mixing - frequencies and separation

A

agiledood

New member
While sitting in a deep depression that everything I mix sounds like complete garbage, I discovered this guy on YouTube:

YouTube

Probably one of the best explanations of the 5 bands, getting separation...but not too much separation and more. Since I've only been doing this for just over a year, it was super valuable, experienced engineers probably don't need it though...just thought I'd share something useful from a less popular (by comparison) Youtuber.
 
I can only speak to the issue of depression and the feeling that your music is complete garbage. No amount of learning or YouTube videos will help. It's all in your head and, depending on your age, probably will be for life. The only solutions I've found involve (1) not giving a crap, (2) listening to music that is worse than your own, or (3) waiting six months or so and listening to the track again. The third option works about half of the time. In fact, half of my music sounds better after laying fallow for six months. The only problem is that six months later it sucks again.
 
Gtoboy said:
Well now i'm depressed
Click to expand...

Welcome to the creative process. That's partly why so many musicians are addicted to drugs or alcohol. It's an awful burden and the best kept secret that nobody talks about. Luckily, we are surrounded by thousands of struggling artists, writers, and other creative types who experience the same basic dilemma. So we're not alone. We can also take some solice in the fact that the gear manufacturers will continue to feed us creative heroin which will delude us into believing that the new shinny box from Musician's Friend will solve all our problems. It won't and that's depressing in it's own right. Ever wonder why you often experience "buyers remorse" after a new gear purchase? It's your brain telling you that you just wasted your money on something that will never address the real underlying issue: the beast of creativity.
 
Last edited:
dwillis45 said:
Ever wonder why you often experience "buyers remorse" after a new gear purchase? It's your brain telling you that you just wasted your money on something that will never address the real underlying issue: the beast of creativity.
Click to expand...

:laughings:

I'm not sure what world you live in...but I have never once felt buyer's remorse with any new gear purchases.
Oh sure, I may pause for a moment when I realize I just just shelled out a chunk of cash...
...but the minute that new gear arrives and is in my hands, I'm never remorseful...it's always a smile. :)

I think you're mixing up two aspects of music production, and then blaming one for the lack of the other.
If you're feeling frustration because you're short on creativity...why are buying new gear as a substitute, anyway?
On the other hand, when you have the creativity...your audio tools will always enhance your work, and more/better tools will offer even greater help.
 
Gtoboy said:
Well now i'm depressed
Click to expand...

Don't be.
He might be :p Don't uB2 :>)


There is this of course

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”

Hunter S Thompson
 
mixsit said:
Don't be.
He might be :p Don't uB2 :>)


There is this of course

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”

Hunter S Thompson
Click to expand...

aaaand now i wanna do some drugs.:rolleyes:
 
Gtoboy said:
aaaand now i wanna do some drugs.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Hunter Thompson 'residuals? grins..

"Those of us who were up all night were in no mood for 'coffee and donuts!"


Hmm.. Yeah. Thinking I'll heads for a nip-of-the Kessler from the kitchen there :>)
 
I always really need and want new kit, until I buy it. I make decisions to buy things that will, I know, sit on the shelf. Been doing it since 1976 when I bought an SM57 - which is the only mic that would have a tick in the box for regular use. I bought an SM7 - so far, not used it at all! If I really was skint, I could sell all my mics bar maybe 3, sell all my guitars bar maybe 2. I have done exactly the same with all the mixers, amps, PA, lighting and comms gear. Gear lust! Stupidity, more like!
 
miroslav said:
:laughings:
I'm not sure what world you live in...but I have never once felt buyer's remorse with any new gear purchases.
Oh sure, I may pause for a moment when I realize I just just shelled out a chunk of cash...
...but the minute that new gear arrives and is in my hands, I'm never remorseful...it's always a smile. :)
Click to expand...

I believe that the pause and the realization meets the definition of buyer's remorse. As for the smile on your face, that's the intended effect of the purchase. It's the moment that leads us back to shopping as a way to ameliorate the underlying struggle. In other words, the creative heroin. Women discovered this years ago. But since we are men and unable to come to grips with our underlying deficits, we continue on with our delusions. Of course, it could also have something to do with new gear smell. I'm still working out all the details of my treatise on home recording and the creative process. In the meantime, I'm definitely going to buy those Adam A7x's. They are about $750 a speaker but I think they will make a real difference--especially in a well treated room.
 
On the other hand, what else can we do? You have to spend your money on something. The life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. (Why quote Hunter Thompson when you have Thomas Hobbes) You might as well enjoy it and if the gear lust-spending cycle does the trick, go for it. In terms of vice, it's probably better than alcohol.

As for the SM7, I have mixed feelings. I got one for Christmas and I've used it sparingly. All the magazine writers are correct: it's a pro studio go-to mic. It was also used by Michael Jackson on Thriller, and Eddie Vedder uses one. (I wish I had a dime for every time I've heard that marketing hype) My problem is using it as a vocal mic. I find that it's difficult to transition from a large diaphragm mic. The SM7 just doesn't sound as full bodied--probably because it cuts most room sounds. It's certainly quiet even after pushing my preamp to meet it's high gain requirements. But I just can't get the right sound. Oh well, it looks good and it was pretty cool on Christmas morning.
 
dwillis45 said:
I believe that the pause and the realization meets the definition of buyer's remorse. As for the smile on your face, that's the intended effect of the purchase. It's the moment that leads us back to shopping as a way to ameliorate the underlying struggle. In other words, the creative heroin. Women discovered this years ago. But since we are men and unable to come to grips with our underlying deficits, we continue on with our delusions. Of course, it could also have something to do with new gear smell. I'm still working out all the details of my treatise on home recording and the creative process. In the meantime, I'm definitely going to buy those Adam A7x's. They are about $750 a speaker but I think they will make a real difference--especially in a well treated room.
Click to expand...

