Perhaps a weird favor?

[Hirosashii]

Hey guys, I'm trying to learn how to mix to the best of my ability currently.

I keep hearing this term "muddy" being thrown around. Although I have a slight understanding of what this abstract/subjective term means, I can't really point it out in any of my works if it happens to be there.

So my request: can someone give me an example of a song that is muddy in the lower frequencies as opposed to one that is not muddy in the lower frequencies?

In addition, what's the best way to go about clearing up the lower frequency muddiness? I keep seeing people saying that they cut off most of their kick drum any lower than 250 EQ-wise, but when I do that, it sounds incredibly weak. Usually I can cut off around 150 before it starts sounding really weak.

[Versilaryan]

"Muddy" just means that the sounds aren't very clear. People talk about muddy bass a lot because bass sounds are already hard enough to hear, so it's really easy to make them indistinguishable from each other. If you have too many bass sounds going around, especially if they're not supposed to be there and are clashing with each other, then you end up with a muddy bass.

To clear up lower-frequency muddiness, I highpass as many things as I need to, and make sure not a single bass sound is panned. Highpass your snare and cymbals as much as possible (though be careful with the snare -- if you highpass it too much, you lose a lot of the attack and body of the sound), and if you have a lot of complex synths, highpass those, too. I even highpass some basses so that the sub-bass and the kick drum can cut through more. Pads, too -- if you have basses, no need for bass in the pads.

When I stick Ozone over the master track, I use its stereo widener to make the bass as mono as possible. If there are bass sounds panned left and right, they could be out of phase with each other and cancel things out or augment them, mucking things up. Making everything mono and centered in the bass ensures that it doesn't happen.

And lastly, try sidechaining your basses to your kick drum, if you don't already. That way, the kick drum becomes more prominent without the two fighting each other for dominance. That'll let you lower the volume of your kick drum, reducing how much stuff is going on in the lower frequencies.

Ooh, and don't forget to remove DC offset. Not sure if that affects muddiness in the bass, but removing it will remove those super-low bass frequencies you can't hear anyways and open up a little more headroom to make it louder without distorting it.

I'll add some examples when they're done uploading.

[randomblockfilms]

And lastly, try sidechaining your basses to your kick drum, if you don't already. That way, the kick drum becomes more prominent without the two fighting each other for dominance. That'll let you lower the volume of your kick drum, reducing how much stuff is going on in the lower frequencies.

wow. seems like anytime you explain something, you describe it PERFECTLY!! the flow of words and everything is just perfect!! it would take me hours to write something that flows so well!


and yeah basically everything that Versilaryan said describes what a muddy sound is.

[Versilaryan]

Examples!

http://soundcloud.com/versilaryan/vafrous-coyote-november

http://soundcloud.com/versilaryan/november

The first one is a song I wrote over the summer, before I knew anything about mixing or mastering. The second one is the same exact song, remastered just a couple weeks ago. If you let it load for a bit and skip ahead to around 5:35 (where the waveform beefs up again at the very end), the final chorus where there are a million and a half voices going, you can really clearly hear what "muddy" means. In the remaster, I managed to make the whole thing louder, while at the same time, actually decreasing the volume and making all the parts clearer. (No joke about the loudness thing, either. The original peaked around .2 db or so, and the remaster peaks exactly at 0.)

Also, BTW, don't cut off your kick drum too much, or, as you mentioned, you do really lose a lot of body. What you should do, though, is roll off the lows of every kick drum you layer except for the one you use for the meat of the sound (usually an 808 or 909). That'll reduce the unnecessary lows and make your kick drum tighter.

[Kryptage]

The first one is a song I wrote over the summer, before I knew anything about mixing or mastering. The second one is the same exact song, remastered just a couple weeks ago. If you let it load for a bit and skip ahead to around 5:35 (where the waveform beefs up again at the very end), the final chorus where there are a million and a half voices going, you can really clearly hear what "muddy" means. In the remaster, I managed to make the whole thing louder, while at the same time, actually decreasing the volume and making all the parts clearer. (No joke about the loudness thing, either. The original peaked around .2 db or so, and the remaster peaks exactly at 0.)

This is what I like to see! I don't know how long I've spent getting my mixes as good as they can be. I hate it when I hear something that has so much potential, then sounds like you're underwater.

I'm glad to see musicians in the fandom working towards better mixes, because I know I'm glad I took the initiative to get better at it. This is a great of example of how long of a ways, putting effort into your mix goes.

[Hirosashii]

Thank you for the responses. I shall try my best to work on this