Introduction
This tutorial is all about
- Advanced dynamic manipulation
- Transient life cycle
- Tone control
- Maximizing Loudness / dynamics
- Thoughtful mixing decisions / a necessary correction
- Abusing aliasing for maximum transparency
**This mix contain 3rd party plugins, no limiter.
Sometime, you got a off vocal / instrument track and for making covers, remix etc but it sound like unfinish mix because the file that you recieved from producer / composer are unmastered.
You may see this title for example
- off vocal マスタリング無 / マスタリング無 (no mastering) or (unmastered) which mean, this file does not recieved a final polishing by engineer.
- off vocal マスタリング有 (mastered) which mean, this file are polished by mastering engineer or the producer himself.
Some producer give you both type files which is generous, or you only get a mastering file or no mastering file.
You may curious why some producer offers a unmastered file as a option and this option doesn't make much sense but both files have it's own advantages.
For a mastered file is self-explanatory, complete and ready to be use. But for a unmastered file they offers a materials for anyone who want to mix himself or learn to mix but need a proper materials. Unmastered file offers more room to play around and enhance by the mixer.
Example (similar loudness)
Before mix
After mix
- Song name Palette
Originally produce by Yuyoyuppe
- Remix & Arrangement by yosimokazu
Understanding about genre and why it is important.
This is a rock song and very busy too. Which mean compatitive loudness are mandatory and because of this, we have to maximize the loudness, also need to control the tone and dynamics of the song at the same time. Unfortunately loudness and dynamics doesn't like to go along. So i have to make decisions and i choose to prioritize the maximum loudness.
Some people might disagree that making music loud is unnecessary. Although this topic is insanely controversial, but at the end of the day, we do what's best for the song and it seem like loud song sell the best.
Setting your project sample rate
Usually it's not really important but In this tutorial i will use96kHz or more (if possible) when i want to push a song to it's loudness limit this setup is important.
Tonal control (super important)
This is the first step, although it seem like a cakewalk because i only use 3 band EQ but it actually the most difficult one, since it require a thoughtful consideration. When using a broad range EQ for tonal correction it will affect an entire song. It rely on experience and developing taste. If you don't like rock song or not familiar with this genre, you probably stuck at this first step.
I using this EQ since it offer a very gentle EQ curve, which is well suit for a broad range tonal correction.
I decided to remove midrange around 1.5kHz at -2dB to soften the guitar sound and open more space for vocal tracks. I put a little bump around 4kHz at +1dB and 350Hz at 0.7dB to help add more weight to the track. Adding little bit of saturation inside this EQ plugin and it does a good job. You can use any EQ that offers a broad range of EQ.
Advanced dynamic manipulation
First part of dynamic control is to add compression, it's depend on the song, the way you choose compressor plugins may varies but in this song i need a highly programmable compressor that can fully control the behavior of the unit. You can use any plugins that suit your best however.
The first compressor on the list is programmed for RMS control
This setup offers a very clean and very smooth compression , although it may introduce transient due to RMS behavior.
The way i use this plugin is to setup all of necessary parameters and then only use mix knob to blend wet/dry signal to taste and 72% of wet signal is seem on point.
This tutorial is all about
- Advanced dynamic manipulation
- Transient life cycle
- Tone control
- Maximizing Loudness / dynamics
- Thoughtful mixing decisions / a necessary correction
- Abusing aliasing for maximum transparency
**This mix contain 3rd party plugins, no limiter.
Sometime, you got a off vocal / instrument track and for making covers, remix etc but it sound like unfinish mix because the file that you recieved from producer / composer are unmastered.
You may see this title for example
- off vocal マスタリング無 / マスタリング無 (no mastering) or (unmastered) which mean, this file does not recieved a final polishing by engineer.
- off vocal マスタリング有 (mastered) which mean, this file are polished by mastering engineer or the producer himself.
Some producer give you both type files which is generous, or you only get a mastering file or no mastering file.
You may curious why some producer offers a unmastered file as a option and this option doesn't make much sense but both files have it's own advantages.
For a mastered file is self-explanatory, complete and ready to be use. But for a unmastered file they offers a materials for anyone who want to mix himself or learn to mix but need a proper materials. Unmastered file offers more room to play around and enhance by the mixer.
Example (similar loudness)
Before mix
After mix
- Song name Palette
Originally produce by Yuyoyuppe
- Remix & Arrangement by yosimokazu
Understanding about genre and why it is important.
This is a rock song and very busy too. Which mean compatitive loudness are mandatory and because of this, we have to maximize the loudness, also need to control the tone and dynamics of the song at the same time. Unfortunately loudness and dynamics doesn't like to go along. So i have to make decisions and i choose to prioritize the maximum loudness.
Some people might disagree that making music loud is unnecessary. Although this topic is insanely controversial, but at the end of the day, we do what's best for the song and it seem like loud song sell the best.
Setting your project sample rate
Usually it's not really important but In this tutorial i will use96kHz or more (if possible) when i want to push a song to it's loudness limit this setup is important.
Tonal control (super important)
This is the first step, although it seem like a cakewalk because i only use 3 band EQ but it actually the most difficult one, since it require a thoughtful consideration. When using a broad range EQ for tonal correction it will affect an entire song. It rely on experience and developing taste. If you don't like rock song or not familiar with this genre, you probably stuck at this first step.
I using this EQ since it offer a very gentle EQ curve, which is well suit for a broad range tonal correction.
I decided to remove midrange around 1.5kHz at -2dB to soften the guitar sound and open more space for vocal tracks. I put a little bump around 4kHz at +1dB and 350Hz at 0.7dB to help add more weight to the track. Adding little bit of saturation inside this EQ plugin and it does a good job. You can use any EQ that offers a broad range of EQ.
Advanced dynamic manipulation
First part of dynamic control is to add compression, it's depend on the song, the way you choose compressor plugins may varies but in this song i need a highly programmable compressor that can fully control the behavior of the unit. You can use any plugins that suit your best however.
The first compressor on the list is programmed for RMS control
This setup offers a very clean and very smooth compression , although it may introduce transient due to RMS behavior.
The way i use this plugin is to setup all of necessary parameters and then only use mix knob to blend wet/dry signal to taste and 72% of wet signal is seem on point.
