The Perfect Mix: with notes on Mastering Audio. There are many ways to get your songs to final form. What matters is not how you get there, but that you do get there. Lets pretend you are enrolled in one of the world's fine universities and you are writing a Master's Thesis. This is not just "any" piece of drudge paperwork, but the culmination of you education. You know you have to write in excellent form, have to watch out for tiny grammatical imperfections, and make sure substance and style flows well. In short, you have to rewrite and edit, a lot.
It may take several experiments to get this just right. Every mix is different. Step one is always to calibrate the mixer however you can. Note: If you don't have meters on every channel then you have to use the main meters on the mixer for this. Match the following instruments when soloed in place to the db markers on your mixing desk or your mixdown deck or software. Kick drum 0db Eq to taste. Tip: If using a live drummer, you need to stop the kick drum from resonating too much.
Proper Audio Recording Levels | Rants, Articles | MASSIVE Mastering. NOTICE: If you don't want to read any this or just don't care to understand it, there's a "dumbed down" version at the bottom. Let me get something out of the way here - I'm going to try to keep this very "fool proof" - I'm not trying to sound or present this very scientifically - This is just the rantings of hundreds and hundreds of posts on a dozen or more audio forums exploding like a volcano recorded with lots of headroom.
I just hope to instill a basic understanding of why certain trends and common beliefs are just plain bad. And by the time you're done reading, and perhaps doing a little experimentation based on this, you won't need me to prove it. You'll know it yourself. Is this a "miracle cure" for bad recordings? So, if you've been struggling with recordings that sound "weak" or "small" or too dense or "just not 'pro' enough" then please, read on. As a mastering engineer, I work on recordings from pretty much every level of experience. You're probably recording too hot. WaterFall Records Learning to Record Lesson Two. Lesson 1 You're here: Lesson 2 Log In: You must be a 'Member" to view Lessons 3 thur 9 Using a Compressor?
Hello all, Ken here. How many of you really know how to use a compressor? If you are coming here from Recording Tips 7: show me the Magic Frequencies! Using one is really easy; the trick to it is to "listen to your music" and feel the flow of the mix. To set the compressor (assuming you have a constant meter in the song like the snare Mute out all the other tracks so you can work on the track. You want the compressor to breath in time with the song. Look at a compressor as an instrument in your sound. I hope this helps all of you in your mixing and recording. Here are some Magic Frequencies Tip: Set your frequencies up as presets. Good Luck! Web Design by Michael R. DiyAudio. Mixing in Stereo: Adding Width and Depth to Your Recordings. When it comes to discussing the fine art of mixing music, I tend to approach the subject with some trepidation.
After all, compared to many of the topics I’ve written about, this one is rife with subjectivity — one person’s idea of a great sounding mix may be another’s sonic nightmare. And what works for one genre of music will be decidedly wrong for another. But all those variables aside, there are at least a few general theories, tips, and tricks that apply to most mix projects. So while the idea here is not to give a step-by-step tutorial on two-track mixing, hopefully we can cover at least a few concepts that are useful for everyone. In a good stereo mix, each instrument needs clarity, balance, separation, and its own space in the stereo field. The Concept At its most basic, mixing in stereo means mixing for the human brain and physiology. But in the real world, much of the process of creating a stereo mix is far from organic or natural.
What Makes a Good Mix? It Starts at the Source.