What's The Difference Between Mixing And Mastering
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Written by John Rogers
What's the difference between mixing and mastering? A lot of people new to music don't know the answer to this.
In music mixing, you're "mixing together" multiple audio tracks to make a single audio file song. Different tracks like the lead vocal, bass line, guitars, drums, etc. are being combined together.
Then proper effects (like EQ, reverb, delay) are added to each track, along with panning and volume adjustments.In the final step, all tracks are exported simultaneously to create a song in the form of a single stereo interleaved .wav or .aiff file.
In audio mastering (as mentioned in the previous section) the entire song is affected by effects processes, not individual tracks.
At least once a week, someone uploads a song .wav file and says they want it mixed and mastered.Well, you can't mix one file. The word "mixing" is a verb and you need at least twotracks (files) to be able to mix them together.You need at least two of anything to be able to mix it together!
A music DJ is a good example.If he had onlyone record, he wouldn't be doing any mixing.He could throw some scratches in, but that's it. {article 170}[layout]{/article}
I started my career using the old analog stuff, since that was the only option.I incorporated digital software plugins as soon as they became available, but it took many years before computers were fast enough to run them in realtime.And also before they started making very high quality plugins.
I had to write a quick note on this, as I was reminded about it while thumbing through a popular mixing book that had a 15 page section on speaker resonance and room sound proofing.I must say, a very exciting 15 pages!Ha!
In this video I do a quick A/B comparison of a few songs. In my audio mastering secrets video series, I get a lot more in-depth into exactly what you are trying to achieve sonically for your genre/style of music.
If you've mixed songs in the past, you more than likely can use that same software for audio mastering. As long as you can add effects to the stereo/main out bus, you're good to go. Read more....
Since the begining of his solo career in 2008, I mastered over 80 songs with the top French recording artist NYLS. Great pop dance music with a lot of remixes. During his entire career (as of now), I mastered most of if not all the song he released. It was a great pleasure working with NYLS and Nico at Icon Records!
If you're into "do it yourself projects" my mastering book will show you EXACTLY how I mastered every style of music on this website. Get it here Audio Mastering Secrets!
A lot of mastering engineers are afraid to make drastic changes to a mix they are working on. That, or they're stuck in the familiarity of always making only small changes.
In this video I show how you can turn a weak mix (definitely wouldn't call it bad) into a great sounding master, simply by pushing your levels a little more than you might be used to.
These are the Top 17 most common music mixing mistakes I see daily. Correcting them could will improve your audio mastering results and make your mixes sound more professional.
If you're looking for the best website hosting for musicians, bands, and music recording studios, here's my own personal experience with website hosting companies.
Correctly setting your mixing levels before mastering is essential for great mastering results. Having the best DB levels for mixing is critical. Here's how to properly do it!
What does mastering do to a song? Your main goal in audio mastering is to replicate the sonic qualities of a well professionally mastered commercial song, in the same genre and style as the song mix you are working on.
Learning and calibrating your speakers for your DAW in audio mastering is a very important step in the audio mastering process. When I first start out with NEW speakers (though I never change them now), I listen to my favorite hit songs in every genre and style.Songs that I know from my years of experience have X amount of bass, X amount of brightness, etc.I know how these songs are "supposed" to sound.
The sound engineer scam, the online recording studio ripoff, whatever you want to call it. I hear about it 3-4 times a month from my clients, since 1999. It never changes!
I've mastered over 40,000 songs since 1999. I've charged $10 a song, $20, $30, $50 even $100! Some prices worked better than others. Here are a few facts to consider when deciding on what prices to charge. Read more....
Here are the series of audio mastering software processors I've used on the over 30,000 songs I've mastered since 1999. In this video, I use mostly izotope ozone plugins because it's easier to explain using them. In real-life, I do mix in a few hardware pieces, and a waves plugin.
Here are a few great stereo widening techniques and how to use them in music. When you listen to music on a car radio, you want that wide stereo sound that extends from the left door to the right. Not just two feet wide right above the stereo!
