Using Compression on Drums (Video)

Compression is an amazing tool and can take your tracks very far. Today I want to show you how you can use a simple stock compressor on drums to get a clear, energetic, and punchy drum sound in your mix.

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Getting A Better Guitar Tone: Part 3

Today marks the last part of my series on getting a better guitar tone. Electric guitar is such a crucial part of many genres, and I hope that you take away something from these articles that can you help you get better sounding guitars in your mixes.

Let's get started!

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Getting A Better Guitar Tone: Part 2

Today I will start part 2 in my series of getting a better guitar tone in your mixes and recordings. If you haven't already, check out Part One and start there. Today we are going to talk about how you can get a big guitar tone, and how you can guitars to stand up front without covering up the vocal. This applies particular to alternative and rock music but you'll find this useful in any genre that needs the electric guitars up front.

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Getting A Better Guitar Tone Part 1

Electric guitars are the corner stone of rock music. Heck, electric guitars are a major part of most music today. Chances are if you are a songwriter or musician and you are into producing your own music, you are going to want to have electric guitars in your mix at some point. But how do you get a good guitar tone? When you hear the pro mixes their guitars sound huge, in your face, and punchy. How do you get that sound for yourself?

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How To Get Motivated

Working on music isn't always a fun endeavor. Sometimes it takes a lot of setup time, technical work, and frustration to get the ball rolling. Whether you plan on recording, mixing, or doing some songwriting, all of us hit times where we just don't feel motivated.

So how do we get motivated to start working on our music? 

I've found two ways that almost always work for motivating and energizing me to start working on my music. These two methods are simple, easy, and effective.

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Know That Your Mix Sucks

Discontentment isn't a good feeling, but can be one of the most helpful things you can feel as an audio engineer. If you aren't discontented with your mixes and recordings, then that means you are satisfied with the way they sound. If you are satisfied with the way they sound, then you aren't hearing what could be better. And let's face it, there is always room for improvement.

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Why You Should Mix And Record For Other People

A lot of you probably got into mixing and recording because you wanted to be able to produce your own music. I know that's why I did. I wanted to have the freedom to make my own music on my own time and not rely on other people to do it for me. Also, I didn't have a lot of money so it was a great way to create an album on a budget. Hopefully, if this is you, you have continued to try and hone your skills and grow as a mixing and recording engineer. That's probably why you are reading this blog. However, there is one thing you may not be doing that you need to. Doing work for other people. 

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Two Ways To Get More Punch Out Of Your Drums

If you ever mix any sort of alternative or rock music, you probably want to have punchy sounding drums. Drums can add so much energy to a mix and really carry along the other instruments, especially when done correctly. But with the increase of using samples drums and using a home studio to record, how do you get really good, punchy sounding drums that just cut through your mix? Today I'm going to share with you two ways you can do this simply by using mixing techniques.

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The Backwards Mix

Today's mixing concept is a simple one, but very effective. I call it the backwards mix. This is something that I've adopted recently and has really changed the way that I mix. It's simplified my mixing process and resulted in better sounding mixes. So let's get straight to the point.

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Keep it Simple

When I mix songs for clients, one of the biggest problems I encounter is that they simple have too many tracks. Now, as a mix engineer, it's my job to create balance and get these tracks to play nicely together. I like a challenge as much as the next guy, but this isn't about fighting for space in the frequency spectrum. Sure, it's a lot more work when I have to make ten electric guitar tracks play nicely together, but the problem I'm referring too is a problem musically. Today I want to encourage you to keep it simple, and it here's why. 

More tracks does not mean a bigger mix. 

One of the number one lies new recording artists or engineers buy into, is that more tracks will equal a bigger mix. They think that if they have ten guitar tracks and three bass tracks and eight vocal tracks that their mix will sound huge. The sad truth is this: most of the time, it wont. You can record as many tracks as you'd like, but that isn't going to automatically make your mixes sound huge. In fact, it will usually have the opposite effect. I know it's counter intuitive, but you would be amazed at how big a mix can sound that has a really small number of tracks.

I think one of the main reasons we do this is sometimes we hear albums from our favorite artists and there is a lot going on. We start noticing all these different instruments and we think that if we record a lot of tracks, then our recordings will sound like that too. Unfortunately that just isn't the case. You will get there, but you need to master getting huge mixes with simple tracks. It isn't the number of tracks that make the professional mixes sound huge, it's the talent behind the engineers recording and mixing the tracks. Work on getting your skill level higher before throwing in too many tracks, or you are just going to overwhelm yourself. 

Too many instruments can mean musical chaos. 

This is where it really gets frustrating as a mix engineer. I can't tell you how many times I get songs from clients, and the song is just all over the place. Quite frankly there is just way too much going on. All the instruments are fighting each other, there are too many lead parts, too many melody repeats in tracks, etc. Most songs I get I believe would sound better if I deleted half the tracks. And that's actually still leaving a lot. I was working on a song today that had around twelve guitar parts. It was as if every guitar was trying to be front and center and play the lead. It was musical chaos and no amount of mixing was going to make it right. 

