Hey everyone, I’m curious to hear how you approach balancing vocals and instruments in a mix. Do you tend to rely more on your ears, or do you use visual tools like spectrum analyzers and LUFS meters to help?

Also, when you’re setting your initial levels — do you do it with dry tracks first (no FX), or do you balance with all your processing (EQ, compression, reverb, etc.) already on?

I sometimes find myself tweaking things endlessly because the vocal either feels buried or too upfront, and I wonder if I’m over-processing or just not trusting my ears enough. Any workflows or tips you swear by?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Appreciate

Now, I'm pretty confident with this mix. I like how it sounds, it works well for me across all playback systems. I received great feedback from both friends and strangers around the web. So basically all cool. Just one thing I'm constantly wondering is where to locate my mixing skills on a scale from amateurish to experienced professional.

I'd also appreciate any critique about what might have been done better in this mix. I've been 50% composer and producer so I'd also gladly take critique about arrangement etc.

TIA for any feedback and have fun listening!!
mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aNX4TuQwRbdfV9KZrnphtp8dIYwKw5KN/

wav https://drive.google.com/file/d/1taZH9Xj-Dj_KCeXmiuJD1WN1Hix--0Zb/view?usp=drive_link

I've been giving the song away for mastering and you'll be listening to the final mastered version.

I first heard Guns N' Roses' "big three" records in 1992 when I was twelve and knew little about rock music. The sound of those records, including the mix, is in my musical DNA. They are reflexively my definition of a "good sounding record." But I still think that they are objectively great sounding records, and one of the reasons why is that even with two guitars and later keyboards, the bass guitar sounds incredible. It's not lost at all, it's not just a low rumble, it cuts through everything. Even on crappy headphones, even on bone conduction headphones, the bass guitar is crystal clear; you can hear every note.

This was driven home to me on my way home tonight. I stopped by a store. My Michelle was playing over their crappy, tinny speakers, and even in that setting, the furthest thing possible from an ideal listening setting, the bass guitar was perfectly audible. I could hear every note. And I stress, bass guitar, and notes. Not bass as in the frequency range. No, the bass had no power. But you could hear the notes. I know few mixes where you could pipe it out of crummy dollar general speakers thirty feet in the air and the mix is still that open and the bass guitar is still that articulate.

Coincidentally, on Band-Maid's new single that came out this week, listening on bone-conduction headphones with no real bass power, the bass notes are still really clear. Not as clear as the Guns N' Roses records, but still, by the standards of most records I know, where the bass can often be either a low rumble or missing entirely depending on the speaker setup, extraordinarily clear.

So I'd like to ask this community of people who know what they're talking about: What gives? How are these mixes letting the bass guitar come through so incredibly clearly on bad speakers with little to no bass response?

Hey guys!

So I generally have trouble mixing sessions with a bunch of layered instruments. When its just a couple elements I can manage just fine but when I begin layering guitars and synths the final mix ends up sounding kind of flat even though I try my best to eq and compress everything as best I can.

Is the only way to get a nice clear mix to reduce the number of elements playing at the same time? Or is there something else that is causing my mix to sound flat?

Here's a snippet of the latest track I mixed where a bunch of instruments are playing at the same time: https://voca.ro/18rk0iqPpeic

Hey everyone,

I’m at a crossroads and would love some perspective from those further along in their careers.

I’ve been playing instruments for years, and I started learning music production in the summer of 2022. It began as a hobby, but about a year and a half in, I realized I wanted to pursue it professionally. Since then, I’ve been putting in 20+ hours a week improving my skills, connecting with other artists, and laying the groundwork to transition into audio work full-time.

This is the first thing I’ve done that’s consistently fueled my passion and focus.

At this point, I feel like I’m entering a new phase. My skills have grown to where I can confidently help artists bring their ideas to life. I’ve built out a home studio in a bedroom of my house, and I’ve mapped out a plan to build my portfolio to the point where I feel ready to start charging for mixing by late 2025.

Here’s where I’m torn: Should I pause those plans and try to land an internship at a professional studio?

