A Newb's Music Production Recipe for Newbies

[Sifunkle]

I’ve been reading a lot on beginner's music production lately, and have been trying to come up with a basic approach I’ll take to producing songs until I’m familiar enough with the art not to need guidelines. I thought I’d post it here a) in the hopes that some other newbs might appreciate it, so I can give something back to this forum and b) so this forum can continue to give to me by critiquing it, correcting any mistakes I may have made, and suggesting any additions.

I’m not saying everything here is the universal truth, but it’s a launching pad based on what I’ve read as being commonalities or general rules. I think it’s obvious that a lot of this will vary with the song you’re making, the equipment you have and a million other things. But you’ve gotta know the rules before you know the best way to break them.

Let me also point out that this is largely a rewording of what others have written elsewhere (particularly at TweakHeadz lab), and I’m not claiming credit for the content. I sure hope I don't get litigated. However, I have gone to the trouble of summarising what I saw as the important points, and putting them into an ordered step-by-step approach to making music

Finally, I initially wrote this for my own use, so it’s biased towards the gear I have, and what I already know how to do. I tried to include some descriptions, reasoning and other hints so make it more universal, but it’s not gonna be as useful to everyone. But hopefully someone will appreciate it!

Maybe a thread on a forum wasn’t the best place for this, but I’m not that literate with web pages and all. Hopefully the crappy format doesn't put everyone off. It looked fine in Word, but the transition did it no favours. I did spend a while tidying it up to make it serviceable.

 

[Sifunkle]

Recording

- Record all tracks before mixing anything
- The instrument should have roughly the tone you want to end up with when you record it

o Don’t rely on dramatically changing the tone with EQ while mixing​

o But at the same time, don’t cut or boost too much, or fine-tuning at mixing may be difficult/impossible​

o Avoid bass (except on bass instruments, eg. bass guitar, kick drum)​

- Record at 24 bit depth (rather than 16)
- Unless there is a specific reason to use a stereo track, record to mono tracks
- To strengthen elements, record two takes of the same thing to different mono tracks and hard-pan them left and right

o Common for guitar, backup vocals, etc​

- When setting levels, leave plenty of headroom

o Set levels so that the majority of the track is below -6 dBVU (eg.)​

§ -6 dBVU is 6 dB below the zero mark on an analog mixer​

§ For software mixing, this is equivalent to –20 to –24 dBFS​

§ A few peaks above that level don’t matter, but ‘clip/peak’ lights should not be lighting up​

- Recording kick drum: put a pillow inside the drum (between the heads) to reduce resonance
- Recording vocals:

o Run the monitor mix through a reverb unit/plugin​

§ Most vocalists prefer to hear their voice that way and give a better performance when more confident​

§ Don’t bother with it if it increases latency by too much​

o Record main vox on mono track​

o Have water with lemon on hand (my preference )​

o Vocalist shouldn’t record for longer than an hour at a time (unless you don’t want clean, ‘pretty’ vox!)​

- When using mics:

o Spend time optimising tone by getting mic placement correct​

§ Closer = more lower frequencies​

§ For vocals, it should be on an angle so the vocalist’s breath doesn’t go straight onto the mic’s diaphragm​

§ For vocals, try positioning the mic about 1 foot from the vocalist​

· Have them move a few inches either way for loud or quiet parts as appropriate​

o Always use a pop-filter​

§ Experiment with its position relative to the mic to change tone​

o If the sound is distorting, use the mic’s –10 dB pad (if it has one)​

o If there’s too much bass, or low frequencies are not needed for the desired tone, use the mic’s high pass filter switch (if it has one)​

o If there’s background hiss, reduce the level and move the mic closer​

o Consider using noise gates after the pre-amp​

§ Especially if recording an amp that hums (eg.)​

 

[Sifunkle]

