My mix harshness removal trick comes in quite handy when I need it.
Just as common as mix muddiness is, mix harshness is something that will haunt us quite frequently as mix engineers.
You’ve probably had this experience at one point or another..
You’ve got your mix sounding:
Crisp
Punchy
Thick (but not too low-endy)
Clear (but not too trebly)
..but there’s still something “off” about it.
It’s just a little too hard on the ears. The mix just sounds too harsh.
So, what do you do to remedy this??
I can tell you what NOT to do:
DO NOT blame your lack of “analog” (real or modeled) equipment for your cold/harsh mix.
It was a tough pill for me to swallow back when I somehow churned out the harshest mix imaginable. I somehow accomplished this while mixing a song tracked on 2” tape through an analog console using nothing but transformer and tube-based outboard gear.
Right then and there I learned that analog gear will not magically give me the warm sounding mixes that I always strive for.
Harshness comes from a build up of a specific frequency range.
Yup, that’s it.
Luckily, it’s extremely simple to fix and I show you how you can do it in your DAW within minutes.
Also, be sure to down my custom impulse response for FREE. Get right to dialing in a mix-ready heavy guitar tone with ease.
