Favorite Tips / Techniques For Mixing?

Looking for some tips to get a great mix with the DN2!

What are some of your favorite techniques for mixing on the hardware?

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  • Good monitor speakers.
  • Less is more.
  • Pay attention to the frequencies so every track has its space.
  • You probably have too much bass.
  • Listen to it in the car.
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Lower the volume, a lot. Especially when you are mixing bass or using compression.

Take short breaks often (this helps when producing too imo, at least a break per hour in my case)

Use reference tracks

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I’ve found any of the tips or best practices I apply from my regular live/studio mixing experience help greatly here. It just took me like years to realize it was the same thing. I don’t know if that’s helpful or not, but once I really thought about it, everything I made got way better.

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I definitely always have too much bass. :upside_down_face:

If you have an easy and quick way to switch between a track from one of your favourite artists and the hardware you will quickly realise what’s wrong or right. I tend to find my hardware mixes are more pronounced in the mids for some reason, and once I listen to a properly produced track I suddenly realise the error of my ways.

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I always “bypass” the compressor and get my mixes right before applying a very small amount. I also do a kind of PFL gain stage by soloing the tracks and looking at the meter in my cheap and cheerful Boss mixer. Once everything is around -6 to -12 I start mixing for real.

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It’s nice to have good monitors of course, but I also like to check how the mix sounds straight out of a phone or a bassy bluetooth speaker to give it some context. Personally, I often find my hats to be a bit too loud and my bass to have too much bottom and not enough mid frequencies.

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Don’t think too much. Feel more.
And what feels right, might not always be perfect when it comes to the theory.
And sometimes you have to say F4ck it.

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Il using the filter on second page a LOT to cut of unneeded / unwanted frequencies.
Will need to know more approximately which specific frequency I’m cutting but for now with ears only it’s enough.
Depends on what you’re trying to mix for drums heavy tracks for example start cutting the low end by a lot, everything will sound more clear. Then listen to references tracks (like real mixed tracks from artists you like) on the same speakers. And cut again if needed or add more depth if it miss some

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One of my favourite tricks, discovered thanks to OoraMusic on YT, is using Wet only delay as a send effect and routing it back to its own stereo channel on mixer, and then using its FX send to send it back to delay, creating feedback loop. Thanks to this, one can have additional effects in feedback loop.

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@normanion can you share a Link to the Video ?

Had to dig it up from memory and internet. Here it is:

Start listening slightly before 9:30 for his explanation.

Cordially,
Norman

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Thanks for all the tips everyone. Lots of food for thought!