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Harmonic mixing is the practice of using music theory in your dj sets.
You can use this knowledge to achieve specific functions when mixing two songs (similar to chord progressions), or to know which songs are compatible with each other, just to give a few examples.
The most common and basic form of harmonic mixing.
If you don't want to know about the ...
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There are many differences between boosting and cutting with EQ. I'll discuss the ones that stand out to me the most:
One way to think about a mix is that it's like packing a box, or perhaps like playing Tetris. You're trying to get all these things to both fit together and also fit into a limited space. With a mix, you've got your dynamic range and your ...
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Before trying any effects at all, I should change that mic if I were you. The SM58 is an amazing live mic – not just because it's dead sturdy, but also because it has a very focused, direct, "shallow" sound. Great to make vocals come out in a live mix and to avoid feedback and other common trouble – but none of these benefits have any relevance for a studio ...
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There is no one way to use an EQ, but there are a few common techniques that people use to EQ, and they can be applied on most sources.
First a few general tips:
Make small changes. EQs are not magic, and they will not instantly improve your recording. They are best for making small tweaks.
Be careful with boosting. It's oftentimes better to attenuate ...
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Well this is a big question, so let me start with a big answer:
http://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets-Small-Studio-Senior/dp/0240815807/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426508544&sr=1-1&keywords=mixing+secrets
Now for the smaller answer more approriate to this format.
A good mix starts with the arrangement before you even record. If the ...
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Try employing parallel compression. Here is a good article about it. Basically, you make a copy of your vocal track. Leave one copy alone and compress the other. That gives you the original loud transients plus a compressed version where the rest of the material is also louder. Sometimes, you'll see this described where the original has very fast or very ...
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Making everything audible in the mix is not always possible. Elements that share frequencies will mask each other.
The most crucial part of the mix is not actually in the mixing phase itself, but in the composition, instrumentation, and arrangement phase. Experienced composers will give each element its space in the frequency spectrum, so there is little to ...
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Nothing wrong with the answers so far, but they're missing one important point as to what happens when you use either additive or subtractive EQ.
You boost or cut at a frequency, with a Q or width control, and a resonance [I know really only synthesisers have a specific resonance control, but it's there anyway in the nature of EQ.].
What that combination of ...
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I think the difference is in the context, methods, tools, and limitations.
1) "Cover" is often used in a singer/band context, where the artist performs a song from another artist, most commonly associated with pop/rock. "Remix" is used in a production context, where the reconstruction is made using DAWs, effects, synths, edits, etc, most commonly associated ...
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One technique that works like magic is by splitting the vocals channel into multiple channels, panning each channel differently, and then applying a different equalizer to each channel. This creates a very subtle difference between what you're hearing in your left and right ear, which is what depth is all about. The difference can be made even more ...
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I think the heart of the question is, which is more important: gear or skill?
The answer to that question is skill is more important. Skill is the product of training, practice, and experience, and people with the highest skill levels have a great advantage in producing the best results, in any field.
You specifically asked about the skills of mixing and ...
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Are there general rules or tips on how to organize VSTs? (...) I would like to know if there's a way to arrange VSTs properly, so that every plugin uses its full potential.
There's no correct order. It's all about preference, what you want to achieve, and the context.
You'll find a lot of suggestions, like putting time-based effects (like delay or reverb) ...
7
In a lot of mixes, it's normal and even intentional for the acoustic guitar(s) to get hidden behind the electric guitars and other instruments during the loud parts. If you listen to the Led Zeppelin songs that have both acoustic and electric guitars, it can sound like the acoustic track is muted during the "loud" parts, but it's usually actually sitting ...
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One simple "technique" can improve your solo recording drastically: whenever you start recording a song, begin with recording a guide track.
This is a track where you sing the song, accompanied by a rhythm instrument such as an acoustic guitar or a piano. You don't need to play or sing everything right in this track, but it's important to get the rhythm ...
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Matthew has provided a great answer. I want to expand a bit and look at different aspects of your question to help with some misconceptions that might be causing trouble.
I would take a professionally produced song with a similar set of instruments that my song uses (or genre) and compare the frequencies through the voxengo span vst... ...Even though the ...
