Chances are, if you’re making music in your home studio, you want to share it with people. You might not care about becoming a Grammy-chasing artist (but all the power to you if you do), but you at least want people to hear your music. And if you’re a musician, you’ve spent most of your...
In the last 15 years of working in the audio industry and helping thousands of musicians and engineers create great music from their home studios, I’ve seen every mistake in the book. Here’s one of the biggest. Honestly, if your mixes don’t sound as loud and competitive as your reference tracks and the pro records you...
I was mixing a kick drum the other day and experimented with a fancy sub-bass plug-in to add some extra low-end oomph. I had added it earlier in the session but forgot about it, so it sat bypassed on the track until later in the mixing session. It added some extra low-end thickness when I...
How can you compete with those who churn out content nonstop? Whether they’re releasing songs every month, publishing content every day, or recording a podcast every week, it seems like they’re producing at a higher level than us mere mortals. I want to knock on their door and demand the key to their extra-dimensional office...
The person who gets in the way of your music-making is the same person you have to look at in the mirror every day. You. As much as we want to blame external factors, we are the biggest obstacle to finishing our work. Our mindset can be our greatest ally or our worst enemy. The...
Remember when you were a kid and wanted to be an astronaut? No? Me neither. I was too into music to be interested in the cold vacuum of space. However, astronauts have the right idea when they’re blasting off into space because they use a pre-launch checklist to ensure they don’t kill themselves during liftoff....
A Step By Step Mixing reader and Audio Issues EQ user just wrote in: “What five plug-ins would you recommend for someone on a tight budget? I need an EQ, a compressor, reverb, delay, and saturation” If you have a similar question, it’s an easy answer. Just use the stock plug-ins in your DAW. Why...
Tired of Boomy Bass and Flabby Low-End? Download Your Free Guide: 6 Steps to Fix Your Muddy Mixes A reader writes in with a question about how to EQ bass guitar so I thought I’d take a moment to give you an in-depth guide on fixing many of the frequency problems you’ll encounter when mixing...
EQ’ing your mix bus is a delicate process. Too little and you won’t hear a difference. Too much and you might ruin your mix. But with a sprinkle of just the right amount of Goldilocks EQ, you’ll tighten the low end and remove the mud while adding presence and brightness that makes your mix stand...
Making your mixes translate to every single speaker system is hugely important. It can’t just sound good in your studio. It also HAS to sound good anywhere you want it played. And if you want your music heard, your music will be played through all sorts of speakers – from high-end hi-fis to crappy smartphones....