Also depends on what type of music you making

I do a lot of sample based stuff and I lowkey hate sampling in mono. Yeah it lets you control the stereo field better and is super useful in certain cases but stereo samples just sound

Altho when I do a little mixing I usually use that s1 plugin to make the stereo field of the sample a little less wide if I’m adding in synths/chords or whatever

Idk if you’ve tried this but find a good mono sample then add a pad with a wide stereo field to fill out the left and right of the spectrum. S*** always hits

Send with a waves doubler and flanger

The thing that’s really changed my life that I wish I came across earlier was clippers and how they work. Like how it helps you control the mix and maximize loudness.

You ever tried that god particle mastering plugin?

From what I understand you basically put that on the master and mix into it. Its supposed to help you accurately get everything leveled properly

I saw people say it was really good at helping non engineers clean up they stuff

i do electronic music (house m dance) and rap (my own overall style that involves 2010s & 90s templates/concepts that is orchestral heavuy) but the stereo mixing is a LIFE SAVER in dance music & again as I said earlier, with vocal mixing.

But same lmao I dont follow the general rule of this in mono and this in stereo i just do what feels right. Sometimes i even put the bass whether its 808s, synth bass or bass guitar in full stereo where its like cupping your ears in headphones & its glorious.

it just gives so much control to u & its an easy way to make a beat seem like more than it is. When I do really simple beats in dance music I will use stereo mixing to make things more interesting with automation that switches through the beat and panning - soundtoys EchoBoy + Output portal + Fruity Stereo Shaper is my little secrets for this kind of stuff & how I give my beats a lot of depth & character from the drums to the vocals to the instruments

Personally tho i suck d*** at sampling

Chorus' are great too especially for more simpler or emptier beats!

I feel you pleighboi

My main synth is stereo but i be feeling like I should record that bih in mono for 'mix sake'

After i put it in a general place with a stereo enhancer i then tune it with a stereo shaper

Stereo enhancer/seperators are like puting your sound in a 2d plane then the shaper puts in 3d space where it can up n down n all around like a 3d model program - its also what people used in the 2010s for "3d mixing" like Ali of TDE when it was still a fairly new/niche technique & what he became famous for

The Shaper allow you to have many different things in stereo together

I like to imagine it like youre in the middle of orchestra thats all around - or if you want to think in a "3d space" i like to imagine im in the middle of a bubble and the sound can go all over the place beyond just side to side with the Shaper, it literally bring a whole new level and adds so much more space & possibilities

Automation is another thing people need to look into more that tutorials don’t talk about much

I make most of my stuff on a sampler (isla s2400) that has basically no effects other than filters. It kinda forces you to just use raw sounds and get them sounding good from the jump. It makes mixing much easier if everything’s already hitting with no EQ, Compression or any of that

I read that’s how Dre always got his stuff sounding so clean. It wasn’t as much the mixing process people think it is. He just picks good sounds and processes them before even making the actual beat

Altho I’m really considering buying a mixer so I can get stuff a bit cleaner before I even track it into ableton. I want an SSL big six so bad but that s***s like 3k

I think that’s why older music sounds mixed so well

Everything was recorded in mono and had to be panned or doubled if they wanted it to sound bigger

There was a much bigger emphasis on building a full sounding stereo field back then

Stereo Enhanced Master preset on Ableton is goated

Big FACTS - its so an easy to add variation too without overcomplicating or switching the mood.

And automation is a lot easier than yt sphere makes it to be they always overcomplicate it like how they EQ a thousand points - i just do the effect and then in automation turn it up or down or switch it off or on for the most and for more complex ones instead of doing it all at once i just do multiple instances its easier that way for me & keeps more organized instead it all shoved in one auto-block & imo makes it easier to adjust.

Im an automation fiend even in my Rap beats, i'll even do real subtle ones too on top of the more "fancy" ones,

But yeah I think my method of "mixing as I go" instead of the traditional way of "mixing at the end" always helped with my stuff sounding clean because im adapting and being cognizant of everything in the moment - thats something people should do more of and in my own self taught brain it just makes sense like that. Or at least do simple mixing as you go like a simple eq, panning and filtering then you can do the more advanced big stuff at the end like Stereo mixing, compression, crushers etc. that way your stuff is sitting automatically and it gives an instant feedback of what you can do next or what makes sense next instead of waiting and you might end up lost or whatever you did might not be possible in the mix at the end.

Man i need real hardware I def feel you on that - some of friends do but I dont have any. i want to get a Korg Minilogue & like you I want to get a physical mixer as well. Yeah most stuff is digital nowadays and almost on par in every instance but there is still a "thing" to hardware and regardless, to me, it just feel more better and make you more "adaptable".

I suck ass using samples tho - I will make a sampled beat every once in awhile just to try and keep that edge sharp, but it is not my strong suit at all.

