Boston, Masschusetts, USA
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Production / mastering techniques
StoreTags: mastering, production, noob
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First blog, ever. Hi everyone.
So recently, I've really been trying learn and absorb as much as I can about production techniques and making better mixes in general. But I really feel like I'm missing something huge. I've been mostly composing in Live, doing some EQing in there, and rendering it out. Thing is, I feel like all of my mixes sound smushed together somehow. I hear some stuff on here that has amazing dynamic range and sounds fantastic, and I feel like that's just not happening for me.
I guess I'm just looking to see what you guys would recommend doing in order to better my skills in this area. I'll admit that I don't fully understand every aspect of using compressors and EQs to get the full potential out of the sound. Where did you guys start when trying to learn this?
Another thing, all of my mixes out of Live tend to have a lower volume than most tracks that I hear on here, yet I still deal with trying to get rid of a ton of clipping. I feel like by the time I'm done mastering I've just butchered the track. Is there something about Live that I'm doing improperly to make these weak mixes? Or does it stem back to my lack of knowledge of EQ and compression?
I realize that I've asked a lot of questions here, but if anyone takes the time to address even one of them, I'd greatly appreciate it. This site is amazing and one of the few that I really check up on often, because the amount of skill and knowledge you guys possess is just insane.
Anyways, thanks guys, and keep up what you're doing.
- Matt | |
Comments
01/14/08
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j_chot
compression will make your song sound louder.(takes practice)
good monitors will help your mixes sound better. (the one thing not to skimp on)
good mastering will help out alot, but without good mixing, it can't do anything.
practice,practice, practice
01/14/08
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utofbu
mastering is super elusive and actually simple from what I have learned thus far.
The key is harmonic re-inforcement/ tasteful multiband compression(barely any) + taking advantage of quality transformers(Pre-amping and re-amping) and a quality AD/DA conversion.
these things in tandem with a good mix is what provides the power and separation that presents a good end product.
if you are digital, mix below 0. Dont give your GUI of choice the chance to overmodulate(unless you intend to use that sound color.)
and good monitors are very helpful, but also reference your mix on many many bad speakers as well, if the mixes come across everywhere, you are in good shape.
Im missing a bizillion things and I dont have any examples currently to help you. But I will soon.
As a test to my own ears, I am re-mastering "Heavy Weather" by Weather Report because I thought it was a good mix job but a terrible mastering job. Ill throw up some examples and post them here tomorrow.
01/15/08
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skab
Heavy Weather! nice choice utofbu! A lot of problems in mixes can be fixed simply by playing with the levels. Once again, you'll need good monitors for this. There's an excellent article about this from SOS here: link
Also mixmaster jdg's excellent advice link
01/15/08
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thehydrax
Go easy on the compression.
01/15/08
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tylth
some nice basic infos on mixing, mastering and levelling in live can be found here: link (check "guides")
01/15/08
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madeofoak
jdg's link above is a great, great resource. read it thoroughly.
as a start, though, just practice eq'ing and compressing. you'll start out being really, really bad at it and slowly get better. go through your mix, soloing each individual track and trying to make it sound as good as it can alone using eq and (occasionally, like with drums and vocals, compression). read jdg's bible the whole time. don't scoop too much eq. when you're done, your bounce will sound quieter than most tracks, so give it a little dose of compression to louden it up slightly if that's what it needs. good luck!
01/15/08
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mlbot
Some of the absolute mix-killers for electronic music, imo:
1. Too many sounds. Erase about half of those VST synths, and focus on the important ones. Turn down the levels on effects to where you can feel them, not hear them.
(now, to fill out all that empty space, LAYER LAYER LAYER "copies" of the important stuff to make it fatter. Sub-octave sine waves for your bassline, high-end sparkly reverbed tracks for your leads, distorted copies of drums that add quiet flavor, etc....
2. Too much bass kills your headroom. High pass filter anything that doesn't need sub-bass.
3. Don't boost EQ all the time. When in doubt, try cutting bad freq's more than boosting good ones.
4. Compressors can be used to boost overall volume, but they can also boost mud while cutting dynamics. If the latter sounds like you, try limiting yourself to using a compressor at or below a 2:1 ratio and see what you can do. Or, limit yourself to 10msec or greater attack settings.
5. Listen to someone else's music. Use a Spectral analyzer to help.
6. Patience. Its a new instrument you are learning. Books like Bob Katz's Mastering Audio are great, but also very very confusing at times.
edited: Jan 15 2008
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sweettrip
Someone posted this link in the Abletom forum. Pretty good stuff.
Check out the Online Resources for compression, frequencies, and mastering.
01/15/08
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nicknotis
Are there any specific songs or specific people who's mixes really impress you? I'm sure they'd be happy to talk to you about it. If not, I'm sure someone here can give their analysis of what that person is doing so well.
For what it's worth, I think your mixes sound good. Everything is well separated and balanced, and doesn't seem to suffer from limited dynamics. But it's great that you're pushing to be better. Hopefully we all are.
01/15/08
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bluewire
wow, a lot of really helpful responses here. thanks a lot guys. i'm gonna take take some time to check out all the tips and links you've provided. i really appreciate it.
01/16/08
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ricemutt
how about mastering/mixing more experimental type music? I make a lot of enormous noisy sounds, and I tend to do similar things with almost all of them... do a brickwall filter at about 30 hz, and then roll off everything below 100 unless the sound specifically is the bass sound or a "bassy" sound. I've also found compression with a low threshold but a gentle ratio-- something like 1.5 to two, makes things sound good, and then something a little stronger at about -6 db to catch some of the "peaks" of the sounds. I also use far less reverb now than I use to, and always drastically filter out the low frequencies on the verb, pretty much everything below 300hz or 500hz... Also, I tend to reduce those painful frequencies between 3 and 10,000 hz... I do a lot of digital synthesis these days and that seems to be where the "ouch" is. That is all just random stuff I do.. it could be completely "wrong," haha.
01/16/08
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xik
Funny how blogs have turned into the forum, meanwhile the forums auto-delete everything to oblivion.
Anyway mixing / mastering starts with Monitors, get something professional in that dept first, if you try to get levels right and eq without them its only counterproductive.
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