Glue It Down with Reverb - A guide to mixing music - Part 80
LearningToday I'll focus on the sixth bus of my personal reverb mixing setup. As I told you before, this bus is aimed at producing the so-called "glue" effect. In other words, the more or less signal you sen…
How to Know When Your Mix is Finished - 5 questions to ask yourself to determine if your mix is ready to go
LearningTop mix engineers will tell you that they instinctively know when they're finished with a mix. But for those of us who haven’t reached that level yet, it’s usually hard to have that kind of certainty…
Choosing Reverb Sounds - A guide to mixing music - Part 79
LearningToday we'll follow up on the previous article by discussing the presets for five of the nine reverb buses of the template I proposed.
Getting Down to Work with Reverb - A guide to mixing music - Part 78
LearningWe have been discussing reverb for quite some time now, although in a more or less theoretical way. I know it can get a bit frustrating but, trust me, it was necessary. Now that we are done with all …
The Importance of Contrast in a Mix - A guide to mixing music - Part 77
LearningToday I'll close the brief parenthesis I opened last week. And I'll do that tackling a notion that is crucial when it comes to mixing, namely...
Of Width and Depth - A guide to mixing music - Part 76
LearningI feel a bit compelled to add a brief parenthesis after what I wrote at the end of the previous article. So, in the next couple of articles I will not limit myself to working with space but rather to…
More About Compressing Reverb - A guide to mixing music - Part 75
LearningToday we'll continue exploring the use of reverb and dynamics processing by looking at post-reverb compression.
A/B Your Plug-Ins - Head-to-head comparisons of similar plug-ins will help you decide which one to use when
LearningBetween the plug-ins in your DAW, and others you may have purchased, you’re likely to have some duplicate functionality; that is, more than one reverb, compressor, EQ, etc. But when you choose to use…
Producer/engineer/songwriter Joe West’s fearless approa… - Never Say Never!
LearningJoe West has never been afraid to take on a project, even early in his career when he didn’t always have the requisite experience. “If you turn a gig down,” he says, “you end up in a situation where …
Reverb Meets Compression - A guide to mixing music - Part 74
LearningToday we'll see how to make reverb and compression work together. At first sight it might seem weird to want to compress a reverb. And yet a compressor placed before or after the reverb can prove qui…
Gated Reverb - A guide to mixing music - Part 73
LearningIn this new episode we'll address the strange marriage between reverbs and gates.
Sculpting Reverb with EQ - A guide to mixing music - Part 72
LearningWith this article we'll close the study of spectral control of reverberation by looking at post-reverb EQ.
Why You Need a Dedicated Digital Audio Editor - For some common audio editing tasks, a digital audio editor is often better than your DAW
LearningWhen it comes to music-production software, DAWs get all the glory. And for good reason: You use them for all the glamorous parts of the process, such as tracking, overdubbing and mixing. Conversely,…
Reverb Damping - A guide to mixing music - Part 71
LearningToday we'll continue our study of frequency control applied to reverberation by addressing damping. Usually, if you have given enough care to choosing your starting preset, you shouldn't need to twea…
Reverb and EQ - A guide to mixing music - Part 70
LearningWhen it comes to reverberation, spectral content is crucial. Processing at the frequency level can happen at three distinct points in the audio path: before, during or after reverberation. Today, we'…
That's an Order! - How to create a dynamic and engaging song order for your album or EP
LearningLet’s face it: Albums are not what they used to be. I’m not talking about the music (although there are some who would make that argument), and I’m not talking about the production. I’m referring to …
Early Reflections - A guide to mixing music - Part 69
LearningIn the last article, we discussed reverb time, which, in the end, corresponds more or less to the duration of the reverb tail. Today we'll take a look at what happens on the other side of the reverbe…
It's Reverb Time - A guide to mixing music - Part 68
LearningToday we'll dive into reverb time, a most crucial parameter that needs to be handled cautiously.
How to Use Pre-Delay - A guide to mixing music - Part 67
LearningNow that you've chosen the best reverb presets, the time has come to tinker with the parameters so you can adjust them to best fit your needs. In this article, we'll focus on a very important reverb …
How to track and mix your project so it has a cohesive … - Give Your Album its Own Sonic Signature
LearningA cohesive sonic signature helps make an album, EP or other multi-song project more appealing to listeners. If you listen to a classic album, whether it's Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” The Be…
A Handy Rule for Choosing Reverb Presets - A guide to mixing music - Part 66
LearningMy goal today is to try to make it even easier for you to choose your starting reverb preset...Yes, I know, it's starting to feel a bit like an obsession, but your choice in this regard is so importa…
How to Use the Pink Noise Trick - A guide to mixing music - Part 65
LearningDespite everything I've told you, you might still be having some trouble trying to decide which preset is the best starting point for your song. Even more so considering that software makers are usua…
It's Just a Matter of Feeling - A guide to mixing music - Part 64
LearningBy now, after several articles dealing with the different reverb types, you ought to be able to determine which families match better the goals you have in mind. Now it's up to you to decide which pr…
Mixing with Room Reverb - A guide to mixing music - Part 63
LearningThis week we'll finish our overview of the different reverb families addressing the biggest one among them: rooms.
Live or in the studio, engineer David Kimmell has you c… - Indy Mix Man
LearningIndianapolis-based David Kimmell worked his way up in the pro audio world through an eclectic mix of music-related gigs such as club sound man; pro audio manager at a Guitar Center; sound company emp…
