Mix 'Glue'

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ShanPeyton

ShanPeyton

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I have heard the term 'glue' a few times when i have shown my stuff to people. Typically they say my mix is not glued together? How do i glue a mix together? Reverb? Delays?

I took a break from listening to or working on a cover i have posted in the clinic, and after a week or so i do hear what it is they are saying. It does sound not quite right and when compared to other recordings it just doesn't have that nice smooth all together sound.

So i guess i need some advice for ingredients for this magical glue.
 
There's many ways to "glue" a mix together...though none that are a specific process that always works.
How you recorded your tracks can often be the real "glue" that is then activated when those tracks are mixed together.

Other than that...sometimes running/summing your mix through a nice analog console can help.
Mixing down to a 2-track tape deck has been known to work as "glue".
Using some reverb judiciously on specific tracks can do it.
Sometimes sending the mix to a stereo-bus compressor can help pull it together.
All of these options are very song relative...and again, how you initially recorded the tracks makes all the difference.

I often use some or all of these methods on a single mix.
 
I hate to be abstract, but the last post is sadly accurate. Over the years I have simply had this problem less and less, as I've gotten better at tracking to the point that the initial tracks don't need much work. The biggest change for me came when I bought a nice outboard compressor and started tracking acoustic guitars and vocals with light compression - enough to tame the input while remaining transparent. Now, my songs seem to gel even while listening back during monitoring. So, I suppose my best advice would be light compression on the elements in your songs which seem out of place with everything else, and then perhaps light master bus compression. You can try this with plugins if using software - it just so happened an outboard compressor was easier for my workflow (Tascam 2488).
 
It comes with time as you learn to fit each element together. There is no silver bullet. As Miroslav said, most of the glue happens in tracking. The subjective nature of audio production is the culprit here for lack of a definitive answer.

Cheers :)
 
The "glue" (I hate the term) is also:

How the musicians play together.

The arrangement, if there is one.

Instruments not stomping on each other's particular sound and frequency range but complementing each other.

Light and shade in the sound.

The spaces between the notes as well as the notes themselves.

And that's all before you even hit the Record button.

Some people hear this total sound and can analyze what's wrong and others cant. Experience sure helps. Listen to known good mixes, like ones that won awards for mixing and you cant go wrong.
 
If you think about it, "glue" is something of a misnomer. What we're referring to is a mix that sounds like it's all one piece, that hangs together well and sounds like a cohesive whole rather than separate tracks. The goal is creating something that sounds like it doesn't NEED to be glued together.

A lot comes from tracking, I agree. After that, I'll have to agree with cubass and say that well applied compression can make or break a mix by evening tracks out dynamically and making them easier to place.

EDIT - even more than that, though, it's kind of a mindset. A mix is about creating a sense of space around or a sense of place for a song, be it a faithfully reproduced singer/songwriter with just a guitar or an exaggerated, over-hyped modern metal production. If when you're done you can "see" it, then you've done your job.
 
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Tim Gillett said:
The "glue" (I hate the term) is also:

How the musicians play together.

The arrangement, if there is one.

Instruments not stomping on each other's particular sound and frequency range but complementing each other.

Light and shade in the sound.

The spaces between the notes as well as the notes themselves.

And that's all before you even hit the Record button.

Some people hear this total sound and can analyze what's wrong and others cant. Experience sure helps. Listen to known good mixes, like ones that won awards for mixing and you cant go wrong.
Click to expand...

Totally agree!

Cheers :)
 
As usual, you get a lot of BS answers to a question like this? Because, the answer is? It takes years of experience, training, and lots of $$ worth of gear and plugs. There is no short cut "unfortunately." Or I'd be a mix master...

Oh and, "it needs to breath" and "psycho-acoustic something or other?" and some other blah blah blah? Oh and Transients? Ahhh, Limiter! aummmm, ahhhhh, OH, Widen this, narrow that, add separation, saturation, excitation? And I'm pickin up good vibrations...

-----
Oh, and envelopes? Don't forget the envelopes? Auto panners? HPF? LPF? Slapback, slap yo mama, slap that ***? Speaking of that, boost the bottom... add some presence? Some presents? Some peasants? And it will be pleasant...

Get some separation? Use a matching EQ? Listen from the DQ, on the Down Low, use some ground and pound bro?

