I've been lurking this forum for sometime now, contributing the rare post about an effect or a thread in the "Rate My Mix Section." I've noticed a lot of new guys post about trying to get more "pro" sounding mixes, looking for presets or better ampsims, mastering plug-ins etc..
I wanted to write this not only for new members, but for myself as a reminder of what I need to do to get better. An experienced user of this forum will have heard most of this a thousand times, but people still task the boards with the same questions.
We know all too well the response this is usually met with. Im sure a pretty good amount of people will be left confused by the sometimes cryptic response of our more established members.
What separates these guys from the noobs, in my opinion, is something that all pro's know and do even if they never think about it. The mantra "the devil is in the details."
What makes a pro sound?
Audio is like stew, and like stew it can only be as good as the ingredients put into it. Just like you can't add poorly butchered chicken into a stew and expect it to be delicious, you can't have guitar tracks that are poorly tracked/DI'ed/miced or whatever and expect them to sound good. Just like you can't expect tasty chicken to arrive in the back of an unrefrigerated Toyota Tacoma, do not expect good guitar tracks out of bargain, clippy and noisy pre-amps and converters. Focus on getting pristine tracks into your DAW on step 1.
Why does Emril have a cooking show and thousands of other chefs don't - he doesn't have any secret special chickens or holy salts and herbs that he sprinkles over every dish. Its because not only does he know what seasoning goes best with what meat, he knows why. This is the same with all effects processing, having a Sturgis or Sneap preset will not make any guitar track you ever run through any processor sound like theirs, you must know what cuts or boots make a good sound relative to your own source material which can be infinitely different.
Start sounding better.
Learn what is necessary to get a proper raw signal, find information on correct tracking techniques, quality mics or DI, good amps, and guitars.
Learn how your plug ins work, stop relying on guides and presets. Instead of trying to find the perfect metal guitar EQ, learn what frequencies guitars need to occupy in a mix and how to attenuate that properly. Instead of posting about how to stop your mix from pumping learn what compression is, what attack, release, and ratios are and their respective functions
Study your favorite mixes, learn what sounds, panning, automation and amounts of effects worked well in the tracks you love. Reference them in your DAW (bypassing any master bus processing of course) use frequency analyzers, and read interviews and articles.
Understand that the professional quality of a mix doesn't come from a magic VST, but from the culmination of a bunch of different quality sounds and tasteful intuitive mixing which may not even be noticeable on an average listen.
And above all else,USE THE SEARCH FEATURE
I wanted to write this not only for new members, but for myself as a reminder of what I need to do to get better. An experienced user of this forum will have heard most of this a thousand times, but people still task the boards with the same questions.
We know all too well the response this is usually met with. Im sure a pretty good amount of people will be left confused by the sometimes cryptic response of our more established members.
What separates these guys from the noobs, in my opinion, is something that all pro's know and do even if they never think about it. The mantra "the devil is in the details."
What makes a pro sound?
Audio is like stew, and like stew it can only be as good as the ingredients put into it. Just like you can't add poorly butchered chicken into a stew and expect it to be delicious, you can't have guitar tracks that are poorly tracked/DI'ed/miced or whatever and expect them to sound good. Just like you can't expect tasty chicken to arrive in the back of an unrefrigerated Toyota Tacoma, do not expect good guitar tracks out of bargain, clippy and noisy pre-amps and converters. Focus on getting pristine tracks into your DAW on step 1.
Why does Emril have a cooking show and thousands of other chefs don't - he doesn't have any secret special chickens or holy salts and herbs that he sprinkles over every dish. Its because not only does he know what seasoning goes best with what meat, he knows why. This is the same with all effects processing, having a Sturgis or Sneap preset will not make any guitar track you ever run through any processor sound like theirs, you must know what cuts or boots make a good sound relative to your own source material which can be infinitely different.
Start sounding better.
Learn what is necessary to get a proper raw signal, find information on correct tracking techniques, quality mics or DI, good amps, and guitars.
Learn how your plug ins work, stop relying on guides and presets. Instead of trying to find the perfect metal guitar EQ, learn what frequencies guitars need to occupy in a mix and how to attenuate that properly. Instead of posting about how to stop your mix from pumping learn what compression is, what attack, release, and ratios are and their respective functions
Study your favorite mixes, learn what sounds, panning, automation and amounts of effects worked well in the tracks you love. Reference them in your DAW (bypassing any master bus processing of course) use frequency analyzers, and read interviews and articles.
Understand that the professional quality of a mix doesn't come from a magic VST, but from the culmination of a bunch of different quality sounds and tasteful intuitive mixing which may not even be noticeable on an average listen.
And above all else,USE THE SEARCH FEATURE
