The Benefits of Professional Mixing and Mastering

Thanks to music streaming and digital music platforms, independent music artists have the ability to make and release their albums, from creating the music to releasing it for licensing or streaming. Working with a record label has become a thing of the past for many music artists. Musicians also have the advantage of keeping all rights and ownership and deciding where they want to submit and distribute it. 

When it comes to mixing and mastering your music, this is where many artists can fall short in the quality of sound. Sound engineering knowledge is not easily accessible. The most technically savvy and professional audio experts understand how the most subtle alterations and modifications can affect the overall sound, tone, and message within a piece of music. 

Some musicians may not realize the importance of professional mixing and mastering. However, as an independent musician, even if you have a DIY approach to your music, you should research and look into the benefits that investing in professional mixing and master can offer for your music career.

WHAT IS MIXING AND MASTERING, EXACTLY?

Music mixing and music mastering are two different things but typically are combined since they complement one another. Mixing is the adjustment and combination of audio files together, while mastering is the fine-tuning of the entire audio to give it the best sound when listening.

Many music artists, even those with the equipment for good sound quality, don’t always know what they are listening to or looking for when attempting their own mixing and mastering. The mixing process being the first step is one of the most vital parts to creating balance with instruments, electronic sounds, and voices. Mastering is the final step before making your songs ready for distribution and licensing.

To provide a little more explanation, let’s break down each element:

Audio Mixing: The process of mixing involves taking the recordings of individual tracks, be it voice or instrument, and converting it into the stereo or multichannel format, or more plainly, blending all of the individual parts that make up a song and creating a “put together” version.

You will be doing the most editing with the mixing since this is where you will blend chopped-up, recorded parts and layer them together. If you have a good ear, you might attempt to do this yourself, but you have to understand voices and instruments to reach the correct highs, lows, mids, and everything else in between. 

When creating the audio mix, you will utilize audio software and the main objective is to balance all of the individual tracks together. It may require:

• Applying filters, such as highpass, lowpass, fades, EQ, reverb, and compressors to create a balanced mix;

• Adjusting pitch and tempos to match up timing and correct keys;

• Balancing the track levels (may require you to listen between speakers to develop the stereo sound); and

• Ensuring every track can be heard when played together.

Depending on the audio software you are using, you may need some filters and plug-ins, possibly even a bundle, to obtain all of the filters and changes you can make in the recordings. Then, once your mix is complete, you can move into the mastering.

Audio Mastering: Mastering is the final process of polishing the mix into the best presentation for distribution. The main objective with mastering is to enhance and advance your already well put together mixture in a final form for listeners. 

When developing the mastering, you will utilize more fine-tuning skills with your audio filters, such as EQs, stereo wideners, and saturation, giving the mix a streaming-friendly sound. Mastering is a separate process from mixing, but sometimes engineers, especially more expert sound engineers, can do some mastering while they are mixing. It is the stage where a track is assembled and adjusted for its final, cohesive flow. Don’t forget in this stage to add Fade-ins at the beginning and end of the track, as well as labeling and noting your metadata.

If you are a beginner, this production process can be highly time-consuming. You need to wait until your mix is finished before doing any of the mastering so that you have the opportunity to listen to the track multiple times on different devices and be sure that you are ready for that next step. Of course, the better option would be to utilize a professional in mixing and mastering. 

GET A LEG UP ON THE COMPETITION

With internet music streaming and a plethora of music libraries and playlists out there for people to listen to, musicians are always looking to find ways to stay ahead of the trend. One of the most effective ways to help your music stand out above other independent musicians is by working with professional sound engineers who have vast experience with the most updated technologies and audio hardware. 

Professionals in mixing and mastering can provide your tracks with more than just more precise sound. You will need those types of results to ensure that your tracks are the ones people listen to and say “wow.” 

Many sound professionals understand what it takes to ensure that your music ends up being featured and distributed through a library of music to license for your videos. They also have the know-how to correctly format your music digitally to give you all the most searchable terms for creatives to choose your music for their projects.

