Mixing down to audio.... please explain what's the advantage

djevo · Post by **djevo** » Sat Apr 20, 2002 1:40 am

I'm still new in producing and aren't that far to mixdown a song into audio (is this good English).

But if you mix a song down into audio (I will not ask HOW to do that yet...) what is the advantage then? I believe you add effects then and that sort of things but is that the only thing?

From my opinion it's not possible to change the song anymore (like changing a drum loop) so another question is: in what stage you mixdown to audio?

Maybe it's a easy question but I still would like to know.

Thanks!

E-VO

[ This Message was edited by: djevo on 2002-04-20 02:42 ]

junklight · Post by **junklight** » Sat Apr 20, 2002 4:26 am

The easy (and perhaps most glib) answer is "when you have finished the song"

The final mixdown is typically the process of producing a complete version ready for distribution (wav,mp3,cd, etc.). I think that at this point it is generally accepted that all musical effects have been added etc. (although there are ALWAYS exceptions to rules like this) and that the only processing is on the sound of the track - ie. setting up its dynamics etc. so that it sounds good on different delivery devices (HiFi, Car Stereo, Headphones ,PA).

If you are just starting out then this process is NOT going to produce results as good as you like - mainly because its really hard!. Mastering engineers are typically highly skilled people. However with a nbit of practice and often with the help of some mastering software (i use T-Racks) or hardware (Finalizer or somesuch) you can get fairly good results .

I've mentioned this before on these pages but its worth mentioning again - you will find a wealth of useful info at <a href="http://www.sospubs.co.uk">Sound on Sound</a> - go through the back issues on line (on charge for issues more than 6 months old) for all sorts of articles.

cheers

mark

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Sat Apr 20, 2002 4:39 am

or try http://www.studiocovers.com/articles.htm

tihis site has all the Sound on Sound articles, as well as lots of other articles, archived on subject. You will find answers to many general and less general questions on music production there.

caleb · Post by **caleb** » Sun Apr 21, 2002 7:13 pm

I'm not sure if you are referring to bouncing a track to disk, or mixing down to a single stereo wave file.

The advantages of bouncing a track to disk is that it frees up DSP or CPU a bit so that you can add more tracks. You would have to wait until you're satisfied with the composition of that track before doing so however as you would lose the ability to make adjustments to the notes etc..

Quite often I like to bounce all my tracks to audio just prior to mixing them down to a single stereo file. This is a preference thing for me as I quite often don't worry about adding compressors, EQ and sometimes even reverb while composing - I only add more specialised effects like flanging and phasing etc. In this way, I clear the slate and am only dealing with a number of audio tracks all going through one large mixer and adding all my effects, EQing the tracks etc.

It's just a way of working for me really. I can probably do the composition, mixing and mastering all at once these days, but I like to keep the processes separate.

CAPO · Post by **CAPO** » Sun Apr 21, 2002 7:50 pm

Mixdown is when you take your tracks, lets say 16 of them, and you Mix-it-down to just 2 tracks (like stereo)... its like a funnel... you put in a lot of separate tracks and out comes just 2 tracks.. or one track (mono or stereo)... I guess you could do this as many times as you wanted.. normaly its the last stage before you master anything. if you record 8 different drums that all are playing at the same time, then you can mix them down to one track but you will be unable to change them individualy... then you could take that mixed down track and put it with some others (like synths, or vocals)... then you would have to in the end mix all of that down to whatever you were planning on making.. like a cd for example cd's cant play 8 tracks simultaniously which is why you have to mix down your 8 tracks in the first place... so that we, the audience, can listen to you, tha preformer, in our cars and discmans... sorry if that is too ADD for you... I have been drinking too much coffee lately

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sun Apr 21, 2002 9:40 pm

Please, don’t add your links here. It would be great if everybody could go to the Pulsar Creativity Forum to add all their best links about Mastering matters in general into the entry called: The all-important Mastering, so to have everything ordered in a single place.

Thanks very much for your links.

