I am newbie and need clear answer and route for music prod and mixing

[coolforyou]

Hi All,
I am newbie to music production. I am trying to record some composition using free plugin available in Garage band , so when i am recording it is recorded as midi notes.

My big confusion is: Do i need to apply EQ, compressor , delay or reverb or any filters on midi tracks? or do i have to first record my instruments in midi and all other similar tracks instruments and export it as audio wave and then import them into another new project and start applying EQ, comp, delay Or reverb and apply all filter ext ?

which is the good and professional way of doing it to get good audio final mix for mastering.

And please someone help me with book or YouTube link or channel where i can really learn proper way of mixing while doing music production.

I am also not sure what muddy mix and how do i find and cut unwanted signals low end and upper end. its really confusing . I need good free resources for learning to mixing and cutting unwanted signal via EQ while recording vst instruments.


Thanks in advance . I Truly appreciate your answers and help guide.

 

[yowie]

MIDI contains only controller information. Putting any audio signal processing in the midi chain is pointless with a few exceptions such as transpose.
You dont have to record it as audio, but you need an audio signal. A virtual instrument (such as a vst plugin) can do that for you.

A good way for getting a good mix. Now that's a big one mate. If you're lucky, you'll work it out in a few years. Learn your frequencies is a good starting point.

here's a book that I found quite helpful when i was starting out: https://www.mixingwithyourmind.com/buy-the-book.php
another good but very technical one is Bob Katz's "mastering Audio" https://www.routledge.com/Mastering-Audio-The-Art-and-the-Science/Katz/p/book/9780240818962

cutting unwanted frequencies is usually a good idea. I like to cut hard in the low range. DC filter (aka hi-pass) below around 30hz Below 100hz nothing but the kick drum. cut even the bass below 100. cut pretty much everything else below 250.
these are only guidlines and depend on the instrumentation, the range of the singer and a million other things.
welcome to the weird and wonderful world of recording. It is a humbling experience, but the fog should lift after a decade or two.

 

[rob aylestone]

I don't he means that? In most DAWs, you use MIDI to drive the instruments, and then in the mixer, they're working on the outputs of the virtual instruments, so you can EQ, compress, expand, add reverb, and do all sorts of stuff. The notes are MIDI data, but the things you can add to that are more time and level based. So you can increase the velocities, the lengths the mod, PB and other controller stuff - there are of course plugs ins for that stuff as well as plug ins for the outputs.

Youtube is a great place for tips on what do try and what not, but I've never heard any that work very well for mixing and mastering as you don't hear what they hear, and worse, some things they demonstrate just don't work. I watched one where the guy was turning up a compressor, and kept saying "you can hear how ......" and "I'll just add a bit more and ..." but Youtubes dynamics algorythm had removed them (I suspect) because I could see him shove the fader and he nodded a lot in satsfaction and I heard nothing at all.

In fact, when teaching in college, so many students could not hear compression at all - until it was at silly levels. I'd turn it up on a vocal, and I'd nod and then spot 15 blank faces. People hear reverb, and it's easy. It's less easy to describe the difference between one reverb and another. Delays on effects are the same - to hear it, you need to hear it and that really takes practice.

The word muddy we talked about a few weeks back. As in how can I make my mix less muddy? Then we found that quite a few of us have different opinions on muddy - but most are too much in the lower midrange. I'm not a pianist, but I play piano, so my left hand often creates muddy chords - too many notes in too narrow a range, and the bottom strings of a guitar, and high playing on the bass all head to the same point. That's what you need to look for - too much, too low. For me, it might actually mean deleting the piano left hand altogether, keeping the bass down the bottom, with no twiddly bits, and maybe using EQ on the guitar bottom end to ease off those low notes on the E and A strings. In a mix, this seems to add clarity - but when you solo that guitar you think it's a bit lightweight. You need to learn about adjustments on individual sounds to make the mix better, not have say, six perfect solo tracks. They rarely work well with the others.

Your quest for free stuff is admirable, but sometimes, you just cannot get what you want for nothing - one of the recording things. They are great to learn with though. Spitfire Audio Labs series are excellent (and often wierd) freebies, but I've also got some really awful free ones too - so do some searching within your genre for things. Sound on Sound magazine and website are good places to read - and digest.

Personally - I'd pick something well known in your music genre and try to create it. Learn to identify sounds, find them, and then do a similar mix. Learn how faders alone often won't do what you want, so look at managing EQ properly. EQ by cutting and EQ by boosting (or both) are both common. For me - I know that for a drum track, not individual drums, I want a bit of boost in the highs and a bit of cut somewhere between kick and snare - this for me reduces my version of muddy, if you get me?

Look at the tracks you've recorded in the DAW and experiment. EQ I'd suggest first, then FX, and then compression.