Ever find yourself struggling to capture that ‘pro’ polish? Do you find your tracks lack that hardto-define quality that separates an amateur-sounding mix from the releases you hear from your favourite artists? Fear not. We’ve all been there – and we’re here to help. This issue, we’ve sat down with a varied selection of producers, engineers and artists to quiz them on their essential mixing advice and studio insights. Over the following pages you’ll find tips to help you work faster and smarter, from the start of a session to finishing that final mix.
HOW TO MIX SMARTER AND FASTER!
HOW TO BUILD A TEMPLATE
GO-TO EFFECTS CHAINS
MASTER PROCESSING EXPLAINED
PRODUCTION POWER TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS
We’ve gathered some of the best studio minds to come up with some incredible insider tips on all aspects of music production, from getting prepped for a session, to finishing a mix, with some invaluable advice from start to finish. If your music is stuck in a rut or on a demo downer, then these experts can lift it from mix hell and make it shine…
The age-old question in music production is “why doesn’t my music sound as good as my favourite artist’s?”. It’s the creation of what you think is the greatest piece of music ever, and then that moment when you A-B it with the work of your go-to musical hero, the quality level of which you were aiming at all along. But your music is just not ‘there’, not as loud, as present, as well mixed… It just doesn’t sound ‘pro’. So what are you going to do about it?
The obvious 21st century solutions are to sign up for a course, read dozens of features online, or watch a gazillion YouTube videos with ‘experts’ who claim to have the answers if you dive in, like and subscribe. Or, what you could do, is ask the actual experts. And that’s what we are doing with this feature: simply asking a range of artists, engineers and producers who have, in one way or another, been there, seen it and done that. Or more importantly heard it and solved it.
They’ve all come face to face with exactly the same dilemma as we and you have had with music – how to raise the production stakes – but they’ve broken through, successfully tweaked, organised, mixed and mastered their craft to the point where they are making a living from it. And in some cases a pretty good one.
So pause your videos, drop your tablets and prepare to hear some words of wisdom, some sage studio nuggets from the experts; ‘horse’s mouth’ tips to help you turn your ideas, rough demos and potential masterpieces into release-ready, stream-ready, and definite door-opening downloads.
