Hi,
Im a bit of a noob to mixing and mastering. Having written a couple of songs that Im quite happy with, I now want to mix and master. Considered farming it out to someone else, but I think I'd get a lot more fun to do it myself. So Im slowly learning but trying to quickly get to grips with everything. Im going to try and keep it away from newbie questions like what's a limiter or compressor or where to set bands for multiband compression - I can Google those.
To let you know what Im using, Im using Acoustica Mixcraft 6, iZotope Nectar 2, Ozone 5 and Alloy 4 for Vocals, Mastering and Mixing. I have a pair of M-Audio BX5-D2 speakers.
I bought the speakers as I couldn't get great results from the Behringer head phones I had - I felt they were too bassy. I have some in ear headphones whcih gave similar results to the car speakers as a way of testing but felt it too much of a hassle to keep running to the car with my memory stick so bought the speakers.
I get great results on the monitors, but when playing back in the car, I notice one of two issues. The sound - especially the guitar and vocals are too squashed. Not in terms of compression or headroom or anything, but in terms of a narrow band. It sounds like everything is in the middle and going through a tin can, sort of a prominent 500Hz to 1000Hz which is making things sound a bit "horny" and very flat. Scooping out that range just really makes it sound off. Im sorting it out slowly adding more "air" applying more db at higher EQ arounnd 5khz plus. I gather 500Hz to 1000Hz is low mid?
My second biggest problem, as Im using ToonTrack EZDrummer, the Ride Cymbals are too loud. They sound alright on the monitors, but in the car, the ride cymbals are bright and crisp but too loud. There's no separate Ride Cymbal mic, it's all shared with the other splash and crash cymbals in the over head and room mics. Trouble is if I turn the overhead mic down too much, I lose the splash and crash cymbals. If I turn down the high EQ on the drum track, the drums and cymbals sound very flat. Maybe I should just EQ the overhead or room mics to reduce the prominence of the rides without affecting the air in the overall drum track.
Finally, I think my next question, how many EQ's and Compressors should I go through? Using Amplitube I already have an EQ on there. But then into the effects for example, there's Nectar 2 which has compression and EQ, then Alloy 4 for mixing which has EQ and Limited and Dynamics, then there's Ozone 5 which also has EQ, Limiters and Dynamics. There's an overlap between the products.
Should I be using all three as necessary to mix and master each track? Ozone has cool functions like reverb, harmonic exciter and stereo imaging which probably aren't that exciting really, just I don't know any better. But it does seem ludicrous going through so many channels. My gut feeling is to use EQ, Dynamics and Limiters from one product only on a track.
Maybe I should just use Alloy to get a basic mix on each track and apply Ozone to the overall mix?
Thanks
Simon
Im a bit of a noob to mixing and mastering. Having written a couple of songs that Im quite happy with, I now want to mix and master. Considered farming it out to someone else, but I think I'd get a lot more fun to do it myself. So Im slowly learning but trying to quickly get to grips with everything. Im going to try and keep it away from newbie questions like what's a limiter or compressor or where to set bands for multiband compression - I can Google those.
To let you know what Im using, Im using Acoustica Mixcraft 6, iZotope Nectar 2, Ozone 5 and Alloy 4 for Vocals, Mastering and Mixing. I have a pair of M-Audio BX5-D2 speakers.
I bought the speakers as I couldn't get great results from the Behringer head phones I had - I felt they were too bassy. I have some in ear headphones whcih gave similar results to the car speakers as a way of testing but felt it too much of a hassle to keep running to the car with my memory stick so bought the speakers.
I get great results on the monitors, but when playing back in the car, I notice one of two issues. The sound - especially the guitar and vocals are too squashed. Not in terms of compression or headroom or anything, but in terms of a narrow band. It sounds like everything is in the middle and going through a tin can, sort of a prominent 500Hz to 1000Hz which is making things sound a bit "horny" and very flat. Scooping out that range just really makes it sound off. Im sorting it out slowly adding more "air" applying more db at higher EQ arounnd 5khz plus. I gather 500Hz to 1000Hz is low mid?
My second biggest problem, as Im using ToonTrack EZDrummer, the Ride Cymbals are too loud. They sound alright on the monitors, but in the car, the ride cymbals are bright and crisp but too loud. There's no separate Ride Cymbal mic, it's all shared with the other splash and crash cymbals in the over head and room mics. Trouble is if I turn the overhead mic down too much, I lose the splash and crash cymbals. If I turn down the high EQ on the drum track, the drums and cymbals sound very flat. Maybe I should just EQ the overhead or room mics to reduce the prominence of the rides without affecting the air in the overall drum track.
Finally, I think my next question, how many EQ's and Compressors should I go through? Using Amplitube I already have an EQ on there. But then into the effects for example, there's Nectar 2 which has compression and EQ, then Alloy 4 for mixing which has EQ and Limited and Dynamics, then there's Ozone 5 which also has EQ, Limiters and Dynamics. There's an overlap between the products.
Should I be using all three as necessary to mix and master each track? Ozone has cool functions like reverb, harmonic exciter and stereo imaging which probably aren't that exciting really, just I don't know any better. But it does seem ludicrous going through so many channels. My gut feeling is to use EQ, Dynamics and Limiters from one product only on a track.
Maybe I should just use Alloy to get a basic mix on each track and apply Ozone to the overall mix?
Thanks
Simon