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Freebie: 50 Mixing & Mastering Tips - Hyperbits
Remember how the human ear identifies louder sounds as subjectively better? Well, mastering engineers or more accurately the record labels that hired them learned how to use this to their advantage by using a limiter to make finished tracks louder and louder. This resulted in something called the Loudness War, which ended up sacrificing the beauty in music and its dynamic range in favour of overly compressed or squashed tracks that appeared louder.
Loudness is still an issue in contemporary music, though it has been stamped down by new limitations enforced by streaming and broadcast companies. All the way, seeking to retain the nuance and dynamic range that makes music music.
Tricky, huh? We are going to do some more comparison to our reference tracks here; load the MultiMeter onto the Stereo Output, and listen to the loudest section of your reference tracks one by one. Note down the value it will change over time so find an average value or note down a range e.
Do this for all 3 reference tracks and compare the values, this will give you an indication as to how much squash or compression is acceptable for the genre you are working in, and what the loudness level of your master should look like. For example, heavy rock tracks will typically feature a lot more compression and therefore be a lot louder , than say, a 20 minute free form jazz odyssey,. Phase shift is a natural by-product of EQ and is something you can get away with on individual tracks, but it can cause problems for the master.
Not only does the Linear EQ look great in black, it has a higher resolution than the standard EQ, giving you the ability to make finer adjustments — important in mastering. You should use the Linear EQ to make small adjustments based on your notes, but try not to boost or cut any more than 3dB. If you need to make more severe adjustments, you should consider going back to the mix. This is especially the case when the frequency you want to tame is quite dynamic.
For example, certain notes on a bass guitar might create unwanted boosts in the low end, but only when that note is played. If you are finding the mix has too much dynamic range, that is, certain sections are much louder or softer than others, you may wish to apply a little compression to the track. Of course, let your ears be the judge here, but these are some pretty universal guidelines for using compression in mastering.
Applying compression to the mix can help tighten up the dynamics of your track, allowing you to employ more limiting to bring up the loudness in your mix. Multi band compressors are exactly what they sound like, compressors that operate in several bands, split across the frequency spectrum.
Templates will have instruments loaded, effects loaded, and all of the presets will be included. Once you load a template you will find everything so perfectly organized all you need to do is start creating music.
Templates are designed by using the DAW specific plugins and settings. Making the template universal. On occasion, you will find templates that include presets for 3rd party plugins. These 3rd party plugins are not included in the template. Whether you are a new producer or a seasoned pro, templates are a great tool to stay up to speed on the latest innovations in audio production.
Depending upon the version of Logic you are using. Below are a couple of ways to go. This was worth a mention. There are some good ones. So if you got a dollar. And there you have it. Free Logic templates to keep your creativity pumping, and your workflow positive. If you did a remix using one of these templates, please share in the comment section below. Production covers everything from catchy loops and midi files to sick sylenth presets!
Highly recommend them! Committing 1. Gain Staging If you know me, you know I am hot pun excused on the issue of gain staging. Balancing This is the key to mixing. The sound stage is a 3-dimensional space. Mixing IS balancing. Panning This is the natural next step after fader work. It really helps to understand the psychoacoustic nature of stereophonic sound.
Bussing I like to make life as simple as possible. Simplicity is something I feel is highly undervalued in audio today. Bussing can help us here. Problem-solving This is where common processes such as compression and EQ come in. These processes should be seen as problem solvers. For example, if there is a resonant frequency in the vocals, deploy an EQ. If you have several vocal tracks, for example one lead vocal and two backing vocal harmonies, try panning the harmonies a little to either side of the stereo field for a thick sound.
EQ is the process of manipulating the frequency spectrum of a track, and is used to either cut offensive frequencies, or boost desired ones. It features low and high cuts, low and high shelves, and 4 bell peak type nodes. You can edit the peak frequency by simply clicking and holding a node and moving it left to right, and you can apply a boost or cut by dragging it up or down. You can also click and drag on the numerical equivalent at the bottom of the interface, or double click and enter a specific value.
Where equalization is concerned with controlling the frequency range in a mix, compression is used to control the dynamic range of your tracks. It can also be used to change the tonal character of an instrument.
Certain guitar or bass notes may have been played more softly or louder than others, or your vocalist may have moved closer to or further away from the microphone during recording. As with equalizers, compressors are incredibly complex, as you can see from the number of controls in the above GUI. Compressors work to control the dynamic range by compressing or turning down , audio signals when they go above a certain level.
You use the controls of the compressor to set the point at which compression occurs, to what degree, and how quickly among other things.
The five most important parameters to get the hang of are threshold, ratio, attack, release, and make up. The threshold controls the point at which the compressor kicks into action. You can think of it like setting the ceiling. When the track level reaches above this ceiling the threshold , the compressor will engage and compress or turn down the audio.
The ratio control tells the compressor how much to compress the signal above that level. This is expressed as a ratio such as , etc. The higher the ratio, the more the compressor reacts.
At a ratio of , our dB signal will be compressed to dB the difference between the threshold [db] and the signal level [dB] divided by 2. The attack and release controls determine how fast the compressor kicks in when a signal passes the threshold attack , and how quickly the compressor disengages after the signal falls back below the threshold release.
These two controls affect how much compression is applied, for how long, and greatly contribute to the sonic quality of the compression. Sometimes labelled make up gain, this control is used to match the compressed and uncompressed signal levels. Because compressors often make things sound louder, it can be difficult to compare and accurately gauge the effect of a compressor when switching between the affected and unaffected signal.
Because the human ear naturally favours louder signals , the louder, compressed track often sounds better by comparison. Use the make up control to ensure the levels are consistent so you can judge the effect of compression more accurately.
Compression is best used to control overly dynamic instruments, for example, an inconsistent vocal recording. Use the loop control in Logic to select a section of vocals, and open up the compressor plugin. Start with a modest ratio of is generally seen as the middle ground in compression ratios. Roll back the threshold control until the compressor starts engaging when the loud vocals kick in. The goal here is to allow the compressor to kick into gear only when the vocals get too loud, not at all times.
That said, you may want to apply a little compression to the vocal tracks e.
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