8 Mixing Tips for Beginner Composers

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In this mixing tutorial, I share with you 8 mixing tips which I use when composing music. I go through techniques such as basic EQing, how to use panning and how reverb can help add space and depth to your music. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to mixing, but hopefully these pointers will be a good starting point if you're just starting out composing your own music!

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
00:22 - Tip 1 - Getting the arrangement right first
01:03 - Tip 2 - Pay close attention to the levels
02:04 - Tip 3 - Using EQ
04:37 - Tip 4 - Using Panning
06:15 - Tip 5 - Using Reverb
07:31 - Tip 6 - Use Compression sparingly
08:25 - Tip 7 - Use a reference track
08:55 - Tip 8 (Bonus Tip) - Hire a Mixing Engineer
09:49 - Playthrough
10:25 - Outro

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Composing Academy is the place to learn how to begin composing your own music. Here you will find easy to follow videos explaining core Music Theory concepts along with various tips and tricks to help you craft that perfect song of cinematic piece of music.

[yvanroustan]

The best tip is to use a reference track indeed, thank you for your video !

[stevie_k]

Thanks a lot Simon!! Was really interesting.

[treebannister]

Thank you, Simon! I appreciate you sharing your talent and gift for composing music. Great video! ~Tree

[maciej]

Simple, informative, competent !!!
Thank you.

[OutandaboutWalking]

Simon, thank you so much for another great video! You covered everything I had questions on. Oh, btw I’m sure you may have already been told this but I love the clean & straightforward approach to your videos and also your speech is nice, clear & concise. Please keep up the great work :)

[Kaissa]

Thank you Simon. And with some little delay we can give some depth. A short delay gives percussion punchiness without giving it too much room in the mix. Or a long delay on an organ playing sustained chords can give a thicker sound.

[Videokeys]

Awesome Simon, new fan here; great insights for starters like me; we share the same plugins BBCSO & EW Spaces btw

[Superduperond]

I needed this when I started out xD
Great video!

[SKDrumming]

Hey Simon, long time the saw your videos ... I might say I was quite busy with upgrades to my studio plus some maintenance ... as separating myself from the position of a drummer and talking as sound engineer I can tell you 1-2 secrets that will also have huge impact in your music.
1) the idea of using a reverb is as you said to give to the audience the feeling of space and to make sounds bigger but also to glue pieces together and making them sound being in the same room at the same time :)
2) moving forward with what I previously said it would be better if you nave a dedicated channel with the reverb of your flavour ( cathedral, hall, room etc ) and instead of placing the reverb effect on each channel separately to use the send feature to send a portion of your signal to the reverb and create a separate mix of the instruments you have in your song.
Keep in mind that the more you send to reverb of a signal of an insttrument it goes back and the less you send you make it sound closer, also as a tip in some if not all reverbs you have the predelay factor that if set in 20 milliseconds the reberb will start acting with 20 milliseconds of delay which with the correct setting will make the reverb channel brighter and the decay softer ...
3) As about the level of the reverb channel I told you on tip 2 is to start lowering the level so that when you mute it the difference will be way less noticed ... will do the trick as a reverb to glue things together and make the sound bigger but will also keep the balance to the point or even better give more presence on it.
And of course as you already said ... no matter how good a sound engineer is if the arrangement is full of mud it will still sound like a swamp so the best approach is the song to sound balanced from the very beginning :)
Happy new year bro, hope my tips to help you out and keep those excellent videos coming :)

[nicolaberti]

Wow! Thank you for another great video! Btw, do you plan on doing a video on tips about using dynamics and modulation?

[emanuelpetermusic]

Very informative. Quick question tho if you're reading this or anyone else for the matter. Should I use the reverb that comes with the library as a room reverb and then some on top for a hall reverb or how should i approach this?

[mohammedal-shalfi]

I happened to see one of your videos by chance and I really enjoyed it and watched the rest of the series and it was really great and I want to compose music in the same way and I have so many tones in my head that I want to make it come to life but I don't know anything about music theory and I can't play Piano or keyboard, what I mean is I don't want to become a professional piano player but I want to be able to play various musical instruments with MIDI Keyboard whether piano, violin, trumpet, etc. What is the correct way to start with this and how can I find the right resources for it? Thanks a lot in advance!

[petercooney]

Thanks for this nice summary. Concerning reverb - I has been in the usual habit of zeroing the built-in reverb of the instruments pretty much (except choir) and then applying the one reverb to the rest of the tracks, as in your send reverb, to glue them all together for orchestral music. Also track EQ - is that done best of the bounced file or the midi track? Similarly is mixing done on bounced audio tracks or the collected midi tracks? It may have unstated because of usual practice and common knowledge (very much a novice myself)? I saw no audio in your DAW but then I'm not familiar with Cubase. Thanks again.

[micwarren]

Do you put the spaces reverb on group tracks or the final master out?

[geniicube]

Great tips but I have to say something and I do it only to make things better not to put you down in any way I appreciate you and all other creators that help us get better but, this cue looks insanely disorganized to me. My OCD is giving me a stroke. I need to have all my instruments organized by color so I know right away what each track is. How in the name is Hans (Zimmer the one true God LOL) do you not organize your tracks better??? You are clearly a better man then I. Keep up the good work I love the channel.

[Frank.Zimmermann]

Wonderful! Once again a very helpful video. Thank you Simon! 🙂 With most libraries, the sections are already positioned in the stereo image. If you additionally use your panning, is that to leave more space for possible dialogue, or do you simply want to bring the listeners more into the centre of the action, i.e. spatially closer to the orchestra? And when you send individual stems of the sections to your mixing engineer, do you reset all panning controls to "C" beforehand?

[micwarren]

Do you use the EQ as an insert or put it on the group track and use it as a sin for the various strings brass etc.?

[danaraujomusic]

Simon, first of all THANK YOU! Second of all, I always see most of the composers using Cubase Pro. I use Logic Pro to compose my scores. What is the diference between then and why the composers prefers the Cubase?

[alberthormusic]

Hi simon, do you not render into audio before mixing? I thought it was kinda mandatory to make it easier with your cpu and ram.
Thanks for your tutorials, they are masteripieces

[benitoherrero]

Could you please let us know which software instrument application do you use?
I have just a simple Halion (Cubase Ellements) and i would like to have another one better