Whats up People. Newbie in need of help!

[Madman Doe-V]

Newbie here!!! Yeah i am new to this forum and i need major help people. I make beats no vocal recording which i heard is a totally different monster in itself See I just got the waves plug-in for my adobe audition (or cool edit to most people) and i am lost. I don't know much about mixing, only that you should pan to create the illusion of a sound stage but my question is how much and what instrument goes where? And at what point do you use the limiter? And on the compressor what does the (threshold, attack, release, ratio) stuff mean in simple easy none musical terms. And i remember reading an thread on another forum and they where talking about freq of the instuments should help in your equalizing. Huh? To be honest i see alot of good info on the site already but i still don't know the proper process to mixing a beat down if there is one. I use Reason 2.5, Acid pro 4.0 and Audition and that pretty much it. no monitors (i will be buying some soon) just home speakers. Can some one help me please i don't know where to start. its a ton of info to process when you don't know where to start. It's like you are in a junky room full of papers and materials tons of storage space but no way of knowing where to start the organization. Thank you in advance to all that take the time out to help a fellow out.

 

[Massive Master]

I hate to sound typical, but the information you seek is all in the manuals for your software. Especially the Waves stuff - Very well-written in plain layman's terms.

 

[warble]

Which Waves plugin(s) did you get? They have many different plugins and packages. If you really are a newbie, you ain't messin' around to jump right into Waves.

Waves it typically known for their high-end plug-ins and they can be useful tools. A good place to start would be the documentation that comes with the Waves plugins. As Massive stated - written well and pretty easy to understand.

 

[gordone]

Did you really spend ~$500 (or more) on the Waves package? (which one?) and not know what they do? Or did you stumble across them for free?
Your answer will determine what kind of help you get here...

PS - I'm a Software developer (as are many others here) and I don't like seeing other SW folks ripped off (which is what using them without paying for them is doing)

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

There is no 'right' way to apply effects, mixing or panning. It all depends on the song. Try things out and find out for yourself what is working and what isn't.

 

[Rokket]

There is no 'right' way to apply effects, mixing or panning. It all depends on the song. Try things out and find out for yourself what is working and what isn't.

Damn skippy. Use your ears, and read the manuals. Don't look for easy answers because 9 times out 10, they worked for the guy who gave it to you, but won't work for you, especially where mixing is concerned.
There, I went and got mad.