Mixing and mastering - what is it? Programs and headphones for information and mastering

Numerous observations of the work of different sound engineers lead to the conviction that the ability to do mixing and mastering is a real gift, which is encountered in people much less often than musical ear. If you use a calibrated monitor when working with graphics, not distorting the picture and accurately transmitting the color, then in the case of sound you need good speakers. This will be the only benchmark for us. Sometimes special headphones can help for information and mastering, but still specialists work mostly with speakers.

Unlike video monitoring, working with sound is much harder. It's all about sound waves. They have the property to reflect off the floor, ceiling, walls and various objects. And the properties of reflection will vary depending on the height of the wave. In this article, we will describe in detail about such a difficult activity, as mixing and mastering the example of a home recording studio. So, let's get started.

Mixing

Let's start with the definition of this term. Mixing is the process of processing audio before mastering, which includes six stages:

• Normalization;
• Compression;
• Equalizing;
• Noise filtering;
• pan;
• sound effects.

We will analyze them in order.

Normalization

First, normalization is a process of sound processing. And secondly, this is the first stage in the struggle for the loudness of music. Normalization can be done in the program Cool Edit Pro, which will be discussed below. To do this, go to the menu item Effects and select Amplitude-Normalize.

Compression

Compression is a very important step in the field of mixing and mastering. It is she who distinguishes professional records from amateur ones. Spending enough time to work out the dynamics, you will get high quality.

Causes of complexity

1. If the effect is correct, it is very thin, but it is felt in the recording. Although it can not be heard as, for example, flanger.
2. The compressor can not work all the time. Most of the time you hear a sound without his participation. Therefore, the diagrams of the compressor and its level are almost indispensable here.
3. You can not consider all compressors to be the same. Despite the simplicity of the idea - lowering the signal level when passing through the threshold, the performance may be different.

Using a high-quality compressor will help to smooth out all the flaws in the sound.

The Basics of Compression

The most common analogy is the sound technician, twisting adjusting knobs and monitoring the signal level. The way he scrolls them is called a ratio. For example, a ratio of 3: 1 means that if the threshold is exceeded by 3 dB, the engineer adjusts the knobs so that the signal exceeds the threshold by 1 dB.

Equalizing

Equalizing is a frequency correction of tracks and one of the most crucial moments before mastering. Any frequency adjustment is performed prior to processing the composition with other effects.

Those who understand such things as mixing and mastering know that the equalization of vocals is a big problem for almost everyone. If a good sound can still be imitated with quality samples, then a poorly recorded voice can not be fixed. Virtually none of the fans have an expensive studio microphone, and if there is, then, as a rule, it is incorrectly selected. In a professional record, a properly selected microphone is half the success. The second half is a properly processed voice. Due to the fact that the material initially low quality, the voice should be treated with a double attention.

Noise Filtering

If you use a dynamic microphone directly connected to the sound card when recording sound at home, the resulting file will contain many unwanted noises. Some of them will help avoid simple foresight: turning off the TV, closing the window, checking the stability of the microphone stand, wearing soft shoes, etc. However, some sources of noise can not be removed. For example, the noise of an electric guitar or the microphone itself connected to a sound card through a line input.

Pan

Before the mastering procedure, the vocals must be distributed between the listener's ears. Or, as the sound engineers say, between the right and left channels. This distribution is called panning. In the home studio, it is conducted using the pan controls. In English versions of programs they are designated as pan.

The easiest way to do it is to pan through the headphones, but you will have to check the result of your own work by listening to the finished mix in the columns.

Sound effects

To get a "tasty" mix, you need to add sound effects just like spices, sugar and salt to your food. It's like makeup for recording (after all, all the artists put it before going on stage). Sound effects fill the music with magic content and give it a sense of flight. They are used both in combination with each other, and separately from each other.

What is mastering?

Sometimes a gross error may occur during the recording process. In this case the musicians joke: "We'll fix it on the mastering". The meaning of this joke is the same as the famous expression: "Humpbacked will fix the grave." If mixing is the process of creating one track from a set of mono and stereo tracks, then mastering is the further work with the resulting result. It assumes the last processing of the record before it is released to mass production on discs.

So, we decided on what mastering is. Now find out how much it includes the stages. There are only five:

1. Professional sound. The main task of this stage is to add the finishing touches to the existing record. It is necessary to level the levels, analyze the overall smoothing of the track, etc. In general, it is necessary to make the sound professional.
2. The overall harmony of the whole disk. Equal attention is required by the harmony of all the compositions of the disc together with consecutive playback. Does everything sound exactly? Are there any mismatches in the levels? Does the CD have its own "character"? At this stage it is important to achieve a minimum difference between the sound of individual tracks taking into account the overall picture.
3. Preparing for replication. This is done at the factory.
4. Specificity of analog sound. It is difficult to say something unambiguous, but in general, analog equipment is a source of additional nonlinear distortion. This makes the sound much better. For example, an analogue equalizer can introduce hardly noticeable per-channel phase delays. A high-precision digital equalizer does not have such a "lack". But this does not mean that he is more musical. In the case of enrichers and compressors, it is still more difficult. Although it is this specificity of analog processing that gives the music depth, brightness, bass and warmth, making the overall sound more pleasant.
5. Graphic tools. Some sound engineers, who consider commercial intelligence and mastering their true vocation, do not need sensors. They can determine the frequency and level of compression by ear. The mere mortals, of course, need a variety of sensors and monitoring the position of the knobs, the adjustment of which allows you to visually display the changes made to the sound. Nevertheless, in this activity the ears are the best working tool.

Mastering and Information Programs

There are a lot of reviews on the Internet on this topic. We will tell you about the two best programs, in our opinion. For information, Cool Edit Pro, which has an excellent interface and ample opportunities for working with stereo files, is suitable. For mastering, we recommend T-Racks24. It emulates several lamp devices: limiter, compressor and equalizer. Most respected experts praise the warmth and softness of its analog sound.

Mastering Effects

We list them:

• Equalizers (balance formation).
• Expanders, limiters and compressors (dynamic range of recording). In order to work with the dynamics of a certain frequency range, multi-band dynamic effects will be needed.
• Effects of a stereo image (expand the space of sound).
• Reverb (add extra shine for recording).
• Noise suppressors (noise filtering).
• Harmonic exciter (help in the revitalization of the recording).
• Maximize the volume (increase the recording volume while limiting the peaks).

Conclusion

Now you know what mastering and mixing is. We hope that the article was useful to you. And finally, remember: in order to reach heights in this area, you need to master the technical techniques of information tracks, and also cultivate and educate your own sense and taste of sound, thereby creating a unique sound.