This video was more informative than 90% of the youtube mixing videos out there

Balancing levels super carefully is so underrated. Nobody talks about it because it’d be a short video and talking about EQ is more interesting. But at the end of the day, once you get your sounds processed as you want them, the make-or-break thing is gain balance; bringing up bass by half a dB can have a huge impact on the emotional resonance of a song. It’s crazy how much tiny moves can add to the emotion of a track. That stuff can be hard to teach too because it can be tough to judge emotional impact without loads of practice / ear training. “Does this .5 dB on the kick during the chorus support the track better?” At some point the answers to those questions come forward.

Nolly is the Nasa Engineer of Mixing. Learned so much from his teaching.

7:48 I’ve felt this whenever I’ve watched Nolly mix and it flipped a switch in my head. To the point that now when I mix I carve a lot into each instrument, without fear, to get my ideal sound. It makes the boosts, saturation and compression moves sound even better because I’m enhancing exactly what I like. The only caveat is you have to know what you’re looking for and how to do it tastefully without being destructive. In the end context is king, but soloing is a powerful tool if you use it right.

I loved this! More of this in depth collaborative videos please 🙏🏻 Thanks Jordan, I’ve learned so much from you over the years. Hardcore Mixing changed my life for sure.

Regarding the "eqing in solo" thing, I must say, as a Reaper user, one of the most mind-blowing (and yet simple!) features it has is "solo in front", where you solo your track/s but the rest can still be heard in the background and you can easily change the overall level of that background. It´s SO amazing, adds so much flexibility!

My two favorite producers in the same video?!?! You guys have both produced several of my favorite albums, to have both of your prospectives in the same video is seriously crazy, I definitely never saw this one coming. Great job (on everything) you guys

This was such a treat. Thanks so much to Jordan and Nolly for making this happen!

Two amazing mixers that I look up to in one video! Thanks for making this possible Jordan.

Thank you to both of you! That was interesting and an awesome experience to get to watch two of my favorite mixing engineers.

This was fantastic guys! Thank you for doing this! I’ve learnt so much from both of you over the years and you’ve both had an immeasurable influence on me and my growth as a mixer! Thank you!

Lots of great perspective in this conversation, many thanks for this.

Holistic and pragmatic approaches from you guys. I really appreciate the bit about atoms moving around the room. Also being a person that has been producing and mixing electronic music in Detroit for the last 10 years I’m really loving learning all the techniques needed to get raw material sounding good as I transition into recording and mixing bands.. thanks guys this was very helpful

Good shit my dude.. so glad I got your course... you are the real deal!

O gosh I missed this one. Them together ❤. They are both my only KZfaq teachers and one of the fewer who knows what they’re talking about.

This was so great! I would love it if you guys ever wanted to do this again!

this is such gold content. thanks JV

adam is so nollydgeable

This video is incredible. Thanks both of you!

Such a killer and insightful interview! Thanks guys!

LOL "You can get away with murder as long as the bleed isn't too bad" - Nolly about cutting mids out of toms. @1:16:53

I'm super late to finishing this, but thanks so much Jordan for putting this on. This "therapy session" was awesome, very reassuring. And grateful for the lightbulb moments sprinkled throughout!

So much talent & knowledge between these two gents

The best mixers mix to serve the artist's vision. Final decisions should be made by the artist, its their art. Too many mixers want to play artist with the artist's creation and change or inflict intent, which is fine, if the artist's agree.

Regarding drum quantization: There's a GREAT podcast by Kendal Osborne from The Recording Lounge podcast. He's a legit producer whose main gig is the studio/production and only rarely releases any other podcast/video content. Episode 140 of his podcast is titled "How the Drum Sound Affects Feel, Groove, and Vibe." The argument he suggests - if I remember correctly - is that a quantized kick/snare rarely destroys a groove and that groove is much more of a dynamics thing than a timing thing. Especially in the rock genres. And Kendal is a much more "natural" music guy than a lot of us heavy rock guys are. When he says something like that and you guys say something similar I'm always going to be inclined to act in a similar way.

You should get Taylor Larson on one of these. Would be a great convo as well

OMG THIS IS GREAT! I love this…it made me lives!

Funny thing is they’re just doing the same thing with EQ, but in different ways. Jordan boosts where his desired frequency is, Nolly removes everything until it is basically just boosting the desired frequencies left.

Very thanks for doing this!) you're both really great mixers!)

Great content Jordan. I also find de Nolly plugin to be awesome. I've been learning from both of you guys for years now. Thanks for everything.

My two favorite producers on a podcast. Love the work you put out Jordan

Really enjoyed this conversation, great job guys :)

Thanks for doing this Jordan and Nolly.

Speaking of therapy, this was therapeutic to listen to as well. Hah. I loved it, and hope you guys do it again soon.

What a cool chat, I loved the laid back "two guys talking shop" kind of vibe to it... But it felt like a real conversation rather than something forced for a show. Really, really good interview & discussion.

