4 ms·

As a bedroom producer, I have to add that good mixing (carefully tuning each audio channel to remove frequencies that interfere with another channel) is more im

As a bedroom producer, I have to add that good mixing (carefully tuning each audio channel to remove frequencies that interfere with another channel) is more important than mastering. Mastering adds the finishing touches, but can't really fix mixing errors. Also don't get fooled by opinions like this: “When you only use computer stuff, everything starts smearing together, and a whole other mechanical aspect that isn’t musical creeps in. But the better the quality of your gear, the more the thing will sound real.” Obviously high end gear sounds great, but that doesn't mean that digital plugins and emulations can't sound equally good. The only part where I see an advantage on the whole audio - digital debate is modulation, but that's a different stage of making music.

patrickbolle 10y ago
bedroom producer here too ! the greatest thing about making music all in the box (or majority of it) is being able to mix on the go. majority of my tracks sound great (imo) before I even touch a limiter/mastering chain. lots of advice online says 'make the track and mix after' which is good if you are in the flow and can bust out a track in a day.. but if I make a synth sound I immediately mix it into the song and then start playing with chords
- kowdermeister 10y ago
  I also blended it into the workflow. It's really fast to add a high pass filter, set the gain and remove artifacts if needed. Part of sound design is mixing also for me. Before exporting I revisit all channels, but usually not much work left. It probably helps a lot that I do electronic music mostly.
- rudolf0 10y ago
  Everyone works differently. My problem is that if I start mixing as soon as I introduce a new synth, I get really obsessive and perfectionist over it and lose the big picture. At the moment, I try to just do some light sound design and mixing while building the track, then do the full mixing at the end.
- louthy 10y ago
  > the greatest thing about making music all in the box (or majority of it) is being able to mix on the go. That's no different to working out-of-the box. I have a 32 channel analogue mixing desk, many analogue synths and drum machines, outboard effects units (Lexicon reverb, 3x Eventides), outboard compressors (2x 1176s, SSL G buss, 8 x SSL 9K channel comps, DBX 1066), etc. The experience is much more like performing the studio, rather than tweaking something with a mouse one knob at a time. I find sounds, play something live with the track, get the levels right on the desk, EQ the channel on the desk, patch in compressors to shape the sound, and have 6 auxes always setup for reverbs, delays, etc. I can get to the sound I want much quicker than I ever could before in-the-box. Obviously it's horses for courses. Whatever works for you, it's the end result that counts. But being able to mix whilst making the music isn't exclusive to in-the-box.
louthy 10y ago
> Obviously high end gear sounds great, but that doesn't mean that digital plugins and emulations can't sound equally good. As a producer that started in-the-box and built out into pretty much 100% outboard gear (mostly analogue), I agree with you in principle. But to get something that sounds 'equally as good' definitely takes a lot more effort with plugins. For me personally this is a big deal because I thrive on being able to realise my ideas quickly - both in musical terms and sound design terms.

patrickbolle 10y ago

bedroom producer here too ! the greatest thing about making music all in the box (or majority of it) is being able to mix on the go. majority of my tracks sound great (imo) before I even touch a limiter/mastering chain. lots of advice online says 'make the track and mix after' which is good if you are in the flow and can bust out a track in a day.. but if I make a synth sound I immediately mix it into the song and then start playing with chords

kowdermeister 10y ago
I also blended it into the workflow. It's really fast to add a high pass filter, set the gain and remove artifacts if needed. Part of sound design is mixing also for me. Before exporting I revisit all channels, but usually not much work left. It probably helps a lot that I do electronic music mostly.
rudolf0 10y ago
Everyone works differently. My problem is that if I start mixing as soon as I introduce a new synth, I get really obsessive and perfectionist over it and lose the big picture. At the moment, I try to just do some light sound design and mixing while building the track, then do the full mixing at the end.
louthy 10y ago
> the greatest thing about making music all in the box (or majority of it) is being able to mix on the go. That's no different to working out-of-the box. I have a 32 channel analogue mixing desk, many analogue synths and drum machines, outboard effects units (Lexicon reverb, 3x Eventides), outboard compressors (2x 1176s, SSL G buss, 8 x SSL 9K channel comps, DBX 1066), etc. The experience is much more like performing the studio, rather than tweaking something with a mouse one knob at a time. I find sounds, play something live with the track, get the levels right on the desk, EQ the channel on the desk, patch in compressors to shape the sound, and have 6 auxes always setup for reverbs, delays, etc. I can get to the sound I want much quicker than I ever could before in-the-box. Obviously it's horses for courses. Whatever works for you, it's the end result that counts. But being able to mix whilst making the music isn't exclusive to in-the-box.

louthy 10y ago

> Obviously high end gear sounds great, but that doesn't mean that digital plugins and emulations can't sound equally good. As a producer that started in-the-box and built out into pretty much 100% outboard gear (mostly analogue), I agree with you in principle. But to get something that sounds 'equally as good' definitely takes a lot more effort with plugins. For me personally this is a big deal because I thrive on being able to realise my ideas quickly - both in musical terms and sound design terms.