Mixing – early adjustments

- For each track, edit out the gaps between phrasings (destructive enhancement)

o Noise gates can usually be applied to do similar (but increase CPU use)​

- Normalise (gain optimisation):

o Aim to get a roughly constant level on each track​

o Boost amplitude of quiet phrases, reduce that of loud phrases​

- Compression:

o Most (maybe all) tracks should have some compression​

§ Give extra to those that need to be loud/featured​

o Always gate compression (to avoid boosting background noise)​

§ For gate, start with –30dB as threshold, 1-1.5 s as rate​

o For vocals:​

§ Start with compression threshold of –10dB, ratio of 2:1​

§ Use a ‘soft knee’ if possible​

o Drums should definitely be compressed, especially for rock music​

o Compressor attack and release: start with the fastest attack possible and a release that won’t ‘boost’ a note’s tail​

o Remember to up the level of the compressed track!​

- Put a high-pass filter on every track except bass and kick (or similar)

o Cut everything up to around 500 Hz​

- Reconfigure tracks to strengthen orchestration

o Can duplicate tracks, offset each by a small amount of time (or pitch), and hard-pan left and right, to ‘chorus’ a component​

§ Generally it works better to do this with two different takes at the recording phase, as mentioned above​

§ Eg. synth pads: offset by 10-12 ms and hard-pan for ‘big’ sound​

o Vocals: consider duplicating tracks, one compressed without reverb, one uncompressed with reverb​

§ Causes reverb to trigger with louder notes (more realistic)​

§ Need to adjust the balance between the two tracks​

§ May be a good idea to then group the two tracks into one bus​

o Bass: synchrony with the kick drum is important​

§ On notes that coincide, a good effect can be achieved by offsetting the bass note a few microseconds late​

· Allows the kick drum to register first​

 

[Sifunkle]

Mixing – the rough mix

- Set approximate pans:

o Adjust them to avoid clash of tracks with similar harmonic content​

§ If possible, leave bass, kick and main vocals centred​

o A starting point:​

§ Kick centred​

§ Snare fairly centred, but move to slightly separate harmonics from those of vocals​

§ Lead vox centred​

§ Cymbals panned to around 35%​

§ Synth pads doubled and hard-panned​

§ Bass centred​

§ Rhythm guitar off-centre​

§ Percussion off-centre (unless it’s a part of the main beat)​

- Calibrate:

o Set each channel so the highest peak hits 0 dB​

§ Remember, on an analog mixer this is dBVU (-14 to -18 dBFS)​

o Throughout the mixing process, never fade any track above this level​

- Set approximate track volumes

o No individual track goes above 0 dBFS​

o Start with tracks that should be loudest (usually kick, snare, vox, bass)​

o A starting point for levels, based on calibrated levels:​

§ Kick stays at 0 (the calibrated level)​

§ Snare at –2​

§ Lead vox at 0​

§ Cymbals at –25​

§ Synth pads at – 20​

§ Bass at –10, maybe higher​

§ Rhythm guitar at –15​

§ Percussion at –20​

- Add other effects to reinforce the orchestration/arrangement

o Start with vocals, then kick, then other tracks​

o Filters (with automation) may be useful for getting tone correct​

o Noise gates: use to lesson resonations (good for kick drum)​

o Reverb: to taste (good for vocals, guitars, and in some situations snare)​

§ To use subtly, adjust the level to where it is only just perceptible, then turn it down slightly from there​

o Delays: to taste (good for vocals, guitars)​

o Other FX: chorus, phaser, flanger, etc. as desired​

 

[Sifunkle]

Mixing – refining the mix

- Lower all tracks by the same increment until the master out peaks at 0 dB
- Establish stereo image:

o Left-to-Right using pans​

§ To emphasise this aspect on a stereo mix, reverse the phase of one channel​

· Don’t then sum to mono, or phase cancellation occurs​

§ Alternatively, add a tiny delay to one channel​

o Front-to-Back with reverb, delays, volume​

§ Also filters and ambience effects​

§ Consider using a ‘small room’ reverb to place some tracks at the back​

· In addition to any overall reverb effect used​

§ Can use a delay before a reverb in the effect chain as an alternative to using a long reverb tail​

