Advice for Mixing

Magnawolf

Magnawolf

New member
When you create a new project in FL Studio, it automatically places a limiter on the master bus. I wasn't aware this could have really detrimental effects until I started trying to mix in vocals and there was pretty much no headroom. All my tracks were pushed REALLY hard. Without the limiter, the track is also clipping/in the red. A lot of my instruments also didn't have compressors because the limiter took care of it. But now I'm trying to remix all my songs without a limiter and it sounds all over the place.

So I need advice. What do you think is the best way to salvage the mix? I spent about 2 months mixing the songs to get them sounding as best as possible. Do you think I'm going to have to re-EQ a lot of the tracks? I wish I could just bring all the sliders on the tracks the same amount of dbs but without the limiter, a lot of the tracks without compressors are really crazy.

If I'm going to re-mix these songs what would be the best level to mix them at? Is around -6db a good number to shoot for? Also, does it matter if sometimes it goes over/under that?
 
It sounds like the biggest problem is that you're clipping the master bus. Limiter or not on the master bus, you're killing the track by doing that. Gotta bring down those faders feeding the master.
 
So I just decided to re-mix everything and I think it's solving my problem of mixing the vocals in. I just want to make sure I'm mixing at the right levels though. Also, how dynamic can a mix be? My mix is way more dynamic (not necessarily in a better way) now that the limiter is off. Will mastering solve most of the dynamic issues?
 
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This could and could not work, you'll have to try yourself.

I actually wanted to add that you can choose project template in FL so you don't have to remove the limiter every time you start a new project. File->New form template->Minimal->Empty
 
Magnawolf said:
So I just decided to re-mix everything and I think it's solving my problem of mixing the vocals in. I just want to make sure I'm mixing at the right levels though. Also, how dynamic can a mix be? My mix is way more dynamic (not necessarily in a better way) now that the limiter is off. Will mastering solve most of the dynamic issues?
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Not really.

You need to control dynamics at track level, then at buss level if necessary.

I'd start by stripping it all out & start again leaving yourself plenty of headroom as you build your mix.

Start with the loudest section of each song so you can establish a high point for each track making sure your master buss doesn't go over about -9dB
 
I agree with the above post by Jonesey. There's no need to "use all the bits" in modern DAW's. Don't be afraid to have those faders down well below unity if need be. If you have plenty of room on the master, then you can crush it 'til it's lifeless with a limiter if you so choose. Or let the mastering guy do that. Or just keep it with some dynamics ;)
 
Thanks for the tips guys! It's actually not that difficult of a task so far. I just started from scratch and only had to throw a few compressors on things that I didn't before. I kept the same EQing and it sounds fine still. The vocals are blending way better now.
 
JeffroMixesYou said:
I agree with the above post by Jonesey. There's no need to "use all the bits" in modern DAW's. Don't be afraid to have those faders down well below unity if need be. If you have plenty of room on the master, then you can crush it 'til it's lifeless with a limiter if you so choose. Or let the mastering guy do that. Or just keep it with some dynamics ;)
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+1. That's funny. I haven't listened, but have heard that the album from the movie "Sound City" after mastering has a dynamic range of 5db. So, the real answer here is to record all to tape through a 70,000 Neve console, then crush it at mastering.
 
Dynamic range....what's that? ;)

I've yet to see that doc but heard good things. Thanks for the reminder!

Elton123 said:
+1. That's funny. I haven't listened, but have heard that the album from the movie "Sound City" after mastering has a dynamic range of 5db. So, the real answer here is to record all to tape through a 70,000 Neve console, then crush it at mastering.
Click to expand...
 
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