The more i listen to pro mixers. The more i realize there is no one best way. Every one of them does it differently.

awesome discussion, really insightful. Would actually be amazing to see you try mixing "Nolly style", Jordan. And vice-versa, Nolly trying to mix Jordan/CLA style. Because so many people are asking for the Neumann mic model for snare top micing: There are only 2 handheld condenser mics from Neumann, the KMS 105 and KMS 104. I'm pretty sure Nolly means the KMS 105, because that mic has a super cardioid polar pattern which essentially is almost like a shotgun mic, so it rejects a lot of cymbal bleed. The KMS 104 "only" uses a normal cardioid pattern, still probably an amazing mic for snare.

hey I'm your big fans since I get attached to your KZfaq channel my mixing now getting to a next level and all the things you shared is true. I be shd known this long time ago bro🙏🙏🙏🙏 cheers from the Solomon islands

This was great! Thanks for this!

Wonderful conversation guys.

That was so fun, thanks guys!

I recently started using a downward expander on my drums instead of a gate and it has changed my life. My band’s drummer LOVES to hit cymbals and the snare at the same time, so using the expander makes it so I can slam the snare with as much compression as I want and the high end won’t blow out.

Enjoyed the content interesting conversation of the recording techniques and workflow.

Thanks! Great video!

Really good discussion guys and so much to think about. For me, I spent years trying to get a good mix using cuts and it just does not work. The mix can be almost there but you end up with dull or weird sounding mixes. Then I saw Chris Lord Alge do a mix and he barely cut. I found it hard to let go of the technique I had spent years honing. Then I came across Jordan's channel and it reminded me I may need to change direction in my mixes so I adapted his thinking. Now finally after all these years, my mixes sound polished and professional

This was awesome, lucky to pickup some tidbits, gonna try the saturn 2 trick

Best thing on the internet for us ❤️

The very last snare hit on Periphery IV, the end of Satellites..... you hear the room so well and I couldnt imagine a better way to end that record. Well, other than suck my balls, but musically speaking lol. I love so much how Nolly includes the room sound in the snare hits most of the time.

This is an AMAZING VIDEO!!!!

Great insights.

"Hey! Vsauce! Nolly here"

Can you guys please another one of these?

Amazing!

Adam, good move to the headphones! Thank you 🤟

This was fun!

Super interesting conversation

His take on ns10 transients is right on point.

Nice Nerd-Talk. i liked it alot

Awesome!

Pure gold! Also that fabfilter Saturn trick has been the key to me not having to use sample on my drums for years! So cool to see that the great Nolly himself uses the same trick!!

love this content. although I would have loved a sample sound of this mix at the beginning for some context.

Is there a video of how to do the Saturn trick on the Snare? Would love to give that a try

I don’t quantize the drums. I lock everything else to them wherever they fall. Still tight as hell but retains the feel. But it’s progressive. Not modern metal. And I’m the drummer, Bassist and vocalist. So there is no one to fight me on it. Lol

Loved this. Only gripe would be about quatizing the drums. IMHO, quantizing is a tool to be used to FIX something. Drummers have "feel" just the way a singer does. I would never touch the drums of a good drummer. That being said, there are a lot of not so talented drummers out there that need the help. Thanks for taking the time.

I’d love to engineer a project with both of you. Both so damn good 👍

I have such a love hate relationship with mixing. but this was really cool and informative

Back in '80 Metallica recorded Master of Puppets drums at slower speed and then speeded up to sounds tighter. Basically a form of quantizing.

Hi guys.. Did he mention if this streaming is going to be taking down again anytime soon? Thank you. 🙂

Nolly is really investing on his monitoring environment (daym those Kii monitors), and it's definitely worth the shelling.

at the end of the day it is all about taste. And people have different tastes.

Does anybody remember the video of Nolly mixing Devin Townsend's song and looking for a computer with Logic? and I think they installed it for him in the end.

GGD PV CONFIRMED!!!

I recently learned that monitors Frequency trancient is more important that frequency responce in terms of mix translation

What video of Nolly is being referenced? Is there a video or course out?

Hell yes

I absolutely relate to "borrowing" someone's chain or mixing approach, even on the exact same or a very similar source, and it just doesn't work for me.

Nolly was using a potato for a webcam at the start then plugged in his Logitech C310 a minute in for extra sharp quality.

So throw Saturn 2 on my snare track, make a band for just the high mids (2-6khz) and turn down the dynamics knob? And that will drastically reduce cymbal bleed? Kind of like a cleaner gate?

Audix d6 on toms are greate in my humble opinion

The grid. That's why most all music today sounds the same regardless of genre. Beato had a vid, "Computers Ruined Rock Music". I agree for the most part.

Josephsons on toms. Kurt Ballou and Albini style.

What handheld Neumann Condenser was Nolly saying that Peter Miles of Middle Farm recommends?

As a person who lives in rent houses and apartments, I have no space for the drum set I have....but I am using a drum module and a rock/metal drum library....is it better to simply record the audio from the library instead of going through MIDI processing, especially seeing my computer slow down after I start using 15 or more tracks? there was a project where I had about 4 or more midi for simply rerecording in order to transfer the new performance to the original performance, especially if and when I made a mistake in the original. My thoughts are involving the amount of trouble MIDI can be, especially remembering the slowness I'm worried it brings.