On one hand, the hands-on experience and mentorship could be invaluable. On the other, with how advanced home recording setups have become — and given how vibrant and collaborative the arts community is in my city — I’m wondering if it might be more worthwhile to stay independent. I could keep sharpening my skills at home, work with local artists, and seek feedback from more experienced folks directly.

I’ve also heard that internships can be major time sinks — sometimes amounting to long hours doing menial tasks just to pick up small bits of knowledge. I’m nearing 30, and I’m not sure I can afford to spend years getting coffee in exchange for insights that I might be able to get through other means.

So I’m wondering: Is a studio internship still a valuable path in 2025, or would I be better off investing that time into my own studio and community connections?

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s been through this — especially folks who have taken either (or both) of these paths.

Thanks in advance!

The title pretty much says it all. I have found some good tips on line for vocoder general use, but can’t seem to find any info about the channel strip plug in.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

On actual vocals, cleaned up the timing with flextime. Rolled off lows. Found the “ess” frequency by sweeping the eq, then plugging that frequency into a de-esser. Pitch corrected vocals (I’m not sure if this step really makes a difference, but my thought process was that it might help clean up any potential artifacts). Some light compression for peaks.

On the vocoder, I did another “ess” sweep and added dynamic eq to that frequency. I lined up all the midi notes, to the exact moment the vocals start and end, so there’s no weird artifacts (for this track, the vocoded voice comes in and does single note lines, instead of chords). Added another light compression for peaks. Deductive eq in any harsh areas. Small amount of chorus.

The results sounds “okay” , but I’ve definitely heard better. There’s some notes that are coming through pretty harsh, so I’m thinking I might need some more dynamic eq. I’ve adjusted the velocity of certain midi / vocoder notes to lessen / strengthen said notes, but velocity adjustments don’t seem To be doing the trick.

Im out of ideas. I did read that you can try whispering instead of singing? Thoughts on that? I basically just want the vocoder lines to come in crystal clear and articulable. Thank you in advance

Edit: something else I wanted to add: there are some harsh notes coming through the final product. When I solo out the actual vocals and do a sweep, I’m not finding any overly harsh zones. When I sweep the vocoder, I can find some harshness, but am reluctant to cut in those frequencies and perhaps lose some “body”. More dynamic eq?

I need the best possible vocal chain using the plugins available to me which are:

Waves- CLA 2A, CLA 76, Vocal Rider, Butch Vig Vocals

Antares- (Everything they have)

Oeksound Soothe2

Fab Filter ProQ 4

And everything stock with Logic Pro

Please help, and I can get a raw vocal stem to you as well to play with

Example of a mix I'm at a 'good' place with: https://voca.ro/1nT32bqa7Wsi

But something just seems off. My monitoring is done with Sennheiser 6xx. It just feels like it needs more body or something. A reference to how I want my mixes to sound like is 'Americans' by oneohtrix Point never.

I feel like I am doing all the right things but then i listen back to my mix and something just seems off. I know the music is weird pls dont mention artistic choices and direction.

Currently looking to upgrade my studio monitors and could use some advice. I produce ambient drone-ish electronic music and have been using a crappy old pair of m audio monitors I found for dirt cheap a few years ago and I've made it work for me. I've recently started playing some live shows and on the club system I was noticing how much low end I'm missing and that when it is present it's poorly shaped and just sounds overall bad. I produce in a pretty small room that is untreated because its a shared office with my partner so getting a sub seems like a recipe for disaster. After doing some research it seems like the Kali Audio Lp's are the way to go, both in upgrading my monitors in general, as well as being able to hear some more low end info without bringing a sub into a problematic space. My question is if low end is a priority, would the LP-8's be worth it? I'm concerned that they might be to much for the space but also I've heard that if I really want low end that it's worth getting the larger speaker. The 6's are a more ideal size for my space but I'm worried the won't deliver when it comes to low end and I'll be in a similar situation.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17DYzE6nfV3GpcsoTxQbfUAnxK6zlfOWW/view?usp=sharing

This is a brand new alt-pop(?) song I just finished writing/producing this past week. It came together faster than anticipated, and comparing it to my other mixes I think it really stands out.

