5 Quick Mixing Tips – Frequencies, Panorama and Air

Mixing music is quite often a thing of personal taste – while some like to have crispy highs (and loud HiHats and Cymbals), others prefer a more bassy sound. But why is it still a bit muddy or muffled (or too tinny)? Here are five quick tips that can help your mix – plus one quick look at a picture showing how not to do it:

5 effect plugins I can’t live without (and why)

Everyone has his favorite instruments, plugins and production tools, that can range from pretty basic stuff to weird things that just make the difference. So I thought I write about five of the effect plugins that I use all the time (not totally weird ones 😉 ) and basically can’t live without. Of course I can only talk about the specific plugins I’m using, and what I like about them, but you’ll find similar effects from other vendors as well, and I’m sure there are also a lot of great free ones out there.  Oh and I don’t mention basics like compressor, reverb and delay here  😉

5 songs everyone recognizes but don’t know the artist

Don’t you hate that: You know the song you’re just hearing but can’t remember the title or who the artist is. Well, you’re not alone – and there’s a big amount of songs that most people recognize, but don’t know the title, let alone the artist’s name. “Popcorn” probably is the perfect example: Everyone knows the bouncy melody, but who can honestly say, who recorded it? Some might know the version by Hot Butter – but that’s not the original…

A case for presets – and creativity

If you’re discussing music and sound design – especially with a group of synthesizer fans (or should I say “synth nuts”) – you often hear a strong sentiment against the usage of presets. They say to avoid them like the plague. But are presets really all-out evil?

Make room for your singer in the mix

So you’ve recorded great vocal takes, edited them and now you’re mixing your song, but the vocals won’t shine out as much as you’d like them to. No problem, but it’s not just about frequencies…