Next time you start up a recording session, remember to keep it simple! You can and will create huge sounding mixes with a smaller number of tracks. It's easier to manage, it allows some parts to be up front, and it sounds bigger than you'd think. 

 I offer professional mixing and mastering at an easy flat rate. Head over to http://willsterling.net for more info. 

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The One Day Mix Break

This is probably one of the most simple tips I can give you for mixing and yet it can make a huge difference in the quality of your mixes. I know far too often we get bogged down in the complex aspects of mixing and forget to do the basics. I just wrote a post on that recently, and this is one of those basics that you really need to be implementing for better sounding mixes!

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The Foundation of a Great Mix

If you've ever googled or researched mixing and recording tips, you probably come up with some crazy and cool techniques. I know I've seen my fair share of really neat EQ trics, compressor stacking, crazy mic placement,and just all kinds of cool and fancy ideas to get better sounding mixes and recordings. I'll be the first one to say, these tricks are awesome! There is nothing wrong with implementing these and using these sort of ideas to better enhance your mixes or recordings. However, there is a problem that sometimes arises from this.

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The Secret to Returning Clients

I'm sure a lot of you are just getting into recording or mixing to better improve your own music and help yourself as a musician. That's how I started. Shortly after however, I realized that I really enjoyed this and potentially could turn it into a profitable business. And for some of you, this may happen or you may already be in the same boat. With that said, this post is directed mainly to those who want to run a profitable recording, mixing, or mastering business.

Today I want to share with you a way that you can keep clients coming back time and time again as well as get more referrals.

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Four Tips For Mixing Vocals

Most genres today have vocals as the primary and focal part of the song. It's no wonder we spend so much time trying to get our vocals to sound good and even more time being frustrated when we can't get them to sound the way we want. Every couple of months I like to revisit some concepts for mixing vocals and keep myself reminded of the tips and techniques that we can use to get a great sounding vocal track. These tips aren't anything new, but they are helpful reminders and will get you a more up front, clear, and professional vocal track.

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Studio Monitors Vs Head Phones

The age old question: "Should I mix with monitors or headphones?" This question gets asked all the time. And for good reason. There are situations where may have to use one or the other. For instance you may have a full time job and have to mix late at night. In that case, headphones may be your only option so as not to wake everyone else in the house. Or maybe you can't afford monitors and all you have are some headphones. Whatever the reason, it's a decent question to ask. So what's the answer?

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How to Run an Efficient Mix Session

Your time is valuable, and so it is important that you run efficient mixing sessions. Today I want to share with you some ways that you can run a more efficient mixing session in your home studio. These tips will not only help you get faster at mixing, but your mixes will be better because you'll be forced to focus on what is important.

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Your Ears and a Pen and Paper

Getting a great sounding mix or recording starts with something much simpler than you'd think. It doesn't start with thousands of dollars worth of gear. It doesn't start with the most expensive DAW. It doesn't start with the best plugins you can buy.

It starts with your ears, a pen, and a paper. 

As humans, we have a tendency to over complicate and over analyze things. We rarely go to the simplest solution. This is especially true in the audio engineering world. We are still struggling with the idea that our songs could sound better if only we had this or that. You see, it's easier to put the blame on something you can't control. It keeps you from having to take responsibility. The problem is that it also keeps you from growing and getting better. A great recording or mix starts with a few simple things. 

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Don't Play It Safe When Mixing

"If ten out of ten people like your mix, you're doing something wrong." That quote slapped me in the face when I heard it. Who said it? Dave Pensado. If you don't know who Dave is, he's a Grammy winning mix engineer and also runs Pensado's place (an amazing place for tutorials on mixing.) Short version: Dave knows what he is talking about. So what do this mean? How is it a bad thing if ten out of ten people like my mix?

It means you are probably playing it safe.

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Are You Taking A Break From Your Mixes?

Have you ever mixed a song, only to come back days later and hear something that just sounds totally off? If you have been mixing for any amount of time, then this probably has happened to you. You get an awesome sounding mix, spending hours upon hours, bounce it down, and think your done. Then you come back in a couple days and suddenly that snare is way  too loud. Or maybe that vocal is a bit too quiet. How we can fix this problem? Unfortunately, you really can't. Instead, here's what you need to do.

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The Biggest Barrier To Better Mixes and Recordings

What do you think is the biggest barrier to you getting better mixes and recordings? Do you think it's your gear? Maybe if you had better monitors or better preamps your recordings would sound better. Or do you think maybe it's your DAW? Maybe if you had a better recording software you could do better work.

I've got some good news for you. It's none of those things. It's something much more difficult to change. It requires work, patience, and discipline. So what is it already?!

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