What is a good mix or master?

It’s obvious to say but spending a lot of time producing stuff will improve you more than any advice, lessons or books. Unless you don’t have half decent ears - then you are wasting your time unless you’re doing it for your own amusement and enjoy the results.

IT AIN’T THE GEAR - IT’S THE EAR! :wink:



Kind regards

James Colah

http://www.twitter.com/jamescolah

A carpenter without his tools is just a guy talking about wood and who knows if he’s right or wrong, but if he brings you to his shop and shows you his work only then do you see, or – hear in our case – if the talk is backed up by good work.

I wanted to address more the qualities and properties of the waveform that constitutes a good finished Mix or final distribution Master. Obviously a great deal depends on the audience a particular program is intended for or where a track is being used within some larger context – film, TV show, commercial, live play-back (DJ, backing tracks) and so on. That said, there are clearly some things common to a lot of the good production music and commercial releases. Some of these “automatic mastering” services have likely looked at this kind of question – and probably asked and answered it better than I’m muddling along with.

One production chain I’m working for a finished (quasi) Master could be summarized in these seven steps, as outlined in a youtube video which I’ll link here later.
Seven Steps to take Mix to Master

    1. Prepare It (the track), clean up takes, Folders, colors
  1. Fix It (corrections, Levels, Panning, EQ, compression)
  2. Enhance it
  3. Compress it
  4. Clip it
  5. Limit it
  6. Reference it

I’ve been working with this and feel like I’m hearing better. It’s good to have some kind of road map as long as it doesn’t become the only road one travels.

This sequence is intended for music spanning a wide variety of popular styles. Anyway, just some thoughts for the threads.

Good comments and thoughts, thanks, they’ve been helpful. Take care for now.

No doubt about it. Time in the chair is where it’s at. However, I also find that if I can name something, I can more likely work out how to create it. The Kick needs a cut here, some compression there – all those decisions that build the mix. I’m actually thrilled when I try things and they work. I think my ears are OK but I need to spend more time developing my listening skills. I’ve never had such a great set of tools and features as I have in Cubase Pro Nine. I’m enjoying my process. :slight_smile: