How to get in your face sounding mixes
Today’s music especially In the dance world has become more and more aggressive and when we think of loud aggressive mixes whether were aware of this or not, we tend to associate loudness with sound we perceive to be hitting us in the middle as opposed to our left and right ears or at least this is how I’ve always looked at it.
I won’t go too far into detail about the difference between peak vs. average levels as this also plays a big factor in getting a loud sounding mix however there are a few overall techniques which can be taken to effectively achieve this. In this article I will give you my 6 ways that have helped me to achieve in your face sounding tracks when mixing.
1. Compression/limiting:
An obvious starting point would be compression and limiting. Compressors and limiters are tools that essentially control the dynamics of an audio signal. If a sound has a lot of peaks then the overall perceived level of that sound will seem quieter. By applying compression or even limiting to a sound, you squash those peaks making them more balanced out with the average signal making us perceive the sound as louder.
2. Mono:
Another useful way to get your sounds to smack directly in your face is to sum stereo signals to mono.
Even though in most listening environments there is never a middle speaker, our ears still perceive sound in a left – center – right way. In order to get your tracks to sound in your face, sounds have to have that center presence and summing a stereo signal to mono is one effective way to achieve that.
This also works great on old samples from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Now by no means am I referring to making your entire mix mono rather making your main elements like kick, snare, bass, vocals etc more centered in the mix and spacing out things like pads, backing vocals etc wider and lower in level.
3. Lose the Reverb… use short delays instead:
Reverb will only drown a sound out making it sound more distant in the mix. If it’s your goal to have your tracks sound more upfront then ditch the reverb and keep it dry. If you find the sound is to dry then play with some short delay times instead. This will still give your sound a sense of space without pushing it back to far in the mix.
4. Distortion/Saturation:
Using distortion on a sound will not only add some colour to your tracks but will also add various layers of harmonics which in essence makes things sounds louder. Using distortion is another great way to not only add dirt to your audio but also make everything sound much more upfront and in your face.
5. Parallel Compression:
It never hurts to throw sounds through an aggressively compressed bus and blend that signal back in with the rest of your music. Parallel processing is a useful technique to getting a really in your face sound while still keeping the original dynamics and transients of your music.
6.Mid/Side EQ:
If there’s too much stereo information in your mix, that will probably take away from the centre energy. Thinning out the side information will help define the center elements more in the mix.
If you’re at all like me and prefer an upfront sound in your mix, try out some of these techniques and hopefully this will help you get that in your face sound you probably love. If you know of any more tricks to achieving this, feel free to comment or send me an email!