Welcome to Sage Audio. Today let’s look at How to Mix Trap. But first,
If you have a mix that you need mastered,
send it to us to receive a free mastered sample of it with the link in the description.
Mixing Trap Kick
In this video, we have a lot to cover, so let’s get started with drums,
move to instruments, then vocals, and finally the stereo output.
The kick needs to be aggressive and cut through a mix. For the kick in this mix
I wanted to have more low-end, so I started with an EQ that boosted lows,
and with a tilt, the filter reduced the click or beater of the samples used.
To get an aggressive punchy sound, I used this 1176 emulation and set
the fastest attack and release times to distort the transient,
making the kick cut through. You’ll see this trick used a good amount in this mix.
Lastly, I introduced an Oxford inflator to
bring quieter details of the kick forward, making it more powerful.
To start, let’s listen to the full before and after of this mix with gain compensation used,
to hear how drastically the processing will change the sound.
Mixing 808 with Kick
How you blend your kick and 808 is pretty crucial since both need a place in the mix, but often
compete with one another. I started by giving the 808 distinct distortion - these harmonics
will help separate the 808 from the kick by varying the 808’s frequency response and timbre.
Like last chapter, I used an 1176 compressor to distort the transients,
causing an aggressive sound.
Next, I used another compressor, but side-chained the kick. This way, whenever the kick hits,
my 808 is attenuated - letting the 808 fill the mix, and the kick is responsible for dynamics.
Lastly, with an EQ I side-chained the kick again to see where the 2 overlap,
and cut out some of the 808’s lows to give the kick more room.
Let’s take a listen to the 2 instruments before and after this processing is enabled, and keep in
mind I haven’t enabled the drum busses processing yet, which will further change the sound.
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Trap Snares & High Hats Trap snares, high hats,
and percussion need to be bright and aggressive, so like before I used the 1176 compressor to
distort their transients, as well as increased each signal’s output to impart harmonics from
the processor. For the snare and the high hat, I used short reverb to thicken them.
For some of the percussion, I didn’t want it to stay in the mid-image, so I introduced
a sample delay and delayed one channel to send the signal to the far left and right.
Let’s listen to these changes, and again I’ll keep the drum bus’s processing off for now.
Trap Drum
Bus Overview
Drum bus processing is how we’re going to achieve a cohesive sound amongst the drums. I’ll start
with this bus compressor set to M/S and with the channels trigger de-linked - this means
that the mid will be compressed more often than the side - resulting in dynamic stereo expansion.
Next, I used an M/S EQ to expand the side image’s high frequencies and to
cut out the lows - in turn making the lows more mono and focused.
Then I used a clipper - this will add white noise whenever clipping occurs,
resulting in a brighter, more aggressive, and punchier sound.
Lastly, I placed the free plugin fresh air after the clipper to further accentuate
the highs it created, and to brighten the overall sound.
There’s a Gullfoss EQ here as well, but know that’s not entirely needed - it’s just further
brightening the sound, and this Bus 4 is something we’ll cover in a future chapter.
Let’s listen to the before and after of this processing.
Trap Instrument Bus Overview
Although I will add some processing to individual melodic instruments - like
this tremolo control to dynamically alter the stereo image of an instrument,
the majority of the processing I’ll do is on the bus. I’ll start with MV2
to upward compress and bring forward quieter details of each instrument.
Then I used this PSP Saturator to create cohesion by adding the same harmonics to all
3 instruments I’m using - additionally, it lets me avoid aliasing with its oversampling option.
Next came this Vinyl strip plugin which I mainly used to get a LoFi quality to the entire sound,
with some noise, and wow or frequency modulation. Also,
the tilt filter helped to brighten the overall sound.
Again, I used fresh air to amplify the air bands of the signal and also used
Gullfoss. This time, Gullfoss played a more active role in amplifying and
attenuating various frequencies to reduce masking.
Lastly, we’ll cover what Bus 4 does next chapter.
Let’s listen to what this processing collectively does to the instrument bus.
Side
Image Send Technique
For both my drum bus and my instrument bus, I’ve created a parallel send - on this send I used
the plugin MSED to mute the mid image, in turn, isolating the side image. Then I used transient
expansion on this side image as well as fresh air to create a dynamic and aggressive stereo image.
This way a lot of details from these instruments that get lost
on the sides are re-introduced, causing a brighter, more detailed,
and impressive stereo image. Let’s listen to this parallel track being introduced.
Trap
Vocal Processing
Next, let’s move on to the lead vocal, double, and ad lib vocal - I’ll need to
know the key of my track, in this case, C minor, so that I can tune to the right
notes. For the lead and the double, I’ll use short, soft knee compression.
Ideally, this compression will have auto makeup
gain and lookahead to bring the vocals to the front of the mix.
With an EQ I cut out lows to reduce their masking effect on higher frequencies and
boosted presence and air to make the vocal and double cut through the dense mix.
Lastly, I sent the ad lib to the far left and right using a sample delay,
similar to what I did with some of the percussion.
Let’s listen to the vocal, but with the vocal bus processing turned off for now.
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Trap Vocal Bus Overview
The vocal bus uses 4 processors, a saturator to create cohesive harmonics
and fill the frequency spectrum of the vocal, fresh air to brighten the vocals,
the Gullfoss EQ to dynamically balance the frequency spectrum,
and lastly reverb that’s isolated to the mid frequencies to help blend it into the mix.
There’s a Bus 5 as well, but we’ll look at this next chapter. Let’s take
a listen to how this vocal processing creates a cohesive and balanced sound for the vocals.
Sibilance Send Technique
Last up for vocals, let’s look at this bus - with it I’ll send the entirety of my vocals
to a parallel track, on which I’ve inserted a linear phase EQ and isolated the highest
frequencies. With the MV2, I’ll upward compress to increase detail and reduce the dynamic range.
Lastly, and importantly, I’ll use a plate reverb, in this case, Plate by
UVI to create an airy and ethereal quality to the vocal’s sibilance and high frequencies.
Let’s listen to this bus being enabled, and even though it’s subtle, it has a pleasant effect.
Trap Demo Master Stereo Output
Although it’s a good idea to have your track mastered professionally,
here’s a quick demo master that works well for this genre. I’ll start with the Gullfoss
EQ to balance the full frequency spectrum of the track, but exclude the lows to keep those intact.
Then, with the Oxford limiter, I’ll subtly limit and increase the enhance function
to bring forward quieter details, making the mix sound a lot fuller.
Next, I introduced the Pro-L2 and set the algorithm to dynamic - this way
I can expand the track while still making it louder. Notice I disabled true-peak detection
and instead introduced oversampling - this will help retain transients.
Lastly, I introduced a clipper to make it sound aggressive,
and add that small amount of white noise we discussed earlier.
This brought the loudness to about -9LUFS, which is actually a little
conservative for the genre. Let’s take a listen to this processing being enabled.
If you have a mix that you need mastered, send it to us to receive a free mastered sample of it
with the link in the description. Thank you so much for watching.