Would really appreciate you exposing my bias by telling me everything that's wrong with it :)

Basically title. A friend of mine had to very suddenly, and mysteriously, leave the country. It's a long story which I couldn't even begin to tell, partially because I don't even know what's going on.

Regardless, he had a music studio filled with gear that he split between me and some friends. I'm keeping watch over this thing which looks like it came out of a tank.

For context I produce dub techno and do some ambient/sound design stuff. Think Basic Channel, Rhythm & Sound, Aphex Twin and lots of other acts who have no sonic relation to each other. I know a bit about production, but *all* of my mixing and mastering happens in Ableton. I simply run my Digitakt and a handful of hardware synths in to it and use plugins to mix and master (I have a pretty good selection of compressors, effects, saturation tools etc). I also have a real tape machine that I use from time to time.

Anyways I'm not really sure what to do with this, or even what a "stereo channel strip" even is. Am I correct in thinking it's basically an EQ, compressor and filter all in one? Is this something I would want to run my instruments directly in to? Or should I run it through my sound card and put it at the end of my mix as a kind of mastering compressor/glue device? I suppose I could do that and just turn off my compression and limiting plugins. What would you do?

Ok, talk me out of it. Or not?

I currently have all the tape emulation plugins. I also have a pair of HRK 500 series tape emulation modules. Now I’m thinking of getting an actual tape machine to run mixes through.

Anybody taken this plunge? Maintenance nightmare or can you find a good one? Any good models to look at? Are plugins good enough to get the sound? My favourite, the ATR-102 plugin is often described as indiscernible from the real thing.

I will admit that part of this drive is just because cool new toy to fiddle with.

I posted this in the audiophile subreddit and everyone is saying its a problem with my dac or amp or speakers but I hear it on multiple speakers and amps (using apple music lossless) so I'm curious what actual sound engineers will say.

I would think we all know here about clipping in modern music. It's annoying and can ruin a good master. I've heard masters where it's loud but not clipping.

Do a lot of y'all here notice clipping if you ever listen to modern music? Anyone else get annoyed by it when it ruins a song?

Presumably they were live drums. Let’s say a kick, snare and a couple overheads to make it easy.

He sends these 4 tracks to let’s say bus 1. He then feeds bus 1 into a new bus, let’s call it bus 2.

On bus 2 he adds heavy compression and blends it back in with the dry bus 1. He also adds a little Eq to bus 2.

My question is, with this method, where does the reverb, delay, saturation and everything else go? You have the 4 original tracks, bus 1 that includes the 4 tracks as they are, and bus 2 that has the compression and a little Eq

With this method, do you use any compression on the individual tracks? In fact, with this method, what exactly do you put on the original tracks? Does bus 1 stay completely dry with this method?

Hi! Newbie here. As the title says, I find myself in the need of comparing two versions of my mixed track in a practical way. I know I can hit play on one, then stop and hit play on the other one an so on, but that second lost between pausing and playing makes me “forget” the exact thing I’m trying to compare at the given moment of the song. I also know I can sort of achieve this by loading both tracks in the daw and playing around with the Solo button, but I was wondering if maybe there was a web app or some platform that allows me to load both tracks makes it easy to automatically play/mute these two (or maybe more) tracks via one single click. Anything?

Hello,

I'm a composer / singer based Mumbai, India.

I've produced a song in the language called Marathi (Local language in Mumbai, India)

It's a acoustic / pop love song.

It has - Vocals, acoustic guitars, drums, bass guitars, side guitars, etc.

My main concern is - it's not yet mixed to its maximum potential. It's very soft and feels like weakish in terms of fidelity.

My main concern is how it sounds on YouTube.

Following are my service requests -

1. Mixing
2. It should sound solid on YouTube

I'll provide actual links to the song once approached.

Let me know if you're interested, we can take the conversation further.

Has anyone here still using Altiverb? I’ve seen it pop up in some recent sessions and YouTube videos. Just wondering if it’s still worth the high price tag in 2025. Is it still the king of convolution reverb, or are there better/cheaper options now? Curious what you all think! Use case is mostly pop music production!

