#117: Essential Mixing Tips to Make Your Synths Sound More Interesting

I've been writing , producing , mixing and mastering music for over 15 years and I want to share what I've learnt with you . Hello , folks , and welcome back to the Inside the Mix podcast .

If you are a new listener , make sure you hit that follow button on your podcast player of choice and if you're watching this on YouTube , make sure you hit subscribe and that notification bell so you know anytime that we go live or a new episode drops .

So , for those of you who regularly listen to the podcast and follow me on Instagram , you will know that I drop the single on Monday and also you'll know this from the podcast episodes as well .

So let you go has now been out at the time of me recording this for approximately four , five days , and it's been a fantastic response , I must say so thank you to everybody who has streamed , listened , shared , commented , posted and added to playlists . Let you go featuring Indigo and if you haven't listened to it yet , shame on you .

But seriously , I will put a link to it on Spotify . So a Spotify link that is in the episode description . So the episode went live on Friday and , coincidentally , I went to my first Metal gig in a very long time on Friday and this was in Bristol , and I went with my friend Matt , who played bass on Let you Go and a few other tracks on my EP .

It was a great gig . I thoroughly enjoyed it . It was great being at live music again . I don't know why it's taken me so long to get out and get to a gig , but hey ho , there you go . But it's on my list of things to do for 2024 and that is go to more gigs and shout out to Neon Highway . That guy is the archetypal giggoer .

He's been to more gigs in one year than I've ever been in my life and hats off to him . And he's been to some amazing shows as well and he's a regular on the podcast . A big shout out to Carl . But yeah , we stayed at a Filtern travel lodge and it took us an hour to go five miles on a bus and I was chomping at the bits .

I have some food at the local weather spoons in Bristol I won't say which one , there is more than one and also have a drink as well . And what it made me realise is , because it was quite a late night , had a few beers as well , mixing cider and beer cider being from the West Grunge , you love it .

It made me realise that I am not as adept as recovering as I once was . The next day I felt pretty rough . It was pretty much a write off . I wasn't even out late . It was like mid night no , not mid night , but probably about half 12 , 1am .

But for the remainder of the weekend , and now rolling into this week as well , I'm still feeling it a bit , and it's not going to affect the podcast today , but I'm certainly feeling tired today , but it was worth it . It was a fantastic gig . Anyway , I'm wittering on now , but let's dive into this episode .

So in this episode we are returning to well , it's not really a new format anymore , because we've done a few of these , but it's where you , the listener , submit a music production question . Okay , and your question will be answered in an episode of the podcast .

Because I want you to be involved in the planning and production of the podcast , it makes sense to answer questions that you want answered . There are challenges that are pain points that you're experiencing right now . Plus , you can give yourself a little shout out on the podcast as well .

All you have to do to do this is submit an audio message via speak pipe , totally free . You can do it using your mobile phone . You don't need to download an app or create an account , and you can use the link in the episode description .

Alternatively , if audio isn't your thing , you can send me a DM on Instagram at Inside the Mix podcast , or you can email me at insidethemixpodcast at gmailcom , but remember to include a link to where our audience can find you online . So for today's episode , our question was submitted by Oddsprite and here it is .

You can find me on Instagram threads , YouTube and all the musical places . Thanks , Oddsprite out .

Okay , so I'm in this song here and this song is called Alive and it's going to feature on my EP , and what I have are these two synth pads in this outro section , and I've got pad left and I've got pad right and I'm using Anna 2 . And then this Anna 2 , I've got the same patch on both sides 80s love scene .

Now , usually my advice would be to use a different patch on either side , but in this instance I've used the same on both sides and , for all intents and purposes , the patches are the same . However , I have done something slightly different . Right at the end of each of the channel strips , you'll see , I've got the virtual mix rack .

And then , after the virtual mix rack , I've got the U add LA to a emulation plugin , which I absolutely love , and I got it for free in October . Thanks to our nine for pointing me in the direction of this freebie . I had no idea it was going for free , but I grabbed it with both hands when I knew it was .

And I've got that on both of these pad channels and they are panned almost hard left and right . So I've got a pad left , I've got pad right almost hard pan left and right , both and a two with the same patch . Pretty much the same processing .

I've also got the TDR number EQ as well , just before my virtual mix rack , and the LA to a and I've got a six DB first order slope with a high pass filter at 200 Hertz and a low pass filter at 20 Hertz as well . And the reason I've done that is I've just got rid of any unwanted low frequency energy from these pads .

As I've got other synths , I've got guitars , I've got bass guitar and I've got my kit as well and I don't need it there . So what is the tip ? I might hear you cry .

