Clean Up A Muddy Mix!

There is a lot of confusing information out there when it comes to how you should go about cleaning up a muddy mix. In the tips that follow, we will go over how to clean up your mix to make sure you get a crystal clear mix with great definition and pumping low end!

There is also a cheat sheet to go with this video, so make sure you download that so you can have these tips on hand all the time!

1. Great Production Creates Great Mixes
If you listen to The Beach Boys album ‘Pet Sounds’ you’ll hear a masterpiece of production! Due the limitations of tracks, only 4 or at most 8, when artists such as The Beatles or The Beach Boys made albums they had to shape multiple sounds and parts perfectly before they could bounce them together, parts and sounds could not be undone, so they had to be right! Recording the right sounds and parts that support each other is not only great production it, will also make the final mix much easier to do!

2. Using Virtual Instruments Gives Different Results Than Organic Instruments
Virtual Instruments Will Not Have the Huge Dynamic EQ issues that Organic instruments can have. Real, mic’d up instruments can have the issue of players moving so the mic placement varies, giving you wildly varying EQ (boominess from sound holes or F holes of some instruments) or overly dynamic performances. However, virtual instruments are perfectly recorded and can easily be manipulated, with basic, simple midi adjustments to sound like they have been consistently performed. With organic instruments you’re often going to find yourself applying more compression and corrective EQ, sometimes even using dynamic EQs or Multiband compressors.

3. Muddiness Comes from two main areas, firstly Low End Build Up.
Excessive low end is easy to fix with proper High Passing, decide what you want the real low end to be, is it a super low Sub Bass line with a Kick shelved around 100Hz, more of a thump? Or is it a huge low Sub Kick with a bass line sitting above it? Or is it both where a side chain compressor ducks the excessive low build up from two sources of low end hitting at the same time. Find the fundamental of sound, such the low end on your electric guitars and boost that area, cut immediately below it, bypass the EQ and you’ll realise that even though low end has been cut, the new EQ settings increase the fullness of the guitar sound but leave space for the Bass and Kick Drum to shine!

4. Second Area of Build Up: the Low Mids.
Drums in particular can get a lot of low mid build up. On their own, soloed that may not be that much of an issue. However, in a fairly dense track that will really add to the overall muddiness. Typically scooping out low mids of Toms, The Kick Drum (Bass Drum), Overheads and Room Mics at around 350hz (roughly an area between 250-450hz) with a fairly wide Q will really open up the drums leaving room for low mids on other instruments, such as guitars which benefit from the fullness of low mids.

Listen to your whole mix to find areas where low muds start to build up, don’t be afraid to high pass high lines that don’t need low end or low mids. Large amounts of Synth Pads and raked guitars so over do the Low Mid Area so be careful not to boost the low kids in every pad, string part or rhythm guitar!

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Produce Like A Pro is a website which features great tips to help the beginning recordist make incredible sounding home recordings on a budget.

[Producelikeapro]

What is your top tip for cleaning up muddy mixes? Thanks everyone for being such an amazing part of our community! I feel so blessed to be a part of it! Please all be well, look after yourselves and thank you all so much for everything that you do! I am so grateful for you ALL!

[donniecatalano]

People, we need to start seriously filtering who we listen to when trying to learn something properly. On YT there are too many 'knowitall' beginners who pretend to know what they're doing. This channel for example for me is a true and reliable reference.

[MikeLuke]

Point 1 is soooo important. This „fix it in the mix“ approach is annoying sometimes, it’s almost a religious belief in the power of plugins nowadays. How do they say? - Record as if there were no mixing and mix as if there were no mastering.

[blissiplin]

Just want everyone to know this channel is awesome. I literally learned to mix from this guy in the last month or 2.

[titusrivers]

Warren: Handling 73 tracks like a pro.
Me: At the border of death trying to demistify the meaning of life juggling 5 tracks.

[tokenofdevotion]

Warren, you're one of the few people on youtube that actually give proper advice on mixing using a variety of examples. Thanks a lot!

