out to the producers!

[phrex]

this one you should read.
it's just a little section of an interview with pole (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SplTd1JzPxs) check the whole interview on the link at the bottom



guess this is a good opportunity to ask what would you advise, on a core level, producers get right in their mix-down?

I have to say one sentence first. If you start producing, make sure you that you have a room in which you can trust the sound that you hear. Listen to a lot of records from artists that you know and like and try to understand the room. If you feel comfortable in this room and if you think you hear the bass clearly and the high end clearly then start your mix-down. Follow the idea that everything that sounds good is probably in the right position in the mix-down. If the snare hits your ears and you make it louder and then it really hurts you, you can be sure that the snare is not well EQd and is not balanced right in reference to all the other instruments in the mix-down. So this is the first step: listen to it and decide, does it sound good or better, does it sound like I want it to? The balance of instruments is important.

How much do you think the quality of things such as EQ plug-ins that you use during a mix-down will make a difference to the overall quality of the recording?

It's not really a question of high class equipment to get a good result in your mix; it's a question of you listening to what you do. You can use a cheap compressor—this might add some noise to your system because it doesn't use the highest quality components, but it is a compressor and if you reach the goal that you want to go for then it works. It's always good to have better equipment, but this will grow in time anyway. When I started mixing for my first Pole album I had a Behringer compressor and I had one cheap EQ; I had a 16 channel Mackie mixer and I made my first three records on this mixing board. It doesn't really matter.

If someone was to say to you, "I'm going to try and master my tracks at home," what would you advise them? Would you simply tell them not to bother?

I had this discussion with a young artist from London just recently or basically with his manager, because his manager said "I am releasing many online releases of this artist as promotion. It becomes really expensive to go to mastering every time." So he asked me if I could explain to him a little bit how to master his music himself in his studio. I said: "That doesn't really work because he would need a lot of experience," but what I suggested was that he should learn how to do better mixes, because the better the mix is, the less you need mastering.

So in theory there could be a perfect mix-down and you would not need mastering, or not that much. The artist or the producer in his studio should not think about "How could I become a good mastering engineer?" He should learn better how to become a good mixing engineer. Then it solves the same problem. Don't waste your time learning a different profession; mastering is not mixing, it's a different profession with different skills, different equipment and different knowledge.

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1232

[phrex]

so important: mixup > mastering. learned that quite well when i was at the mastering studio and after couple of chats with various producers. i see a lot of people trying to ''master'' their own tunes. don't!

[gnome]

I never have bothered trying to master tunes.

[knell]

moved by request

[Triphosphate]

Fantastic stuff here! Thanks!

[phrex]

moved by request

thanks

[leeany]

nice ! I was just looking for Pole interviews like 2 weeks ago

[.onelove.]

Maybe I'm being dense here, so excuse my ignorance, but what does Mastering actually involve?

I was always under the impression it was just giving the stems to a professional who delivers a proper, clean mixdown

[jrisreal]

@.onelove.
Nah, theytake the whole track and process it and correct the mix and boost the loudness

[Triphosphate]

so important: mixup > mastering. learned that quite well when i was at the mastering studio and after couple of chats with various producers. i see a lot of people trying to ''master'' their own tunes. don't!

I understand that the producer should try to achieve what he want his product to sound like in mixdown, and anything that he might want to do to it in mastering he should have done in mixdown to begin with. But, I have to ask, because I do this myself. Would it be considered a technical faux pas to mixdown quiet say with 3-6db of headroom knowing that after bounce I'll raise the loudness with mastering plug-ins? or is better to mix down and consume your headroom in the process if you know you're not going to get the track mastered by (someone else/professionally)?

I mix trying to get it to sound how I want it, imagining that my 0db is actually -3 db, and then I ONLY roll off 20hz below and 20k above, and use L1-ultramaximizer with -.02 out and threshold to taste. Basically, what I'm asking is, do you think I should stop?

Once again thanks for finding this.

[phrex]

so important: mixup > mastering. learned that quite well when i was at the mastering studio and after couple of chats with various producers. i see a lot of people trying to ''master'' their own tunes. don't!

