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Mix better, one tip at a time.
34 short tips on mixing, drums, chords and arranging. Each one has a 30-second video with a before and after, so you can hear the difference.
Mixing
- Why does my mix sound muddy?A muddy mix almost always means too much energy in the low mids, around 200 to 500 Hz. Here's how to find it and cut it, with a before and after.Read and watch →
- What does a compressor actually do?A compressor turns the loud parts down so loud and quiet sit closer together. Threshold and ratio explained simply, with a before and after.Read and watch →
- Why does my bass vanish on phone speakers?Phone and laptop speakers can't play deep bass. Saturation adds harmonics your ears hear as the same note, so the bass shows up everywhere.Read and watch →
- How do I make my mix sound 3D?Think of your mix as a room: panning for left and right, volume and reverb for front and back, brightness for up and down.Read and watch →
- How do I stop my kick and bass fighting?Kick and bass share the same low frequencies. Sidechaining ducks the bass every time the kick hits, so both come through.Read and watch →
- How do I add reverb without burying the vocal?Pre-delay is a short gap before the reverb starts. 20 to 100 ms keeps a vocal clear and up front, while the space stays big.Read and watch →
- Why does my mix sound bad the next day?After an hour of loud listening your ears get tired and everything sounds dull, so you over-EQ. Mix quieter and take breaks.Read and watch →
- Should my bass be in mono?Wide stereo bass can cancel itself out in mono, on club systems and phones. Keep everything below about 120 Hz in mono.Read and watch →
- How much headroom should I leave?Above 0 dBFS the peaks get chopped off. Turn your tracks down so the mix peaks around -6 dB and make it loud in mastering.Read and watch →
- How do I time my delay to the BPM?60,000 divided by your BPM gives one beat in milliseconds. Here's how to work out quarter, eighth and dotted delays.Read and watch →
- Why does my mix sound boomy?Keys, pads and vocals carry low rumble you can't hear but that adds up. A high-pass filter on everything except the kick and bass cleans it up.Read and watch →
- How do I make my synth sound wide?Delay one side of a mono sound by about 10 to 30 ms and it spreads across the stereo field. Keep bass and kick in the middle.Read and watch →
- How do I make drums punchy and heavy?Make a copy of the drums, squash it hard and blend it under the original. You keep the punch and get the weight.Read and watch →
- Why does my mix sound harsh?Harshness often comes from a few narrow frequencies ringing louder than the rest. Find them and turn just those down.Read and watch →
- Why does louder sound better?A mix 3 dB louder almost always sounds better, even when nothing else changed. Match levels before you judge any change.Read and watch →
- Is everything in my mix in the middle?Keep kick, snare, bass and lead vocal centred. Spread hats, percussion, keys and guitars left and right, and balance the sides.Read and watch →
- Why does reverb make my mix muddy?Put an EQ after the reverb and cut the lows and very highs. Same space, but the low end stays clean.Read and watch →
- How do I add delay without washing out the vocal?Delay on the whole vocal turns it into a wash. Throw it on the last word of the line instead.Read and watch →
- How do I fix harsh S sounds in my vocal?A de-esser turns down only the S sounds, only when they hiss, usually between 5 and 9 kHz. Don't overdo it.Read and watch →
Drums and beats
- How do I make my beat less stiff?Hi-hats that sit exactly on the grid sound robotic. Swing pushes every second note a little late. Start around 55 to 60%.Read and watch →
- Why do my hi-hats sound like a machine gun?Hi-hats with the same velocity on every hit sound robotic. Make the on-beats loud and the in-betweens soft.Read and watch →
- How do I make my snare fuller?Great snares are often three layers: a body, a crack and a sizzle. Pick one sample for each and line them up.Read and watch →
- How do I make my drums groove?Ghost notes are very quiet snare hits between the big ones. They add groove you feel more than hear.Read and watch →
- Why does my kick vanish on phone speakers?Small speakers can't play the deep boom of a kick. Layer a short click around 3 kHz and it shows up everywhere.Read and watch →
Music theory
- Why do some chords sound happy and others sad?Major and minor chords differ by one note, the third. Four semitones up sounds bright, three semitones up sounds sad.Read and watch →
- Why does my sample clash with my beat?When a sample and a beat are in different keys their notes rub. Find the sample's key and BPM, then pitch it to match.Read and watch →
- Why does my 808 sound wrong?An 808 is a note. If it isn't in your song's key it clashes with everything. Find the key, then tune the 808 to it.Read and watch →
- How do I write a melody that goes somewhere?Write one phrase that asks a question, ending high, then one that answers it, ending on the root. Call and response.Read and watch →
- Why do my chords sound jumpy?Play the same chords with different notes on the bottom so each note moves as little as possible. Smooth voice leading in one tip.Read and watch →
Arrangement
- How do I make my build-up build?Start with a low-pass filter almost closed, then open it slowly over 8 or 16 bars. The oldest build-up trick there is.Read and watch →
- Why doesn't my drop hit hard?Take everything out for one beat right before the drop. The silence makes the drop feel much bigger.Read and watch →
- Why does my beat sound cluttered?Too many parts fight for the same space. Three strong parts beat seven weak ones. Mute until it hits.Read and watch →
Sound design
- Why does my lead melody sound thin?Copy the melody one octave up and one octave down and keep the extra layers quieter. Instant size, no new notes.Read and watch →
- How do I make that ghostly swell before a hit?Reverse the sound, add reverb, print it, then reverse it back. A swell that rises into the hit.Read and watch →
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