the sub lows highs and air are all crucial to getting a good mix however I'm going to argue that the mids have the biggest impact they might not contain more energy than the subs and lows but they have a lot more information and play a much larger role in some of the psycho acoustic phenomena that we take for granted while enjoying music or any audio recording so in this video I'll discuss some of the scientific Concepts behind the mid-range and offer some techniques to control it that said let's discuss mids the most important frequency range first let's consider what's in the mid range so the mids contain the majority of information in a recording it helps to know that any instrument includes a fundamental frequency and harmonics or overtones the fundamental is the lowest musically related frequency overtones or harmonics are whole number multiples of the fundamental so for mixing a kick we might think of it as a low frequency instrument now it's true that the fundamental and maybe the second order harmonic occupy the lows but the majority of overtones are in the mids the same could be said for the higher frequency percussive aspects of the kick similarly a bass guitar might have a low frequency fundamental however the overtones which are a huge part of the bass's sound tamber tonal characteristics all occupy the mids the same could be said for vocals in this instance the fundamental might be in the low mids or it might fluctuate between the lows and the low mids so I've said this before but not all instruments occupy the lows not all instruments occupy the highs but almost every instrument occupies the mids for that reason it's an incredibly busy area that when balanced and processed properly is going to improve your mix exponentially so let's take a quick listen to a mix with the mid solo and notice how every instrument in the arrangement can still be identified think was it possible may have been a bit of trouble think it was impossible may have been AIT of next up let's discuss the unique limitations of low mid frequencies so this applies to the lows as well but since we have so much info in the low mids it presents more of a problem in short each perceived note each semitone so say C to C or C to D is about a 6% difference in frequency if we look at the low mids and we start with the note A3 or 22 HZ that means the next semmit tone above A3 is 6% higher in frequency so a Shar 3 is about 233 htz so between these two notes we only have a 13 HZ difference or space between them so to speak which isn't much at all comparatively the difference between A7 and a Shar 7 is about 200 10 Herz but why is this important and what does it mean for the low mids well in short any modulation to these frequencies that is any frequency fluctuation to a note in the low mids can easily shift the pitch enough to create the perception of a semitone above or below the intended note this could happen with chorusing modulated Reverb and delay but just as importantly and maybe more surprisingly it can happen with wave shaping so compression saturation clipping upward processing and even gating can reshape The Wave in a manner that causes the perception of a different note it does this when it cuts into an oscillation so imagine you have a sine wave and you attenuate right in the middle of the peak or in the middle of the trough if it's severe enough it could double the peak and or the trough in turn changing the perceived frequency now one form of saturation called rectification doubles the frequency by inverting the phase rotation of the negative side or the trough so in short processing can make this already busy area a lot more convoluted when modulation is introduced all this to say be careful how aggressively you saturate and or compress the low mids additionally be mindful of any modulation that you might introduce through delay chorusing Reverb or other temporal effects so let's take a listen to frequency modulation in the low mids notice that even subtle settings can cause a perception of a different note than what's intended [Music] [Music] next up let's discuss focal formants F1 F2 and F3 so formants are clusters of frequencies that contain information about The Vow being sung or spoken typically there are three vocal formats from lowest to highest in frequency they're called F1 F2 and F3 they vary from singer to singer and from Val to Val however all three formats occupy the mid-frequency range for example if a vocalist with a 17 cm long Vocal Track makes the sound oo you'll likely observe formance at 400 Herz 1100 HZ and around 2 khz however if the vows are sung they're a lot more likely to adhere to frequencies that correspond to the intended no the most important format is F3 or the highest pitch format these occur within the frequency range that we're most sensitive to that being between 2 khz and 5 khz since our ear canals resonate within this range this is often the area that we associate with Clarity or the ability to easily perceive what someone is saying or singing with that info it's super easy to identify the range in a vocal or any instrument that affects the perception of clarity if the vocal or instrument is unclear then somewhere between 2 to 5 khz needs to be boosted if it sounds too harsh or too upfront then that range needs to be attenuated when working with vocals listen intently to find the most accurate range for the third format if you isolate it properly very little change is needed to greatly affect the sound so let's isolate that range in a vocal and notice how much it affects Clarity think it was impossible may have been a bit of trouble think it was impossible may have been a bit of trouble think it was impossible may have been a bit of trouble get professional analog mastering that accurately translates what you hear in your head seriously though when people work with us they get results that's why major industry professionals like Keith Urban's producer Aaron shures works with us Grammy awardwinning AJ Castillo billboard number one charted artist Megan Lindsay Grammy award-winning artist tulis The Voice singer Cody Belo Grammy nominated producer Tyler Kane morar music artist Ricky Young and the list goes on watch the rest of this video and at the end use the link in the description to get direct access to us for personalized analog mastering that accurately translates what you hear in your head next let's consider how to saturate mid frequencies getting saturation right in the mid-frequency range is difficult it already has a lot going on as we've discussed now for that reason I noticed one of the biggest issues with the mids comes from saturation an additive form of processing that adds a lot of additional information to that mid-range for example say I want to saturate my kick drum again the fundamental might be in the lows but if the fund mental is triggering the saturator which it likely is then we're going to generate multiples from it this means harmonics will form in the low mids which might not have been the intention or maybe I'm saturating the vocal and again the fundamental triggers the saturation most often then the majority of time harmonics will form above the fundamental if that fundamental was 220 HZ then harmonics are forming at 440 HZ 880 HZ if we generate even harmonics or 660 HZ and 1100 HZ if odd harmonics form the same could be said with any form of frequency specific saturation that's applied to instrument groups so say I want to saturate the low mids and I've isolated 200 to 500 Hertz in this instance the generated harmonics will form Above This range if there's a strong harmonic at 200 htz and it triggers the saturator then 600 HZ 1,000 Herz and other odd ordered harmonics will form so this means at the range above the saturated band will be Amplified so if you want to saturate an instrument keep in mind what aspect of the performance will trigger the saturator most often a multiple or multiples of that general area will be what's Amplified in the process if I want to add Clarity to a vocal and saturate it then isolating a band below the third formant is the best idea the harmonics will form in the format range amplifying it which creates Clarity something similar can happen with other additive forms of processing reverberation in the low mids will amplify the low mids delay in the high mids will amplify the high mids and so on all this to say keep in mind how additive processing will affect the frequency response let's take a listen to saturation introduced to a vocal notice how the frequency response of the mids changes when I switch between the various saturation bands think it was impossible may have been a bit of trouble think it was impossible may have been a bit of trouble think it was [Music] impossible may have been a bit of trouble get professional analog mastering that accurately translates what you hear in your head seriously though when people work with us they get results that's why major industry professionals like Keith Urban's producer Aaron shures works with us Grammy award-winning AJ Castillo billboard number one charted artist Megan Lindsay Grammy award-winning artist tulis The Voice singer Cody Belo Grammy nominated producer Tyler Kane Mort music artist Ricky Young and the list goes on why waste your time creating Masters that don't accurately translate what you hear in your head when you could instantly fix a problem by clicking the link l in the description and working directly with professionals who have already done what you're trying to do we've mastered thousands of songs that accurately translate what each client hears in their head and it'll work for you too click the link in the description now and get direct access to us for personalized analog mastering that accurately translates what you hear in your head