by Joshua List

[fr618]

@recordingrevolution thanks. Since i can not find anything i assume that the artist is not public yet?

[coolanddark]

I want to sound like Woody Guthrie did in 1942. how can I accomplish that?

[any1particular]

Great info there Gramm! Thanks! :^\

[Jg191984]

@1ROSETV thanks!! i get it now

[Brownlee305]

Your The Best On Youtube ! I Look At Your Videos Over And Over Just To Practice ! Your Great Man Thanks

[bbuck822]

Great vid Graham - quick question for you: I noticed that you have PreSonus Studio One on your desktop, what do you use it for specifically? I'm asking because I have it too and used it all of the time until I got Pro Tools 9. Now it is just taking up space on my HD.

[boaterderek]

another great video...My only comment/suggestion would be to NOT say..."hey kids".......it comes across as demeaning to me. I pretty sure it's not meant to be that way though. Just thought you'd like to know. Thanks for the video and have a great day!

[ineffect781]

@boaterderek if u dont like to hear the "hey kids" dont watch the videos. its that easy bro. no one is telling u how to be,so dont tell others how to do their stuff..

[boaterderek]

@ineffect781 Last I checked Mr. ineffect...I wasn't talking to you!!! Graham seems like a genuine guy and it was meant as constructive. If you'll go back and re-read my post you'll see I made sure he knows I'm very appreciative of his video's etc.

[ineffect781]

@boaterderek also did u stop to think ur comment is "demeaning" to him? when in reality hes taking his own personal time to make FREE videos to share knowledge. when he really doesnt have to. if little dumb things like "hey kids" bothers u so much learn from another channel or go to school for it.

[dopeboiroch]

@boaterderek

WOW Grow up!!!

[boaterderek]

@dopeboiroch It seems people are having issue that I said "to me" in my original post. Again...Dope...It was merely constructive criticism to Graham. To date there are 6 people that gave thumbs up to my post so, obviously they don't like "hey kids" either. Grahams videos are very well done and offer great explanations. I'm very appreciative of him putting them up!

[Diefordethklok333]

@boaterderek who cares

[gwugluud]

@boaterderek Maybe you should look into medications or something; you shouldn't have to endure your paranoia on your own...

[boaterderek]

@gwugluud Hey asshole...I've been kind up to this point. There is no reason to be an asshole about this...it wasn't even directed at YOU. It was directed to Graham. So you...well, you can kiss my ass!

[KnowUrSoul]

@boaterderek: He probably meant to say "Hey guys" but thought it might be sexist, so he slipped up and said "kids". Or maybe he just got back from some youth program or something... ;-)

Whatever the case may be, I agree with you. It clearly doesn't fit. Many of his viewers here are in their 30's (me) and 40's.

Nonetheless, Graham rocks!!! :-)

[ItsLookingRatherGrim]

@boaterderek are U serious?!

[Myuzishin]

@boaterderek I'm damm near 50 and it doesn't bother me at all that he says 'Hey kids'.It's been werkin for David Letterman for years. If that's the most bothersome thing that happens to you all day, I'd say you're doin alright. Perhaps Graham's next vid will show ya how to add a limiter to yer sensitivity bus.

[felippesenne]

great!

[TheCoPilotProduction]

wow thats awesome! keep these coming!

[radekxito]

Hey Graham, what if instead of making the 400Hz cuts on every track, I just insert a EQ on the 2bus, would I be able to get the same effect?

Cheers.

[thefambaxley]

Great video, Graham. Love that song too. If that one of yours?

[recordingrevolution]

@thefambaxley Not my song. An artist named Joshua List.

[FrankHarpersMusic]

Simple, great - thanks!

[jammer42777]

Thank U

[Jg191984]

Might sound novice but how do you tell mono from stereo or when do you do this to tracks? Nice tutorial even though im fl studio to the bone..lol

[1ROSETV]

@Jg191984 you see how on his screen the meteres on the mixer.........the mono have one....the stereo are two right beside each other in a single channel on the mixer....the mono also have one PAN knob the stereo channels have 2 PAN KNOBS in a single channel

[Jg191984]

I second that@ VcookiemonsterV

[soundslykmusic]

Just a totally unrelated question.. whats the benefit of oh's being on a stereo track? I'm assuming you recorded on two mics, then formed a stereo file from the two?

[ivanmilborrow]

Nice, beginning to hear things even on you tube clip, thanks to some awesome tutorial vids. thanks.

[moodmusik]

Wow. Very nicely done!

[videosongman]

Cool Tip!

[VcookiemonsterV]

best tutorial ever. For once i can actually hear it bypassed as a whole vs just one tracks HP filter. definitely finally understood the mud sound everyone talks about. Some cool stuff i would like to see is maybe processing vocals for certain effects like low fi(telephone) sound, certain delays, maybe some background vocal processing tips, and compression as an effect on vocals. no one seems to really mention filters either.

[RobertoAvilesMusic]

very nice, mixing is definitely an art form. where can I buy your music?

[1ROSETV]

this is one i knew but a BIG one for me i must admit i love that your probably one of the only people that teach protools properly ! cheers mate!

[bullardsJoe]

I must not have a trained ear yet. I perceive this not as volume decrease but more of an energy decrease. I am listening through cheap ear plug phones too.. Teach us how to listen please.

[1ROSETV]

@bullardsJoe when it comes to HYPASS filter its not somethign you should be able to hear when your cleaning mudd that was his entire point......you basicly slide the hypass filter to the right until you hear the sound of your instrument changing.....once its changing you know youve gone to far so you slide it back till you cant hear it being eqd again........keeep in mind you wouldnt do this for kick drums....and a bass that rely on low Frequencies..

[1ROSETV]

@bullardsJoe thats exlcuding his point about the 400 khz range you SHOULD be able to hear that

[ZinayH]

Nice! Thanks!