Have you ever dealt with a mix that you would describe as “muddy?” You know those mixes when things just sound muffled and ugly and nothing has any clarity or focus? Yep, been there, many times. The good news is, with two simple EQ moves you can solve much of this issue quickly and pain free. It isn’t a magic bullet for mixing, but it sure makes things a LOT easier. Watch and learn!
Do Not Create Another Song Until You Read This Guide
(Price: $17 Free Today)
Discover the 6 Steps for Creating a Radio-Worthy Song From Scratch
My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
It seems like every other sentence you and Joe say in every video/article/tip has the words “high pass filter” in it… and for good reason!! It’s amazing how night-and-day different the same song sounds with just a quick high pass filter (plus the 400hz notch, of course). When I first found out these tricks from your sites a few months ago, I started automatically using a HPF and the 400hz notch on pretty much everything, and it’s pretty much always the right move.
Hi Graham, Cant find the comment button. Im a beginner in mixing and i learned a lot from your videos. As of now i cant clearly hear muddy mixes. Can you make a video of maybe 4 tracks that is really muddy when played together that will be shown in one spectrum analyzer (e.g on gliss eq) and tell what instrument or track(s) and its frequency that is obviously causing it muddy in the mix? Then show how to fix the muddiness of the mix. I hope this will not take more than 5 minutes. Thanks!
Hey, Graham,
I have successfully set up SUBMIX (and, yes, I was able to rename the bus). I have been looking for that very video and have been unsuccessful so far. I set all the busses to “PRE”. Is this correct?
Well, back to my search for the SUBMIX VID.
Thank you for broadening my horizons,
bobwitthoneo
Dude, how did you globally bypass those EQ plug-ins?
James – Hold Option and Command Click one plugin. It Bypasses all in that row. (On PC it would be Hold ALT and Control Click)
Bob – Here’s the post http://therecordingrevolution.com/2011/04/06/master-faders-in-pro-tools-video/
Oh Graham, bless you. That global bypass trick is awesome. You’ve made my life so much better now…and have saved me tons of time and hassle! Keep rockin’!
Graham, great tip!. Got one question. What if I have an EQ with 6-7 bands and there is a cut off 3 db or so in the 400hz region?. What I´ve done is put the band in cero (double click) then insert another eq with 400 hz notch. Is that ok?.
This is a dramatic change even on iPod headphones!
I have question what would be the diffecne if you just put a eq on the master fade and Cut off 3db And put it at 400Hz
It can help to cut out the mud BEFORE you hit the master fader, that’s usually the biggest thing. Plus you’ll have to make these EQ cuts custom to each instrument. Not everyone will easily benefit from 400hz cut and at the same db amount.
Hi Graham, I used the SSL Channel and put a low pass filter on every track also I cut the 400 hrz . but still when I conpair mine to the resourse Mix, the Resourse Mix is so Much Brighter, even the Kick and snare has bottom but has a nice snap to it, I hope I’am making sense, thanks Kindly
Not sure I follow you with the “resource mix”.
Hi Graham
Came here with two questions, the first one (global bypass eq’s) is answered in the comments: alt+cmnd click, thanks for that time saver! My other question: what instruments/sounds in your experience usually don’t benefit from a -3db 400Hz cut?
Thanks!
Great question. Some snare drums sound fat at 400 hz so cutting there might overly thin it out. It just depends.