Everyone has their own style of mixing. Some people prefer mono, some stereo. Some engineers like using either analog or digital, some like using both. And I’d like to present two mixing tips that I’ve recently found helpful. This post is not saying, “You have to mix this specific way!” I’m simply sharing a method...
Drums are the backbone of your track. Unfortunately, not all drummers play them the way you’d like them to. If you edit them you can’t make them too robotic – but you can’t leave them too loose either. In this post, I’ll share 10 tips with you that will make your drum edits tighter and...
Sync licensing is all the rage now. Artists are realizing they can sit in their home studios, make film-friendly music, and earn a nice full-time or supplemental income. But the trick is knowing how to do it effectively. So in this post, I’ll cover how to make the right kind of music, how to submit...
You may be a good songwriter. But imagine if you knew some basic music theory. People say it can give your songwriting a serious boost. As a songwriter myself, I was curious. So I did some digging to see what music theory could actually do for me. And here are the three most compelling ways...
A common problem with a lot of DIY musician recordings is thinness. I’ve run into this with my own arrangements and mixes. You know, when a song just needs a little something, a little meat on its bones. That’s what we’ll talk about in this post — how to make your songs sound fuller. These...
Mastering music can seem like some scary voodoo magic. And that’s because that’s what it is. If you’re someone who’s never mastered a song, mastering might as well be magic. But if you can’t afford a mastering engineer or an automated mastering service, there’s a workaround. I’m not at all saying you shouldn’t master your...
Saturation is one of the most misunderstood and underused plugins in mixing – it adds warmth, punch and depth to your mix, and can give it a high quality, “expensive”- sounding sheen. At some point in the music production journey, EVERY successful producer and engineer I know has at some point stumbled across the revelation...
There are five stages to a professional sounding vocal. It’s not all about the microphone or your gear. Or even your acoustic treatment. It’s not even only about your singer. Unfortunately, even a bad singer can be…*gulp*…”fixed.” But there’s no autotune for a poor vocal melody or arrangement. There’s no Auto-Make-My-Songwriting-Better plug-in. Five Stage Vocal...
Mornin’ mon frére, Yesterday, Audio Issues contributor Ed Elefterion talked about writing memorable melodies as the starting point of crafting a catchy song. Today, I wanted to jump ahead and start thinking about all the best strategies for making sure that melody transforms into a production that blows people away. The vocals are the most...
Money. It’s one of the biggest obstacles for indie musicians. There’s not enough of it. And you need it to do things, like record music. But recording equipment can tend to be expensive, especially for DIYers. So here are four ways to save money on recording equipment. Scour Thrift Stores Hey, don’t write this one off....