4 Steps to Make Mixes Hit Hard
Do you know the feeling when you think your mix hits harder than life and when you compare it to your favourite songs – it turns out your track sounds tiny in comparison? I hate that feeling and I don’t want you to feel it either. In this video I’m showing you the four steps to make mixes hit hard.
The first step is to record well played tracks with great sounds. You can’t get away from playing well. So play as tightly as you can and try to tune in the sounds that sound really good unmixed. There’s no need to double or triple guitar tracks for example, play tightly in the grid instead.
The second step is to edit the well recorded and played tracks. Get rid of timing issues and mistakes as well as fret and string noises. Do you hear those in modern records? Nope.
The third step is to EQ the tracks to give each of them their own space and place in the mix. Mixing in mono is a great tool for this, as you can hear better where the frequencies are overlapping and fighting for space. Check this guide to learn more about EQing.
The fourth and final step is to compress the tracks to have more energy and consistency. Consider faster attack time for taming transients and emphasizing tone and slower or medium attack for energy and character. Drums especially benefit for slow attack, as a compressor lets the initial transient to come through and then start compressing. Check this guide to learn more about compression.
Hopefully you found this video helpful. If there’s anything you want me to cover in the future videos let me know. Send me an email or leave a comment below. Ask if there’s anything unclear or if I left something out. Cheers!
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