admin Quick summary: Mixing refers to the process of making the songs sound great together. The final step in the creation of a track is mastering. Mastering is the final step in the production of a track.
There’s more!
We will first divide the music creation into the sequence of events you will need to begin thinking about mixing and mastering.
Let’s look at what we can do and how to plan our project.
– The base idea for a song
Before you enter the studio, the idea for the song must be clear. If you feel inspired and have an idea for a song, you can translate it into music. To avoid losing the idea, it is important to take down all details before you begin recording.
– Writing down your idea (note sheets or directly into the DAW).
Professional musicians can make notes on a notepad and keep them handy for recording. If you are a beginner, it is possible to record the notes on a note sheet and then create a basic song structure in your DAW.
Quick Tip: You don’t have to write down the melody notes or you’re not at the studio; you can hum or sing them and record them using your smartphone’s sound recorder app. You can later use the recording to recreate the melody in your DAW and create your song.
– Recording/tracking instruments/vocals + arranging
Once you have captured the idea, record your vocals and the instruments. Next, in our case, is recording additional tracks and finalizing the arrangement.
– Mixing and mastering
After recording and arranging the tracks, you can start mixing and mastering them. Let’s now dive deeper into the main points of this article.
What’s mixing?
Mixing refers to making every track in a song sound great together.
This is where we balance levels, cut or boost bad/good frequencies and compress the dynamics. Audio panning elements. This process also includes time-based effects such as reverb, delay and chorus.
Mixing a song
Step 1.
When I receive a song from a customer, I verify that all file formats are correct. I also check that they are properly named.
Step 2.
I then engage with the basic balance of tracks ( gain staging), which sets up the project for further processing.
Step 3.
Once I have the song at this point, where it sounds balanced and good without any processing, I start with trimming frequencies in order.
Step 4.
After removing the “bad” frequencies, I usually correct any dynamic inconsistencies. Next, increase some of the “good frequencies and complete the frequency balance.
Step 5.
After the technical aspects of mixing are completed, we can use effects to add space to our song.
What’s Mastering?
Mastering is the last step in the process of producing a track. Mastering is the final step in the production of a track. You’re already familiar with the song, and you will need to make any final adjustments before you send it out or deliver it back to the client.
The 3 key goals of the mastering process are:
1. Increase the volume
2. Make the track sound better
3. Make sure the track sounds great on ALL audio systems
Mastering, like mixing, is about creating a balance between songs. However, it’s not between individual tracks.
How do you master a song?
Mastering is the final stage of making professionally produced tracks. It is, therefore, very technical. It is best to hire the assistance of a music engineer professional to achieve the best quality result for your song.
Mastering engineers need to comprehend the technical requirements for stereo file playback on many platforms.
Quick summary
This post explains what mixing is and what mastering is. You should now be familiar with the differences between the two processes.
We hope you found this helpful in understanding the differences between mixing and mastering. We wish you all the best in your production endeavours!
