When it comes to creating powerful rock mixes, one of the most important instruments is the guitar. Guitars provide the fullness, energy, and body that is needed to make your tracks really soar. But when you’re not getting the sound you want, it can be impossible to know which frequencies you should boost or cut […]
One of the easiest ways to make your tracks sound (arguably) more “professional” is to apply reverb to them. Instantly, reverb makes your tracks sound bigger, fuller, and more polished. But there’s a downside: It can also make your tracks sound extremely muddy and distracting. There is a very fine line with how to use it […]
Mixing vocals is one of the most critical skills you need to get right as an audio engineer. When it comes to your music, the vocals are THE most important element of the mix. They singlehandedly are the easiest way for your audience to create an emotional connection to the song. For that reason, they […]
Have you ever been recording or mixing a track… Everything is sounding great… You’re feeling the energy and emotion of the singer… Grooving along… And then out of nowhere, you hear… “Poof” as one of the lyrics is sung. It knocks you right out of the moment and you begin to wonder what happened… Did […]
You’ve likely heard it said many times before but… If you want to achieve modern, pro-sounding mixes, you need to use drum samples. The reason has nothing to do with whether you have a weak drummer, poor sounding room, or bad microphone positioning (although samples CAN help fix all three of those things). Even the biggest and best […]
Every now and then a new trend or technology comes into the audio industry and disrupts the game, making the production process easier. Whenever this happens, some embrace it, while others tend to shy away or ignore it, thinking that it is “cheating”.But if you choose to ignore these techniques when they become mainstream, you run […]
Building a home recording studio can be an amazing experience. There’s nothing like having the ability to record your song ideas whenever you’re feeling creative. On the surface it might seem like a daunting task; however, the truth is that getting started with home recording doesn’t need to be so difficult or costly. When looking […]
One of the easiest ways to give your mixes some additional polish is to use reverb. Reverb allows you to add depth to your tracks, make your drums sound bigger, and add fullness and sustain to your vocals. The problem with reverb is that, although it can bring new life to your tracks, it is […]
If you’ve spent any time looking at pictures of pro studios, watching online mix tutorials, going through your plugin list, or following any plugin manufacturers, chances are very high that you’ll be familiar with the famous 1176 compressor (or some variation of it). What’s the deal with these things? Why are there SOOOO many different […]
Audio engineers love finding new toys and plugins to play with. These days there are literally hundreds of plugins available for purchase that claim to be the solution to all of your mixing problems. The sad fact is that so many of them are simply variations of other existing plugins. Do you really need ANOTHER 1176 compressor? It’s very […]