Well , it is this if you have two synth pads and you're going to pan them left and you're going to pan one right , ideally you want some sort of fluctuation , some sort of differentiation in terms of frequency , content and sound .

Usually what I would do is I would do that with the Q , so I might have a high shelf filter on one pad and then another high shelf filter on the other pad as well , but I might boost one where I cut another or something along those lines . I mean , that's a really really simple explanation .

But in this instance what I've done here is on my pad left I've actually got the free waves magma lights tube saturation plug in little tube , it's called , and I've got that on my pad left and it sounds like this , okay , and I've driven it , just so it's going into the red . And then I've made sure I've ducked it .

I've had to duck it by about four DB on the output of this magma little tube , just so I can say consistent when I'm hitting I'm going into the next plug in in the chain . There isn't an X plug in in the chain . Well , there is . Technically it's going out to a pads bus , so technically there is . But that's where gain staging comes in .

You want to set it so it's at the optimum level , going into the next plug in in the chain . Then on the other one I've made it different .

I've used this is my right hand side now I've used the bit crusher in logic pro and I've got a 16 bit downshift and I've got about 24% in terms of mix and I've got a 16 bit resolution and a four times down sampling and it sounds like this . So this is the right hand side . Now . Okay , and now I'm going to put the two together .

And what I've done here is I've made the left and the right different in terms of their timbre and how they sound , their subtle differences there and the idea being I didn't want this just giant big mono left .

Well , it's not mono technically , because it's left and right , but if you've got the same sounds in the left and right , it could almost sound like a giant mono . It sounds a bit weird with the way I described that , but that's the way I would hear it .

And here's what it sounds like You've got the left and the right together with the bit crusher and with the soft tube magma lights . Now I'm going to turn off both of those plugins . Now I'm going to turn the back on . Now I'm going to turn them off again .

So , hopefully , what you can hear there is when I bring those plugins in it , almost it helps spread it out . It's a psychoacoustic effect , but it helps spread those pads out to the left and right , rather than just have this really boring sound down the centre . Now I will say this with a caveat . I'll just hit my pop shield there .

I will say this with a caveat Now , when I'm playing this right hand pad on its own with that bit crusher , I mean it's not the nicest sound . I did this in the context of the mix . It sounds good , but I think it sounds better in the mix . So let's have a play with it all in the mix .

So this is with the bit crusher on , so I'm going to turn it on and the magma light soft tube as well . I think it's called soft tube . I keep calling it that . It's not soft tube , it's little tube . Apologies to waves there , it's little tube , not soft tube . So here we go . I'm going to play it all in the mix .

Now this is with everything or instrumentation , so hopefully you can hear what I've done there is . I wanted them to be nice and separate , nice and wide , because I wanted space down that middle for that electric guitar that's slightly pan to the right to really come through and kick through in that mix .

Albeit , now I'm listening to on headphones that guitar , that solo guitar , might need to come up a touch . But that's my first tip there . Folks , if you've got a left and a right synth and you're panning them left and right , they don't have to be hard panned left and right , by the way , okay , but make them different in terms of their texture , their timbre .

Do some subtle changes . Use saturation , use bit a bit crusher , use something like that , just to make them different and it will just help enhance that stereo spread sound . So my second tip is really a combination of multiple tips , to be honest , but it centers around the summing stack .

So the channel , the pad channel that I have here , I've got my left and right pads going out to this pads summing stack or instrument group bus I guess you could call it as well and I got to play the same section

. But I just got to describe what I've got on here for those of you not watching on YouTube .

So the first plugin I have on here is a Transgate and the reason I love using this it's a kilohertz Transgate and if you're familiar with the podcast , you know that I've used this a lot in productions and it's set at 29% and it's got a one 30 second red resolution on this and I'm just going to play it and I'm going to gradually bring it up to make it

more audible for you . You can hear it there . It's just adding subtle movement and variation , once again adding more interest . This goes back to the episode before , episode 116 , where we're adding interest to our music , the ear candy . And then this is an important tip that I have here I've got neutron four here and you can do this with any EQ .

And what I've done is I've got some notches here that I've picked out that are competing with the vocal , for example , 300 hertz , three kilohertz . I've ducted it by 2db with a 2.5 q there , just to allow that vocal to come through more , and then what I've got here is now .

This is a quite sweeping statement , but if your synths ever sound muddy , look at between 250 to 300 hertz to begin with , and you may well find the culprit . The great thing about neutron is it has this masking feature and you can set it to an instrument group .

Obviously , you will need neutron on that group or that track , and I've got it set to my bass instrument group and what it would do is it will show me where there's potential masking frequencies using this orange hue . So I'm going to play it and I'll describe it for those of you listening on your podcast player of choice .