[ This Message was edited by: Nestor on 2002-04-21 22:48 ]

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sun Apr 21, 2002 9:41 pm

Please Djevo, refer and read the following posts to be found under “Pulsar Creativity” forum, here in PlanetZ:

The all-important Mastering

Desktop Digital Studio

Extremely helpful for computer musicians.

Mastering

ABOUT THE BALANCE-CONTRAST CONCEPT IN MUSIC CREATION

Creative Recording.

Mixing is one of the most difficult things you could learn to do! It will take you at least, a couple of years of experimentation and careful listening, of course, if you already have a very good ear to start with, and a lot of perseverance. I consider I'm just starting to get there after about 4 years of trying hard myself. Be patient and go on!

Sunshine · Post by **Sunshine** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 2:40 am

Hello,
it is advisable not to mixdown to only two tracks, for the one and only reason.... A mastering engineer would like to do all the automation and de-masking once more. It is also not advisable to "limit" your stuff on the sum. Better keep your stuff at -2/-3db and then do the final compression and limiting (when necessary) in a different process after all the other more or less necessary things where applied. Te reason for that is that it is preferable to have the option of gain adjustments in both directions. And the reverb should also be put to a different track, because gain adjustments/limiting would also affect the reverb, what might lead to a washy sound. And don´t dither your stuff whith 16-bit dither before all adjustments were made. There´s no way to correct an incorrect dithered mix. Ofcourse these are only proposals and no rules! Also for the dithering, "Scope" has got dither on individual tracks, which is ok. because those aren´t 16-bit algo´s. But it should only be applied when you´ve got the knowledge of how and when to apply dither. Make sure you target bit-depth is at least 24-bit, so further processing will not truncate as easily and the cumulative effect of a higher noisefloor will not come into play.

Regards,
Sunshine

[ This Message was edited by: Sunshine on 2002-04-22 03:43 ]

ronaldmeij · Post by **ronaldmeij** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 3:48 am

Your Right Sunshine..

In overal its better to bring your tracks to a mastering engineer who hase top notch compressors and and eq.

My advice 4 stereo submix

vocals
beat
instruments
reverb + Fx

Then the mastering engineer can combine them with u there to a good balanced 2 track stereo mix

This wil be a 100 % quality improvement for your mix and end product !

Why buy a bad compressor if the mastering studio has top notch gear for u to use.

Good luck guys and keep on rocking !

Ronald Meij.

junklight · Post by **junklight** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 4:36 am

You are of course right but you do presuppose that we are going to have someone else doing our mastering for us.

For some of us for whom music is just a hobby then we must do our own mastering.

Sunshine · Post by **Sunshine** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 7:59 am

I do not necessarily propose that mastering should be done by someone else. It depends on the situation I think. I mean, whether or not your stuff should hit the street or not. But even when music is just your hobby you might want to get the best out of your mixes/composition.... and try certain things yourself. It´s not so much the gear that turns a mastering engineer to a mastering engineer, it´s more the focus he has for the "finals", the knowledge he has of acoustic phemonenons and on how certain processes/plugs/gear can affect the program material. I once had the Millenia Media NSEQ-2, which is a very popular analog EQ... it doesn´t even sound that nice, but it introduces a minimum of phase shifts to the material. There are a few plugs that share the same characteristics! And quality wise, I can tell you this... A lot of ME´s do use direct-X plugs, because they aren´t bad at all when used wisely. It always depends on the material and what your after. Sequoia(Samplitude), Sadie, Sonic Solutions and the new Wavelab are the programs that are used. There´s nothing special about those apps, but they are bit-accurate! There can be so many mistakes made, which don´t have a direct influence on the result, but do come into play when further processing will be done... It´s more something like a certain order and philosophy which must be kept to ensure you the best result possible (technically and musically).

Regards,
Sunshine

djevo · Post by **djevo** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 11:17 am

WOW.... so mastering can be crucial for the final mix.... I don't understand how to do it, but like I said, that question will come in the future!

Thanks for all your replies and links. I will check out the other links on the board.

What shoul I do without you guys...