Record Your Music at Home - Mixing and Mastering Tips

Arts & Entertainment

  • Author Markus Hex
  • Published December 20, 2010
  • Word count 1,306

With a little work we can record music at home. Even in the bedroom. To do this but we need some equipment: a good sound card (eg CreativeSoundBlaster) and a good microphone (eg Shure SM58).

In terms of mixing and mastering here are some tips.

Voice tips for singing are important for anyone who loves music, irrespective of the genre. A minimum of 95% the global population look forward to singing perfectly. A good number of them also keep wishing that they could make amazing sounds just as the velvet-throated singers (Josh Groban and Julie Andrews are great examples). That does not leave out Janet Jackson and his brother Michael Jackson. Although you might not believe in yourself, you have all the capabilities of making a great difference.

Here, I will be pleased to share a number of tips that will boost singing and the guidelines you ought to follow to avoid spoiling your voice.

Breathe control - The Core of Singing: It is very essential for you to appropriately control your breath because it has a large stake on your singing quality. Unexpectedly on the other hand, quite a number of expert singers like the pop stars are not aware of the means they can use for controlling their breath professionally. How they have the capability of maintaining their voice box devoid of spoiling it for a prolonged time is a mystery. The main reason for this is because singing using inappropriate breathing can spoil your voice.

To be aware of the fact that you can sing with appropriate breathing techniques, here are a number of concerns you ought to look at.

• Do you normally stop halfway when singing due to breadth loss?

• Do you experience voice loss after singing for some minutes?

• Do you undergo tension concentrating in your throat while singing?

If you answered in the affirmative, it means that you usually sing with inappropriate breathing techniques and you need to stop doing that and rectify it by mastering the voice tips for singing.

The appropriate breathing technique while singing is breathing deep through the diaphragm, which is underneath your rib cage and not via the throat. This is because the diaphragm inflates on the four sides to give to give more room for air. Maintain your initial position without changing until you are almost taking another gulp of air. The main explanation for this is that your body adjusts appropriately as soon as you start and abruptly altering it can change your tone. Take some time off to watch an opera singer and access whether you notice minimal movements in them. This ensures that you maintain the position of the singer's back that extends towards the back when taking in the controlled breath. In the intervening time, the throat of the singer is usually relaxed or open.

Prolonged inappropriate breathing might lead to the development of throat nodes and rectifying this condition might engage some surgery. Therefore, it is important for you to be in command of your future as a singer by controlling your breath. Most likely, you are wondering how you can achieve this. Well, this is not a problem. Underneath, in my signature, you will come across a great resource that will improve your singing and make you an expert immediately.

When you follow and practice all the voice tips for singing, you have the capabilities of singing perfectly like a professional.

Vocal reverb sounding muddy? Don't send so much bass to the reverb. Use EQ before the reverb and take out everything below 3,000 Hz. This gives a nice, bright splash on the plosives and hard consonant sounds. This can make the words more intelligible in a busy mix, too.

Put a delay before your reverb and set it to a 100% short delay with no feedback. Send a vocal line to the delay and then on to the reverb. In the mix, you'll first hear the dry vocal. The delay line then creates a gap before the reverb begins. This makes the room seem bigger, without needing a long (read: muddy) reverb time. Adjust the delay time to fit your music. On choppy vocals it's cool. Dry sound... silence... reverb splash.

Unique sounds Search for and use equipment, especially synths and outboard gear, that others don't usually use. Old gear can give you a very distinct sound.

Don't forget that EQ can be CUT to affect tonal quality, not just boosted. Do you want a deeper bass? Cut everything from 5K on up on the bass track. Cutting the highs keeps all the sound in the lower register without getting too dark or flabby.

Flange or chorus your ride and crash cymbals. Make sure to use a noise gate to eliminate the noise of the chorus or flanger when the cymbals are silent. This way the effect kicks in when the cymbals are struck with a unique wobbly sound.

Put a speaker and mic in your garage, basement, or tiled bathroom. Place them at opposite ends so you pick up the most room sound. Send instrument tracks to the speaker via your mixer send and return system and add real reverb to your mix.

Play those faders. As you begin mixing your music, keep moving the faders up and down slightly. You bring a little extra motion to your mix through this subtle manipulation of levels. Often I'll diddle with EQ and effects sends and returns, too. Nothing major. I'll just make a few minor tweaks live as the mix progresses. With software, you can automate these subtle changes, too.

Vary your tempo. You can be subtle by pushing ahead a few clocks and falling behind occasionally. Or be more intrusive by jumping tempo in greater leaps.

Don't forget about dynamics. I get lots of CDs and the one common thread is dynamics... or a lack of any. Get soft. Get loud. Swell. Fade. Mix it up. Subtract some instruments from the mix. Add in everything including the kitchen sink sample. If you don't know what I mean, listen to orchestral music, specifically try Mahler's Adagio to his Tenth symphony. You'll learn what dynamics really are!

Check your mix in mono (use TV speakers). If you use small speakers, check your bass content on full-range systems.

Less is more

Today's technology makes it very tempting to add layer upon layer. The side effect is your song or production gets rather dense and cluttered. Sometimes you must step back, reevaluate, and strip it down. Heed the advice of award-winning recording and mixing engineer Ed Cherney (Stones, Clapton, and Raitt): "Listen to what's there, see where the song is, [and] eliminate things to find the heart of the song. Nobody dances to what kind of gear you used."

A clear mind creates stronger music. Also, take time away. A mix made after ten hours of tracking rarely sounds good to rested ears. Tired ears = bad mix. So, make sure you take a break. And then return to your mix with fresh ears.

Mastering A final mix is NOT a master

Use mastering hardware or software to add the final sweetening to the stereo mix. However, don't over process too much. Mastering programs make it way too easy to push the sonic integrity of a piece. Often a little low end whump and high end sizzle coupled to some light compression to raise the overall level coupled to peak limiting to prevent digital distortion is all you need. Use your favorite CDs as a reference when mixing and mastering. Alternately, hire a professional mastering engineer who brings experience and fresh ears to your project.

Keep a notebook of your tricks and tips and compile a handy bag of tricks that brings your music alive.

For other tips please visit my site http://www.hexbeats.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=HeX_Beats

A brief presentation. My name is Markus and I'm spinning in the music industry for about six years. Especially in the area of hip hop. I am an artist mc & producer. I do hip hop at the online level now, production and services, trainer in music producing and make money from this. http://www.hexbeats.com

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