Read if you want to

[PsychoBandito]

well heres the deal

I'm kinda new to mixing and mastering and well I'm sure that there are shortcuts to things but I don't know them yet

I would like to be a recording tech or something in that nature and I'm already really into it (check out my mix of Until The Ink Runs Dry in the mp3 posting room)
My Link

well I spent about 24 hours altogether mixing and mastering that song apart from the actual recording of it

for me I just can't do that while school is on
i.e. I almost got booted from my algebra 2 E class cause I didn't do my homework and my teacher didn't care that I was mixing a cd

I would sure like to know some secrets but I would really like them to be all explanatory
meaning that I would like for you to tell me on here instead of refering to an article

I know its kinda asking a lot but listen to my mix and you will know that I'm not a total newbie

thanks if you read this

 

[PsychoBandito]

oh one more thing

how does one get the mix to be loud and yet not distorted cause whenever I make something loud or even with a compressor it just makes it all crappy sounding and fuzzy

 

[CoolCat]

i'd like to know that answer too.

read on, man...there's alot of posts here to read on this subject.

if you could afford it, maybe send your tune to someone and ask them as a favor to jot some notes down for you on what they did?
just an idea.

 

[chessrock]

for me I just can't do that while school is on
i.e. I almost got booted from my algebra 2 E class cause I didn't do my homework and my teacher didn't care that I was mixing a cd

I think you should focus on school right now.

Unless you just want to flip burgers or deliver pizza for a living. Seriously, I don't mean to talk like your Dad and lecture you, but school is more important. You'll never be able to afford a healthy gear habbit unless you're bringing in some dough ... and you'll never bring in any dough if you don't pay more attention to class.

If you want some secrets ... remember less is more. Less EQ, less compression, less vocal effect ... just a little less of everything can amount to a lot more. Focus on getting a good sound at the source so that you don't have to rely on as much processing after the fact.

Another piece of advice ... invest the bulk of your energy and dollars in monitors and your monitoring setup / environment before you do anything else. I know you're not going to listen to this advice. I can already see you dismissing it, but you'll figure that one out in time on your own -- hopefully.