I was going to buy these 3 but now I'm reading that Waves is bad when buying and they might charge you again later if your laptop breaks etc which I'd prefer to avoid anything like that.

So is there better out there?

I tried some free ones for ableton with max for live but meh... I had the Waves bundle years ago when starting out as a kid so I enjoyed them and know they're good (Beginner phase getting things for "free" but now all my stuff is paid and I prefer having it clean like that)

Hello! I'm looking for free alternatives of these plugins

Vocal Rider, Pro Q4, Rvox, Fab Filter DS, CLA-76, Waves EQP1A, Maag EQ, Soothe2, OTT, The God Particle.

I've used these plugins in the past (I've worked in a few studos mixing and producing) and I would like to keep doing it by myself.

Obviously I can't afford yet to buy all of them so I would really apprecciate any help finding freeware alternatives!

Sorry if this is asked often, I just have a few different questions within this question and couldn't find a good answer with searching.

I have a semi-treated room (DIY acoustic panels, no bass traps) and want to get more serious about mixing/mastering. I currently use JBL LSR 305s and Sennheiser DT 770 Pros (80 Ohm). I want to upgrade my monitors or possibly headphones as well (upgrading to some DT open-back headphones) I was wondering what the best monitors around $1000 would be?

I mix a mix of different genres, but I have heard that for club/edm with heavy bass it may be useful to have a sub as well? my room is about 16x12 feet, I don't typically listen to music too loud when mixing. My current main choice (after some research) would be the Yamaha HS8 monitors, would it be necessary to also have a sub for this?

I've also heard 3-way monitors being mentioned for being accurate, but if I sit too close to them, they'd be counterintuitive. I currently stand within a few feet of my monitors and would prefer to continue to do this, although I can definitely make some adjustments if it would make a big difference

I want to prioritize being able to hear all of the imperfections so that I can work to have the best mix possible.

Thank you!

Hello, I am planning my mastering chain. I plan to add an IGS Vari-Mu compressor and a Neve Portico 2 (VCA compressor), and I am considering adding a third of a different type. Is there anything I should or should not consider? Diode Bridge, Zener, Opto?

My thought process was to have the VCA for precision and the tube for glue. What would be the missing flavor?

Also, I am considering getting the Hum Audio Laal for a limiter, if that effects any comments for the answers.

why does everyone dump on waves? From what I can tell it has something to do with slimy business practices, but I don’t see any articles / threads / info online as to what exactly is slimy about them?

I just learned that if you don’t have UA hardware, then it’s apparently a pain in the rear to login to your UA plug-ins? That sounds like a major headache.

Who in your opinion are reputable / solid plug-in companies for mixing?

I’ve had u-he, tal and Aly James products for creating for years and have always been satisfied with those three anyway

Edit: also xln audio products and have been satisfied with them as well

Edit x2: I’m not new to music production or the basics of mixing. This subreddit and others pop up once in a while on my feed and I see negative comments about waves all the time. I’m currently really only considering proq4 at the moment. I asked the question about waves and other companies strictly for learning more about plugins for mixing, as I do not own any 3rd party plugins for mixing. I’ve been using stock logic for over 15 years

I love this sub it’s been very helpful to me in the past but now that I’ve been doing this full time for a few years now, I’ve noticed an insane amount of mis information and black and white thinking that just doesn’t work all the time on this sub. Just now I got into an argument with someone about cutting frequencies you can’t hear. In the past I’ve seen people spout the same YouTube bs tutorial info that was written by “producers, and engineers” who have never set foot in a studio in their life. Sometimes this sub feels like the blind leading the blind and something needs to be done about it. Idk if mods could like mark certain people with verified studio experience and credits

Is the bass guitar too loud or boomy? And should I boost the vocals more in the choruses? Are there any glaring issue that I've missed? Should I automate the vocals more level-wise? And are the vocals lacking clarity? Client was saying that her vocals are lacking clarity. I feel like they sound fine but maybe hearing the song over and over again has shot my perception.