- EQing:

o Aims:​

§ To cut and boost frequencies so that the frequency profiles of different tracks fit around each other (reduce clashes)​

§ To boost frequency bands that characterise tracks in order to make the track distinct in the mix​

· Or conversely, to lower these bands so the track blends into the mix more​

§ To cut the unimportant frequencies of one track so that other tracks can use them to characterise themselves​

o As mentioned earlier, be sure to roll off bass frequencies wherever they are unnecessary, otherwise the mix becomes muddy (high pass filters)​

o Important frequency areas for instruments (rough idea)​

§ Kick:​

· 50-100 Hz = ‘boom’​

· 100-250 Hz = ‘roundness’​

· 5-8 kHz = ‘presence’​

§ Snare:​

· 100-250 Hz = ‘width’​

· 6-8 kHz = ‘presence’​

§ Vocals:​

· Variable, so needs personalisation​

· 1-6 kHz = ‘presence’​

· 6-8 kHz = ‘clarity’ (and sibilance)​

· 8+ kHz = ‘brightness’​

§ Cymbals:​

· 1-6 kHz = ‘presence’​

· 6-8 kHz = ‘clarity’​

· 8+ kHz = ‘brightness’​

§ Bass:​

· 50-100 Hz = ‘boom’​

· 100-250 Hz = ‘roundness’​

· 1-8 kHz = ‘presence’​

· At the low end, important to mould around the strongest frequencies of the kick drum​

§ Rhythm guitar:​

· 100-250 Hz = ‘body’​

· 1-6 kHz = ‘presence’​

· 6-8 kHz = ‘clarity’​

· 8+ kHz = ‘brightness’​

· Use a narrow mid-range boost, to avoid the vocals​

- If clashes persist, consider dropping instruments from sections (or entirely)
- Compress tracks further if necessary
- If levels allow, return some of the EQ cuts as appropriate
- From here, adjust the channel levels to perfect the mix

 

[Sifunkle]

Mixing – final stages

- Consider making submixes (combining tracks into busses) for group effects and ease of level setting

o Eg. to apply the same reverb to all vocal tracks​

- If levels are problematic, consider using limiters on some (/all) tracks
- Automate levels of each track/submix as suits the song

o Always automate last, as other settings will vary the levels, thus the need to automate at all​

- Record/bounce all tracks/subtracks to a ‘final mix’
- Automate the level of the final mix to emphasise sections as necessary
- If the song is not to be mastered:

o Add compression to the overall final mix​

o Boost the level towards 0 dBFS as far as possible without clipping​

o For a cheap and dirty way to boost the volume of a song, apply a limiter set to –0.02 dB at the end of the FX chain​

§ Then boost the level as high as you can bear​

o Record/bounce to get your final product!​

§ At a bit rate to suit your target medium​

- If the song is to be mastered:

o Do not apply compression to the final mix​

o Don’t boost all the way to 0 dBFS​

§ Leave some headspace – at least 3 dB​

o Record/bounce at 24-bit depth​

§ A sample rate of 44.1 kHz is fine, but you may consider ‘up-sampling’ to 96 kHz for professional mastering​

 

[Sifunkle]

Mastering

- Set the mixer to only have one channel containing the final mix (as well as the master out)
- Only work with (add effects to) the master out

o The order of effects in the chain should be suited to the song, but the limiter should always come last​

