Tag: music

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It has taken me a while to discover all the ingredients I needed to make better quality mixes and masters. I’m in my 5th year or so of producing my music and I’m not trained in sound engineering. Most of my issues revolve around equalization, cleaning up the middle frequencies and removing resonances…not so much the balance of instruments or making them able to hold their own frequency space in the stereo field. So, let me get to it and recommend some really helpful websites. I have not read all the pages on any site, and you may already know a lot that is shared. But, you may also learn a few extra nuggets to put in your tool chest.

Just to clarify, I am not getting compensated in any way by any website or plugin company.

The first really helpful website is Music Guy Mixing . The site offers mixing and mastering services and trainings, but there is so much there to learn on multiple topics. The second website is Sage Audio. The link goes to one of their articles on creating the best mastering chain using free plugins. From there you can redirect yourself to any area you want to learn about. They also provide mixing and mastering services. Thirdly, Jono Buchanan Music, has a very informative YouTube channel about techniques, plugins native to Logic Pro, and creating space in your mixes. You could be there for hours. He offers courses in mixing and mastering. Good luck with all of the above. Also, through Mastering the Mix, I joined the EQ Academy which is ear training for discerning frequencies and changes. It is an app for your desktop that is like playing a game.

Now on to the most helpful plugins for my setup. Some of these are free and others I paid for. I’ll start with the free ones.

Cableguys – PanCake 2

Bedroom Producers Blog – BPB Saturation

Native Instruments – Ozone 11 Equalizer and Ozone Image 2

Klanghelm – IVGI 2 Asym Saturation

Polyverse Music – Wider 2

Slate Digital – Fresh Air 2

Tokyo Dawn Labs – TDR Koteinkov, Molotok, Nova, Vos SlickEQ

ZL Audio – ZL Equalizer

yg331- JS Inflator

Now to the plugins that require some money.

Tokyo Dawn Labs – TDR SlickEQ Mastering, TDR Kotelnikov GE, and TDR VOS SlickEQ GE

Sonnox – Oxford Limiter I caught this on sale

Celemony – Melodyne 5 Studio I caught this on sale as well

oeksound – Soothe 2 I bought it on sale

Plugin Alliance – Shadow Hills Mastering Compression

Leapwing Audio – StageOne 2 I caught it on sale

Mastering the Mix – Bassroom, Limiter, and Reference

I hope you find some or all of this information helpful. All the best with all you are creating! Sue

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It took me 6 songs and 4 years, but I finally did it. I’ve sent all my songs to a radio plugging company named iPluggers and each time I got the stock answer, “It’s not what we are looking for at this time.” Ok, so I sent my last release, “You Don’t Know The Trouble You’ve Caused” figuring I’d read more of the same. But, I didn’t. I received an acceptance letter! I chose this company because they have been around 13 years and they have a promo package that is reasonable. Being a relatively unknown brand, I didn’t want to spend 2-3 thousand on radio promotion. The best known stations tend not to play indie artists. My song was plugged for 4 weeks and it ended up in 14 different countries. It was placed on playlists on a few FM stations and internet stations, but received the most traction with companies that sell music/playlists/stations/custom channels to retail, hotels, resorts, restaurants, professional offices, cable networks, and B2Bs. Now, one of these companies has 400 million subscribers in over 150 countries. One company has 580,000 commercial locations in 41 countries. One runs over 100 radio stations, another has 50,000 locations in 20 countries. You get the picture. I won’t have any idea how often my song is played or where until royalties come in from SoundExchange, which maybe 9 months from now or more. There are services out there that you can pay to track your songs, but since I only have one out there right now, I’ll wait.

So what did I change…yes, I did purchase and add some plugins. Tokyo Dawn Labs has some great free plugins and some you need to pay for. I added their Slick EQ M to help me with mastering and their Slick EQ GE to help me on individual channels in the mix. I also downloaded their free versions of 2 compressors and an EQ. Great sounding transparent plugins. From PluginAlliance I purchased the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor. It is something I am still learning to use. From oeksound, I picked up soothe2. From Mastering the Mix , I added Limiter and Bassroom. I already had Reference2. From Leapwing Audio, I added Stageone 2. Cableguys has a free plugin called PanCake 2, which made my panning less time consuming. Lastly, I upgraded my Melodyne Editor to the Studio version (on sale). What else did I change…me…my propensity to keep parts, patterns, beats, and phrasing predictable. I allowed myself to have more fun with the recording and mixing. I believe also my hearing, my discernment, has improved. My critical listening skills are better. I believe it is a skill that can be continuously improved with dedication and honesty. So, I hope you found this helpful and continue on your creative journey! Best Regards, Sue