To get a clear and skilled mix, you need to find and deal with resonances. Frequency peaks that aren’t wanted can make a mix sound scratchy, muddy, or boomy. These are called resonances. Armus Digital helps artists by giving them the tools and advice they need to improve the way they make songs. Here is a complete guide on how to find resonances in music when you are mixing it.
- Know what resonances are
It’s important to understand what resonances are and how they affect your mix so you can find them and fix them correctly.
Details: Resonances are frequencies that are increased in a way that doesn’t make sense, making some parts of a mix stand out in a bad way.
- The causes: They can be caused by the way the room sounds, the way the instruments are made, where the microphone is placed, or the way the recording was done.
- Make use of reference tracks
Why It Matters: Comparing your mix to tracks that have been properly mixed and mastered can help you find problems.
What You Need to Do: – Choose Your References You should pick songs from the same genre that sound good on a range of players.
- Compare Frequencies: When you listen to your mix along with these reference tracks, make a note of any sounds that stand out too much.
- Make use of analytical tools
This is important because tools like spectrum analyzers and EQs with visible feedback help you find resonances correctly.
Tools: Spectrum Analyzer: To see what frequencies are in your mix, use a spectrum analyzer. Find hills that stand out.
- Parametric EQ: To find and fix resonances, use a parametric EQ.
4. Do a sweep of frequencies
Why It Matters: Going through different bands helps find the exact places where problems are happening.
How to Do It: – Use a Narrow Band: Pick a narrow band on your EQ and turn it up a lot (about +10 to +15 dB).
- Sweep Frequencies: Listen carefully as you slowly move through the frequency range. It will be easy to hear resonances because they will sound sharp or unpleasant.
- Note How Often Problems Happen: Be sure to write down the frequencies where the sound is too loud or uncomfortable.
5. Use EQ correction
Why It Matters: EQ changes can get rid of resonances and make your mix sound better.
The steps you need to take are: – Cut the Problem Frequencies If you want to make exact cuts at the found resonant frequencies, set your EQ to a narrow Q setting.
- Change Gain: Start with a small drop, like -3 dB, and make changes as needed. Do not do too much, as this can make your mix sound thin.
- A/B Testing: Always do an A/B test on your changes to make sure you’re making the mix better without losing any important sound qualities.
- Use Multiband Compression or Dynamic EQ
Why It Matters: Dynamic EQ and multiband compression can deal with resonances that only happen at certain levels or times.
Tools: Dynamic EQ: Change the EQ only when the wrong frequencies are heard with dynamic EQ.
- Multiband Compression: Multiband compressors let you actively control certain frequency bands, which lowers resonances during louder parts of a song.
- Keep an eye on things in different places
Why It Matters: Listening to your mix in different places makes sure that the resonances are controlled on all of the replay systems.
Steps to Follow: – Multiple Playback Systems: Listen to your mix on headphones, studio mics, car speakers, and regular phones.
- How the room sounds: Know how the sound in your mixing room works. You can treat your room’s acoustics to reduce reverberation problems if you can.
- Ask for feedback
Why It Matters: Hearing what other experienced listeners have to say can help you find resonances you might have missed.
Steps to Take: – Peer Reviews: Show your mix to trusted peers or mentors and ask them to give you comments on how to balance the frequencies.
- Online groups: Join online groups for music producers to get more ideas and information.
Final Thoughts
A key part of making a clean and expert mix is finding and dealing with resonances. Understanding resonances, using reference tracks, analytical tools, frequency sweeps, corrective EQ, dynamic EQ, multiband compression, monitoring in different settings, and asking for feedback are all good ways to get rid of resonances and improve the quality of your mix as a whole. Our goal at Armus Digital is to give artists the help and tools they need to make songs with great sound quality.
This is about Armus Digital:
Armus Digital is a platform for distributing music that helps artists get their songs heard all over the world. It lets you quickly distribute your music to more than 150 platforms, get paid every month, protect your content, earn performance royalties, and use label services. The platform lets artists upload their music, choose which stores to distribute it in, give collaborators, and make UPC and ISRC codes. Armus Digital makes sure that music can be heard all over the world and is properly made money by forming agreements with many digital service providers.