- Loudness:

o The very last insert in the chain should be a ‘brick wall’ limiter (set to –0.02 dB or so)​

o Pick a level for the master out appropriate to the song​

§ A high level will sound ‘squashed’, low will be quiet​

§ An appropriate level is usually a compromise​

- Tone:

o Use various EQs as suited to the song (boosts and cuts)​

§ ‘Airiness’ controlled at around 16 kHz​

§ ‘Brightness’ at 3 – 10 kHz​

· Too much boost here will sound ‘harsh’​

§ ‘Edgy’/‘brittle’ by boosting at 2 – 8 kHz, ‘sweet’ by cutting​

§ A slight bass boost and slight cut at 4 kHz may sound ‘warm’​

§ ‘Thickness’ by adjusting the 200 – 400 Hz band​

· Too much here will sound ‘muddy’​

§ By playing with the lower band, the bass will run a spectrum through ‘missing’ to ‘buried’ to ‘solid’ to ‘fat’ to ‘boomy’​

- Dynamics

o Achieve the right balance through careful use of compression​

o The exact timing of dynamic changes can be adjusted by altering the attack and release of the compressor​

o Multi-channel compressors can open up further options​

o Be subtle: it’s easy to ruin a mix​

---------------------------------------

And finished!

If anyone had a few spare years to read over all of that, I'd love to know what you thought, as I'm still a massive newb myself. Enjoy!

 

[grimtraveller]

Critics opine......

I’ve been reading a lot on beginner's music production lately, and have been trying to come up with a basic approach I’ll take to producing songs until I’m familiar enough with the art not to need guidelines.
Finally, I initially wrote this for my own use, so it’s biased towards the gear I have, and what I already know how to do. I tried to include some descriptions, reasoning and other hints so make it more universal, but it’s not gonna be as useful to everyone. But hopefully someone will appreciate it!

Let me say first off that I appreciate your effort and I think that newcomers to recording will find lots of this useful.
I do question certain things, however. One of the priceless things about this forum is that it is primarilly based on user experience rather than regurgitation. One of the drawbacks with regurgitating information is that because you won't have tested it yourself, it remains precisely that ~ it's just information. And as such, may be completely misleading {for example, saying that most, maybe all tracks should have some compression or that vocalists shouldn't record for more than an hour at a time}.
I had a friend that once asked me to read through a book she'd written on love, relationships and marriage and make notes and ultimately give her my thoughts and conclusions. The overwhelming feeling I had reading it was that she hadn't been in a relationship and as she was single wasn't really qualified to write about marriage. She eventually agreed and said that she'd culled most of what she'd written from various sources she'd read over the years. So maybe I'm a little touchy about info that has an instructional dimension that hasn't come from someone's direct experience.
Still, that's just one opinion. I'm sure you'll get a variety.

 

[diggy_dude]

At worst, any n00b who bothers to read all of that will have many of his questions answered before he starts in a-posting the same old questions that have been answered here a million times already. Not that any n00b would bother to do that, mind you.

 

[arcadeko]

Not that any n00b would bother to do that, mind you.

Truth!

 

[Sifunkle]

Oh yeah, there's a lot of regurgitation there, and it sure won't match up against anything a seasoned veteran could write. But that's why I called it the "Newb's Music Production Recipe for Newbies" And as I said in the OP, half the reason I posted it was for others to critique so I'd know whether it was good info for me to use, as a newb myself.

Also yeah, some stuff might be a bit misleading or confusing, because as I also pointed out in the OP, I initially came up with it only for my own use, so it's skewed towards things that I would find useful, and my own interests and preferences. I just thought I'd share it in case there are people similar to me out there who could benefit. Still, if things are particularly misleading or confusing, say the word and I'll pull them out. Bearing in mind that the points are just supposed to be good places to start, not necessarily what you'd do to your song with your years of experience.

I guess it's mostly for newbs who just want to have a go without spending two weeks reading through textbooks (I just spent my whole semester break trying to figure production out probably in time to go back to uni for a semester to study something else and forget it all). As such, it's a summary of the freely available resources on the net that I found most useful in explaining things.

Anyway, point out anything I should delete. Do you reckon the 'don't record vox for too long' and 'compress most tracks' are worthy?

 

[JayRBeatz]

wow so much info in here, appreciate it