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Mixing

Ready your project for mixing before handSo your band has previously recorded in another studio and you now want to get a professional mix on your project.Please read through the instructions below and also this link which explains more throughly how to prepare a song for mixing.Track preparationTracks should be recorded in a least 24 bits at 44.100Khz to maximize the sound quality. Tracks should always be sent to us in .WAV format.Guitar and Bass should be sent with a DI signal along with your mic'd track. This is extremely helpful in the event a guitar or bass part isn't usable or needs to be re-amped.Trigger your drums. If possible the snare, kick and toms should be sent with a trigger signal along side the mic'd track. This helps with creating noise gates for your instrument that open and closes perfectly when you strike the drum. (Having the trigger signal track doesn't mean we will replace your drum sound with a triggered sound.) However, should they need to we would be able to do so properly. Remember, the more you give us the better the results are that we give you.Your track must be edited. If your guitarist has a moment in a song that he wasn't quite up to speed, fix it before sending us your recording. Take time and pay attention to things that do not belong in your recording. Sometimes an extra slight snare hit or a delayed cymbal whack cannot be fixed or removed. Because your recording wasn't initially done with us we may not know that something is wrong in your song. So if there is a bad part in your song when you send it we may assume you want it there.Bounce your tracks so all of the different files start at bar 1. Having to import and properly align your files is a huge waste of our time and your money, also this can sometimes lead to tracks not being re-aligned correctly and your song not sounding the way you want. It's okay if tracks have silence before the actual playing starts. Remove all unwanted noise or things you don't want from your tracks. If it doesn't need to be there then it shouldn't be there when you send us your tracks.Bounce any of your virtual instruments to an audio file. There are literally thousands of VI plugins available on the market. Please do not assume that we have the same virtual instrument plugins that the studio you recorded at has.Organize and name your tracks. Tracks should be named to easily identify what instrument and/or part of the song is being played. When sending your song, different instruments should be placed in folders. You should always include a text file naming all of the mics used and on what instruments. Having this information can really make a difference when choosing what compressor or EQ we may use on certain track or instrument. Double check your files before you send them. Make sure the tracks your sending are the correct takes and that all of them are present. If you are sending multiple songs/projects please separate each into its own folder.Set the tone of your projectLet us know which song you would like us to work on first. By doing this we can "set the tone" of the entire project around the song you feel best fits you or your band. Always include a rough mix of each song (if possible) as a reference for us to go back to as we are mixing. If you have songs from other bands you would like us to use as other references please include them and label them correctly.

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How to prepare a song for mixing

