making beats
Out of context: Reply #2582
- Started
- Last post
- 2,827 Responses
- autoflavour0
ok mg33, as an Ableton user, I am totally unqualified to answer your post above but I will chime in anyway because internet.
skipping all the logic specific stuff obvs.
master fader plugins.. we teach at uni best to leave the master fader alone UNTIL you have finished your composition and mix down.. putting limiters and compressors on the master prior to that you are just going to be chasing your tail as any adjustments made will then be coloured by the master plugins.. light limiting and glue compression only tho.
monitors. Sub's are only worth it if your room can handle them.. most rooms can't. if you do decide to get a sub, make sure you buy it from somewhere that has a no questions asked returns policy like Thomann or something.
As for best approach, B and C are good options anyway, A/B on as many setups as you can. a good investment is a grotbox speaker like avantone mixcube .. perfect for taming your mix.
Mastering.. and mixing for that matter.. If you are serious about releasing something, get it professionally mastered. the old adage is you are paying a mastering engineer to have NOT heard your songs 1000 times already, so the fresh ears is what is worth all the money.
likewise, if you are serious, get your sessions mixed by someone prior to mastering will bring glory. I used to pretty much only do my own mixing until one mastering session and the mix I had was so different on their monitors I realised my own shortcomings in relation to mixing, but also my gear and the ability to actually properly hear what was happening in my mix.
- mixing to a good reference track is definitely a pro tip tho..autoflavour
- Thanks man! My project is definitely something I'm trying to treat as professionally as I can. It's the first thing I've made on my own sincemg33
- my band days ended in 2009.mg33
- Question RE: mixing. Willing to pay someone for sure. But here's what I'd like to know: what do I give them?mg33
- Do they get a project file with EVERYTHING and hopefully they have the same plugins? Or, do they get WAV bounces of each track?mg33
- Regarding reference tracks, there are definitely a small # of tracks that match what I want to hear in my head, whether full instrumental music or ambient trackmg33
- A couple of my favorite reference tracks:
https://www.youtube.…mg33 - https://www.youtube.…mg33
- generally the mix engineer will tell you what they want. usually stems post mixer, but some engineers will want to start it from scratchautoflavour
- reference tracks are great but you really need to find something that is as close to the track your making. remember the reference is not just structureautoflavour
- but also tone, balance etc..autoflavour
- my advice try and get the mixing as close as you can and maybe find a couple of online mixing engineers.. send 1 song out to a few and see which you like bestautoflavour
- Thanks, most appreciated! I still might pick up Smooth Operator for non-mastered stuff, particularly ambient loops.mg33