The best mixes and masters tend to sound good on a broad spectrum of listening settings. One of the best tips for creating such a mix is to mix your music in mono. If you can get your mix to sound well-balanced and musical in mono, then it will likely only sound even better in stereo…
Panning isn’t the only–and possibly not even the best–way to shape the stereo image of your mix. Many producers prefer to use a technique that takes advantage of the Haas Effect, a psychoacoustic phenomenon that creates a strong sense of space and direction on a track. Here’s how the Haas Effect works and how you might use it in place of panning.
While the digital age of recording certainly has brought some huge advantages to producers and artists, one of the liabilities of the proliferation of virtual music technology is the transformation from knobs, faders and buttons to a mouse and click interface. Despite digital advancements, many artists and engineers still prefer the aesthetic and enchantment of working with physical interfaces to manipulate parameters. Here’s a $130 device that lets you get the best of both worlds.
Several producers and musicians have already discovered that you can save your money and still have a professional-sounding mix. Don’t believe us? Check out these three free mixing plugins you can download online right now. They’ve each been compared by artists to ones that cost hundreds of dollars.
Not all studios need a subwoofer for mixing. In fact, in some cases, adding a sub to your monitoring setup can make the response less accurate by falsely boosting the bass frequencies. Here a couple of things to look for if you’re interested in adding a sub to your studio.
One of the less common music effects that artists sometimes use is an aural exciter or an enhancer. By adding and highlighting overtones, these effects can add crispness, brightness and color to your mix. Here’s how they work and where to use them.
Making your mix sound bigger isn’t as much of a mystery as it may seem. There are some basic steps you can take to add depth and fullness to your mix. Here are some tips to get a bigger sound.
If your mix or master sounds weak, the culprit may be phase cancellation, an audio phenomenon where frequencies are dropped due to the out of sync sound waves of different signals. Here’s an overview of how phase cancellation works and what you can do to help avoid it.
Breakthroughs in music technology and digital audio workstations (DAWs) have made the possibilities in producing music virtually unlimited… and those possibilities are only going to get bigger. In order to make the most of digital music production technology, a well-rounded understanding of sound design is increasingly important for artists and producers. Thankfully, there’s a course you can take for that. And it’s free.
One of the best ways to add space to your mix is by utilizing panning to its fullest potential. A mix that has a well-crafted stereo image will sound far more interesting and engaging. Unfortunately, panning doesn’t get quite as much focus as EQ and compression in many mixing and mastering resources. So, here are some general tips for panning that can help you get started with building a solid stereo image.