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Expert Music Career Advice For DIY Musicians
4 Times You Shouldn't Take the Gig
The Number One Mistake Bands Make Right After Booking a Gig
The Ultimate EQ Cheat Sheet for Every Common Instrument
15 Reality Checks Young Artists Need to Hear

Honing Your Craft, Recording, Marketing & Promotion

Mar 21, 2018 06:00 AM

Hugh McIntyre

5 Musical Formats to Tide Fans Over Between Full Albums (Part 1)

Image via Shutterstock

Releasing an album is hard. It’s what most musicians want to do the most (that and play live), but it is also one of the most difficult things you’ll have to do as a working artist. One of the things that can make the process so stressful is how long it takes and how many resources it eats up.

Between writing, rehearsing, perfecting, recording, mixing, mastering, and actually releasing the collection (which also typically includes a promotional campaign and shooting music videos), years can go by between proper full-lengths, but in today’s fast-paced musical world, that is not the best way to keep your career on the fast track.

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Honing Your Craft, Recording

Jan 29, 2018 06:00 AM

Sonicbids Staff

Video: Why Mixing to Reference Tracks is So Important

Screenshot via YouTube.com

Have you ever thought, "I really want this song to sound more like the Beatles?" or even something more esoteric like, "I wish this song sounded summer-y?" By using reference tracks — inspirational guides that help you illustrate the sound you're going for — you'll be better able to help your engineer pinpoint and figure out how to create it.

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Honing Your Craft, Recording

Jan 3, 2018 06:00 AM

Sonicbids Staff

Video: The Basics of EQ: How the Professionals Use It

Screenshot via youtube.com

As a musician, EQ is an important ingredient in any recording process. As with any skill, the more hands-on training you have with it, the more you'll be able to use it to make your tracks that much more professional. 

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Recording, Honing Your Craft, mixing

Oct 18, 2017 06:00 AM

Graham Cochrane

How to Get That 'Wow' Kind of Mix

Image via recordingrevolution.com

This article originally appeared on The Recording Revolution.

 

Every time I crack open the latest issue of Sound on Sound or watch an interview with a top mix engineer sitting in his studio surrounded by racks of outboard gear, I’m reminded of one thing: Mixing is elevated above all other aspects of the song creation process.

Everyone is talking about “magic” plugins, summing mixers, and secret side-chain tricks. I get it. Mixing is a complex art form and it can make or break a good recording. That’s why I create some of the best mixing resources on the planet. (You can get started with this free guide.)

But perhaps we elevate it too much.

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Honing Your Craft, Recording, mastering, Audio 101

Oct 10, 2017 06:00 AM

Brad Allen Williams

Mastering: Decoding the ‘What’ and ‘Why’ of It All

Image via Shutterstock

This article originally appeared on Soundfly.

 

Your music has been carefully recorded and painstakingly mixed, but there’s still one more step before it’s ready for the listening public: mastering.

Mastering is the bridge between the studio and the listening room; the last round of tweaks before calling it done.

But why is it necessary at all? “I wouldn’t have approved the mixes unless my music sounded exactly as I intended it to sound,” you might say. “Why would I pay someone else to keep changing it?” As it turns out, there are several very good reasons, many of which require some experience to fully grasp. Mastering, perhaps for this reason, seems mysterious to many.

Let’s pull back the curtain on this process and its objectives, bit by bit.

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