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* Everything you wanted to know about Professional production - by Lee Dragon *
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I was a little bit bored today , so i decided writing this … :O

What is a professional quality track production ?
why does it take so much time to finish a professional track ?
what are the guidelines for a professional production ?
what tips can help me to achieve professional level at the fastest possible way ?

I will try to answer most , if not all of those questions and many more on this short
review im writing for all the Buzz community people.

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Ok , so lets begin with the first question - What is a professional quality track ?
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Well , this may be too complicated for me to answer exactly , but in order to answer it
correctly , lets take a professional track (like all those that are being played on MTV
and radio stations) and try to see what are the COMMON guidelines in all of them.

every professional track has all of the following features :

1. all the channels in the mix are CORRECTLY balanced.
2. all the channels in the mix are BEING heared.
3. the mix sounds great in EVERY speaker & head phone.
4. the mix is at the LOUDEST possible volume level.

a professional mix doesnt have to be a GREAT melody track , it can even be a percussion
track - but it WILL contain all of the above features.

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Why does it take so much time to finish a professional mix ?
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Ok , in order to answer this question , lets go through all the 4 features i mentioned
in the above section and try to understand how long & why does it take to make that feature.

——–] 1. all the channels in the mix are CORRECTLY balanced. [——–
&
——–] 2. all the channels in the mix are BEING heared. [———

a channel = an instrument , a singer , a drum or any other voice that is in a mix.
it is usually recommended that every voice in a mix will have its own channel , thus means
that even if you have a DRUMS channel it is very recommended that each drum will have its
own channel e.g Bass Drum channel , Snare channel , Hi Tom channel , Lo Tom channel ,
Hihat channel … etc …

The most important tool that will help us creating a channel balance is a COMPRESSOR.
this is basically an automatic gain control device , that creates a balance between the
low and high volume level in the channel. i wont explain much on this here , further and
much better explanation on this can be found in COMPUTER MUSIC’s GUIDE TO DYNAMICS
(www.computermusic.co.uk).

Compressor is one of the MOST important tools (except for EQ that is described later on..)
that we need to have in our mix … and this is due to the fact that most of the real world
recorded audio files have alot of changes in dynamics in it.
on electronic based synths, or software synths this is not much recommended for creating
a balance , but can be used in order to change the way they sound (can make a channel
sound more WARM or PHAT .. etc) , or can be used to compress the dynamics range.

Compressor’s tweaking is a process that takes quite some time during a mix , when needed a
precise settings .. and the more channels you have in your mix the more time you’ll be
spending tweaking their compressors individually … and thats reason number one for the
time it takes for a professional mix ! (NOTE - on a professional mix all the compressors
are PERFECTLY arranged , so dont hesitate spending some time on their tweaking - the more
precise compressor setting you have on each channel - the better your mix will SOUND!)

as for question number 2 , once you set up a compressor on every channel , the low and high
volume levels on that channel will be heard the same way , so a compressor is your solution
also for question number 2 !

——-] 3. the mix sounds great in EVERY speaker & head phone. [——-

and i mean EVERY speaker .. and not only that , but it has to sound the SAME way !

let me better explain this : if your mix sounds great on a HIFI system (you hear the
Bass & High frequencies on it DOMINATING) , and then you go and play it on another speaker
and you only hear the MIDs dominating , YOU ARE IN A SERIOUS PROBLEM !!!!
a professional mix is also a mix where the balance between the Bass , mids and highs on it
will sound the same way on every speaker and head phone …

Fortunately for us - the sound engineering world invented the so familiar tool that we know
of , known as EQUALIZER (or EQ) , to help us achieve this goal !

Now , forget everything that you know about Equalizer (and im sure everyone knows what it
is ..) , becuz in order to use this tool you need to know exactly what it was intended to
do when it was first invented.

The name EQUALIZER says it all - it is a tool to make your track sound EQUAL on all speakers
and headphones - it equalizes the frequency response of a track so it will have the same
(or almost the same) bass / mids and high balance on every speaker and headphone.

remember that i said that every track in your mix must contain a Compressor ?
now , add an EQ on every channel , and now i’ll try to explain how an EQ is properly
tweaked :

1. if you got Studio Reference Monitors of any kind , it will help you alot during this
stage as it will help you getting attention of problematic frequencies , and then you
only need to adjust the EQ so the track will sound good in your Monitors - and then it
will sound good and right on 80% of most speakers and headphones…

2. if you dont have studio monitors (like me) , it will make your life a bit harder , and
you’ll need to get as many types of speakers and on every channel you’ll need to adjust
the EQ settings so it will sound the same way (i mean SAME WAY) on all of your
speakers.. and that will be a good reference instead of studio monitors.
of course , some speakers wont play Highs for you , and some speakers wont play Lows
too well , but the important range is the MID , and that range should be equal on all
of your speakers !
for Bass - you might try to get 3 or 4 types of speakers that have a good bass response,
and make the bass sound the same way on those , and same goes for highs - find some 3 or
4 speakers with good Tweeters , and make the highs sound the same way on those ..

