Mastering/Mixing tips (newbie)

[Klimax#1]

Hi, im a newbie...to this forum, as well as mixing and mastering...

I have finished recording a mixtape album and would like to know if i can have some pointers on how to mix and master my music as some of the songs need to be "radio-ready"

Im recording through Cubase SX and i have Wavelab 5(but i have no idea where to start)....

Are there any tutorials or can someone that can point me in the right direction please...

[EnSkorSang]

Set everything to 0 then begin messing around with everything until you start to get the hang of it...

What do you mean by 'radio-ready'. Most stations add lots of compression or something as they play it so if its not mixed/mastered well it can sound....funky, and often they might not play your song purely on this basis.

If its gonna be played on radio then you might want to get it professionally mastered. Although if its just student radio or small local one then you should be fine.

heres a good start:
How to Mix a Pop Song from Scratch / Articles / Computer Music Resources - AudioMelody

[grooveboxmusicTony]

You should think about reading an audio basics book, taking an audio class at the local college, or watching some training videos online. Thats what most of us did.
I do some work for a company that makes training videos you can buy, or you just stream from their site. I'll post it below but there are many, many different websites that offer this other than ours.
If at first you don't find something that works for you, keep looking. The answers are out there.

Learn Music Recording & Mixing Techniques | Groovebox Corp. Makers of brainwerks

[Klimax#1]

Thank u gentlemen...i've so far read over the 1st link that was posted and when i get home this evening i will put what i have read to the test and see if i get somewhere.

I appreciate all the help i can get and i'll definately read more material,as one can never kno too much.

Thanks 4 the links posted, i'll stream a couple of vids later too...i checked 4 a couple of vids on youtube but found nothin appropriate...

One more question, which mastering software would be the best/useful 4 me 2 practice on??

T

[aquariustye]

I'm new at the mastering thing. I already have my songs. I only have Magix music maker for now because I use it as a prototype of how I want my songs to sound until I get it professionallly mastered. I want to know how to create that vintage radio quality sound when I record my voice, for example, I notice that the drums and intrument sounds in the 50s 60s and 70s are played in a different style. I want to create that same style with a modern twist--- where do I start? Thanks for answering my question....

[EnSkorSang]

Klimax - start with just using the plugins etc availble in cubase (VST dynamics, Roomverb etc). These are perfectly fine for begginners, and you can create demo masters with these... Theres no set way of mastering, and mastering itself is a confusing art as it seems to involve very little, but there are many subtleties (cant spell!).

I know brandon himself has mentioned on many threads that he makes 'demo masters' using just the stuff/plugins/hardware he uses when mixing.

If you wanna spend money, Waves probably make industry standards, and oxygen by izotope is a nifty little plugin thats very good at showing you how everything works, but its perhaps too easy to get carried away with it and bash your song to bits...


AQUAIRSTYE-
For your voice a quick solution would be the grungelizer on cubase sx3 (if you use that), A long expensive solution would be to get an old style mic and record onto vinyl...
But just google something like vintage vocal plugin or VST and you will probably find something.

AS for the drums....do you mean you are sequencing them? many drum VSTs have old kits in their sound libraries.
A good place to start is just to listen to say some beatles recordings and try and replicate the drums. Drum tracks in the 50s and 60s were often panned and quite narrow, which makes them stand out from todays full trakcs

[TonyB]

I'm not sure what "radio ready" means, but if you're sure one of your songs will be played on the radio than I'd send it to a professional mastering engineer.

Most of the time I can do my own mastering (i.e., a.k.a., in-house mastering, express mastering, pretend mastering, etc).

However, if I know one of my songs recorded/mixed in my studio will be on the radio I send it to an ME.

- Different set of ears

- ME equipment designed especially for mastering (Manley Variable-Mu, Crane Song compressors/limiters/eq, API eq, etc)

- ME has a good understanding what needs to be done to the song for radio airplay (i.e., balancing L-R channel low end freqs, removing pops, clicks, etc that wasn't heard on the mixing system, etc)

[garageband]

which mastering software would be the best/useful 4 me 2 practice on??

You already own a great, pro standard PC-land piece in Wavelab. Learn everything you can about it - what and why every setting and feature it has, the workflow logic: everything . Use it to mangle and "improve" commercial recordings. If you want the get your recordings processed enough for them to leave your hose, this is your main toolbox. Learn what it has and how to use it before you start cramming it full of plug-ins (You gotta love advice that tells you not to spend money). Wavelab is full of plugs and utilities already that are extremely powerful and useful. Learn them all before spending a dime on this or that or even downloading some free stuff off the internet. Make Wavelab your new musical instrument.


I love "express mastering"! I'm going to use that for sure.

[dcisive]

Step #1 would be to attempt to lay down tracks with the best natural dynamic range possible (least noise best/highest level short of clipping) allowing for any natural dynamic of of the instrument being recorded. This will GREATLY aid in the final product regardless of what equipment is used to master.

More often than not a pro studio master consists of some top flight multi band compressing and limiting. This way it appropriately separates out the instruments and other elements of the recording giving them a "separate" nature and avoids unnecessary clipping while maintaining the best dynamic range. If produced with the pure intent of radio play, it won't matter if it gets squashed to heck as it will be compressed heavily on the air anyway. As for a quality recording the goal would be more so to maintain some compromise of allowing for the maximum dynamic range (differences between soft and loud passages) while acquiring a good level and consistency between tracks. This is often accomplished through high end software applications as it becomes necessary to monitor the waveform character of the music as well as it's overall "musicality".

Sure there are a number of competent software packages that can get you in the ballpark, but there is NO comparison to a high end studio with their many thousands of dollars of sophisticated gear to accomplish what software alone can NOT. The engineer needs to know your mindset as well, not just giving them license to do as they wish, if you want the project you've worked on to sound like what YOU wanted it to.