I understand that the producer should try to achieve what he want his product to sound like in mixdown, and anything that he might want to do to it in mastering he should have done in mixdown to begin with. But, I have to ask, because I do this myself. Would it be considered a technical faux pas to mixdown quiet say with 3-6db of headroom knowing that after bounce I'll raise the loudness with mastering plug-ins? or is better to mix down and consume your headroom in the process if you know you're not going to get the track mastered by (someone else/professionally)?

I mix trying to get it to sound how I want it, imagining that my 0db is actually -3 db, and then I ONLY roll off 20hz below and 20k above, and use L1-ultramaximizer with -.02 out and threshold to taste. Basically, what I'm asking is, do you think I should stop?

Once again thanks for finding this.

it's actually a standart for me to start off a track with master channel -5db and every single channel -5db. so basically -5 db is my 0db. so that's fine. just take care not to be too quite. i used to produce at -5db/channels and -15db/master... after handing my first track to LD @ transition he told me that it doesn't make sense to be that quite. (in fact, there will be a quality loss when making that much louder).
to roll off at 20hz isnt just okay - it's something very important!

tbh it's one of the big steps in my production in the last few years. low cut every single channel! i lowcut my hihats (at let's say 4khz), snare (at let's say 800hz), fx - just everything! you get a much, much cleaner mixdown!

i'm not sure about the ultramaximizer. i don't use anything alike (especially not on the master channel or after rendering). all i do is: have a excellent mixup -> then raise the master channel up to the amount where it doesn't ''get red'' - usually easely 0db as i have the channels between -5db and -30db. ->render -> this rendered but unlimited and unprocessed version i keep for mastering/dubplate.
then for soundcloud or my own Ipod or whatever i take this rendered version and put a limiter and raise the volume to -1db or 0db. the limiter shouldn't cut so better have the whole track a bit more quite but with more dynamics!
dynamics > loudness!


I hope my text ist comprehensive. my english isn't the best and it's early in the morning. lethal combination concerning grammar

[Dystinkt]

What i class as a self master with my tunes is once iv got the mix bang on, i just turn it up.

[Triphosphate]

Wow very insightful vulvavibration. Thanks a ton. That was a very comprehensive description.

[2manynoobs]

About "trusting" your room; try to set up your mixing area like this and be amazed! I know I was when I first heard it and I still am now!



About the "balance of the sounds/instruments";

to give an example: if you have made your drumkit and constructed a pattern let it loop and treat it as if you were a mixing engineer listening to a drumkit in the studio. All he does is set the levels of the individual pieces of the kit to find the sound of a well balanced drumkit. When that balance is found that is when you start EQ'ing to remove nasty peaks (caused by room reflections or bad mics) or to alter the timbre of the snare, hats or whatever.

You just have to use the same approach and you'll notice it helps tons, and you won't need a mastering engineer to remove peaks for you.


About processing gear/plugins: you use compression or EQ to either lightly attenuate nasty peaks OR to change the timbre of your sound, or to experiment and make new sounds (like using overcompression and such). If something sounds good to you, I advise not to use compression or EQ at all! If you are looking for the most natural sound you can get, get a expensive and linear mic and never use compression or EQ.

in other words: the quality of compression or EQ units won't make or break your music. It's how you use them! You can make weird and cool sounds with the worst compressor in existence or make shitty, unnatural sounding vocals using a high end compressor.


inshort: it's all about getting a comfortable listening area that reveals the sound as best as it can by placing the monitors correctly and by having decent monitors.
And then it's all about using your ears. in electronic music the quality of the programs you use don't matter. Even a bad compressor can make interesting sounds, probably even better than a high end one.

Mixing music is all about what YOU want it to sound like. And most importantly: make sure it doesn't hurt your ears and leave space for the different sounds to breath and articulate themselves well: if you're in a crowded room it is harder to hear the true detail is the voice of a singing lady with a beautiful voice; it's the same with mixing: If you have found a great sound, make sure you leave room so that people can actually hear how beautiful or interesting it is, don't make a big mess out of it. Avoid a linear chain of high volume that seems to go on forever! Leave space!

[phrex]

thank you!