We recently shared a report on how radio is still the most dominant medium for music listening. A lot of people still here and discover a majority of the music they listen to through the radio. Unfortunately, it’s not the best in terms of sound quality.
Because of this, some producers are apt to create remixed versions of their music that are optimized for radio playback. While you don’t always have control over what version of your music a radio station plays, it can be useful to have a radio-optimized mix available for the times when you can control it.
Essentially, all radio stations use a multiband compressor on the music they play. This often results in a very flat dynamic range. You may have noticed this if you’ve ever heard a song on the radio and then listened to it on CD. The radio version sounds squashed .
Expand Your Dynamic Range
The way to counteract this is by creating a version of your mix that has an exaggerated dynamic range. You may want to consider reducing the compression on vocals and then raising their volume. This will maintain the expressiveness of the vocal track while still keeping it from getting lost in the mix.
Focus On The Mids
With radio playback, you’re going to want to make sure the mids of your track are shining through. You do this by making them more present in your mix, almost sounding too forward. You don’t need to worry about the bass as much because it will still be heard (and many car stereos–where people listen most to the radio–tend to be bass heavy).
Automate the Lead Parts
Even if you do a great job of expanding the dynamic range, keeping your midrange in the forefront of things, and allowing the vocals to maintain more musicality and presence; you may still end up losing certain important parts of your mix to the radio station’s compressors. This is where automation comes in.
Automate the parts of your mix that you want to shine at certain points. If you’ve got a guitar solo, you may want to boost its level a bit when it’s time. If there’s a drum fill that keeps the pace moving, you may want to drop some of the other instuments a touch to allow it to take prominence.
You can better your chances of having your track sound good over the radio by creating an alternate mix of your music. Stick with these basic three tips and you’ll be on the right track for creating a solid radio mix.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