LEARN ABOUT IMPROVING YOUR AUDIO

Sound engineers spend countless hours listening to sounds and can detect unwanted noises, hums, or other changes that affect the overall quality of your music. So you should do yourself a favor and find out if you can sit in while they work or listen to the quality from the rough recording you made versus the finalized product after being mixed and mastered. You will be surprised at how different they will sound.

Many mixing and mastering services or engineers understand all of the terminologies that go into their craft. If you want to ensure that your musical tracks are being taken care of properly, you should too. 

It can help you know things like depth, volume control, EQ, reverb, and more since these are the tools used when creating the master recording. Even though you may not be using them right away, if sound engineering interests you and you have an excellent ear as a musician, it doesn’t hurt to learn something new.

SAVE YOURSELF TIME AND (WASTED) MONEY

If you do not know how to mix and master yourself, don’t try it blindly. The process of mixing and mastering tracks can take time, and it requires a good ear and a lot of dedication and patience. In addition, if you are not trained in the art of how to utilize audio programs and plugins, you will spend way too much time trying to get it right when it comes to your music.

Not every piece of audio hardware or software is the same, either. Based on things like your music style or genre, you may not know what the best type of equipment is to buy, and you could end up wasting your money on programs that do not benefit the sound you desire. Instead, save yourself time and money by putting it towards hiring and working with a professional sound engineer.

GAIN CONSISTENT SOUND QUALITY AND RECOGNITION

Many independent artists and musicians dream of the day when their songs can be immediately recognized when just the first few notes or bars are played. One thing that hiring a sound engineer can do for your music is just that - give you that perfect level of dynamics and achieve that sound that people will be able to recognize right away.

Engineers will create smooth transitions to make it sound like it was recorded in just one take. But, of course, sound quality can vary depending on multiple factors, even if you have a decent home studio setup. Also, when you’re not recording it all in one session, it is sometimes easy to detect when things are cut off or changed. But, with a mastering expert on your side, they can eliminate all of that for you.

ENHANCE YOUR STATUS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

While you can always attempt to mix and master your music on your own, there are many added benefits to working with a sound professional. The mixing and creation of a master recording are some of the most vital pieces of music production, and they can make or break you as a true musical artist. 

From understanding the need to create the best high-quality sound to provide you with a format that will ensure your music gets heard, there is no excuse not to utilize a tech-savvy sound engineer for your tracks. They can help you learn more about the importance of audio and create the big picture sound that reflects your music in the best light.

Written by Nicole McCray

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If you need further help creating your own music, we offer audio production and online mixing and mastering services that will help you elevate your sound and bring your song to life!

We look forward to being a part of your success.

12 Must-Read Books for Entrepreneurs in 2021

Regardless of how far you’ve made it as an entrepreneur, you are always learning due to the unforeseen circumstances and challenges that are constantly coming your way. You have to be able to adapt and think quickly on your feet to solve anything that may appear.

A way to hone and sharpen these skills is by none other than the simple act of reading. Taking even just 5-minutes out of your day to read a page of any of the 12 recommended books below (listed in no particular order) can drastically improve your skills and make you an entrepreneur that is to be reckoned with.

1. Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore

Moore goes on about how to go about marketing and selling any unusual, out-of-the-norm products to any mainstream customers, focusing on the new service or product that requires them to change their behaviours in uncomfortable ways.

His theory mentioned in the book is called “The Technology Adoption Lifecycle”. It breaks down people into 5 groups and how they each adjust and alter themselves to the disruptive product/service:

• The Innovators (2.5%): 

• Early Adopters (13.5%)

• Early Majority (34%)

• Late Majority (34%)

• The Laggards (16%)

They’re all categorized due to the nature and actions they take upon themselves with the product. The innovator will typically buy the newest product to be up-to-date with the newest technology - they want the product for the sake of being the first one to own it. Early adopters look for new technology for strategic purposes. As for the early majority, when they see a product that becomes trending, they’ll start to use it as the new standard. 

Moore goes more into detail about the other categories in his book, focusing more on “crossing the chasm” between the early adopters and the early & late majority of customers as they are crucial to keeping these kinds of customers loyal to the company. 

2. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

As the title suggests, Carnegie gives you multiple tips and techniques on how to not only win your friends over but also how to influence those around you. 

Carnegie starts off by telling you to give up on the idea of winning an argument. In fact, avoid any arguments in general since 90% of the time both opposing sides will still think they’re the ones in the right and even if you do win an argument? You still lose as the opposing party has felt inferior to you - which is never a great feeling.

Another lesson he gives is: never telling someone they’re wrong. Rather, discuss with them and ask them questions about why they think what they think.

These are just some examples of what Carnegie has to offer in his book in what makes a great and successful entrepreneur.

3. Start With Why by Simon Sinek

“People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it.” - Simon Sinek

Sinek’s book takes a dive into his insights on how to attract loyal customers, a company culture and create a larger and much more positive impact on the world. He does so by mentioning the story behind the purpose of one’s business, answering the question: WHY?

His theory lies in two different ways to influence humans and their behaviour (including their buying decisions): Manipulation OR Inspiration. 

When it comes to manipulation, this will allow a person to actually take action as it can be seen as pressure from others to buy the product, however, even if this method is a way to get sales going, it isn’t very effective in the long-term. 

A better tactic is to inspire, by starting with why. He suggests that by communicating with your market audience and letting them know why it is that you do what you do is the key to capture customers and inspire them. This way, you create loyal customers who are actually interested in your business and what it is that you have to offer.

Sinek’s book helps improve on leadership skills, and the ability to inspire colleagues, peers and customers alike - everything a great entrepreneur needs.

4. The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau 

Guillebeau brings about what it’s really like to start a business, mentioning its challenges while also laying out for the entrepreneur how to start a new and successful business with a small team of up to 5 people using real-life case studies.

He mentions 3 main lessons:

Lesson 1: Make use of any and all of  your current skills
Don’t spend the entirety of your bank account on learning new skills, rather focus on the ones you already have and see what you can do to make use of them to help further your business.

Lesson 2: Starting small, focus on good marketing
Get creative. Find marketing strategies that won’t break the bank such as blogging, collaborate with other small businesses - anything really to get your name out there.

Lesson 3: Take action over planning
Basically, do something, as “overplanning can lead to a quick death for many small businesses.” And if anything comes up along the way, then deal with it then and adjust accordingly as taking no action can put your business at a much higher risk.

5. The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

Tired of working a generic, boring 9 to 5 job? In this book, Ferriss gives you the nitty-gritty on how to create a  business while doing what you’re passionate about and turn the profits you make into a life of luxury to live like The New Rich.

Rather than being effective, be efficient, Ferriss says, as he mentions the 80/20 rule - 80% of the results will come from 20% of the action. In doing so, you can live like a millionaire without actually being one.

This new lifestyle he proposes allows for you to do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want - if you focus on flexibility and mobility. He gives you the tools such as delegating tasks to virtual assistants and simply redefining your mindset towards work.

6. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Covey states 7 habits for a much more effective and successful business and personality. Though your idea may be great, if you aren’t likeable, it’s just not as easy to gain customers.

Here are the 7 habits:

• Be proactive - take initiative. Do what you think is best.

• Keep in mind, there’s always an end to a beginning - start by visualizing what it is that you want, what your end goal is and create a plan accordingly.

• Priorities - what brings you closer to your goal? Do those things.

• “Win-win” strategies - allow for opportunities where you can create a growing relationship with others where you can both benefit off of.

• Listen, understand then learn when to speak - always listen first, understand the other, then speak when the opportunity arises.

• Harmonize - think and find ways to match the energy levels of yourself and those around you so you can achieve more.

• Recharge - Don’t forget to take time to rest, this way you’re able to do more and be more effective in the long-term.

The habits all help develop your interpersonal skills, as well as other skills that require interacting with others, such as teamwork and communication while maintaining a balance each and every day.

7. The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

Drucker shows how you can go about developing your own personal effectiveness. That, in a knowledge-driven world, people need to work on improving their effectiveness.

