Mixing and Mastering using Pro-tools

Sushane Shankar said

Hi Nithya & Jay,
First of all thank u 4 creating dis topic Nithya…. M using an Mbox2 as well……
Jay… I’ve heard dat protools s d ultimate thing 4 Mastering…. but i dont know much abt it…. cud u guide me d basics of mastering pl?
And also i use a dynamic mic (yet to invest in a condenser)…. so der s some kind of a non-clarity m not able 2 put my finger on……
Also, I use Neundo 4 midi triggering and d Mbox suddenly crashes the workstation and says “bad device”…. den i have to reconnect the Mbox 2 get it working again…… Wats dis error all abt?
Thanx :-)
“M Back” tadadattaaan (Billa Music)

http://www.muziboo.com/meeramanohar/music/vande-maataram-orchestration-by-sushane-shankar

Sushane

Sanour mohammad "sunny" said

Hi……

Not that I am trying to sound more complicated and make things more confusing but before even one gets into Mixing and Mastering, they have to understand the proper definition of these words…….

Mixing and Mastering are two different terms with completely different meaning and work……

Pro Tools or any other software cant be good for Mastering, until and unless we use some hardware/software based plugins. The additional processing depends on what kind of plugins do we use. There are different sets of mastering plugins as well….

The basic difference between Mixing and Mastering is a myth most of the times and different people make different comments about it……
In simple words, Mixing is a process where you equalize, compress, overall process and adjust the volume of more than one tracks and bounce\render\mixdown them together……Singing on a karaoke track, mostly, u have only two tracks….One of the song, other your voice……It increases if one is singing chorus and stuff…. In a professional environment, for a song, the no. of track can be anywhere between 100-300, depending on the song and how was it produced……Mastering on the other hand, is a process where you equalize\compress\limit and perform other processes on a single Stereo mixed track to make it sound Tighter\softer and to make it louder……

Mixing and Mastering are different form of art and one cannot explain it on Theory basis and we all have to actually experience it with our own ears…. For example, during Mixing a song, one singers voice becomes soft and bright as soon as we push 8k to 14k (frequencies in EQ) with a 3 db bandwidth. The same process can make other person sound harsh. Its all about your Ears and how you want to treat your stuff!!!

When I started mixing, I used to listen to other songs for hours to understand how they mix their songs. I would compare my mixed songs to some English songs….Though they would never sound the same, I would atleast achieve better quality……

For any other info, please reply in this POST……

Cheer!!!

Sunny – Cheers to a Musical Life!!!

Sushane Shankar said

Wow…. thanx a lot Sunny bhaiya & Farhan…. I’ve been facing problems wid mixing off late wen i do arrangements…… sumthing seems to be lacking…… d song doesn’t sound tight enough….
But ur advice s a very gud idea…. i’ll try listening to the other songs and try 2 understand their respective mixes……
Thanx a lot ppl 4 such a quick response….!!
“M Back” tadadattaaan (Billa Music)

http://www.muziboo.com/meeramanohar/music/vande-maataram-orchestration-by-sushane-shankar

Sushane

Sanour mohammad "sunny" said

Hey Farhan…… I said MASTERING……“Pro Tools or any other software cant be good for Mastering” :)

For mixing its a very decent software and adding external plugins (software VST plugs) will make a perfect combo……

Hardwares are too expensive for anyone to afford……Until and unless its a big studio who have all the budget for it. A normal EQ unit by Neve will cost anywhere around 2000$ …. For now, we can settle down with Softwares :)

I use WAVELAB with a combination of plugins for MASTERING… Some of them are Brainworx, Flux, Izotope Ozone, CryQ, Crysonic, Sonnox etc……

For Mixing there are plenty of plugins….

There are many Vst’s for reverb as well….I dont like internal Reverbs provided by Nuendo or Protools….I prefer ALTIVERB 6, Ik Multimedia CSR bundle, Wave Arts Masterverb etc.

This MIXING and MASTERING world is endless….Just keep learning on…. I am still learning!!!

Sunny – Cheers to a Musical Life!!!

Sanour mohammad "sunny" said

Hey Sushane……

Again for the track to sound tight, arrangements and the music production part is really important…. We can do amazing things on the MIX table but not without a well arranged track…. One has to start working on their sounds and the way they play and treat their stuff….Everyone uses the same VST’s these days, but its just the way they use it….Sometimes a song with just Rhythms, Bass and a voice also will sound tight….You can see that with most of the Hip hop and Rap songs……

Overall its all about treating your music like your baby :)

Sunny – Cheers to a Musical Life!!!

Sushane Shankar said

Hi Sunny Bhaiya….
M sorry if my questions are pretty basic but m new 2 dis stuff…… cud u gimme a guidance an the essential parameters of mixing…. i think it’ll help us all….
coz when i mix a voice…. i just do some eq and add a bit of reverb…. i’ve rarely used compressors n stuff…. cud u pl explain the purpose of the basic mix plugins pls?
And as far as the vsts go, i guess u r 100 % right…. the arrangement matters…. will try 2 improve on dat….!! :-)
Thanx a lot bhaiya….
“M Back” tadadattaaan (Billa Music)

http://www.muziboo.com/meeramanohar/music/vande-maataram-orchestration-by-sushane-shankar

Sushane