Did they ever say which Neumann mic Nolly used on the snare?

Personaly i think the band,like Nolly in this case with this song, should have more to do with the mixing as they should know what sound they are looking for...as he played the bass part i gotta give it to Nolly....their is different ways to doing things ,does'nt mean Jordan got it wrong it's just that if Nolly played bass & the band were happy with his mix then fine..we all mix things differently even though their are some common sense rules we all have our own way of doing things,anyone trying would mix the song differently...does'nt mean it's wrong ,unless the band don't like it...more musicians should get into mixing their own bands material imo....good chat guys

Adam's moving atoms. 😀

Saturn example of bleed reduction at 21.45

New GGD in a few weeks ??

ah man, the voice coming out of the speaker

Ai Summary for you all with short attention spans haha ;) 06:24 The video begins with the host and Nolly introducing themselves and discussing their excitement for the live stream and their past conversations about different videos. 08:29 Nolly explains that he was nervous about an experienced mix engineer reviewing his work but was relieved to find that the reviewer’s opinions aligned with his own decisions and goals in the mix. 12:03 The host expresses his nervousness about offering feedback on Nolly’s mix and discusses the specific mix decisions that he found unique and effective. 16:59 The conversation shifts to Nolly’s approach to adding space to sounds, particularly vocals and lead guitars, where he leans more on delay rather than reverb, emphasizing the use of subtle delay for a cleaner sound. 25:30 Nolly discusses his approach to using live recorded drum tracks, noting the importance of mic positioning, drum room, and the drummer’s performance in creating a unique and high-quality sound. 33:59 The host and Nolly discuss the anxiety they experience during the mixing process, particularly regarding the initial excitement, mid-process doubts, and eventual confidence in the final mix. 42:26 The host outlines his specific steps for approaching a mix, including naming and organizing tracks, setting up buses and routing, rough balance and panning, heavy lifting (processing), and automation. 46:53 Nolly shares his experience with automating overhead mics to ensure consistent high-end energy in the mix, and the importance of addressing specific mix issues early on in the process. 50:55 The speaker discusses using a compressor for mixing and explains how they use Fabfilter Pro C2 for a crushed mix, using pre-emphasis to prevent excessive snare capture and using a high pass filter in the side chain to focus on the high end of the snap. They also mention a plugin called Oxygen that filters out the high end and compresses it specifically. 55:24 The conversation shifts to discussing automation, with the speaker explaining their process of automating drums first, followed by bass and guitars, and saving special effects for the end to avoid getting lost in presets. They also mention a final listen through with minimal distractions to finalize the mix. 59:25 The speaker and their guest discuss their approaches to using amps and speakers for guitar tones, with one focusing on verifying information for consistent results. 01:07:55 They discuss their preferences for using microphones on drums, with one favoring Sennheiser e604s and the other discussing the use of Sennheiser e604s and the challenges of mixing purely electronic music. 01:16:24 The conversation ends with a discussion on mixing techniques and the importance of taking breaks and changing contexts to identify issues in a mix. Overall, the video features a conversation between two individuals discussing various aspects of music production, including mixing techniques, automation, and using specific equipment for recording and mixing.

Fun fact, “Nolly” is British for “gnarly” “That’s a Nolly mix ya got there.” Why yes it is (EDIT: 1:00:52 there it is. The angry Nollyness)

Nolly is just the most kind sounding humans. Such a proper gent.

Jeez kii three are $7000 monitors now im really sad with my hs8 s and explain my frustration with them

who needs limiting... just put a clipper everything!

You don't mix in solo. It's been tried over and again. The button is there for a reason but it isn't mixing with using only one track.

I feel like Nolly hasn't actuall watched that much of Jordan's content... For him to say Jordan doesn't use that much snare compression, come on.

What this illustrates is there is no single way. All the preachers need to step back from their egos and listen more. Boosting EQ works sometimes, but I rarely start there. Hi pass, level, and pan position are the first steps. (Yes, pan position changes the tone.) Then lowering some frequencies. Then a slight EQ boost to bring out the details. Seems many mixers forget about the details and dynamics of music. They process and remove detail and dynamics. (I never need to boost greater than 4-5 db.) Over saturation, over compressing, and clipping are things I rarely if ever use but are seriously over used by many.

Nolly explaining solo mixing would be like listening to Gordon Ramsey explain the different flavor profiles of 15 different salts and why you can’t use certain ones.. dude most people don’t operate that way.. and explaining to people to mix in solo is why most mixes by amareaturs sound like ass

Why does Nolly looks so disinterested

Btw those Kii Three speakers he’s talking super casually about…are made of pure Unobtainium…they’re hard to even get your hands on in North America and they’re £18k Which is like $25k UsD…which is $35k CaD here in canada…safe to say most of us will never see those…and having a conversation about next gen DSP super speakers with the NS-10’s is like a guy driving a Bugatti drinking sparkling water like andrew tate having a convo with a dude driving a sup’d up honda civic from the 90’s who is drinking redbull