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Mixing, EQ’ing and mastering?
Hello!
I’ve been using Audition since Cool Edit, but I’ve never really learned or gotten into the science so much of mixing, EQ’ing etc.
Now my band that I have, we have been recording on and off. It’s somewhat decent but now I want to make a CD to give away.
So I’m trying my best to read and learn all the basics and go from there. It’s tough though. “Just use your ear” etc is what I seem the most.
Anyhow, I’m going to change things up as we record everything live in out practice room.
I have a delta 1010lt. Pretty much everything runs directly into it besides the vocal mic and an overhead condenser mic that go into a small mixer first.
I’m cool with the recordings, but now I need to learn and understand better mixing and EQ’ing, even before I get to mastering.
I keep hearing about compressors and EQ’s and all this stuff but I need to learn it from the beginning.
Right now I just listen to the mix through a pair of stereo pioneer se-205 headphones. Not perfect but it’s what I have for now.
Where do I start? I’m going to try and make a “master track” and then have the drummer re-do his parts to remove the bleeding on the drum mics ( 2 for toms, one for snare, one for kick and the overhead)
The bleeding is not too bad but I want to get rid of the “live” sound.
Any tips and help are really apreciated
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4 Replies
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This could easily take an entire book to explain…So I’ll just tell you to look into gating and expansion for drums. That’s your best bet. Everything else should be done BEFORE any mixing…That is, careful micing and recording. It should not have a “live” sound when you record it.
You’ll need something better than old, cheap headphones if you ever want your EQ and stereo mixing to even come CLOSE to what it should be, FYI. Monitor headphones are better, monitor speakers are best.
Emmett
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Thanks! I’m planning out my next purchases. My drummer wants to get a good monitor, and i think I will get some nice earphones.
Do you think it’s better to go with earphones or monitor speakers?
I’m trying to take my time with this. So far it’s been a jumbled mess mixed in with some lucky recording every now and then. But it’s time to really push for quality.
Thank you for your reply!
-Shawn
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Monitor speakers. Period.
You can’t effectively place things in the stereo field or use EQ properly when using headphones.
I have four sets of headphones that I use to reference, my go-to pair being a $240 set of Beyers. None can even come close to mixing on monitors, though they are good for details.
Emmett
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hi, i use adobe audition 1.5 and i just cant seem to mix and master my music right. i do rap music which consists of the beat,and 4 vocal tracks for the verse and 4 vocal tracks for the chorus, can you please lead me in a step by step process of how to mix and master proffesionally on my program. thank you very much.
what i mean by 4 vocal tracks is my first take, my two overdubs, and my addlibs.
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