Carlos Mixing Notes

Mixing notes from my friend Carlos, aka REVEL

General Items

Mud is not just 100-300 Hz, but also the absence of high-end.

You basically never want to hard-pan left/right, especially vocals.

• Carlos's opinion

Does each element fit like a puzzle piece?

Bitcrush makes things harder to mix

Generally try to remove elements with EQ or stereo imaging. Don't use a one-click solution like a stereo widener.

• 2 guitars is better than 1 with a stereo widener.

Manual volume automation is better than sidchaining with a compressor.

• Typically it's better to do things manually than with a automatic algorithm.

Mastering

The best way is to do everything compositionally correctly from the start.

If you have to master, iZotope suite is the best.

Maximizer

basically a very fancy compressor.

Vocals

Vocals usually sound best ultra-compressed, counter to most other things

• Cut low end
• De-esser helps, especially when bit-crushing
• You almost always want to dampen ~ 100Hz-300Hz
• EQ -> Limiter/Compressor repeated until it mixes right.
  • You basically always want to make sure you have a compressor or limiter after every eq change
    • This is because EQs are just delay (phase canceling). This means they cause distortion. Compressors mitigate that.
  • Limiter at 0 to prevent clipping
• Always rasterize (bounce/render) Melodyne

Guitars

Benefit from mids > 300Hz

Bass

Low-end should not be stereo, basically ever.

Toms

Transient Shaper

Allow you to shape the transients of your attack and release. Very helpful for toms.

SPL

Order Of Creation

First, Design the sound

Stylistic effects

Then Control the sound

AFTER making it sound how you want, EQ and compress/limit to ensure it it fits with the rest of the mix.