We hate spam and will never ever share your details with anyone. In this cheat sheet I outline easy step-by-step solutions to the 19 most common problems for mixing instruments and mixing synths: There are many different types of synths. With a high-pass filter you can cut away the low frequencies of the atmospheric synth. Same as with keys and guitars, wait until the end of the mixing stage to evaluate whether or not the strings need reverb. As a rule of thumb donât have frequencies below 100Hz. Box tone, color,wicked compression curves. Strings and violins often sound best when compressed delicately. Mixing Instruments & Synths – Guitar – EQ Cut. This compression plugin was designed to mainly be used on the tracks that can add some punch to your music; E.g. Mixing Instruments & Synths – Guitar – EQ Boost. In some occasions however, you could boost frequencies between 5kHz and 10kHz to enhance the brightness of the synth. This is often somewhere between 15 milliseconds and 40 milliseconds. Especially when the saw synth is used to play the main chords throughout the song, it sounds great when placed in the center of the mix. The release time of the compressor can be short as well, between 35 milliseconds and 100 milliseconds often sounds great. In some occasions you can also experiment with stereo placement of lead synths. Compression Same as with saw synths, lead synths can have either a short or a long attack and release. Mixing Instruments & Synths – Horns – Compressor. Deep Synth Delay Studio Delay Dreamscape Reverb Future Sounds of Operator Vol 1 FM Future Sounds of Operator Volume 2 Synth (FM) Glue Compressor: Drum Mixing Presets Mixing and Mastering Glue Compressor: Mastering Presets Mastering Mastering Limiter Limiter $19.50 MasterMix Buss Compressor Compressor Modular Toolkit (Live Pack) Modular Morphia Drum Buss Presets (Producer … EQ (Boost) Attack settings of 10 or 30ms are the safest. For a more aggressive sound, bring down the attack and use a faster release time. You are about to receive a huge amount of high-value information. Covering the necessary preparations, tools, underlying physics and insider tips and tricks to achieve the perfect mix and master. Wait until the end of the mixing stage to evaluate whether or not the keys need reverb. Mixing Instruments & Synths – Strings – EQ Boost. Used wrong, atmospheric synths can ruin your mix. The RMS meters will help you too, and it’s nice to have precise input and ouput gain faders in the master section too. Keys (or piano or organ) can sound great both in the center as well as on the side of the mixing space. Often, horns donât need frequencies below 150Hz. Your mix can sound much cleaner without reverb on the strings. If you choose to let these synths keep their high frequencies, they will appear closer and brighter. Also has Peak (manual attack/release) or RMS timing. It works the best with the type of material I usually work with. Did you grab my instruments & synths cheat sheet? Choose one to get started: In this free email series you will learn the exact techniques we used to master releases on Ultra, Monstercat, Big Beat and Armada. free. If you haven’t already, grab it at the bottom of each post to improve your instruments and synths. Great sound. U73b has two operating modes: compressor and limiter. Next episode we continue with how to mix: vocals and sound effects. Same as with saw synths, only boost lead synths if it is really necessary. -2 to -4 dB of gain reduction) to process and ‘glue’ the sounds together into one. It makes modeling more detailed and precise. Mixing Instruments & Synths – Atmospheric Synth – Compressor. Use a VCA compressor to tame peaks on your drum bus and other percussive elements on individual tracks in your mix. You can use it to get the center of your mix really tight without having to worry about the compressor reacting to/affecting the material on the sides of the stereo image. Placement Mixing Instruments & Synths – Strings – Compressor. Your mix can sound much cleaner without reverb on the horns. Make use of these facilities! The “Slow” attack time on the Slam version of the plugin is great for a punchy sound on the mix bus. Choose a Compressor. You don’t want to kill your transients. Atmospheric synths do a great job at supporting the rest of the track, filling the frequency spectrum and stereo space nicely. Nevertheless, stay consistent and always clean up the mix by setting a high-pass filter right before the key frequency. Boosting horns can quickly sound ugly. This compression plugin was designed to mainly be used on the tracks that can add some punch to your music; E.g. After all, some great mixers swear by using mix-bus compression, while others prefer to keep the mix bus pure. We compress synths about 3dB with a ratio in between 2:1 to 5:1. The limiter mode has a higher threshold and higher ratio (still, it’s not like a modern brickwall limiter at all) but still with a smooth knee. In addition to the typical compressor controls, Rough Rider 3 also features a Mix controls for Parallel compression as well as a High-Pass Filter. Your email address will not be published. In this example I use the iZotope Ozone 6 Stereo Imager. Mixing Instruments & Synths – Atmospheric Synth – EQ Cut Deep & Far. I explain step by step how we place these different elements in the mixing space, go over our compressor settings, and give equalising tips to achieve a clean and crisp mix. Same as with strings, if your horns donât have (or donât need) low frequencies, they can sound great on the sides of the mixing space. Placement 3. Mixing Instruments & Synths – Saw Synth – EQ Boost. Pushing the output gain to distortion often sounds very good. Reverb If the saw synth has a long attack and release you might want to give the compressor a lower ratio to keep a subtler dynamic sound. Masking is a mixing problem that occurs when two (or more) elements are using the same frequencies at the same time. It sounds great to set the attack time of the compressor after the attack time of the pluck synth to enhance the punch of the sound. Quickly solve the 19 most common issues: That concludes this episode of our How To Mix Music series. You can comment and ask any questions below. Generally, pluck synths have a short attack and a short release. A useful purpose is to mix a synth, with reverb, and then send that into a compressor, to "glue" it into a whole, and bump up the reverb in the process. You don’t want your compressed end result sounding any quieter or louder than your unprocessed signal. If layering multiple sounds into one synth bass, the bass buss can often benefit from a light amount of compression (i.e. Saw synths can have either a short- or a long attack and release. Set a low-pass filter around 12kHz to allow this, while still keeping enough space for your hi-hats and crashes to come through cleanly. Hard Knee / Soft Knee operation which is available to both Peak and RMS 5 frequency HPF with front panel rotary switch also hand built in US and there is a thread about it here. Personally I find myself going with the “Modern” compression mode most of the time. Compression Compression If the low frequencies are not an important aspect of the sound, make sure to cut these out with a high-pass filter. Have their impact in the mix bus where you may not want the compressor can be and... 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