EDM Mixing Tips - How to Mix Electronic Music

4. General EDM Mixing Techniques

Make sure that your Mixing EDM (electronic music) Tracks get a full and, above all, powerful mid-range image. The voice - unless your name is Sia - you can place it nicely in the mix and don't have to stand above it. The bass range should be nice and round and have a slightly steep roll-off curve. The heights appear very bright in the EDM and are heavily compressed. But also here applies: Less is often more!

Authors: Marcel Eitle, Chris Jones

Keeping the low end clean: Mono bass and frequency separation

In EDM, the mix almost always hinges on the bass frequencies. To prevent the kick and bass from clashing, you should assign them separate frequency ranges instead of simply turning them up louder. In practice, a clear role assignment has proven effective:

• Kick: carries the punch in the range around 50–100 Hz, the click component is located at 2–5 kHz.
• Bass: fills the space below and in between, often with a slight cut exactly where the kick has its pressure point.
• Sub: everything below approximately 40 Hz belongs to a single source, never two simultaneously.

Keep the low end consistently mono. Low frequencies don't provide usable stereo information, but they cost money. headroom and can cause phase issues on large systems. A mono maker or the mono function of your EQ below approximately 120 Hz ensures that your drop is positioned the same on the club system as it is in the headphones.

Gain Staging and headroom for the loud drop

EDM thrives on loudness, but loudness is created in the mastering, not by an overdriven mix. Pushing everything to the red during mixing robs the drop of the very dynamic range that makes it hit hard. Keep your mix bus with some headroom: peaks around -6 dBFS are a good guideline to ensure there's still clean headroom later.

Plan the energy flow consciously. If your breakdown is almost as loud as the drop, the perceived jump is missing. Deliberately tone down verses and breaks slightly so the drop sounds larger in comparison. This perceived loudness jump is often more effective than any additional dB on the limiter. Those who want to add the final touches will find more information in... mastering The necessary final loudness without over-compressing the mix beforehand.

Consciously design stereoscopic image and depth

A wide, three-dimensional mix isn't achieved by using a stereo widener on the master, but through clean layering. Keep the center strong and use the sides for supporting elements.

• Kick, bass, lead and vocals belong in the middle or close to it.
• Plucks, arps, pads and FX sounds can move outwards and create width.
• You create depth using reverb and delay: dry sounds sound more forward, more reverberant sounds further back.

Always check the width in mono as well. What sounds huge in stereo can be completely lost in mono. If an element becomes significantly quieter or thinner during the mono check, you have a phase problem that you should resolve before bouncing.

Compare with Reference tracks and honest eavesdropping work

Load two or three professionally mixed tracks from your subgenre directly into your project and roughly adjust their levels to your desired loudness. This way, you'll immediately hear if your bass is too heavy, your treble too sharp, or your drop too narrow. Important: Make sure to compare at equal levels; otherwise, the louder signal will almost always win out when listening directly.

Also, listen through multiple sources: studio monitors, headphones, and a cheap Bluetooth speaker together will reveal most of the weaknesses. Give your ears breaks, because after long sessions you unconsciously add more treble and bass. A fresh listening experience the next day will tell you more than any plugin. If you need a neutral second opinion on the finished mix, you can have the track in the mixing Have it professionally checked.