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It's necessary to add compressors on each track to change the dynamics of the tracks. Generally you should record and mix at appropriate levels so that you don't need to do any peak reduction to prevent distortion.
Compressors give us control over the dynamics of a track. With that control, we can choose more precisely which is the loudest instrument at any ...
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The best way to use an equaliser is not to NEED to use it.
Yes, some instruments share a frequency range, playing them together can sound muddy. So DON'T play that pair of instruments together. It's called good orchestration, and it's been part of the composer's art for a thousand years.
You say "the general approach is cut out the "bad frequencies" and ...
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TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) is the name often given to the connector, rather than the cable as such, though of course they would usually be used with a 3-conductor cable. This could be used for stereo purposes, but it could also be used for other things : e.g. as a mono send/mono return for an insert effect (like a compressor on one channel of a mixer), or as a ...
answered Mar 2 '15 at 15:14
topo Reinstate Monica
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It's all about practice and experience. You have to train your ears, you have to know your tools. Producing is not the same as mixing or mastering, some skills overlap but they need mostly different skill sets.
There are tools and techniques that will help you judge the frequency balance of a mix. You might eventually not need them at all, though some of ...
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A valve and a tube are the same thing -- "tube" was originally more common in American English, while "valve" was more common in England. A "vacuum tube" is any one of a number of types of electronic component based around an arrangement of electrodes inside a sealed glass unit, from which all the air has been removed.
The kind of tube used in amplification ...
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3.5mm mic jacks might (sometimes supported by a jumper or different sound card setting) provide "plugin power". It can power electret condenser capsules with the typical single-FET preamplifier and works, for example, for the surprisingly good stereo clip microphones that were available for Minidisc players.
Regular phantom power, however, is 40V to 48V ...
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equal looking frequency spectrum's do not mean that the sound will be perceived similarly. Dynamics, instrument separation, clashing tonal centers, there are a myriad of things responsible for how a mix is perceived that don't get translated to a frequency analyzer. (i use the same plugin too).
instead, use your ears to check if the mix is sounding the way ...
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I think your idea is definitely reasonable: an emphasis in the treble part of any sound will tend to emphasize higher partials which could throw off your transcription. This is vastly more likely to only cause you to be incorrect about the actual octave of performance, although I see no reason—at least theoretically—that it couldn’t even potentially lead you ...
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You are doing it just right. You think the average listener has expensive speakers/headphones? People are going to listen in the car, on their crappy iPhone ear buds, etc. If the mix doesn't sound good there then that's not good. You should also listen on studio speakers so you can judge the stuff you can't hear at home but make sure it sounds good for the ...
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If you run a compressor on the master, a peak being reduced will affect every channel - so for example, you could hear all your instruments dropping volume.
It does change the dynamic of the whole track!
If you run compression per channel, you'll just reduce an individual peak, while leaving all other channels/instruments - this is far better for the ...
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I'm not sure if it's a correct board to post this question, but anyway...
"Mud" usually refers to too much low frequencies and/or too scarce high frequencies. You should correct it per instrument + sometimes in whole mix with equalizer. Resonances are hums on certain frequencies than can be caused by different reasons. For example when you record acoustic ...
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A fader and a compressor are two different things.
Compressor
compression is an audio signal processing operation that reduces the volume of loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds thus reducing or compressing an audio signal's dynamic range. 1
Fader
In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal.
[...]...
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By copy/pasting the exact same sound to two tracks then panning them hard left & right, you have in fact created a mono sound that just takes up two tracks.
In stereo recording, the very definition of centre-panning is that the same sound comes at the same volume from both sides of the stereo field.
The only way to perceive the attack as not centre-...
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In general its a pretty accurate reproduction!
Personally, when comparing two tracks, I don't find spectrum analyses particularly useful. It doesn't give you an entire picture, and inevitably leads to conclusions like the ones you made, that "it looks similar but sounds different". Trust your ears and build an experience of what changes in mixing lead to ...
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The use of EQ is twofold:
to try to give each instrument/part it's own space in the spectrum.
First up - think about what the objective is of a good mix? You want to hear each part that contributes to the musical arrangement, clearly and in it's own space. Of course, you can't do any better than the raw material that you have recorded here! So already part ...
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