What Is Mix Automation? Everything You’ve Been Too Afraid to Ask Whether it was a music producer saying “I automated the EQ cutoff frequency to create an awesome filter sweep” or a sound engineer using “automation to ride the vocal track,” you’ve probably heard the word automation used a lot. […]
Yearly Archives: 2019
70 posts
6 Times to Automate EQ for Effect For mixing engineers and producers alike, it pays to become intimately acquainted with the virtues of automation. Swooping sounds from left to right, enhancing emotion with level boosts, or fixing complicated problems with real-time adjustments—all of these moves separate the quotidian from the marvelous. […]
What Separates a Demo from a Polished Mix ? After hours of hard work, yes, we’ve all been there: that which we have mixed—which we have spent hours upon hours fixing up—sounds more like a demo than a record. First of all, don’t be too hard on yourself. Demos are […]
Simple FM Synthesis Sine Waves and Processors We often overestimate what we need in sound design. Sure we can use complex waveshapes and crazy processors, but we can reduce the process drastically and still achieve interesting results. In this article, we’ll show how FM synthesis and some simple processors and […]
Get The Right Microphone Position Every Time Get The Right Microphone Position Every Time With The Technique Top Audio Engineers Use Every Day. If you are new to recording then you have probably wondered how top engineers get the right mic position for vocals and instruments? Some might suggest there’s […]
8 Unique Uses of Reverb in Popular Music History Just as food can be improved with a little hot sauce, so too can songs be enhanced with a bit of reverb. From surf rock and techno to trap music, ambient, and even religious choirs, the shimmering echoes of reverb tails […]
What Digital Reverb Actually Does When we get started in music production, we often have the tendency to become seduced by the sound of reverb. I, for one, certainly went through a period of slapping reverb plug-ins on every channel when I started producing music. However, the beautiful spaces that […]
Why Do My Mixes Sound Bad? 8 Tips to Douse the Flames I wrote an article a while in which I covered what to do when you find yourself in an inevitable mix rut. It detailed ways to pick yourself up and dust yourself off. Think of this piece as […]
Psychoacoustics: How Perception Influences Music Production Though we can measure sound with meters and spectrum analyzers, how we experience it is a matter of human perception—otherwise known as the field of psychoacoustics. Even if you aren’t aware of the term, you likely engage with psychoacoustic principles in music production on […]
Generate endless musical ideas with Live’s MIDI devices We’ve all been there: opening a new Live Set, pondering the blank slate of an empty Session View window, wondering how to begin. With practically infinite options, and perhaps little-to-no music theory knowledge, coming up with fresh chord progressions, basslines or melodies […]
6 Creative Reverb Techniques Reverb is an incredibly useful tool for mix engineers. The sense of space that it provides can bring life to a sound, creating a convincing physical world in which the song takes place. However, the applications of reverb extend throughout every aspect of music production. In […]
A History of Reverb in Music Production These days, we’re a bit spoiled with the sophistication of reverb plug-ins. Modern algorithms are able to create lush and realistic reverb spaces, while some convolution reverb plug-ins are able to recreate specific real-world spaces. However, we obviously haven’t always had access to […]
Essential Tips for Mixing Reverb Reverb can be tricky to deal with in a mix. The space that it adds can be very helpful, but sloppy reverb sounds can often become smeared over the mix, reducing clarity. Achieving the proper balance when mixing reverb will give a sense of space […]
Aux vs. Inserts: to Send or Not to Send? Should you use an audio effect as an aux or insert? Which is better for your particular track? Learn how and when to use aux vs. insert audio effects on your next production. More info @ https://ift.tt/2FmaxjB Automated post from Record, […]
Avoid Artifacts with Clip-Free Compression in RX 7 Lossy compression formats like mp3 and AAC are known to create artifacts such as clipping. In order to avoid clipping, it is typically recommended to lower the signal peak levels before compression. This article explains how peak levels are affected by lossy […]
6 Ways to Use a High Pass Filter When Mixing A high-pass filter is a simple, but effective EQ curve that scoops out unwanted low frequencies from an audio source. Like most engineers, I use them at many points in my mixes to clean up woofy signals and tighten up […]
Synth VST Essentials Oscillators Envelopes and Filters It’s the twenty-first century. You can compose, produce, mix, master, and release a track, all from one computer, with hundreds of amazing products out there to help. Many of these products are synthesizers, which can contain thousands of pre-made sounds to choose from. […]
11 Tips to Fix Cheap Sounding Audio in the Mix I don’t know about you, but I get a lot of material made in home recording studios. And while a lot of the raw sounds coming my way are great, many recordings sport flaws that impart a palpably “cheap” sound […]