90 percent of my beats dont use any loops and 95 percent of my beats dont use samples (like track/song sample).

And its not even from a "original music" superiority or snob attitude - I just genuinely suck at it lmao. I respect sampling so much tho and think its cool as s*** especially when people are using vinyl or cassette feeders. Ive done vinyl sampling a few times myself. I wish I was better at it.

I dont really respect loops tho. I respect using it for a small part of a beat or a section or something you cant do or dont have access to like a guitar, but I do not respect using loops for pretty much the whole beat.

Although i have sold my own loop packs for those that do

Nah lemme see what this s***s about sounds dope

Yeah some people think hardware adds magic fairy dust to your production (which to some extent is does a little bit but not what people think) But the real magic is the different workflow it gives you. Not having a big screen and grid lets me feel stuff out more

Another random thing I just learned is why Pro Tools is the industry standard and why people should use it. It’s not that it’s better than other daws but it’s easier for engineers to just send the project file to other engineers instead of stemming it out everytime

If I track my beat into pro tools and do some light mixing it’s much easier to send the whole project file to an engineer because they can see exactly what I’ve done and are able to turn my plugins off instead of it being baked into the stem or me trying to tell them how I want it to sound. It gives them an easier reference point to go from. That’s why I hate when producers try and s*** on pro tools, They just don’t understand this

Not really relevant to the thread but I figure if we’re just talking useful info for producers this actually kind of a big one. It really makes me want to learn pro tools

yeah hardware is just so much clean, "organized" & it makes you move/adapt quicker. Part of it is it being its own space which allows focus, but also the physical buttons and such adds instant responsiveness & ergonomics. Just makes things more snappy and zippy. Plus its simply FUN like a video game controller lmao which that alone its very valuable & promotes so much more thoughts, creativity and ideas.

But ahh I never knew that, i do everything in FL. Ive only worked on protools (also Abelton n Logic) at certain friends places & especially studio sessions. I was working at a local studio for two years for mixing & co-production until covid hit & im a at risk person so it made do stuff on my own & independent & I have a main home job of animal raising/breeding for dogs n cats due to covid locking me inside for years until late 2022 early 2023.
The studio used protools for almost everything while they also had FL and Logic for us.

Most my friends irl use FL tho, some use Abelton & only one uses Logic & Cubase. Few of them especially the ones that did full college for music have Pro-Tools as well.

I mostly just stick to FL & only stick to it for personal/home buisness stuff for commissions and collabs cuz I been using it since FL10 when I was 14 or 15 years old and I know in and out now (FL 12 the GOAT btw) lmao. Luckily FL can "do everything" now since the late 2010s.

But what youre saying is a big benefit & makes sense why real studios stick to it. I didnt know that. When I do mixing or collabs I send the stems along with a thing of notes of what Ive done. I havent upgraded past 20 atm which theyre on 22 I think so idk if they have it now but I never even thought of it. Notes were/are always been the standard/norm

I use Lurssen Mastering Console & Lifeline Console for mastering on the Master insert and i have some stuff from Izotope for monitoring @shuathegreat

Ive heard of God Particle but havent used it

man ngl i never mix my beats, legit just got hq sample packs, put em on my mpc live 2 and get to work, def need to learn how to mix though

Vintage Exciters are a great way to add some grit and organic qualities to your mix, especially when you signal them after time-based effects

I just picked up on the pro tools thing from Alchemists masterclass. He does everything in his mpc then tracks to pro tools and sends it to an engineer

That process makes more sense for hardware based producers I guess

You should also upgrade FL for that stem separation thing unless you already got serato sample. That’s definitely the next plug-in I’m buying, Altho it kinda complicates my process

Turntable -> sampler -> computer -> back into sampler is kind of a lot plus I’m still iffy about the artifacts it leaves lol

you gotta develop an ear for it tbh, like reverb or delay are super obvious to notice but compression its a bit diff. this vid made me understand a lil better

Fruity stereo shaper is a god send for me

I even put it over a few 808s and they made em sound bouncy as f***

I’m gonna give this vid my full attention when I get home

Even tho I understand how compression works my biggest problem is knowing when to use it

Being able to actually hear it in tracks I like and begin to see how it’s being used in them is what I really need to focus on

Even tho EQ and compression can be the simplest and most used tools I feel like they can be the hardest to really really understand. I’ve seen pro engineers say “If you master leveling, EQ and compression then your 95% of the way there with mixing”

you guys got any tips on getting vocals up to industry standard. i've been trying for years to get to that point, but it's looking bleak.

Yeah i dont really see how to do it in another way too like mixing is part of the sound design process

it adjust harmonics and frequencies that is beyond "just volume" of the actual wave print

confused what you mean by this. Compression hasnt really got anything to do with different frequencies, its about different amplitudes.