Whether its 1 or 2 that you got in your home - you WILL need to test the way your mix sound
on as MANY speakers as you can (unless you have .. umm … KRK EXPOSE E8 monitors or
something that costs 5000$ or something :> )

For all of your EQ jobs - i recommend a precise EQ to be selected (like Automaton’s EQ7 -
its GREAT for me when i resize the paramters window i get more control of preciseness in
my EQ … :O i recommend it , even though some others are good as well like Rout’s EQ 10
or Firesledge’s ParaEQ … etc , whether its parametric or graphic equalizer - doesnt matter
as long as you get the sound to sound SAME WAY on all speakers)

Now here’s an important TIP for EQ settings :

once you got your sound to sound the same way on all speakers , dont touch it .. and go
and have a break or something .. because the more you spend time on EQ tweaking - the more
your hearing isnt precise !
it is always good to hear 4 or 5 PROFESSIONAL tracks before you start working on an EQ
setting to relief your ear hearing response , becuz after spending 5 hours on a mix your
hearing isnt accurate as it was in the beginning !

EQ setting stage is probably the one that takes the MOST of the time in a mix , and the
more time you spend on this the BETTER your mix will be !
(think especially about the way you need to set it so it will sound EQUAL on every speaker!
especially if you’re planning on releasing a single in a label , you do want that the
label’s A&R agents will hear your mix the way YOU hear it , dont you ?? :O )

It is also very recommended to test the way your mix sounds on Headphones from time to time
(even though i realy DONT recommend you to make your mix on headphones , becuz they dont
give you the same balancing as Speakers give you… ) and try to make the balance between
the instruments sound the same on both Speakers and Headphones.

——] 4. the mix is at the LOUDEST possible volume level. [——-

This stage is usually the final stage of a mix , also known as “Mastering” , but before we
get into this level we need to make sure that ALL the instruments are being heard !

Now here’s a small tip - if you got TWO or more channels that share the same frequency
range in a mix … (e.g : Bass Drum and Bass Guitar / Guitar and Vocals / Hihats and Ice
effects …. ) it is always a good thing to use a Sidechain Compressor on those
two channels.

What a Sidechain Compressor is ?
well it is just like a simple compressor , but it works on a sidechain : every time the
sidechain passes the threshold level , the Audio signal gets compressed !

a good example for sidechain compressor is at radio stations , where the DJ is talking then
the music is being ducked down -> this is a Sidechain compressor that compresses the music
according to the sidechain = the DJ voice !
a Sidechain compressor can help you ALOT in getting the MOST out of your mix - for example
if you want both KICK and BASSLINE to dominate , you can do that the bassline is being
compressed on every KICK , or if you want to make both GUITAR and SINGER dominating , you
can do that the guitar is being compressed when the singer is playing …. etc etc …

and now for our final goal - “Mastering” !

Mastering is a difficult task because it is taking the final Mix and either maximizing ,
frequency response correcting it or stereo enhance it , and it is another part that will
take quite some time to reach … but here are some good guidelines i can suggest you :

1. Normalize your ENTIRE Mix -> bring the mix to the highest volume where it doesnt clip.
2. Compress your ENTIRE Mix -> compress dynamics range of your mix so low and high volumes
will sound equal.
3. EQ your entire MIX -> so it will sound GOOD and EQUAL on every speaker and head phone !
4. MULTIBAND MAXIMIZE !

Multiband maximizing is the secret that many sound engineers use to maximize tracks !
It is taking a simple mix , and splitting it up to 3 or 4 tracks … each track contains
a different frequency range from the mix , but when all of them are mixed you get the MIX :O

There are many great tools around to do this - Joachim’s Jupiter 2 (in Buzz) , Steinberg’s
ME Compressor (DX Plugin) and even T-Racks 24 (the lovely T-Racks even …) …

Even though all of those are realy GREAT , i personally DONT like them , becuz i cant see
the signal analysis on any of them - and thats what I personally seek for - perfection.

I have a small recommendation here - if you got Cool Edit Pro , or any other program that
has an FFT Filter inside of it - USE IT to split your track into several tracks - each one
containing a different Band (i have Cool Edit Pro presets if any one needs them !) , and
then put all of those tracks in the multitrack editor .. and then maximize each and one
of them - but make sure to maximize them all by the SAME ammount , so the frequency response
of your mix WONT change ..

What i basically do is , i seperate the wave into those 3 channels (bass/mid and high) and
then i find the maximum ammount of Amplify i can give on Bass or Mids that dont distort it,
and then i applicate that ammount of amplify on all 3 channels, and then i check how the
mix sounds and if it sounds correct i mix down them and WALLA - there’s the Master!

of course , there are some more tools you can use in the mastering process , like Exciters
and Maxx Bass , but those are part of the 3rd stage of mastering (EQ) …

Well , i hope this review helped some of you people out there !
I also recommend that you learn how to use Reverb properly (use Jeskola Freeverb ! my
recommendation) , because reverb is very well needed in professional mix to create a feeling
for the mix - without it will will sound FLAT … reverb makes it more live.

any comments - you are welcome to email me at leedragonmusic@yahoo.com.

Have fun , and make some Professional mixes , will ya ?

- L e e D r a g o n -

{May 02, 2006} Jeskola XS-1 vR6 for Buzz is now freeware!

Woohoo!

I couldn’t believe what I found at buzzmachines.com:

“Well it seems Oskari surfaced from the depths of the unknown and said unto the masses: xs-1 news. i decided to make the buzz version free. someone may want to post it on buzzmachines.com? Grab it from the generators page or here“.

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Nothing ventured, nothing gained. On the prowl for noise while having the munchies for mashups!

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