Mix preparation step-by-step guideFollow our simple guide below to prepare your tracks for mixing.1. Correct the timingThe two main reasons why music is perceived as not being professional are poor timing and tuning.Address timing issues first. Start with the drums and check for any hits that are wrong. Locate any problems and nudge each hit forward or back in time to correct them.Once the drums are rock-solid, bring in the bass and all subsequent instruments one at a time, checking for loose timing and amending. Locking all musical parts to the drums will give you the tightest result.However, if you have a huge amount of tracks to process, a compromise is to play the song, listen carefully, and address each bad timing issue that jumps out at you.Be mindful of the groove of the song, though; there is a difference between unintended loose timing and playing behind the beat to create a laid-back feel, for example.2. Correct the tuningTuning mainly applies to the human voice. If an instrument sounds out of tune, the best solution is to re-record the part.Vocal tuning is achieved with a plugin. Some plugins work automatically whilst others require manual manipulation of each note. One trick is to place a real-time, automatic tuner first in the effects chain (e.g., Waves Tune), followed by a manual tuning plugin (e.g., Melodyne).The real-time tuner automatically shifts notes to the musical key, and you can catch and ‘correct’ notes with the manual tuner. However, you may prefer to use one plugin, such as Melodyne.Vocal tuning is very much a personal matter, and how much you tune is up to you. Some artists would never want their vocals tuned, whilst others rely on the ‘Cher – Believe’ autotune effect for their sound.If you are shooting for natural tuning, only tune as much as is needed. Ask yourself this – Can I hear the vocal tuning working? Listen carefully. If you can hear tuning artifacts, do not move on until they have been smoothed out.3. Noise removal – remove unwanted noiseNow is the time to clean up all the unwanted hiss, clicks, glitches, etc.Assuming you have a manageable number of tracks, play through each one and cut out any unwanted artifacts. Pay special attention to the start and end of a performance and any point where the instrument is not playing.A noise gate might get you there quickly, or you may need manual editing. If so, split the audio around the problem and delete the glitch or lower the gain if taking away the audio leaves an unnatural silence.Again, vocals require special attention. Many producers do not like any vocal noise between words, but sometimes a certain intake of breath can add emotional expression.There’s a free AI-powered noise removal tool called GOYO Voice Separator. It is excellent for removing unwanted noise from vocals.It is usually obvious whether to keep or delete. If the singer sounds like they are grasping for breath after being held underwater, this is not a desirable musical element – unless the song is called ‘Drowning’!I recommend you cut each unwanted vocal noise manually.It is possible to become really quick at this to the extent that you can cut breath noises as the vocal track plays in real-time.4. Fine-tune the dynamicsInstruments played live have a performance velocity curve along their timeline. You can see this by zooming out a waveform to fill the VDU screen.Observe how the recorded level rises and falls as the performer performs. Depending on the style of music, these dynamics (the difference between loud and quiet) may be too exaggerated or not exaggerated enough.Now is the time to manually close or expand the gap between levels. Simply view the waveform as a whole and split the audio where the level is too loud or too quiet and clip gain up or down. It is important not to close the gap too much and edit the life out of the performance.The goal is to make the expressive performance more controlled, not to kill it. More control over dynamics will help any future compression in the mix be more transparent.5. Bounce MIDI to audioIf you have virtual instruments in MIDI format, consider bouncing them to audio files.By the time you come to mix, all songwriting decisions should be set in stone. Bouncing MIDI to audio removes thoughts of changing patches or tinkering with filters during a mix. The mix is the time for mixing – nothing else.6. Fill the audio spectrum and check the arrangementDouble check that you have enough material to complete a mix and that all the spectrum frequencies are represented.This sounds obvious, but all too often, an artist will try and mix an ‘idea’ composed of a few parts and struggle to deliver emotion because they simply have an idea, not a full arrangement.Go to a mix with too much content. It is easy to delete a part from an arrangement but much more difficult to create new sounds and ideas.So if you have any last-minute ideas, sketch them out now, and throw everything in there.7. Equalization – corrective and creativeEqualisation is often classed as corrective or creative; corrective EQ takes away the bad, and creative EQ accentuates the good.So think carefully about your musical tones. Have you done your best to create space by taking away frequencies that are not helpful whilst enhancing the good?If you are unsure at this stage, focus only on corrective EQ and leave the creative moves for the mix. Use the ‘find the pain, reduce the gain’ method.Boost an EQ range by up to 10 db and sweep the frequencies. When you hear the pain reset the level to 0db, wait for a moment for your ears to settle, and then reduce the gain and ask yourself – Does reducing this frequency make the sound better or worse?Are the bad frequencies now out of the way, allowing the best qualities of the sound to be more pronounced, or is the sound now missing the very frequencies that define it?If the sound is better, stick with the cut. If the sound is worse, restore the gain to zero.8. Name the tracks in your mixName all your tracks correctly. Whenever you have to think non-musical thoughts during a mix, you break the vibe.If you are looking down a list of meaningless track names trying to determine what the hell ‘track 10 PDR38’ is, you have broken the moment’s magic.Do whatever you need to create a list that has meaning to you; color them, label them in a specific order, etc. Do whatever it takes to enable you to know exactly what is playing where so that when the mix is banging, you are jumping to the tune instinctively.9. Consolidate tracksFinally, consolidate (also known as ‘bounce’ or ‘export’) each tidied, dynamically balanced, EQ corrected, named track, starting at zero and ending on the final bar of silence. Export these tracks to a new empty ‘sub folder’ of your session.I label my folder ‘Source Files to Place.’ This keeps the source files separate from all the other clutter created by the mix process, and then, if you need to re-mix or pass on the source files, you know exactly where they are.10. To export with effects or not?When exporting, any effects considered part of the sound can be left enabled and embedded within the export file.Any effects that are secondary to the sound, such as send effects (reverb), can be deleted before exporting, as you will recreate these in the mix anyway.

