Last week I talked about the creative process of artistes and producers. Today I'm going to be talking about how to put the finishing touches on your creation. Every good craftsman knows that he/she needs their work to be as presentable as possible. In the music industry, this stage is called mixing. DISCLAIMER: The purpose of this article is not to teach you how to become a professional mixing engineer. The sole purpose of this blog post is for better understanding of the term and techniques of mixing. The quality of your track balls down to three factors: Amplitude, Balance, and Clarity. These three factors are known as the ABC's of mixing. You can't get a good mix if you are not conscious of these three things. It is believed that different little elements make up a whole entity. In this case, amplitude, balance and clarity are the elements that make your music sound professional. Amplitude When you see the first three letters "amp" you can probably tell that amplitude is associated with volume. Music has definitely gotten louder over the decades. We went from soft slow classical piano melodies to hard hitting 808s and sizzling snares (loud wars). As producers, it is our job to adapt to the needs of both artistes and listeners. So basically your music needs to be loud. Not too loud, but loud enough for people to acknowledge. There are techniques for achieving high amplitude without squashing the flavor of the song. Click here to learn more. Balance Balance is the "major key" to a great mix. In modern music production different elements/sounds are being incorporated into a track. Most of these sounds differ in frequency and volume. One of the problems of using different sounds in a beat is these sounds struggle for space in the mix, causing the listener to be confused. For this reason, certain sounds have to be lower in volume than others. Balance is achieved through volume, panning, and stereo imaging. Without balance in mixing, your track would have no direction because all the elements are fighting for attention. Clarity Clarity for the most part is achieved through equalization. Most producers add a high pass to their snares, hi hats, and other elements with similar frequency. Clarity determines the completeness of your mix. You need those snares to cut through and sizzle. Although this might not be necessary for all genres of music, it still is important. I hope this article was of any help to you. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions. For more in depth information on mixing go to busyworksbeats.com/mixingacademy Copyright © 2016 Sage Sound, All rights reserved.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorKing aka King Lingo. President and founder of Sage Sound. Archives
May 2016
|