No...the pause and realization is because I need to record the transaction for accounting purposes, to be aware of the amount I just spent.
Buyer's remorse has more to do with questioning the underlying reasons why you even spent the money on whatever you bought, and/or your need for it in the first place...but it's not so much the money spent, although that gets used as the excuse if you end up changing your mind.

For me...any potential "remorse" is eliminated in the time before I make the purchase, because I tend to give a good amount of thought, and sometimes I even do research for most gear purchases before I pull the trigger, so it's most definitely a planned event, and I always look forward to the gear.

Stop psychoanalyzing yourself...just buy the gear.
You only live once...and regret will be a lot worse than any temporary buyer's remorse. That's how I look at it. :)

Money is for spending...it's only paper (or plastic) until you spend it.
 
dwillis45 said:
As for the SM7, I have mixed feelings.
Click to expand...

I've been on a mic purchasing run...and I know at some point soon, I will pick up an SM7 and possibly also the RE20, if for no other reason than to have those flavors of dynamics in the mic locker. Last night I was on the web looking at older/vintage dynamics, just to see if anything interesting turned up, but at some point soon I'll get the SM7 and RE20, since they are current production and easy to find.

I just picked up a bunch of other mics this past week.
Three of the Beyerdynamic ribbon mics...a pair of the M160 and one M130. I first got one M160 and tried it out, loved it, ordered the M130 which is a perfect complement to the M160 if you want to do some M/S miking...and then decided it made sense to have another M160 in case I wanted to individually mic a couple of guitar cabs at the same time for blending.
I already have a bunch of different Cascade ribbon mics, which are all good mics and can easily find use...but these M160 ribbons are fantastic on guitar cabs. They don't have as much of the typical low-end bump you would associate with ribbons. The M130 does, but that's a figure-8 mic, where the M160 is unidirectional and just has this great clarity, that's different from the other ribbons. I even think it sounds better than the Royer mics on cabs, which to me have a lot more high-end, almost like a condenser mic...where the M160 has the clarity but also that typical ribbon smoothness.

I also scored thee high-end ADK Custom Shop tube mics for some really great prices from a former ADK dealer that was simply clearing out their NOS stock. These mics originally sold for $3k-$4k each.
I got a pair of TT-CS47 mics and a TT-CS67 is coming in a few days. These are basically their versions or their takes on the classic U47 and U67 mics. The two CS67 mics each have BK47 capsules, but they are not identical...with each mic having a slight variation of the U47 sound. One is more like a '40s U47, a bit darker, and the other is more like a '50s U47, less darker. I'm eager to hear the CS67 when it arrives...but I am testing out the pair of CS47 mics today. :)

And you know...with all these new mics...I'm still not feeling any bit of remorse. ;)

So how the heck did we go from talking about mixing frequencies to this buyer's remorse discussion anyway...? :D
 
Gotten a little off from the OP. But learning how to eq for mixing is a serious and necessary part of the learning curve. If its new to you though, don't watch videos, or read articles, looking for specifics, try to grasp the bigger picture. Try to understand "why" what they are saying to do and less what they specifically do. And thats because not all EQs/DAWs/hardware etc are made the same. You always need to get the theory, but only trial and error on your chain will pay off. That being said, once you get to a place where its working, it does get easier to transfer that to other systems, with some tweaking. I learned in an outside studio where the owner had "his" way. That was my base but I made my own adjustments. Then when I started my own home recording I was like ah man why doesnt this work like it did....But I had the base, and I just had to readjust.
 
miroslav said:
Stop psychoanalyzing yourself...just buy the gear.
You only live once...and regret will be a lot worse than any temporary buyer's remorse. That's how I look at it. :)
Click to expand...

I like living inside my own mind. It's a little crowded but the view is great and I have a pool. Now, If I could only get the dogs to stop barking.

As for gear, not a problem. Like I said, I've got my eye on those Adam A7x's. And as soon as I stop buying insulation, they'll be on the way. I can preach about the perils of gear but I don't have to listen to myself.
 
Back on topic: +1 on the video. It really does provide some interesting guidance on the EQ process. Although, I wouldn't want the guy to do my graphic design. It took him a while to figure out that he could draw straight vertical lines by using the shift key. Like a lot of tutorials, it was also a bit long winded. I'm sticking with the main points: focus the fundamental and make sure the first harmonic gets represented in the mid range.

I also liked the fact that he did not talk about EQ in isolation. He also mentioned compression and how it relates to EQ. I wish he had talked a little more about that because there are more ways to accomplish the overall goal of EQ without using the standard EQ plugin just by itself. I find, for example, that I'm just as likely to use the attack and release times of my compressor to achieve the same basic thing--particularly on vocals. I also tend to dip into the EQ section on reverb plugins to add even more adjustments. Some folks think of these as distinct processes, but for me it's all one giant EQ-like exercise.
 
Mike has literally hundreds of vids including using compression to shape the tonality and position program material.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top