Jake Weston

Although the music production game has become increasingly digital and allowed individuals to feel that mixing and mastering is an easy concept, some people believe it’s actually harder than ever to properly mix and master. I’m not one of those – I think computers have totally changed the game to make it MUCH easier. But it CAN be overwhelming now with so many options.

Anyway, it’s still true that understanding the roles that each instrument or sound plays in a song, and creating space between these sounds to amplify their existence, is one of the most crucial components in ensuring the song you produce is going to take off.

Key Takeaways:

• Typically, instruments and vocals have classic roles that can lead to engineering assumptions that may prove detrimental to a recording.
• While it’s normal for vocals to serve as the overriding centerpiece, it might be a good idea to try burying the song in order to elevate the mood of the recording.
• This ‘outside the box’ thinking led one engineer to pan the drums to one side, in a particular mix, balancing it with a lone and heavily strummed acoustic guitar.

“If you’ve tried to understand the feeling of the song you’re mixing, you may realize that the instruments before you would best support that song if they were doing different things than usual.”

Read more: https://www.prosoundweb.com/channels/recording/in_the_studio_instrument_roles_creating_space_differentiation/

Key Takeaways:

• iZotope has led the way to super fast automated processing, with intelligent software that gives suggestions regarding mixing, such as equalization tips.
• While this may be a boon to creatively blocked engineers and newbies, one wonders whether a pathway to dehumanized music has opened up.
• Virtual reality and augmented reality are here to stay and will have more and more to do with the process of audio enginerering.

“The tools we use to produce music are getting insanely good. If I look back on what was available to me when I really began studying and practicing digital audio (with my humble Cool Edit Pro setup and no 3rd party plugins), the current state-of-the-art seems even more astounding.”

Read more: https://theproaudiofiles.com/digital-audio-workstation-trends/

The best plug-ind can make you a better musician. You need to know that you are not going to move too aggressively on the musical staging process and trying to find the most beneficial situation that you can create,
You can focus on this process by using trained musical ears in the most detailed way possible. Lenders are going to look at your musical business if you need money and you aren't making these gaining mistakes any longer.

Key Takeaways:

• You may think that the plug-in that comes with your DAW is completely useless but it is actually an essential tool in creating great sounding music.
• Many novices make the mistake of not really understanding what the gaining tool is for, which is unfortunate because you must go through the gain stage each and every time you mix.
• Too many of us obsess over gain staging when it should really take no more than 3 minutes in the beginning of the prep phase.

“Gain staging is commonly misunderstood, so in this video you’re going to learn what the 6 biggest mistakes are that I see people make over and over again.0”

Read more: https://www.musicianonamission.com/6-gain-staging-mistakes/

Small speakers can make it difficult to hear the bass on a song. You can certainly find speakers that will make it easier for the bass to overcome a louder than average keyboard or some noisy drums.
The production process is something that can make the biggest difference in a listener's ability to pick up on things. A holding system can make the biggest difference when you are trying to plan a game. The truth is that a well placed bass can be heard in a number of different places.

Key Takeaways:

• If you have large studio monitors, that’s great but the music produced doesn’t always translate well when played on your laptop.
• One remedy for this is to focus your energy further up on the frequency spectrum.
• An advanced method for getting the bass to cut right through the mix is to make a duplicate of the track and then add large boosts in the mids.

“Making your bass guitar stand out on small speakers is all about frequency control.”

Read more: https://www.audio-issues.com/music-mixing/4-ways-to-make-your-bass-cut-through-on-small-speakers/

You may want to have silence within a song at the right time. It certainly makes sense for the overall recording process. You have to be honest about the world and make sure that you can develop the kind of recording that can reverberate throughout the system.
Silence is also going to be easier to create in a room with a certain type of walls, a certain type of structure. You have to know that people are not always going to set yo the right studio with a Gatekeeper.

Key Takeaways:

• Gatekeeper is a plug in created by Polyverse Music and Infected Mushroom.
• It constitutes the third collaborative effort involving the renowned electronic music duo, infected mushroom.
• Easy,fast and exact volume modulation is a key feature of the Gatekeeper plug-in.

“Boasting not only drastic, punchy gating and sequencing while keeping the output smooth, the plugin aims to breathe new life into your audio in the simplest, yet most impactful way: silence.”

Read more: http://www.musictech.net/2017/11/gatekeeper-plugin/