What is Mixing and Mastering?

You might have heard of the “mixing and mastering” part of music and audio production, but you may not know exactly what it means. So here’s the break down of mixing and mastering in audio production:

Mixing

Mixing usually refers to making songs with multiple tracks or recordings into one cohesive final product, and making sure that everything is in its place. Think of it as literally mixing ingredients together to make one working batter. Mixing involves adding effects, levelling, tuning, eq, compression, and a lot of other components, to give you a beautiful song that everyone can enjoy listening too.

Mastering

Mastering is the final step of the audio production process. Mastering involves balancing the elements of a song and enhancing it to perform well on different systems and media formats. Think of mastering as the final polish of an audio production. Mastering involves different steps using tools such as audio restoration, equalization, compression, limiting, sequencing and spacing, and stereo enhancement.

Here’s a deeper look into some of the mastering processes.

Audio restoration

This step involves fixing and removing small mistakes from the original mix.

Equalizing

Equalizing fixes any imbalances in the audio, and brings out elements that need more depth.

Compression

This step fixes the dynamic range of the audio, it involves enhancing the louder bits of audio and bringing up the levels on the quieter bits of audio.

conclusion

After all the steps of mixing and mastering, you should have one balanced, complete piece of audio, and can move on to sharing your work to different platforms. Mixing and mastering ensures that your audio will have a great sound, and will be of much higher quality compared to the original recording.

Learning how to professionally mix and master can take many years of experience. If you need help mixing and mastering your song now, fill out the form here. We’ll set you up with our best audio engineer to do it for you, so you can focus on what’s important: the music.

So do you have any further questions? Let us know!

- By Julianna Martinek

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Curious about the other stages of music production?

Check out these blogs to learn more:

Songwriting

Arranging

Tracking

Editing

Best External Microphones for Your iPhone

If you are seriously looking into recording videos, music, and podcasts on your iPhone, you should consider buying an external microphone to give your audio the best quality. Here are some of our suggestions for great external microphones on iPhones. These are all compatible as long as your iPhone has the lightning port.

Rode SC6-L

This mic is great for interviews, as it features an input and output breakout box that allows for two mics and one pair of headphones. You can also record on separate tracks through the app.

Rode VideoMic Me-L

This mic is directional, and allows you to focus on one noise source while reducing other noises around you. It comes with a clip and windshield to secure your mic even further and to protect it in harsh outdoor weather.

SHURE MV88

This mic has a great sound quality. It’s pocket-sized and compatible with iOS. It has an all-metal construction with both directional and stereo pickup. You can download the Shureplus MOTIV app to change different settings on the mic as well.

ZOOM iQ7 Mid-side

This mic features a capsule that can be rotated in order to be used horizontally or vertically. It also has two directional mid and side elements that can help you record audio coming from different directions.

ZOOM iQ6 X/Y

The ZOOM iQ6 X/Y features two unidirectional recorders to cover wide areas and center sound sources. You can change the analog dial to suit your needs, and choose the best option mic gain setting whether you’re in a loud area or a quiet one.

Conclusion

All of these mics are of great quality, so be sure to do your research and choose the one that best fits your needs. When filming and recording with your iPhone, other additional equipment might also be your friend as well.

So which mic will you choose? Do you have others to recommend? Let us know!

- By Julianna Martinek

The Top 6 Podcast Hosting Websites

There are many different websites that offer to host your podcasts, so choosing the one that is best for you can be more difficult than it should be. Whether you want to start a podcast, or you’re just looking to find something better, this list can surely help with that.

In order to start a podcast, you will need to sign up with a website to create your flow and to store your sound bites. The best podcast hosting websites will be easy to use, and will be of great quality.

Here are our top 6 hosting sites

1. Podbean

2. Captivate

3. Buzzsprout

4. Transistor

5. Castos

6. Simplecast

Podbean:

Podbean is great for those who are newer to podcasting. Their plans start at $9 a month, which allows unlimited uploads, advanced stats, etc. Podbean also is available on iOS and Android.

Captivate:

Captivate is a great new podcast hosting website, it has many features to help make your podcast the best, and none of the features are overly complicated, so it’s great for first time users. You can also add as many team members as you want to your podcast. They also added an easy sponsorship kit that allows you to highlight your most recent podcasts. Captivate is also mobile friendly, and also uses the colours you want. Their plans start at $19/month, which allows you to host an unlimited number of podcasts. They also have a 7 day free trial period so you can try it out for yourself!

Buzzsprout:

This website was meant for podcasting to be easy, but not at all limited. They have a great interface and an easy to use dashboard, so you don’t need to over complicate your uploads and can spend more time creating. Buzzsprout also regularly updates their features for the best possible user experience. Buzzsprout’s plans start at $12/ a month, there is a forever free plan, but your podcast episodes will be removed after 90 days.

Transistor:

Transistor is a newer hosting website that focuses more on brands and serious podcasters. Transistor allows you to host as many podcasts as you need, get statistics, add and manage your team members, etc. Their plans start at $19/month, and they feature a free two week trial.

Castos:

Castos allows users to integrate wordpress into their site. Their plans start at $19/month, which allows unlimited uploads and the ability to customize your own format. They also offer a free 14 day trial

Simplecast:

Simplecast has really cool embeddable players on their site. They also allow you to receive detailed analytics. Simplecast also has multiple different ways that you can format your podcast. Their plans start at $15/month.

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If you need help making your podcast sound amazing, we offer podcast production services that can elevate your brand and amplify your message. You can hear a sample of our work here.

We look forward to adding massive value to your podcast development process.

Contact us to get started.

Conclusion:

All of these websites will give you great results, and whichever one you pick should be up to you! Remember to consider factors such as price, analytics, simplicity, and other details that are specific to you and your podcast. So ask yourself: what criteria does your podcast hosting site need, and which is the best site to fulfill those needs?

- By Julianna Martinek