general questions about mixing and mastering

[Santuzzo]

I am working on my first EP which will have 5 songs on it.
I am done with tracking and now mixing everything.

What is the best procedure when mixing a set of songs (like an album/EP)?
Obviously I want the songs to have a somewhat coherent sound, so would it makes sense to work on each song for a bit and then going to the next , etc, comparing the mixes of the songs?

And then when I think I'm done with the mixing, what would be the best approach to 'mastering' (I should say faux-mastering, since what I am planning to do is use Ozone 5, but I don't really know too much about mastering yet, hence I'd say what I'm doing is 'faux-mastering')?

Should I render all the mixes onto a stereo WAV file and open those in a new project and apply Ozone to the stereo WAV or would I simply apply Ozone on the Master bus of the main project?

I know, the expert will probably tell me if I need to ask I'm not ready for mixing (leave alone mastering), but I want to give this a shot myself in order to learn more about it.

I'd appreciate any kind of input on the subject

Thanks,
Lars

[Mogwix]

Once you mix the first track you can use that as a template, but treat each song (and each part) individually else the mix will sound sterile. Make adjustments as you deem necessary.

As far as mastering goes, I only use a limiter and an EQ. Mixing is where you change the sounds, mastering is where you make those sounds consistent over different platforms. Mastering studios usually have a set of speakers that mimic an average consumer listening environment. If you can, bounce your mix down to a stereo WAV and listen to it on your headphones, on your stereo, in your car - typical places people listen to music - crank it up and take note of anything weird. If it sounds boomy or shrill, keep that in mind when you go back to master. Make some adjustments to the EQ to fix the issues you noticed earlier and try again. If it sounds clean and clear, go back and run it through the limiter. I use the Oxford Limiter and set it to brickwall. Bring down the threshold far enough to bring up the track's volume, but try not to crush too much of the dynamics and definitely don't push it to distortion. Try to keep a -1dB or -0.5dB "safe zone".

I strap the EQ and limiter across the master bus when I mix. Your mix will change once you run it through the EQ and limiter, so you'll probably end up going back to make changes once you hear how the output sounds.

[Mogwix]

Once you mix the first track you can use that as a template, but treat each song (and each part) individually else the mix will sound sterile. Make adjustments as you deem necessary.

As far as mastering goes, I only use a limiter and an EQ. Mixing is where you change the sounds, mastering is where you make those sounds consistent over different platforms. Mastering studios usually have a set of speakers that mimic an average consumer listening environment. If you can, bounce your mix down to a stereo WAV and listen to it on your headphones, on your stereo, in your car - typical places people listen to music - crank it up and take note of anything weird. If it sounds boomy or shrill, keep that in mind when you go back to master. Make some adjustments to the EQ to fix the issues you noticed earlier and try again. If it sounds clean and clear, go back and run it through the limiter. I use the Oxford Limiter and set it to brickwall. Bring down the threshold far enough to bring up the track's volume, but try not to crush too much of the dynamics and definitely don't push it to distortion. Try to keep a -1dB or -0.5dB "safe zone".

I strap the EQ and limiter across the master bus when I mix. Your mix will change once you run it through the EQ and limiter, so you'll probably end up going back to make changes once you hear how the output sounds.

[diocide]

If you want stuff to sound coherent, then get one song mixed as best as you can, then create presets for each track (in terms of eq, effects etc) and then apply those across each song. Use that as a starting point. If you need to tweek a bit here and there, then do so.

This is assuming you have relatively the same base tracks, both in terms of quantity and source material.

[diocide]

If you want stuff to sound coherent, then get one song mixed as best as you can, then create presets for each track (in terms of eq, effects etc) and then apply those across each song. Use that as a starting point. If you need to tweek a bit here and there, then do so.

This is assuming you have relatively the same base tracks, both in terms of quantity and source material.

[Santuzzo]

Thanks, guys!

[Santuzzo]

Thanks, guys!

[Cirrus]

As far as cohesiveness goes, I've never found I had to worry about it at all - you have a sound which is you, your instruments, the artistic decisions you make... Just treat each track as its own thing, do whatever you think you need to do to make each track as good as it can be.

As far as mixing goes, use your ears, not your eyes. If you find yourself adjusting an eq while watching the pretty graph change shape, you'll know what I mean. Always use your ears. Don't be afraid to do wild things if you want to, don't be afraid to do nothing if you don't need to. People get into habits like automatically compressing and eq'ing a snare track for example, even if it doesn't need it. Don't do that.

Use automation to focus the listeners attention over the course of the song, always remember that simply balancing the volumes correctly between instruments is the most powerful way to get a good mix.

[Cirrus]

As far as cohesiveness goes, I've never found I had to worry about it at all - you have a sound which is you, your instruments, the artistic decisions you make... Just treat each track as its own thing, do whatever you think you need to do to make each track as good as it can be.

As far as mixing goes, use your ears, not your eyes. If you find yourself adjusting an eq while watching the pretty graph change shape, you'll know what I mean. Always use your ears. Don't be afraid to do wild things if you want to, don't be afraid to do nothing if you don't need to. People get into habits like automatically compressing and eq'ing a snare track for example, even if it doesn't need it. Don't do that.

Use automation to focus the listeners attention over the course of the song, always remember that simply balancing the volumes correctly between instruments is the most powerful way to get a good mix.

[Santuzzo]

 

Originally Posted by Cirrus

As far as cohesiveness goes, I've never found I had to worry about it at all - you have a sound which is you, your instruments, the artistic decisions you make... Just treat each track as its own thing, do whatever you think you need to do to make each track as good as it can be.

As far as mixing goes, use your ears, not your eyes. If you find yourself adjusting an eq while watching the pretty graph change shape, you'll know what I mean. Always use your ears. Don't be afraid to do wild things if you want to, don't be afraid to do nothing if you don't need to. People get into habits like automatically compressing and eq'ing a snare track for example, even if it doesn't need it. Don't do that.

Use automation to focus the listeners attention over the course of the song, always remember that simply balancing the volumes correctly between instruments is the most powerful way to get a good mix.

 

Thanks !

About the cohesive sound: I did use the same guitar and rhythm guitar tones (except for one track), so that should sound cohesive, but what about the drums? I use programmed drums (Addictive Drums), I tihnk my presets on those songs are similar but not the same. I think the same drum presets would not work for all songs

Same goes for bass which I also program using Trilian...