Okay , so what we can see is an orange sort of hue dancing around 250 to 300 hertz , saying that the synths are in the same . Well , they're competing . Let's say they're masking the bass . So what I've done here is I've just ducked it at 300 hertz by 2 dB with a 2 Q and I've also got a low shelf going on here as well , and then I've got it .

It's actually , I say , a low shelf . It's not , it's a well , it is a low shelf . I tell you the lie . It is a low shelf and that is then rolling off 110 hertz and below . It's probably quite steep . Actually , I may want to revisit that just looking at it here , but we'll listen to it in context .

But my top tip there is this guys , if your synths are sounding money , muddy money , if they're sounding money , then you're onto a winner . If they're sounding muddy , look at that 250 to 300 hertz . Look how they're competing with any bass frequencies there . If you've got something like Neutron , use that to your advantage .

Just because you're using your eyes , it is not a bad thing . Obviously , we need to use our ears , but use the tools that have been developed to help you . Okay , and then also that 300 hertz there as well , I know that is the presence frequency for my vocal or , let's say , a lead instrument , so I've also ducted there too .

You can use the same masking technique . Then after that , on this channel , I've got the decapitator plugin . I love this plugin and I've got it really subtle here , and this is just adding a bit of saturation to these synths again , or be it . You might say well , mark , you've already got it on the magma light here . Why are you using it again ?

Because I just want to , and it sounds good . And then after that I've got the waves Browr motion . I love this plugin , I've had it for years and I love the synth pad movement . So you've got to be really subtle with this .

If you're using the trance gate and the Browr motion at the same time , you don't want it to be like this crazy blah , blah , blah , blah , blah stuff going on , cause it could almost sound like it's audibly pumping . But I've got . I like the synth pad movement patch , cause it's really subtle .

But with the Browr motion you need to be careful with regards to gain staging , because it will add extra level to your audio . So you need to make sure . If you're then running it into another plugin or it's going out to your Mixbus , just make sure that it's going out at the optimum level that it should be .

Really , what I tried to aim for is it should be coming out at the same level that it went in at . Okay , now that once again , is a sweeping statement . You may not want it to go that way , but you want it to be working in a way that when it hits the next plugin , it's going to hit it at the optimum level .

For example , when it goes up to my Mixbus , I want to make sure that my tracks are hitting this virtual tape emulation I got here at the optimal level . And this SSL comp solid state logic plugin I've got going on here . I stick that . I'm going off on a tangent here , but I love that plugin . I love the solid state bus compressor on a Mixbus .

I think it sounds fantastic . So let's play it all in the mix with the Browr motion . I've got that movement going on , I've got the decapitator and I've also got my EQ there just ducking out any potential masking frequencies . There you go sounding pretty good , I think .

Admittedly , that is Mix 1 of that track and it does need a tiny bit of work , but it is sounding good . If you like the sound of it , keep an eye out for that release on December the 8th . So there we go , folks . Two top tips for your synth mixing . So the first one , panning left and right .

If you're gonna use the same pads , make sure there is a subtle differentiation in terms of their sonic texture . Then the second tip was this On your synth pad bus , use EQ . Look for those frequencies that might be masking other instruments and also add movement as well . Use things like a trance gate , use things I mean that is killer hurts .

There are other ones available . Use things like the brow emotion to add that left and right , that movement in the stereo width . You want it sounding interesting . Okay , that's what we're aiming for here . We wanna get that listener interest going . Just to correct myself , I think it's actually kilo hearts or killer hearts , and I keep saying killer hurts .

So if I've got that wrong , my apologies . I will get it right . I'll do a bit of research and make sure I pronounce it right the next time .

A few episodes to go and check off the back of this one of the Inside the Mix podcast , episode 78 , home Studio Acoustics and Fixing Muddy Mixes . That is a producer kickstart episode . Episode 75 , how to Mix Pace Frequencies Another producer kickstart episode . And then episode 93 , leveling Up your Mix Mastering Techniques and Songwriting Tips .

Although it's mastering and songwriting tips , there are other bits and pieces in there with regards to mixing sort of 101 . So do go check out those three episodes . So if , like my friend Odd Sprite , have a burning music production question or mixing question or music industry question , submit an audio message via speak pipe using the link in the episode description .

Or if , like I say , if audio isn't your thing , send me a DM on Instagram at insidethemixpodcast , or email insidethemixpodcastatgmailcom and remember to include a link to where our audience can find you in your message . I cannot wait to have more of your questions on the podcast . Happy mixing folks .