Production techniques

Hi Rob,
I recently heard this track by another producer:
https://metapop.com/mooij/tracks/output/255467
Overall, I think it sounds very well finished (although I'm not sure if the loudness is a touch high causing slight distortion - maybe its just my PC speakers?). What sort of techniques do you think were used to achieve this kind of quality sound? I wondered if this was the sort of thing you could cover in a future live stream? Thanks.
updated by @technic-tone: 09/20/22 06:21:43PM

The mix is really nice. I'm not hearing clipping, so I think the loudness is good. A lot of techniques are involved in creating a good mix. Did you check out Music Mixing Fundamentals yet? Everything in that basically! First and foremost though, balancing, to get levels right, then EQ, to make sure all the right frequencies are there and there aren't any overlaps. For instance, when the noisy synth comes in, the other synth parts need to be getting out the way - you can do this manually with EQs or filters, but effects like Wavesfactory Trackspacer make it easier - it's a dynamic EQ that allows you to sidechain sounds to one another. Also, the drums are very well mixed - there'll be layering, compression (probably multiple stages, including parallel) - everything will be ducked to the kick most likely.

Anyway, yes, I could make a track like this in a future livestream. I love the vibe!

That's great, thanks for the info. I'll check out the Music Mixing Fundamentals course

Hi Tone - not sure if this helps but if you click on the picture, the producer has one of his Ableton Favourites selected with all of his effects racks at least partially visible. Looks like he uses a lot of D16 plugins, RC20, God Particle, Soundtoys, Serum, OTT and I suspect that Sugar Bytes WOW filter might be used somewhere on the lead. I think it is probably more about how expertly you use the plugins you have but at least you get visibility of the type of 3rd party plugins were used

Something I'm coming to realise is the factor that has the biggest impact on the quality of a finished track is the original, raw sound sources. Yes, the processing is important but that's the icing on the cake and no amount of processing can make poor sound selection into a great track. Crap ingredients will always make the cake taste like crap