Good information or tutorials re: mixing and mastering plugins

[dpaterson]

Hi.

The answer to this question MAY be obvious but I've spent a fair amount of time looking for info. and I'm not finding it.

I have a veritable hoard of mixing and mastering plugins. BUT and as nice as they may LOOK in appearance: is there anywhere that gives some real down-to-earth step-by-step instruction on the correct way to use them??? Fine example are iZotope's Insight, Blue Cat's Frequency Analysis, Voxengo has a few, and there's a bunch of others. I love those cloud type displays but what exactly are they telling me??? I've also heard it said that different instruments / tracks should not occupy the same space in the spectrum but how do you accomplish that??? Another fine example is this business of limiting. I mean to say (and as some may know by now): I spend a good deal of time (now) paying particular attention to my input levels (headroom and not blowing plugins out of the water from the get go). But when it comes down to the final output: stuff like iZotope would really like to simply push these output levels right up (loudness) using compression, limiting, etc. etc. etc. I guess what I'm asking is: how does all of this hang together when it comes down to it???

Regards,

Dale.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Have you looked through this topic? Mixing and mastering 101: a collection of helpful links.

Greg

[dpaterson]

Hello.

Thanks for that.

Nope. But I will now.

Specific information re: these lovely looking spectral analysers in there???

Regards,

Dale.

[Thomas]

Thanks for the resource Greg, I have bookmarked that page. There is also a book called "Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio", by Mike Senior, published in 2011 by Focal Press. I believe there's a 2013 2nd edition available also. It's 350 pages and I have yet to dive in.

[rrichard63]

... "Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio", by Mike Senior, published in 2011 by Focal Press. I believe there's a 2013 2nd edition available also. ...

I have read a lot of this book and can confirm that it is a very valuable resource.

[Mark Bliss]

The linked thread has many useful links and further references, including multiple mentions of the Mike Senior book. As I have said in recommending it multiple times, I have read many titles and it is IMO by far the best overall primer in getting started on the learning path. I have read my copy multiple times and it is the one book I most likely keep handy for reference.

Beyond that, extremely broad question.....

[Ian Craig]

My advice is basically this
1. use a 'Gate' if you need to cut out low level signals, such as noise.
2. Use a 'Compressor' (Dynamics Processor) if you need to amplify the level of a weak signal higher than volume controls are enabling you to, or if you need to tame troublesome frequencies (screech frequencies), though 'Spectral Dynamics' will work best if it matters that much to you to waste the time on them. If you don't need any of these functions, don't bother with compressors, they are stupidly overused.
3. If you want to bring down the level of troublesome peaks that keep a track too quiet use a 'Limiter' or 'Maximizer', then 'Normalise' the file.
4. Multi-band processing can be (in Kilohearts 'Multipass' host plugin and all their snapins at least) the simplest way to separate out different tracks into their own non-colliding frequency areas, so it could be possible to do it without 'Multipass' if you can figure out how.
There is plenty of other stuff that can be done simply like these things I've learned through endless experimentation. I don't really care what everybody says when they are trying to sell me software which would cost over £1000 if bought without upgrades and price reductions. There are large dangerous holes over all of it and they have a cheek asking the money they do for their software - for example, after I got iZotope RX6 I thought I'd convert some .wav files to .Mp3 for convenience (a process which, 20 years ago, I would have been forced to do to save space by deleting the .wav files afterwards). After I had done this I went to listen to some of them only to find that they had worse sound than a phone line because they had been converted to 32 KBit Mp3s. So if I had deleted 20 years of .wav files thinking it would be alright, I would have lost 20 years of work by using a program that they sell for over £1000. I eventually tracked down a listing by them of this 'bug' hidden away on their website (very useful after the fact). Lots of stuff is free and some of it is better than most of the non-free stuff 'Abstract Chamber' reverb being an example I use every day. It's all hit and miss.

[dpaterson]

Hello everyone.

Hey listen up: thanks so very much for all the info., comments, and links. Much appreciated. Still reading!!!

Regards,

Dale.