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Making the Mix Shine tipical "POP HITS"


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nerol1st, your second graph is the one I see most often. roll off below 40hz, and above 13k - 15k, bump in the low, dip in the mid, smaller bump in the high. THAT is the standard pop curve in my book. That curve is common nowdays, although, usually, I see even MORE high end activity

 

as an expeiment, [and don't rail on me before ya try it] try adding sparkle to each track by ramping up the highest end EQ on MOST individual tracks, somewhere above 14k and on up past 20k. a curve, or a line, either way, try +6, and for fun try +12. if 12 is too much, roll your freq up until you don't notice any change, then back down slowly until it is just detected. brightening the top shimmer over everything will bring out some upper end clarity also. Again, I don't recommend this all the time it's just something to try. If your finished mix sounds dull [which it does compared to a pro mastered product], try to imitate what you are hearing that yours lacks.... like EQ and compression

 

reguardless of how good a mixer you are, you can't get that final shine at mixdown - not LIKE MASTERED sound. ya gotta polish it as one thing. You can wash your car ALL you want and never get the "wet gloss look" of wax until you REALLY wax it. I gotta F in Anology Class ;)

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Really?
:confused:
There is so much high end on newer pop releases (that I've heard at least) that my cilia has curled up and gone on vacation.

 

:thu:

 

Whatever happened to "warm, lush and full" as the goal for a well-mastered CD?

I know, I know- "In my day we didn't...", etc...

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Whatever happened to "warm, lush and full" as the goal for a well-mastered CD? I know, I know- "In my day we didn't...", etc...

 

 

We used to walk 20 miles to the studio and back every day, uphill both ways, carrying our drums and amps on our back. But you kids...

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In my opinion:

 

#1 Get the sound you want as much as possible at the source. Use good sounding instruments.

 

#2 record them in a good sounding room ( this is hard for many of us home recordists)

 

#3 Use the right mics and mic placement to get the sound you are after without EQ

 

#4 Use the best a to d converters. Poors ones can add harshness - especially if you EQ afterwards.

 

#5 get the mix right - use good EQ's Make sure your effects units dont add harshness in the high end. Subtracting/reducing bass is sometimes the best way to add sheen.

 

#6 If necessary resort to eq and or compression in mastering

 

#7 avoid excitiers on the mix bus. Id maybe consider it on a given track- not on the full mix. (Ive got one of these units)

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yeah I don't like exciter or bbe on final. I only mentioned it as an option. It IS a quick way to jump STRAIT to the SHINE part, just not the best way :)

 

Kendrix, I agree with EVERYTHING you said. But in the final mix, that still doesn't accompish the polishing that the mastering part does. I feel the mastering IS the shine. I used to bust my ears trying to make my MIXES sound EXACTLY like commercially mastered CD's but I never quite got there, even with tons of compression, EQ etc. The quality was not possible or duplicatable. That was a few years back, but NOW with software like Ozone, that pro sheen is completely within our grasp.

 

I'd still like to hear even more tricks for this soup. Took me a while to gather my knowledge, but I'm certain there are more ways too. Love to learn more!!!

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But Ozone doesn't do anything you can't have long since done with other tools, and it's only part of the mastering (and not the mixing) if you don't do it in the mix. If you are doing both, then there's no real distinction, other than the ultimate raising of the final levels. Everything else up to there could just as easily be considered mixing, and no different from putting a compressor or imager on the master buss really, it seems to me.

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True there. It IS putting a compressor and imager on the master. They don't have to buy Ozone to get that, but they need to know what goes IN to it to duplicate it - where that pro shine comes from. I think you can duplicate everything ozone does with free VSTs. The quality may not be as good, but should be good enough. There is something to be said bout processing it as a whole... like say multi band compressing low end featuring kick, toms, bass, and maybe the low part of the snare... doing that and letting the comp sort it all together sounds way different and sometimes nicer, than putting the exact same comp on each individual channel durring mixdown. That soup taste different.

 

Disclamier: I'm not a grammy producer or award winner, heck I'm not even on a label... so basically, I'm just tossing out ideas for consideration, mixed with my experiences and opinions

 

Phil, have you got any input on this shine stuff? I think there is a magic cream for it ;)

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The only thing that Ozone has that isn't part of the better Waves bundles is an exciter really. The EQ, multi-band compressor, reverb, imager, and limiter/maximizer is all available in Waves, and in in pieces and parts from various other vendors, of very high quality. Actually, Waves provides phase linear EQ/multi-band compressor and very high quality limiter/maximizers. And I'm sure that the Waves tools are used on plenty of mastered product in the more Indie world, though the big artists can obviously afford to send their stuff out to uber masterers with gazzillions of dollars of analog gear and whatnot.

 

I would say though that, those same big artists can afford the high dollar studios and engineers that obviously contribute a LOT to that end product.

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