Music production advice for the do-everything-yourself operation
Mastering in Logic Pro X is absolutely possible, even with just stock plugins! Many get lost though. Not because they don’t know, but because they don’t know what they are aiming for. Perhaps you can relate! This article should help you get going, so you can confidently make great sounding masters for your music. I’ve […]
This article is designed to give you a simple worflow for mixing tracks in Logic Pro X. I have broken down the process into a handful of simple steps that you can apply to any genre of music. 1. Gain Staging If you know me, you know I am hot (pun excused) on the issue […]
I get a call. It’s my good friend Daniel. He says it’s a location recording gig. At Stonehenge. In the stones of Stonehenge. Obviously it was a yes. The event was Stonehenge 100. Fast forward to the big day. It pours it down. So everyone from every broadcaster there ran underneath a big canopy. There […]
LANDR is an automated mastering tool. A mastering engineer is a real person. Both will give you master files. And you might like either of them, or even both! But there are some distinct differences especially in the service being provided. A major difference is the fact that you can talk to a mastering engineer. […]
If you’re an artist or producer trying to better understand mixing and mastering concepts, then this free mini course was designed for you. Here you’ll find a handful of video lectures to help you better mix and master your own music from home. Lectures include: The difference between mixing and mastering Equalisation explained Dynamics explained […]
Working remotely has become an accessible and relatively easy way to collaborate for musicians. In this article, Minutes to Midnight exposes his process for producing effective bass tracks for clients.
This article serves to help artists like you find the right producer for your music. What does a music producer do? Music production is a creative process as much as it is a technical one. A music producer will hear what you are trying to achieve and work to produce your music with that in […]
In this article, I share with you a handful of principles and concepts that are essential to building your production business. Produce music That’s a given, right? Whether you’re working on your own music, mixing client stems, or just being creative in the DAW, practicing your craft is essential. Be professional Make an impression. Be […]
Gigs and shows may be postponed indefinitely, but there are still ways you can jam out at home. The likes of Chris Martin and Bono have already held online concerts, and chances are that this trend is going to continue even long after the pandemic subsides. One of the great things about being a session […]
Producing realistic drum tracks is the main challenge when solely working in-the-box (ITB). Fortunately, Andia from In Your Dreams has put together the below article to get you started.
This is a question that gets banded around online music production and audio forums all of the time. And like most answers to audio-related questions, the answer is… It depends! It depends on the purpose of the EQ and the compression in question. We use both these tools to solve a myriad of different problems […]
This article serves to advise you on what to expect from a mastering engineer as well as the steps they take to best serve you and your music. Communication A good mastering engineer will ask the necessary questions they need to in order to understand your intentions. The better they understand your ambitions, the more […]
Logic Pro X is the ideal piece of software for film composers, but it can be tricky to know where to start. This Logic Pro X tutorial covers the basics of getting setup and ready to write! For this tutorial I’m going to assume that you’re working with a short “home movie” style video, rather […]
This article serves as a guide for anyone who is starting their music production journey and needs a little advice as to what equipment they need to get started. Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) The Digital Audio Workstation is the hub of your music production studio. The right DAW will provide many of the necessary tools […]
The most popular advice for this is leave 6 dB of peak headroom. However, it doesn’t actually matter how much headroom you leave, as long as the dynamics are correct for the music. The first process in a mastering chain will be a Gain/Trim utility anyway, so the mastering engineer can create as much headroom as they need without changing the sound in any way.
What’s the difference? First of all, let’s discuss what an EQ is and how it works. An EQ is a frequency balancer. Think of it like a mixing desk for frequencies. Each “fader” is a volume control for a particular band of frequencies. Its purpose is to make relative volume changes between frequencies with a […]
Steps To Mastering A Song In The Box The goal of this article is to serve as a primer for anyone wanted to get started mastering tracks using only digital tools “in the box”. Not everything that mastering engineers do can be found in this article. Yet I can confidently say that this will work […]
As you may have heard, Spotify have lowered their target playback level to the equivalent of -14 LUFS integrated. What is LUFS? LUFS stands for Loudness Units Relative To Full Scale. It was primary designed for broadcast to enable loudness normalisation, but more and more we are seeing this unit being used in music to […]
What does it mean? It means that you always work to the same output level. You calibrate it once and you never change it. At least when you do change it, you can immediately get back to that familiar level. What are the benefits? The benefits are plenty. The easiest way to explain the benefits […]
Youlean Loudness Meter YouLean is featured prominently on my master bus. This plugin will give you real-time updates as to the integrated, momentary, and short term LUFS value during playback. It’s also very useful for keeping your True Peak levels in check. As you can see on the right hand side of the below screenshot, […]
