Idea's On Mixing A Stereo Track

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jaynm26

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Need different idea's and techniques on how yall mix stereo tracks...I know this isnt the ideal setup but sometimes this is all you when a producer does not have enough knowledge to have got the stems. Thanks for the suggestions
 
Can you explain a bit more about what the stereo track consists of? Generally "mixing" a stereo track is called mastering, but I have a feeling mastering is a bit different than what you are trying to do. Could you possibly post up the stereo track you are working with?
 
guitarplayr82 said:
Can you explain a bit more ...
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Or.. There's that 'ya'll in there so, it's prob'ly not a language thing..
jaynm26 said:
Need different idea's and techniques on how yall mix stereo tracks...I know this isnt the ideal setup but sometimes this is all you when a producer does not have enough knowledge to have got the stems. Thanks for the suggestions
Click to expand...
There's this 'edit button.. Then you can go back, fill in the blanks' and stuff.
 
Hmmm how can I explain?? you know when you do a mix down and it's a stereo mix. You know some in experienced producers do not track out the beat or give u all the stems and leave you with the stereo track. I know it's not professional but I have jus found my self in this predicament so wanted some diff techniques to see what others are doing with stuck with the seemingly respective delima.
 
listen to each track by itself,eq each track to get the best sound,then listen to them all together.get a good balanced mix where you can hear everything clearly and your speakers shouldn't wow or flutter,pop or hiss.and reverb,compression,delay and/(or re eq) if needed if it wasn't recorded into the track already,then record a few master tracks and find the your best mix.
 
cletisrayevans1 said:
listen to each track by itself,eq each track to get the best sound,then listen to them all together.get a good balanced mix where you can hear everything clearly and your speakers shouldn't wow or flutter,pop or hiss.and reverb,compression,delay and/(or re eq) if needed if it wasn't recorded into the track already,then record a few master tracks and find the your best mix.
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I think the idea is that he doesn't have individual tracks, he just has a single stereo track that has been mixed down :)
 
jaynm26 said:
Hmmm how can I explain?? you know when you do a mix down and it's a stereo mix. You know some in experienced producers do not track out the beat or give u all the stems and leave you with the stereo track. I know it's not professional but I have jus found my self in this predicament so wanted some diff techniques to see what others are doing with stuck with the seemingly respective delima.
Click to expand...

"Mixing" a stereo track is such a subjective process that it varies greatly from track to track. It would be best if you could post up the track you are trying to mix so we can give you some specific suggestions. Here's some processes that I might use as a starting point:

  • Compress very slightly to tighten up the track a little bit (don't compress until it's pumping, that's too much compression in this case. Maybe use RMS compression to keep it subtle)
  • Use an EQ to search for annoying frequencies by boosting a band by something like 20 dB with a fairly narrow Q. Move the band around to find some potentially annoying frequencies. You'll know it when you find a bad frequency. Once you do, pull the band gain down into negative dB until the annoyingness dissappears. Do this a few times with a few different bands in different places to nag multiple annoying frequencies. *Make sure you place this EQ before any compression.*
  • Play with a high shelf filter to moderate the brightness of the track. Again, I'm not sure what your track consists of instrument-wise, but the high shelf might be useful to tame some bright cymbals or to give some more "air" to the track.
  • EQ is your best friend in this. Don't be afraid to have multiple EQ plugins on the track.
 
Yeah, I think he is talking about a premixed backing track.

I have had some success getting some life out of a couple, by using parallel compression. Obviously, it just depends on the track.
 
cletisrayevans1 said:
listen to each track by itself,eq each track to get the best sound,then listen to them all together.get a good balanced mix where you can hear everything clearly and your speakers shouldn't wow or flutter,pop or hiss.and reverb,compression,delay and/(or re eq) if needed if it wasn't recorded into the track already,then record a few master tracks and find the your best mix.
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Don't think I'm makin my self clear not multiple tracks. Just 1 stereo track 1 that is a beat.
 
jimmys69 said:
Yeah, I think he is talking about a premixed backing track.

I have had some success getting some life out of a couple, by using parallel compression. Obviously, it just depends on the track.
Click to expand...
Exactly thx jimmy, any ideas?
 
guitarplayr82 said:
"Mixing" a stereo track is such a subjective process that it varies greatly from track to track. It would be best if you could post up the track you are trying to mix so we can give you some specific suggestions. Here's some processes that I might use as a starting point:

  • Compress very slightly to tighten up the track a little bit (don't compress until it's pumping, that's too much compression in this case. Maybe use RMS compression to keep it subtle)
  • Use an EQ to search for annoying frequencies by boosting a band by something like 20 dB with a fairly narrow Q. Move the band around to find some potentially annoying frequencies. You'll know it when you find a bad frequency. Once you do, pull the band gain down into negative dB until the annoyingness dissappears. Do this a few times with a few different bands in different places to nag multiple annoying frequencies. *Make sure you place this EQ before any compression.*
  • Play with a high shelf filter to moderate the brightness of the track. Again, I'm not sure what your track consists of instrument-wise, but the high shelf might be useful to tame some bright cymbals or to give some more "air" to the track.
  • EQ is your best friend in this. Don't be afraid to have multiple EQ plugins on the track.
Click to expand...
Yea I've done all this before I'm not a rookie. I want NEW ideas that you all are doing. Innovative.
 
How bout using this technique for stereo track? I know this is a mastering vid but splitting , lows, mids, and highs in this fashion. What are y'all's thoughts on this approach for mixing a stereo beat? Cuz I have to have more control over each frequency section since I can't have control over each instrument track kinda get my philosophy here? Just let me know if I'm on the right track?
YouTube - Mastering with FabFilter Pro plugins - Part 2
 
I have these plugins and again ignore the mastering aspect. Give me some new stuff guys I know I can't count on y'all.
 
Dude can you please post the track up here? It's extremely hard to give you advice if we can't hear the track.
 
jaynm26 said:
I have these plugins and again ignore the mastering aspect. Give me some new stuff guys I know I can't count on y'all.
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Hmm. You're going for genera, or task specific tips?

My head just don't work like that I guess. I see -audio in front of me, -what does it need? –Now that does lead into including the questions of the roll and place of this audio sure -the task at hand- mixing, making a master what have you..?
But then -just that big box of tools' -solutions and methods- you pick from. ;)

Which is probably sorta' why it keeps getting turned back around to this 'what does it need?' thing. :D
 
Yeah man, every track is going to have different approaches. Any backing track is going to have issues when placing a vocal track on it. Sometimes, you may need to cut out a frequency in the beat track to make room for the vocal, other times you may need to enhance the beat track to work with your vocal. There is no 'stamp' approval for anything to work.

Then, your own vocal, and how you work with it to fit the backing track, is a whole different thing altogether. The toughest part, is to find a way to make the backing track and the vocal sound like they belong together.

Post a clip of what you are working on, or we are just throwing out guesses.

Word!
 
My suggestion for this very limited context of mixing would be to use multiband comp. It will help you to do some cleaning without ruining the entire mix. Good thing will be to use also the "expand" function on a second multiband comp. to apply gentle boost where and when an instrument in the mix need it (i.e a snare). So one multiband comp. to carve the whole track and another (on expand mode) to make some elements cut more through the mix. I think it should help.
 
It's probably already been mastered so you cannot do much to it except eq it to taste. Carve out the vocal range and spit over it.
 
What everyone else said is true. In general though, try some EQing, parallel compression, Mid/Side processing, and, as a last resort, multiband compression.
 
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