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Recording, mastering, Honing Your Craft, mixing

Sep 4, 2019 06:00 AM

Erik Veach

Do I Need Mixing or Mastering for My Music? What’s the Difference?

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This article originally appeared on Soundfly.

 

I still recall being a young aspiring musician recording my first ever album with my bandmates. We spent weeks working on perfecting our recordings, getting the takes just right. The engineer helped us along the way with mixing in amazing effects, EQ, and panning to get it sounding just how we wanted. When it was all wrapped up in the studio, we smiled and patted each other on the back and truly believed this was the finished product we had all been waiting for.

Then the engineer said something I will never forget.

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Recording, Honing Your Craft

Jul 8, 2019 06:00 AM

Caleb J. Murphy

Want Fuller Sounding Songs? Try These 4 Tips

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Fullness. It’s one thing that separates a great-sounding song from a clearly home-produced song. But how do you get fuller sounding songs? It would be nice if there were a “make my song sound fuller” knob I could turn on. But as far as I know, there’s not (yet).

This is a learning journey I’ve been on myself. And producing music from a walk-in closet, it’s hard for me to get that wide and deep sound. I have, however, learned a few things so far about making my songs sound fuller. Four things, to be exact.

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Recording, Honing Your Craft

Mar 13, 2019 06:00 AM

Brad Pack

How to Mix Radio-Ready Vocals

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This article originally appeared on Soundfly. 

 

Vocals are the heart of almost every pop song. In fact, save for instrumental music, vocals should be the focal point of a song in any genre. Whenever listeners find themselves humming along to a song, it’s usually the top-line vocal melody they’re latching onto, so mixing that aspect of your song’s arrangement for ultimate clarity is of particular importance.

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know to produce a killer vocal mix for any genre.

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Recording, Honing Your Craft

Jan 9, 2019 06:00 AM

Rob Mayzes

10 Compression Mistakes That Will Destroy Your Mixes

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This article originally appeared on TuneCore.

 

Over years of teaching others how to mix, I’ve noticed 10 compression mistakes come up time and time again. These common mistakes can ruin your mix if you don’t know how to avoid them.

In this guide, you’ll learn what these common compression mistakes are and how you can avoid them to get clear, professional-sounding mixes.

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Recording, Honing Your Craft

Nov 28, 2018 06:00 AM

Caleb J. Murphy

5 Free VST Plugins That Will Give You Professional Drum Sounds

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Drumming software changed the world of music.

Now, instead of hiring a drummer, booking time in a studio, and spending hours tracking drums, you can get that same (or similar) sound without ever leaving your home studio.

And even though “free” is a word that’s often associated with poor quality, there are plenty of free VST plugins that can give you professional drum sounds. And I don’t know about you, but I love free stuff.

Here are five free drum plugins that can take your drum sound from amateur to pro-level quality.

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