Super Secret MIXING/MASTERING Info!

Great post!!!!It's all about practicing and developing ear muscles!! Multi-session is very important especially when you want to record a song. When you give the engineer the separated tracks from your beat(24 bits,44.1khz), you are giving him a chance to mix the song well with the vocals. I used to make this mistake when I started off. I just gave the beat one stereo file all compressed without separating them. Therefore, for all you upcoming hip hop Rap or any genre of music style, make sure you separate your files of the beat before your record with the artist. It will be a less of hassle when the mixing session will be set.
I hope this helped!
Kind regards,
Real D (Ahmad Yousif)(Rivernile Productions)
(Sound engineer,Music Producer,Conscious artist)
 
here are various tips for the same:-
1.handle fade out ending in computer editor
2.editing on DAT is very impressive
3.once you are running the tracks you have to manage there levels
4.have a cd player or reference material on hand to use comparison for your work

---------- Post added at 03:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:46 AM ----------

1. handle computer editor
2.editing on DAT is impressive
3.once you running the tracks you need to match there levels
4.have a cd player for your work
 
dvyce said:
I don't even know where to start here...


The truth is, it is not inaccurate to say "do what the mix tells you (i.e. what the mix needs)" in response to a question of how to master.

...and the fact is, the same thing goes for mixing and songwriting (each of which are all very specific craft and art, no less so than mastering.)


Mastering, mixing, and songwriting ALL take a lifetime to learn. That is a fact. Every day that goes by, you will get better and better... and if you actually have a talent for it, you may become great.


It should be a given that you need the highest quality equipment... and that goes for mixing, recording and mastering EQUALLY.

...you shouldn't need someone to tell you that... even though it has been told to you countless times.


in order to master (or mix or record) you will need a complete intimate understanding of various tools such as compressors and EQ's...

...not to mention (with regard to mastering) the guidelines for preparing a finished master ready for manufacture, which is really the ultimate goal of having a record mastered... but I have a feeling that when people ask how to "master" they are really asking "how do I make my track sound as loud as that song from that CD and how do I master it so the mix sounds like a professional CD" (and in that case, there are a lot more steps you need to address before you reach your goals.)


You will need to have the ability to objectively look at a piece of music and hear and understand what needs to be done to it.


(i.e., doing what the music is telling you to do)



You can give instruction on the technicalities of how to use various pieces of equipment and what the various controls do and you can explain what types of sounds have fast attacks (or whatever), but actually using it in the proper place in the proper way is up to the users ability to:

1. hear what the audio needs;

2. decide which tool is the proper one to use; and

3. use it effectively




Some people seem to just be happy having someone tell them what to do whether it is correct and useful information or not.

Someone could tell you some completely useless and false information and people will say "finally! thanks for the help man! good lookin out!"



Please understand this:

There is no "frequency" someone can tell you to boost.

There is no "compressor setting" someone can give you.

There is no "level" someone can tell you to make an instrument in a mix.



--these are all things the audio will "tell" you it needs... and it is up to you to be able to hear what the audio is saying and it is up to you to know how to "answer it when it speaks."



If you are mastering your own material, there should be NO CORRECTIVE MEASURES NEEDED with mastering.

If your hi-hat is too loud, you don't need to try to correct it in mastering... you just lower the hi-hat in your mix!



If your mix doesn't sound right and basically like what it should sound like on the album, then you didn't mix it well.





With regard to both mixing and/or mastering (not everything I am going to mention will apply to both), you can be told things like "don't overcompress, get your levels sounding good, pan your instruments in a balanced way, make sure each instrument has its own space, make the overall album sound consistent, etc"

...but it is up to you to know your tools and how to use them... and it is up to you to know what sounds right.


Every day, I see several people here saying "you should pan this here and use this compresor setting and boost this frequency and roll this off and copy this to another track and use this plugin and this preset and this synth"

...and it is generally bad advice...

...and people say "thanks for the great tips!" because they don't know any better.





If you want to get some help on your mixing, maybe try posting one of your mixes and ask people to critique it. Maybe you can get an objective opinion on whether you need to raise the level of your snare... or if you have too much reverb on your vocal... or if some effect you used sounds cheesy... or if your stereo spread is off... or if the strings sound dull... or you have too much compression on the guitar... or you need to automate the level of the solo section... or whatever


If you want help with your mastering... post something you mastered and have people critique it. Maybe you can get an objective opinion on it. Maybe someone can tell you "it sounds like you have a lot of compression on the track, which is not my taste, but if that is your artistic decision then it is good... but it sounds like you have the release set too long because I can hear the compressor recovering" or whatever.



...and that should do it...

...you are now on your way to becoming a great recording/mixing/mastering engineer!
Click to expand...



Well said. Mastering truly is such an art. Unfortunately, the technology these days has been both a blessing AND a curse because it has led many up and coming engineers/producers astray as to what Mastering actually IS anymore! AMEN!!

---------- Post added at 10:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:22 PM ----------

Honestly, A huge tool I feel many overlook now is critically LISTENING to the project a number of times before tweaking as well as REFERENCING your work to other material in the genre that you're working on. Those two steps coupled with a solid knowledge in SIGNAL FLOW will help in the long run of making a great finished product.
 
I am one of those useles who don't even know what mastering is,and would b happy to learn of some profesional producer how to properly do it, so all my 1000 ideas one day become in real comercial sound tracks.:d I can do a lot, but don't know what im doing.:) but anyway.Somehow I still made a some tracks on FL with comercial sound level by using nothing more as my ears.And on the demo fl version.:)

---------- Post added at 02:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:21 PM ----------

Is anyone knows what to sequencers using I would say legends of electrical music "deadmau5" or Wolfgang Garther.Or Spencer& hill guys? As we also know.Deadmau5 used to b one of FrutyLoops fans and producers.There in Fl is still one of he's created tracks which there is already like FL clasic.I just ques by thinking logically.I would say to create music, NOT supose to be that difficult and long time process.-> Other way by sitting hours days and weeks on the one track, u are simply losing dynamic in your imagination and ideas.-> that is must important thing in creating a comercial music! Dinamic always is first!!! That is why I just can't believe as big producers sitting on the one track one month, like in the stone age producers does!

---------- Post added at 03:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:51 PM ----------

If my mind then proper producer suppose to remember always.And that is like in the boxing.Never let your hands down! Or like a spartans never let a shields down! For producer it would be."never lose your dinamic! Dinamic must b always first, imagination melody ideas second! Other way feature is only swimming in the mess of good looking compositions which are never gonna sound even close to comercial levels music.
 
Why cant mixing be easy! lol It seems as if they would have templates to follow. I am reference track using mothamugga ya dig. I honestly have a hard time mixing and mastering because my speakers suck! My skills at production and editing are immense but I come up short every time because the speakers... dat piff - Lil Ry
 
Mad respect for this man. Definitely needed to see this. Thank you.
 
Well put. There are a lot of producers out here that follow a step by step process when there really isn't one
 
Heard these exact words before out of an article. Preciate the post.
 
There are lots of approaches to production! When it comes to mixing, I think taking some serious time to compress and EQ stuff is time well-spent. Buss compression is also a must in my book! Moreover, when mastering an electronic track these days, the reality is that you need a pretty high RMS db level if you want it to chart. Most #1 tracks are coming in very hot at -7 db RMS or more these days!
 
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