Here are 5 ways in how to begin doing them:

• Manage your time

• Build strengths

• Set priorities, focus on what it is that will allow for you to achieve your goals

• Focus on results and contributing yourself

• Make decisions that get good outcomes

Drucker’s book, though written over 50 years ago is still relevant to this day as these insights still apply to become an effective executive and what one should apply throughout their daily life.

8. The Hard Things About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Horowitz gives it to you down and dirty. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything on how hard it is to actually start and run a business. He wrote this particular book and in all of its brutal honesty to let entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners know what really happens when your business begins to fail and how to go about fixing it. 

He begins the book by telling a story of himself and how he became a business owner, starting as an engineer at another company to starting up a business with his new business partner Marc Andreesen. While the rest of the book is spent giving you, the reader tips on how to effectively run a business, taking the reality of things - the real problems and challenges it takes to run a business.

Horowitz even mentions the strong mentality he had to build as a CEO: “It’s like fight club management: the first rule of the CEO psychological meltdown is don’t talk about the psychological meltdown.”

9. The Lean Startup by Eric Reis

Have a great business idea? Reis’ book has a rather detailed approach in how to make that idea into one that is sustainable and will create paying customers for your product or service. 

The book begins with 2 categorized assumptions:

• Value Assumption: the belief of customers finding value in your growth, the assumption that you’re doing is going to work

• Growth Assumption: how you’ll actually attract customers and make a profit with your business over time.

Ries then takes these two assumptions and converts them into a plan - a hypothesis if you will and then guides you into finding quick, cheap ways for you to be able to test any hypothesis that comes up such as building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) or a promotional video with a website. Anything to get your business going. In doing so, it allows for the uncertainty of starting a new business to become more certain and going forward, to create a long-lasting company with increasing profits.

10. The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

This is the book for you if you’re a new startup company, introducing a new product or service to the existing market already out there. It’ll teach you strategies and tips on how to talk to new customers and gain any feedback that may be of actual value to you and your business.

It teaches you “How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you,” since you’re more likely to present your idea to a close family or friend and they will be more likely to be kind and encourage you rather than give you the hard and honest truth about whether or not your idea will really work in the real world.

Always begin by talking to customers about their lives, rather than immediately mentioning your idea. This way, you can actually see how their life and any problem they have may align with the context of your product and how to solve it.

11. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Kahneman’s book goes deep into the mind of the consumer, looking into the psychology behind one’s decision-making and judgment. A key read to better market your business and increase profits. 

He does so by separating the psychology into 2 different systems:

System 1 - Fast Thinking

• “Operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control.”

System 2 - Slow Thinking

• “Allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including complex computations. The operations of System 2 are often associated with subjective experience of agency, choice and concentration.”

And analyzes each one, explaining to you so you can better understand how and why you make decisions as well as aid in identifying which system you, yourself are using and what you should actually be using. 

12. Zero to One by Peter Thiel

“Focus on businesses that create something new.” - Peter Thiel

Thiel’s book addresses entrepreneurs, challenging them to take the world (as the title suggests) from 0 to 1 - as opposed to what it is in reality, the opposite. Basically, to create new solutions and products to also create something of value. But before jumping head first into it, he gives tips on the dos and donts of creating a new product or service.

He also mentions how, rather than creating new ideas, businesses strive to take existing products and improve them, even just by a little bit. 

So, if you’re looking to take the risk of creating something new that no one’s ever heard of out on the market, then definitely give Thiel’s book a read.

CONCLUSION

If you’re starting your own business then definitely look into at least one or a couple of these books to gain some insight into what it takes to run a successful business and be a glowing CEO. Each book is set to guide you with crucial information, as well as tips and tricks to improve yourself, your skills and your business on your entrepreneurial journey in hopes that you do make it.

Did anyone of these books pique your interest? If so, which ones? Let us know!

Written by Tina Phong

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If you need help turning your book into an audiobook, we offer audiobook production services that will help you reach a wider audience and increase your book sales. 

Learn more here and listen to some of our audiobook samples.

How to Record Guitar in Pro Tools

In this tutorial you will learn how to record your guitar in any version of Pro Tools (in 4 easy steps).

