Fix Your Quiet Mixes

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#Mixing #HomeStudioCorner

[ringforthrev]

What drives me even more crazy is listening to old mixes that are louder, but I don't remember what I did different to get there...I just know it wasn't this technique. Thanks Joe!

[beachforestmountain]

There's another really important element to this... If, for example, you find that it's the snare which is responsible for the high peaks in the mix, which is stopping it from being turned up, what you can do is put a SATURATOR on the snare track. It will add more harmonic content to the snare track which will make it sound louder. This means you can actually turn the snare down, which means the snare will no longer peak as high, so that means you can turn the whole mix up. The SATURATOR is more useful for short sounds (like drums), but it can be used on longer sounds (vocals, instruments, etc) as long as it's not pushed too far.

The SATURATOR is often used in conjunction with a limiter - that way you can get an even louder mix than what you can get by just using a limiter by itself.


You guys should try it out for yourselves - put the SATURATOR on a snare track, turn up the gain on the SATURATOR and you'll see that you can turn the snare track volume down, which gives you a tighter/louder mix without having to squash/compress it too much with a limiter - even more so if you add a limiter on the snare track after the SATURATOR. You'll see that the overall mix has more headroom, which means it can be turned up louder.

[slim]

So often, these channels talk about not being able to compete with the "professional" mixes; but what they fail to tell us is how to over come it. You have done a fine job of explaining the role of the limiter, and how not to abuse it. I know there is more to "mastering" than just limiting, but limiting certainly takes a mix from sounding amateur to being in the same ballpark as the pros. Thanks so much for helping those of us trying to learn this art in our homes, often times without clients.

[zachalderson]

this has to be the most useful video I have ever watched on this. I've been struggling with the volume issue for probably 4 years. I dont know why but the way you explained it made perfect sense. thank you very much my guy.

[ThomasMurray]

I've been making music with the same daw for like 15 years now and this is still a big problem for me.
Hearing about it from someone I trust has given me a little more confidence. Thanks, Joe

[Alex_Florin_Prod]

Man...this was my problem for the last couple days...and this video is a life saver! Thank you so much Joe!

[prodchubs]

I’ll forever reference this video to anyone who has this problem. Watched plenty of videos on this today and this one made it make the most sense to me. Appreciate the sauce!

[seaweedslitherz]

You are amazing and this video is insanely appreciated. I wish every beginner could see this like myself 💙 thank you for this video three years later

[evanwilliams]

Really useful tip. Can't wait to try it on my pathetically quiet mixes.

[knutagon]

Holy jesus. I have Fabfilter Pro L, and I thought that since I had -3 dB headroom, I could only add +3 dB in the Limiter to hit 0 dB 😳😳😳 Seeing you push your limiter to +12 dB makes so much more sense. I have struggled with quiet mixes for 10 years. I produced 6000 songs, but never released any, since my mixes never got loud 🤯🤯🤯

Joe Gilder, you're a game changer! I subscribed, and will binge the rest of your videos!

[raymondshue]

This reason is why when I’m listening to Spotify or YouTube I generally keep the volume knob on my interface at roughly the same spot 24/7 so when I mix songs I know I’m getting close when it’s within the same loudness

[shellysaquariumcoffeeshop]

I'm going to follow you from here on any seem like you know some what you're doing. Thank you for your time.

[matshbocks]

All I can say is thank you thank you thank you thank you so much! I don't know how long I've been dealing with this, but I never had the idea that it was a problem. I'll make good use of this now! Thank

[CraveDiamonds]

wow ive been trying to figure this our for months thank you so much! Update : litterally crying because of how much time ive wasted trying to figure this out on my own. i dont know what i would have done without you man <3

[devingademan]

A great question asked by George Glass! A great video by Joe! Love the community helping each other out! Greetings from the Netherlands!

[VivianDohlen]

So helpful, I just got started with production and am about to finish my first song and the volume problem was driving me crazy!

[scottslater]

Love the way you explain stuff. I've been recording and mixing my own songs for 25yrs and still learning. Definitely getting some good tips from your channel...Thanks Joe!

[briankingart]

Very, very, very, very, very helpful Joe. Thx!

[ArtificialJetleg]

OMG, this is the best video for the same problem!! And I spent a few years in searching and found yours until now…I don’t know why youtube kept giving me crappy results!

Love your explanation. To the point and easy to understand!

But how to avoid having such low mixes in the first place, that you don’t have to depend highly on the limiter?

[SaulDeAnda]

Great explanation! One thing that I'm wondering about this though - Since you use it at the end of the chain after each mix just to raise the volume a bit, what should you do when you have the very final mix done and you're ready to master? Do you export a version without the limiter so that you limit properly when mastering, or do you leave it and just limit still quieter than a mastered file each time you export a mix?