As Dr. Suesse would ask, "Do you like it in your car? Do you like it in a bar??" Listen in different places, in different spaces, with different faces. Get perspective, directive, don't be so deflective. Compare it to this and that, don't be a hatin cat? The moral of the story is to be a mixing glory. Hear each part, alone, and start to own, your sound around those others always lookin down. etc...

The best thing you can do? Is load a track you like? And A/B it with your stuff... Does what you did sound like what you like? If it does? Then you're on the right track.
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I was at a swingers party, and tried to use some "mix glue?" They called the cops... I didn't know anyone that well? It could have just been a misunderstanding. Probably too soon (and too much)
 
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Light compression works wonders. Light compression = fast attack and release times.
 
RockinRobby said:
As usual, you get a lot of BS answers to a question like this? Because, the answer is? It takes years of experience, training, and lots of $$ worth of gear and plugs. There is no short cut "unfortunately." Or I'd be a mix master...

Oh and, "it needs to breath" and "psycho-acoustic something or other?" and some other blah blah blah? Oh and Transients? Ahhh, Limiter! aummmm, ahhhhh, OH, Widen this, narrow that, add separation, saturation, excitation? And I'm pickin up good vibrations...

-----
Oh, and envelopes? Don't forget the envelopes? Auto panners? HPF? LPF? Slapback, slap yo mama, slap that ***? Speaking of that, boost the bottom... add some presence? Some presents? Some peasants? And it will be pleasant...

Get some separation? Use a matching EQ? Listen from the DQ, on the Down Low, use some ground and pound bro?

As Dr. Suesse would ask, "Do you like it in your car? Do you like it in a bar??" Listen in different places, in different spaces, with different faces. Get perspective, directive, don't be so deflective. Compare it to this and that, don't be a hatin cat? The moral of the story is to be a mixing glory. Hear each part, alone, and start to own, your sound around those others always lookin down. etc...

The best thing you can do? Is load a track you like? And A/B it with your stuff... Does what you did sound like what you like? If it does? Then you're on the right track.
-------------------

I was at a swingers party, and tried to use some "mix glue?" They called the cops... I didn't know anyone that well? It could have just been a misunderstanding. Probably too soon (and too much)
Click to expand...

Actually, for the most part, the answers here were pretty fair and not unlike yours, barring a the rampant cynicism. :laughings:

Cheers :)
 
someone said it takes lost of $$, that is just not true. Good arrangements and any ok plugin compressor will get you 99% of the way if not further.

i think what most people are referring to is just how things sit together. you'll never have "glue" if the kick and bass and snare are not spot on with each-other, and if there are rhythm issues anywhere in the track (i'm not saying yours have this issue...i don't know).

arrangement and not spreading everything super wide in the stereo field can help too (though some things could or should be pretty far to one side).

maybe some buss reverb to get the drums/guitars/vocals each in the same basic area.

finally some light buss compression (usually on the drums and master track) will help with a mix that is already pretty well glued.

all subjective, but these are all things that can help with "glue".
 
compression and eq and your friends here. It all depends on your source. As mentioned, slight compression along the signal path(if necessary) can help. Comping your drum bus, guitar bus, harmony vocals bus just to tame any competing peaks can help. Then a slight bit on the 2 bus can gel a mix together. Many people actually set up their drum and bass, then mix into a 2 bus comp.
Eq wise, I always think of 3 steps. 1st eq to remove any problem freq in the source. as mentioned earlier, if recorded properly, this is unnecessary. 2nd eq to shape the source where you want it to sit in the mix as well as play nice with any competing sources. 3rd eq to nudge everyone to the tonal center of the piece. This can be done through an overall verb as well.
 
There is tons of good advice in here. Thanks so much. Rep is on its way.

I think i found the first part of my problem actually. I was in a habit of doing most of my mixing and stuff on head phones. oops. I have my monitors set up, from what i have read, "correctly" and already i hear what people have been saying. In a way when it is set up like this and i panned for instance the hats, i can almost visually see them moving from left to right before my eyes! It's a weird sensation but i think it is a step in the right direction.

I also immediately noticed the lack of "glue" my mixes had in contrast to some other recordings of stuff i know and listen to fairly regularly.

Pressing onwards.
 
Greg_L said:
No it doesn't. Experience and training? Yes, sure. Loads of money towards gear and plugs? No way.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I have spent a total of 60 dollars on plugs in over 6 years of picking away at this stuff. The ones that come with Reaper and anything free I can find!! Ha!
 
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