 

1. Get an Audio Interface

To begin you will need an audio interface to get started. This is what you will directly connect your guitar or microphone into, which in turn will connect via a USB into your computer. There are many options available to purchase, but today we will be using the Scarlett Solo by Focusrite.

For best results connect your guitar straight into your interface, bypassing all external pedals/ effects. This will give you a clean signal and a great starting point to play with everything Pro Tools has to offer. Adding effects to a clean signal is much easier then taking them away from a dirty one.

Note: It is important when first starting off to obtain as clean of a sound as possible, as this is ideal for mixing and mastering. The more experienced you are the more you can experiment with the pedals you have at home to capture the exact sound you want.

2. Setup Pro Tools

When you first open Pro Tools you will be given the option to create a brand-new blank project, or open one of the pre-existing templates. It is recommended to explore the pre-existing templates to get a feel for how to tackle and structure different genres, but for now we will be starting from scratch. To do so uncheck the “create from template” box and click “create” at the bottom right to begin. 

Welcome to Pro Tools! You should now see a blank workplace.

Now you will need to setup the playback engine to select which audio driver your computer needs to operate your hardware (Setup > Playback Engine). This will be the first step to setup your audio interface and speakers/ studio monitors. This should be a one-time setup unless you change your equipment down the line.

You will need to make sure you have all the correct drivers installed with Pro Tools. ASIO4ALL is recommended as it will cover almost all interfaces making this step as stress free as possible, and in our case is already connected. If you are using another driver or audio interface, you will see a drop-down menu to choose the different options.

Next you need to setup your hardware (Setup > Hardware). This will let you select the exact inputs and output you currently have plugged in and installed to your computer.

Note: Click the wrench icon in the corner to open the advanced options.

Make sure you also adjust your latency compensation once you are familiar with your speakers. Latency is the time it takes for your computer to interpret the signal coming from your guitar or microphone and send it through your speakers as sound. This may result in a slight delay in your output that needs to be compensated for.

Note: Latency compensation should be done after step 3, as you won’t be able to hear your guitar through your speakers until then.

3. Create a New audio Track

You are now ready to add your first audio track (Track > New). To record your guitar, make sure the settings are set to mono, and audio track. There are many different types of tracks that you can add to your workspace, but for now we’ll start with the basics. You also have the option to rename the track, which is useful when organizing a large project (can always adjust later).

Once you create the track, you will see it in your main workspace, but before you can use it you need to assign the correct inputs and outputs to the new audio track, that we just added to your system. If you don’t see the I/O section you can add it to your track by pressing the symbol at the top left of the track.

Next, arm your track to record by hitting the small record button on the right side. Arming a track is how Pro Tools knows which track you want to record on, which is needed when many tracks and instruments are being used in the same session. This will now let you hear your guitar being played through your speakers for the first time. You’ll know everything is working correctly when you see the sound meter levels reacting to your guitar.

Note: If the sound level is at the very top of the meter (in the red), you’ll hear unwanted noise making for a bad signal for Pro Tools to manipulate. Adjust the gain and/or volume input to be lower on your guitar and/or interface. Aim for the clearest input as possible. Latency compensation can also be adjusted at this stage. 

4. Record Your Guitar

With everything setup and ready to go, you are now ready to record your guitar! Press the Record Enable button at the top right of your screen, then hit the space bar or play button and Pro Tools will start recording. 

Click the space bar again or stop button to stop recording and save the audio you just played. You can now adjust and edit this track as you want to get the exact sound you are looking for. 

You can also add different effects on top of your audio file, using the built-in plug-ins Pro Tools has to offer, or third-party plug-ins available to purchase. To do so hit the blank space under the Inserts section of your track.

Many effects can be added on to one track, acting just as your external guitar pedals would, routing through your amp at home.

This is the basics of starting to record a track using Pro Tools, but there is much more that Pro Tools has to offer. Once you are an expert, you will breeze through all of this without a second thought. Keep learning and keep exploring all that Pro Tools is capable of!

Written by Mark Major

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If you need further help creating your own music, we offer audio production and online mixing services that will help you elevate your sound and bring your song to life!

We look forward to being a part of your success.