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.
Leading the Way - Harmony Basics - Part 11
LearningIn the previous articles we looked at how cadences work and how the fifth degree of a scale tends towards the first degree (yes, I know I've been repeating this every article). But, regardless of cad…
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.
Harmonic Rhythm - Harmony Basics - Part 10
LearningToday, we will discuss one of the most important aspects in music, namely rhythm.
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 …
Distortion - Speaker specifications explained - Part 6
LearningIn this final installment regarding speaker specs, I'll address distortion. It's interesting to understand why it's a spec that's seldom specified by speaker manufacturers, unlike with amps, which al…
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…
Keep Your Music Data Safe! (part 2) - How to archive your finished DAW projects for future recall
LearningIn part 1 we looked at a backup strategy for preserving your active and recently active recording files. But what about archiving them when you’re finished? In part 2 of this 2-part series, we’ll tal…
Sensitivity and Efficiency - Speaker specifications explained - Part 5
LearningKnowing how much power a speaker can handle doesn't tell you anything about how much SPL it can deliver.
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…
Keep Your Music Data Safe! (part 1) - How to avoid data disasters with a simple backup strategy
LearningComputer experts will tell you that it’s not a matter of if your hard drive will crash, it’s a matter of when. Even solid-state drives (SSDs), though more reliable than those with spinning disks, can…
Power Handling - Speaker specifications explained - Part 4
LearningThe notion of power is always highlighted by manufacturers and users alike. It seems to have a sort of exceptional seduction power, to the point that its actual importance gets diluted in the mental …
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…