[EricTViking]

I love the way you demonstrated this on a massively saturated mix with huge guitars and bass. So often people do tutorials on fairly thin clean mixes where it's difficult to hear the changes they make. Also like the fact that you aren't afraid to get aggressive with an EQ. So many people only ever advocate tiny tiny tweaks all the time. Keep up the great work! 👍

[thomasmcgill]

This is a great video. I love the Brian Wilson example. Thanks to all of your videos you have shared on this subject, I am better at arranging low end instruments in my midi orchestration. I absolutely love all of your work from Produce Like a Pro training site. When Im not lazy (LOL), I actually do OK midi orchestra mixes thanks to you.

[PrinceWesterburg]

Warren mentions Waves MV2 *just* as its on 70% discount LOL!
Great video Warren, totally on-point as ever :o)

[delhihiphopp]

Thanks for this episode kindly help us to make better to give some solutions on online beats mixin session, you helps alot thanks 🙏

[HitTheRoadMusicStudio]

Haha Love me I'm Rich Bass, just finished the tutorial in the PLAP Academy - Wonderful pro content again, this is very helpful, Warren Rocks it again !

[heinrichsmit]

I first thought the bass sounded too bright but then when I heard the mix altogether, was quite impressed with the result, for guitars too.

[losarboles]

I think that that sub synth should be set in monophonic, in that way when the notes change they don't clash together for a few seconds, like it happens here. Probably that would make the low end a bit cleaner. Idk correct if I'm wrong but coming from the synth world, this rings my bell.

[HomeStudioRescue]

Love the Guitar EQ at around 21 Minutes.

[ATTRX]

I do love hearing all the bottom end having its own space, what you did with high pass and a bump is what gives the kick its thump, guitars thickness, vocals low mid. Low mids are a tricky one as not all monitors have good forward low mids, or lacking low lows, so its common to hear error in those areas pushing more bass to hear the bottom which ends up being BOOMY! in the car speakers, or the low mids on an acoustic overpowers the car speakers but sounded ok on the monitors. Also room phase in the seating position, wherever that is on the EQ will end up being added, where it builds up being cut. I know I mixed to the room, every time I moved studio changed rooms my previous mixes sounded completely different. Thanks for the tutorial Warren!

[terrymiller]

The Pet Sounds insight was so wonderful. I never knew about that, but it makes so much sense.

[XiyuYang]

Warren you overcomplicate things. Here's my solution: high pass at 300hz on master bus, problem solved, works wonder for years.

[J-DUB-F]

Good solid techniques, that a lot of people(this guy) forget these fundamentals>
Years ago a friend showed me that gtr eq technique, and somehow over the years I'd forgotten it. Thank you for the refresher! ;:-)

[elecoestudioficial]

I must say this: you are a true master. Everything you teach here is pure gold, because you give practical examples, not just theory. Keep up your great work, Warren!

[ToddBeal]

Thanks, Warren. I thought to myself before watching this video, "I have learned more from Warren than from ANY other source." Your real-time hands-on walkthroughs followed by explanatory recap is very helpful. Your videos are a troubleshooting Godsend - logical, practical, and spot-on musical with a 'you can do it' theme throughout. It means a lot to me.


The one takeaway from my audio engineering studies/personal experience is that the human hearing range is 20Hz to 20KHz, and the goal for every mix is to present a sonic equilibrium within which each frequency has equal-opportunity to be contextually heard, according to how we humans perceive frequency (Fletcher-Munson curve). That is what I consistently learn with each new video you provide. Thank you so much!


I typically approach a mix by, first, applying static EQ to all tracks. Second, I apply dynamic EQ to address what static EQ cannot. Third, I apply sidechain dynamic EQ (if surgically necessary) to address what standalone dynamic EQ cannot. Then, and only then, I apply compression (where suited), followed by limiting. I repeat this process for each bussed effect (reverb, etc.).