Hi, thanks to all the regular contributors on here for advice.
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Volume and EQ are the best and main tools. It's easy to get bogged down with everything else but when I realised this fully in practice it's been so good.
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EQ is basically volume, but for frequencies, because you're either turning down or boosting the level of a part of your sound. This helped me think about mixing in a more simple way.
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Let's say you have 3 tracks as a simple example; bass, snare, synth part. Use your eq on the synth (or w/e) and find a very sweet frequency that you like, do a small boost. Then, turn that frequency down on the other tracks. Do this for every track in your mix. You'll find your self making a lot of cuts, and you might have to use multiple eqs, but you can boost your levels and generally get a louder and cleaner mix this way.
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Use the pink noise technique as a starting point (google it/search on here).
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Use the pink noise technique on a multiband compressor at the mastering stage; solo the bands and do the pink noise tech in the same way as you would. This will give you a cleaner impression and a more defined sound. So if your mid or low mid band is a bit quiet, boost it.
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Some free plugins; dvs space echo (delay), REFLEX free (delay), OrilRiver (Reverb, real nice).
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Compression is also volume, although volume over time. It's over used too imo, because if your mix is clear eq and volume wise, balanced, with the best parts at the forefront, compression ain't always relevant, it's better for sidechaining and to level busses, but this is just my opinion I know :)
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Be careful of what you read, there's a lot of great stuff on here but also a lot of overcomplicated things, so take some things with a pinch of salt.
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A good starting point chain for a rough master that works well on most dance music tracks; EQ (68hz + 2db, 946hz - 1-1.5db, 5-6khz + 3-4db), Compressor (slow attack, 2:1, not too heavy on threshold), Multiband Comp (init settings, boost bands by Low + 1.8, Mid by +1.5-1.8, High by 2), Limiter or Maximiser.
Hope I could help someone, somehow! -Al
Submitted October 10, 2016 at 07:15AM by alexorigin27 https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/56rb62/the_latest_things_ive_discovered/?utm_source=ifttt