[Feature Article] Mixing with Myself…or Not! - A Guide To Mixing Music - Part 2
We'll devote this second installment of our mixing article series to a bit of advice that is worth its weight in gold: Whenever possible, let someone else mix your songs and/or recordings
[Feature Article] Improve Your Mix with A/B Referencing… - What to Listen For When Comparing a Mix
In part 1 we looked at different ways to setup your gear for an A/B comparison. This time, we’ll offer some suggestions for specific aspects to focus on during your referencing session.
[Feature Article] Improve Your Mix with A/B Referencing… - Compare Your Mix to That of a Professional for Valuable Sonic Guidance
Referencing your mix against an existing recording via the process known as “A/B-ing,” is a great way to check the quality of your work and help you overcome inaccurate studio acoustics. Here in part…
[Feature Article] Tips on Recording Vocals for Musicians - Vocal Recording Clinic with Kris Crummett
No matter what musical style you're into, if you own studio gear, you probably record vocals at least some of the time. So when we had a chance to tap into the expertise of Kris Crummett — a prominen…
[Feature Article] Power Tips for the Pro Tools Novice –… - Learn How to Produce Music Faster and More Efficiently with Pro Tools
Avid Pro Tools features industry standard audio recording, editing, and mixing, along with a reasonably well-featured MIDI section. But with an application this powerful, getting up to speed can take…
[Feature Article] Working with Drum Loops - Part 2 - Adding Fills, Crashes, and More
Part 1 looked at the importance of variation in a full-length drum loop track, and also gave tips on customizing drum loops by editing. Here I’ll look at two very important aspects of your drum loop …
[Feature Article] Working with Drum Loops - Part 1 - How to Make Loop-Based Drum Tracks Sound As Realistic As Possible
I’m not a drummer, but I often produce tracks in my studio that include drum parts. Sometimes I’m fortunate enough to be able to use a real drummer, but in most cases it’s just not practical. Instead…
[Feature Article] Cut the Mud from Your Mix - Remove Low-End Clutter from Your Mix with High-Pass Filtering
Guitars, vocals, pianos, drums or virtually any track in your mix, has extraneous low-frequency information that can be filtered out without compromising the sound. While you may not notice anything …
[Feature Article] Ableton’s Jesse Terry Talks Live, Pus… - Pushing the Envelope
After its introduction in 2001, Ableton Live grew rapidly into a major force in the world of music production software. While many of its major competitors at the time were bogged down with legacy fe…
[Feature Article] Why Headroom is Important - Keep Your Levels Down and Your Headroom Up, and Your Music Will Sound Better
You’ve probably heard the term “headroom” thrown around a lot. What it is, essentially, is a margin of safety between the loudest peaks of your track — or tracks, in the case of a mix — and 0 dB on y…