What equipment would you recommend to mix/master with

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l3lackjax

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I'm not looking for top - top of the line stuff, but good enough to get the job(s) done right without complete hassle.

I have a shitty HP Computer with like 3 cores @ like 3.2GHz
a shitty audio card
shitty altec lansing speakers.
FL Studio 10
Cubase 5

and a keyboard and a mouse. Nothing else. What should i get?
 
Even without great gear, you can learn the tools that are used for mixing. At the end of the day, knowing the tools and how to use them will help you maximize what you can get out of any system.

If you don't want it to be a hassle, mixing and mastering is not for you. It's a huge hassle that can take years to get the hang of. That's the wrong mind frame to have when starting out. It's a long, frustrating process that takes time to get right. I enjoyed it, but then again, I don't mind struggling with something, because I know it's part of the process.

As far as what to get, what's your budget? Good gear is expensive, so budget is important. If you don't want high end gear, even the medium range will set you back a couple of thousands for a decent chain.
 
i dont have a budget lol. I'm broke atm. But I need to know what to get for the future. For now, all I can do is play with music. I can't do this shit seriously, cause at the end of the day i cant produce serious music yet, not on this crappy computer.

That being said, when I do have money i'd probably be looking at like 2k as my budget. I forgot to mention, I do have a pair of like Bose AE2 headphones, but they only cost like ~$170 and while they sound nice I guess, they're probably not the thing i should be using.
 
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A $ does not determine quality and I feel that you are connecting the two. The best thing you can do is try to learn and maximize the gear your currently have. You don't have to spend 1000 on speakers, just find a good pair (Yamaha HS50's 80's.) But, understand your budgest. You stated that you have $2k. Make a list of what you need. You said hardware ,but your computer is shit so that's half your budget gone, I'd recommend building one it'll be cheaper. So you're left with $1000 dollars, HS50's are $400, so you have $600 left and you need acoustic treatment, there goes another $200-400. It'll be cheaper if you DIY. So you're left with $200-400 left which equals one piece of gear. So I don't think you'll be able to afford any hardware gear and will have to mix digitally.
 
Monitors + acoustics + learn (be a student).

That's it. You have everything else. Cubase has good enough stock plugins to create professional music (almost all DAWs do to be honest).

The only money you need to spend ATM is monitors. Because of this.. you'll probably see a need for a somewhat decent audio interface to plug your monitors to... unless u get something like some Alesis M1's that have a USB connection.

Be careful w/ anything USB in music.... make sure it has regular Line or XLR connections as well, so that you're not stuck w/ just a USB option.
 
Good studio monitor and acoustic is absolutely necessary. Mixing/mastering without them is like trying to draw/paint in the dark.
 
Although I agree good monitors and acoustic treatment is very important, but don't forget that familiarness of the system with commercial recordings is vital...dont spend $1000s on equipment and not learn what major label recording sound like on them...you'd rather be familiar with somewhat cheaper but quality equipment.
 
okay, so give me direct examples of some monitors i should get. Most of you are telling em to get good monitors and acoustic treatment, but what specifically should i work towards?
 
Yamaha HS50 if you can afford it HS80. As far as acoustics Auralex or make your own with rockwool. You should make your own.
 
Also, stop clumping mixing and mastering together like they're somehow the same thing - they're not. At all.
 
l3lackjax said:
No, but they both need decent equipment to do properly.
Click to expand...

Aside from needing good monitoring, a well treated room and good D/A conversion... the other stuff doesn't really make a shit of a difference what you use as long as you are skilled and experienced to understand WHY you are choosing to use what you are using and HOW to use it.

A skilled mixing or mastering engineer may CHOOSE to use some old $30 compressor because he hears it, understands how it sounds, knows what it will be good for and why he would want to use it...

Some kid asking "what should I use to mix and master" can be given a $30,000 compressor and his results will sound like crap because he does not have the ears to tell the difference between a $30k and a $30 unit.

...and if you are talking about plugins, it matters even less.

The gear you use is the LEAST important element in creating a good mix/master.
 
krish rula said:
Although I agree good monitors and acoustic treatment is very important, but don't forget that familiarness of the system with commercial recordings is vital...dont spend $1000s on equipment and not learn what major label recording sound like on them...you'd rather be familiar with somewhat cheaper but quality equipment.
Click to expand...

Sadly, that's not the way it works.

The problem with your approach is that your "references" have already been produced in a neutral and accurate environment and will thus sound great on every medium, playback system and acoustic environment. This is the whole point of mastering. BTW, I am not sure why a major label should sound "better" and an indie, fact is, audiophiles have their own niche labels where they use to buy super high quality recordings.

So, the situation will not improve: You will notice that record XY sounds great on your system, you will be happy with your sound in your studio, but the results will still be totally unpredictable and unreliable as soon the environment changes. And you still don't know why! at the same time, the record XY behaves properly on other systems - without giving a clue about the true reasons behind.

The only reason why your productions sound fine in your studio and bad outside your studio is the quality of your monitoring system! This is the bottle neck. And no, there's absolutely nothing to "learn" about natural and neutral monitors - such tools allow you to deliver a perfectly reliable sound nearly "over night". You don't need talent for monitoring, just the right tools.

Try to paint realistic portraits while wearing blurry pink glasses - the colors will be a mess and the shapes and lines as blurry as the glasses. This will automatically happen, no matter how much you learned your glasses. If your monitoring system blurs and colors like the glasses mentioned above, you are fvcked - you will never be able to draw a fine, accurate line. At least not intentionally, by luck maybe. You neither know if you drew a fine line by chance, you don't even know how it looks like!

This is exactly what happens in so many bedroom studios. People buy expensive gear and plugins, waste hours mixing their material, and declare monitoring as a "secondary" "prestige" thing. Just to find out (often after years of struggle and pain!!) that the only cause for their problems was that they actually never really "heard" what they produced and thus all their decisions were wrong. Plain and simple, the blind men tjlee87 mentioned above.

Regarding monitoring, you fight with physics! Not with your talent! Take it seriously and avoid years of struggle.

There is no such thing as "learning" monitors.
 
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Just get as good of near-field monitors as you can afford and a good pair of headphones as well. No plugin or processor will be of any use without good monitoring. I can't recommend anything because it all comes down to budget but that's where you should start.
 
Okay so im probably going to get the HS80M's. Do you think i should/would need to upgrade my audio card too? I have a Realtek High Definition Audio Card right now but idk how good that really is.
 
I would forget mastering for now.

I would get a paid of second hand Dynaudio Acoustic BM6P, a good DAW and a good selection of plug in software. That will definitely start you off well. It's a massive topic and your question is very broad. Treat your room as well. (acoustically)

PS you need to study and practice a lot that is going to make the biggest difference of all.

A professional mix engineer mixing hits probably does not even exist under the age of 35 and they have mixed all their professional working life.

So if you are not quite Chris Lord Alge by next weekend, keep practicing guy.

SafeandSound Mastering
Album Mastering Studio
 
I have quite a number of VST plugins, many/most of them are high quality(Waves, etc). I just don't have a decently treated room or any good hardware equipment.
 
???? Well, here's the simple solution: Sell your Waves license and buy what you really need. :D










































...there was once a "common-sense_full.zip" available at megaupload but it has been removed due to copyright issues. Sadly, it never appeared again.
 
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