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Mastering

Mastering is the art of critical and objective listening developed through years of experience. Someone who is separated from the production process with the proper knowledge and ear can bring a fresh perspective to a project. It is the stage of the audio production process used to enhance audio and prepare the final master used for replication and distribution.This link explains more throughly: mixing vs. mastering: what is the difference?.Mastering is the final process where decisions about the audio quality and presentation are made and is of critical importance to your final product. Find out how we can help take your music to the next level.Personal attention and service to each individual artist and project is what makes our studio stand out among the rest.Tell us about your individual style of music and approach, how the project was recorded, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the mix. With this perspective we critically listen to the recording and compare your music to any references you may feel appropriate. After listening to the complete project, we will apply a customized chain of audio processing to enhance the overall frequency balance and dynamics of the album bringing out the parts of the mix that contribute most to the song and style of music. This is a cyclical process; working together with the artist to create the intended goal.

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Mixing vs. mastering: what is the difference?

The differences between mixing and mastering are subtle but important to fully understand for musicians and engineers alike.What is the difference between mixing and mastering?
In simple terms, mixing is the process of blending multiple audio recordings together. In contrast, mastering is the final check to ensure that the audio material is ready for playback and distribution.Let’s compare the objectives of mixing and mastering.Mixing:- Adjusting the levels and stereo panning of individual recordings;
- Processing the audio for each recording;
- Blending the multi-track project so that it sounds balanced.Mastering:- Setting overall loudness;
- Presenting the parts and the entire song in the best way;
- Preparing the music to sound good on different systems and mediums.Mixing involves processing the tracks to present them in the best way possible, setting the levels, and blending the instruments together harmoniously.Mastering involves a final quality control check, setting the loudness for the song, and preparing the music for distribution, so it sounds right on the devices the consumer will listen to it on.Consider the analogy of producing a song and preparing a book for publishing.The musical artist is the author, while the mixing engineer is the literary editor who helps the author put their ideas into the best form possible that’s enjoyable to read. Finally, the mastering engineer is the copy editor, who does the final technical checks on the writing and creates the final layout to fit the manuscript into different book editions.To get your head around the differences, listen to the video above, where you can hear the same song unmixed, mixed, and mastered played back-to-back.What is mixing?Once you’ve recorded all the parts of a song and applied the basic effects to them (for example, putting an amp sim on a DI guitar part), then the mixing begins.The mixing engineer aims to present the parts and song as a whole in the best, most cohesive way possible to the listener.To achieve this task, they will use tools such as panning, EQ, compression, reverb, and perhaps other effects such as delay, modulation, and saturation, among many other options.During the mixing process, the mixing engineer will also set the levels for the parts, which the tools above can help with. For example, compression can be used to bring an audio track forward in the mix, while reverb can be used to make a part sit back a bit.At the end of the mixing process, the song will be complete in its basic form, and the levels, effects, and sounds will all be set in place.What is mastering?The mastering engineer will typically take the single stereo track generated at the end of the mixing phase and do the final polishing to make it ready for release. The tools commonly used during mastering include EQ, compression, and limiting.With the benefit of a fresh set of ears, the mastering engineer will do final quality control checks and address any technical issues the mixer may have missed.They will set the song’s loudness to a level comparable to other commercial releases so it doesn’t sound out of place when played back-to-back with other music. They will also create consistency in the level and sound between the different songs on the release.Another mastering task is to prepare the song so it will sound as good as possible on whatever system the consumer uses, be it cheap earphones, a car stereo, or studio monitors.The mastering engineer will also do the necessary tweaks to prepare the song for whatever medium it will be published in. For the best results, engineers typically create separate masters optimized for different mediums, for example, digital formats (CD and download) and analog (vinyl).Remember to separate mixing and mastering
It’s important to appreciate that composing, recording, mixing, and mastering are separate music production stages and should not overlap.When tracking the parts, don’t waste time trying to do the mixer’s job. Don’t worry about applying reverb and going crazy EQing things. Without all the recordings in place, it’s impossible to do these tweaks accurately, so you’ll just have to redo them again later anyway.Likewise, when mixing, it’s counterproductive to start trying to boost the loudness or get worried about tasks that should be left to the mastering phase.

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Artists

Here are some of the artists we have had pleasure to work with.

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The Team

From left to right: Petteri / Panu / Markus

Our experts are our most valuable assets, carrying with them a wealth of experience, passion and expertise. It takes many years of hard work and dedication to reach the standards of satisfying audio results.The variety of projects that come to Gain 211 Studios means that our engineering team work with emerging talent, through to established artists across all genres of music.

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Pricing Examples

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Contact

For more information about our services & pricing feel free to contact us.
info@gain211.org© Gain 211 Studios 2024