MASTER A SONG in 7 simple steps, in your bedroom. FULLER, FATTER, LOUDER & MORE CLEAR!
Mastering is the final, essential stage in music production, and is considered a dark art by some. It’s where a track is polished, taking it up to radio / club / festival quality. We want it loud, clear, fat and wide without distortion.
Audio compression is ESSENTIAL in producing and mixing world-class music (of any genre, but particularly EDM genres), and alongside volume and equalisation (and our ears), compressors are arguably one of the most important mixing tools we have at our disposal.
In this post, I explain all the core controls that decent compressors have (Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, Output Gain and Knee), and how they work, and then go through 4 examples of why, where and how you might want to compress…
This step-by-step guide will help you achieve the success you really want with your music production in 2022.
The beginning of a new year is an exciting time…no doubt. There’s always a certain tingling anticipation about what we’re about to embark on, and rightly so…
We’re all looking for the secret to amazing mixes; a silver bullet that makes them pop. No more mud; clear mids, deep lows and crisp, shiny highs. Mixing in mono might not be silver bullet, but it’s a damn good place to start.
We all know how ESSENTIAL a great mix is if we want our tracks playing alongside those by our favourite producers, or released on our favourite labels.
“Should I mix on monitors or headphones?” One of the most asked questions in the music production world – especially if you are just starting out.
This guest-post from Nadav at Catzaudio helps answer this age-old question, and highlights the pros and cons of both options. He’s interviewed many world-class DJs and producers such as The Chainsmokers, Vicetone, Cazzette & Laidback Luke to name but a few, so has some good sources to draw from. I chip in from time to time to give my opinion, and we both give some suggestions of available solutions…
Spice up your music using the 7 different modes!
Using different “modes” can help your track really stand out from the generic scales used in most modern music. The video below explains what the different modes are and how to use them in your Digital Audio Workstation…
Are you tired of weak, thin or muddy bass? Looking to get a powerful, fat bottom end in your mix (without the muddiness)? Here are my 4 best tips for mixing your low end…
There are few things as important as a solid low end in Electronic Dance Music. We want to make music that rocks the dance floor or shakes the stage, and the low end is the foundation of all dance music.
Mastering a track is the critical final stage in music production before release. The purpose of mastering is to make sure your song sounds as good as possible across a whole host of different systems and media formats (radio, CD, MP3, vinyl, etc.).
Album mastering makes sure the different tracks in an album sound sonically similar and provides consistency.
Recording your own sounds at home can really make your tracks unique, as if everyone is using the same samples from the same packs, it stands to reason there are going to be similarities in the finished tracks, right?
But how do we go about recording sounds at home (properly)? Do we need to spend a lot of money on a decent microphone and acoustic treatment? Perhaps not…
In the video below, I go through how to make Future Bass chords like Flume, using only the native plugins from within Ableton Live.
I explain the music theory behind the chord progression, and then go into the sound design of those big, sweeping synth chords.