Recording Mixing

Recording Mixing

Get A Record Deal - Mix And Master To Manufacture

Get a Record Deal - You do not have to have read the preceding five articles in this series, what is a Working Band to Do? In order to benefit from read this. It may be that you had your demo recorded already and did not need the other independent artist; it may simply be that you are interested in the process.

Somehow or another - in a process that combines love, luck, and a lot of hard work - you got some of independent artist songs recorded for your band demo. Now, it will matter somewhat in the marketing of it, but not at all in these production steps, whether it was a recording of a live show or a set of tracks recorded in a studio.

At this point, the question to be answered, the decision to be made, is: Is the mix tape ready to master? Mastering is the last step before production, and it needs to be done professionally, at a cost (for three songs) of somewhere between $100-500. It is not a good idea for the recording/mixing engineer to master the CD, nor is it wise for any other amateur to do it. Since it may cost as much as all your studio time did, it is an important decision that you cannot afford to make incorrectly - or, for that matter, make correctly more than once.

The mixing phase, where the producer and the engineer balance all the recorded tracks in each song played, adjust EQ, apply reverb and other effects, choose the best guitar solo overdub or cut-and-paste one together from several different takes - in other words, get all the parts working together to make one, organic whole. Whole books are written about this one subject, mixing, so it is far, far beyond the scope of this kind of article. If the Muses are smiling on your project, you will have hooked up with a competent pro or a gifted amateur who excels at mixing.

Okay, so you have your finished mix. Actually, there is a great two-dollar word meaning next to the last that should be used in this situation, since no one else but the producer and engineer have heard the mix tape at this point and someone may point out something that needs to be fixed or tweaked. So, call it the penultimate mix. Really: Call it that when you get the group and a neutral observer or two together for a listen. Okay, guys, this is the penultimate mix here…

This is where the producer, whoever he or she is, really does need to get some feedback about the demo. If it is you, be prepared to hear my solos too short or your solos too long, or I can not hear my drum fills, lots of that sort of thing. You may even hear a compliment or two for all the blood, sweat, and tears that you and the engineer poured into the work - but mostly you will hear whining and complaints. You need to keep this feedback session short and focused, with everyone thinking of the greater, common good, the overall sound, the clarity and punch of the tunes, the integrity of the sound, and how well it represents what you do musically.

Another series of books, of course, could be written on all the things that could possibly be wrong with the tunes or the recording of them, but just aim for the sound quality and presence that you get from your favorite CDs, and if you attain 85-90% of those levels, you have done well. Do not let this mix review session drag on; get it done in one evening. You can tweak and micromanage and fiddle forever, especially with software and hardware tools that let you tweak and micromanage and fiddle in a million ways with you get a record deal. Resist the temptation to finesse the demo into a state of perfection. Yes, there is such a thing as perfection; no, it is not on Earth.

Mastering is the final signal processing step before an audio CD is manufactured. This process is applied to the whole demo, all the tunes, and is not the time for fixing things that are performance-, recording-, or mix-related. Mastering will generally affect the gain level, apply limiting and compression, and perhaps add a bit of other signal seasoning to make the product radio ready - or, in the case of dance music, club ready.

There has been a tendency in the last couple of decades to compress the life and dynamics out of rock and pop music, so that your CD is as loud as the other guys or gals. This is not as prevalent in jazz and classical music as it is in, say, hip-hop and heavy metal, and should not be done just because. If your music has dynamic range - in other words, if it has some softer passages, some less orchestrated ones, some space, and some subtlety - ask the mastering engineer to take it easy on the slamming.

What you should have after handing the mastering engineer his check is a high-end CD-R with your tracks written to the 16-bit, 44.1 kHz Redbook audio standard. This disc is sometimes called a PMCD (Pre-Master CD), and it is what a CD manufacturer will use to make the glass master used in replication. If you want to back it up, or keep the original safe and deliver a copy for manufacturing, remember that you must copy the disc, not the tracks; the whole disc needs to be cloned because the all-important Redbook table of contents file needs to be at a specific location on the disc for it to work.

Okay, then. You have your PMCD. You have a little money left. It is time to shop for a CD replicator.

About the Author

Josh Coe – We provide marketing and promotional services to clients seeking exposure in the music business. We provide Independent Artist and labels with the means to service their records to industry insiders and potential new fans.

What are some good free sound mixing/recording/editing software?

I've been looking all over for some software to record and edit my music (I'm a songwriter). Can anyone suggest anything?

Free audio editor

http://www.free-audio-editor.com/

Wavepad

http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html

Eisenkraut

http://sourceforge.net/projects/eisenkraut

LMMS

http://lmms.sourceforge.net/home.php

Wavosaur

http://www.wavosaur.com/

Ultramixer (free edition)

http://www.ultramixer.com/

Mixxx

http://www.mixxx.org/

all free, all safe to download

UPDATE: don't click on the link supplied by stress - it contains malware; see Norton's report

http://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftbigecl.99h.us%2F&sourceid=Mozilla-search

Recording Mixing

Recording Mixing In The News

Tips For Choosing Monitors

Should you be setting up a home recording studio room, maybe you are already mindful of a few of the main types of equipment that you'll need. Among the gear are high quality mics, some form of mixer panel, the software package of choice that you will be doing your ultimate mixes with and of course a great quality set of monitors, like the Behringer B2031A Truth monitors. Here, we'll cover several ideas about the specifics of choosing the best pair of monitors for your studio room.

Recording studio monitors are also referred to as reference speakers and they vary from what you would be looking for in a regular speaker system for music listening for the reason that the primary objective isn't to provide a fantastic quality audio experience for the end user. The objective using these sorts of reference speakers would be to give as exact audio as you possibly can, so that it can be improved upon as required.

You would like your monitors to have the ability to relay just the facts to your listening ear. Behringer's Truth monitors, including the Behringer B2031A, are known for doing just that. As the name implies, they are designed to be the best in high quality with regards to providing sincere and truthful feedback with regards to your recorded sounds.

To start the process of choosing Your Own audio reference monitors, you need to understand that there are two primary types.  They are referred to as near-field monitors and room monitors. Usually you'd probably find a minimum of one pair of each of these being utilized in a good quality recording studio because they each serve distinct and crucial capabilities.

Near-field monitors are also known as close-field and they are the most typical Studio Monitor which you would likely see. The very best situation should be to have both types of monitors, however when you choose one set over the other, the near-field is the most significant in terms of mixing your music sessions. These types of monitors are made to be placed about 3-5 feet away from the location where you will end up sitting while playing the recording. Hearing at this range will help you listen to the actual sound before it has an opportunity to bounce off the walls as well as other areas that may be in the room where you're doing the mixing. The B2031A mentioned here would be a fantastic example of a superb high quality set of near-field monitors.

Room monitors can be used in the areas that the close-field monitors don't have, which is mainly when it comes to the lower bass sounds. Generally these types of monitors are placed further away from the listening ears and sometimes they're attached to the wall or flush inside of the wall surface. The very best instance of the best situation with regard to these types of monitors would be a practically completed mix that you want to have a listen to so that you can get a feel for how the completed tune may sound for your admirers. Room monitors will certainly provide you with that much more commercial audio which may be great in this case.

Make sure to seek information before choosing your own monitors and look at your budget to acknowledge if you'll be able to afford the two forms of monitors or if starting using the near-field ones are the way to go. You could enhance your recording studio equipment later on when needed.

Questions about Recording Mixing

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