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 […]
Monthly Archives: March 2019
15 posts
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 […]
What Is Mix Depth? How to Create Front-Back Space A sense of dimension is a key characteristic that separates professional mixes from amateur ones. Most engineers think of dimension in three ways: height, width, and depth. Height is frequency content and width is the stereo field. Depth is the front-to-back […]
2 Basic Approaches to Mixing “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” This quote is attributed to the late-great Jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. We could modify that to read “Writing about mixing music is like dancing about architecture.” Regardless, it’s difficult to describe the art of mixing music using […]
Audio Dynamics 101 Compressors, Limiters, Expanders, and Gates I remember one of my friends talking about compressors when we first started getting into music production. “I don’t really know what a compressor does, but I put it on everything because it just makes things sound better.” This is the mentality […]
Compression in Mastering Compression vs. limiting Compressors are different from limiters in that they let you work in longer timeframes, while limiters act as a safety, to prevent over-modulation of compressors. Compressors map well to musical signals, anything with sustain or a note. If you find yourself needing to smooth […]