Working with the useful range

For a balanced and pure mix, it’s important to determine a useful range for each instrument and emphasize it if necessary (with EQ, saturation or compression).

<aside> 💡 How can you find the defining frequencies of an instrument? One way is to use EQ: by removing frequencies until the part loses its “meaning” or the instrument stops performing its function. The frequencies at which this happens will be the defining frequencies for the instrument.

</aside>

The “useless” frequencies should be removed with EQ, e.g. you can cut off the bottom of hi-hats or the leading part. The result may not be that obvious to hear on any particular instrument, but it will greatly improve the purity of the mix. Thanks to such “cleaning”, the mastering, which Mubert will do automatically after the samples are uploaded to the system, will not “pull out” any “dirt” that could not be heard before the mastering.

Frequency conflicts

Here are some general tips to avoid frequency conflicts in a stream:

• Remove sub bass frequencies and the unwanted section of the upper range from the kick drum and bass
• Find resonances and unwanted side tones in the sound of instruments and correct them with EQ (very often the “dirt” accumulates in the low middle from around 100 Hz and in the range of 8-10 kHz)
• Assign part of the frequency spectrum to each instrument and make sure the parts assigned to different instruments do not overlap.

Volume

Mubert uses a volume level value system based on LUFS. This measurement standard allows for the most objective assessment of the perceived volume.

<aside> 💡 We recommend using a free plugin called dpMeter to measure volume when you mix your sample pack.

</aside>

<aside> 💡 A good idea would be to have a limiter with -8 dB true peak limit on each track, since no instrument should be louder than this value.

</aside>

In dpMeter, select LUFS EBU R128 preset and work with two values: Integrated Volume and Short-Term Volume (the latter is higher priority). Chances are these values will not differ significantly.

Each particular stream will have its own volume balance based on logic, genre, technical considerations, etc. However, you can come up with some average values that will make your work at the mixing stage easier and faster. Please see the table below for approximate LUFS volume levels.

Approximate LUFS volume levels

Volume on the master channel: max. -1 dB true peak \\ -16 dB LUFS.

<aside> 💡 We recommend adjusting the bass volume last, when all the other instruments are already mixed and the overall soundscape of the stream is easier to understand.

</aside>

<aside> ➡️ Next: Samples export

</aside>