XPRTNovice Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 So, you know how some pepole grew up fluently speaking Russian, for example, but then when they take a Russian class they fail? That's me with music. I've been doing music since I was 8, but now that I'm getting into the remixing side of things I'm finding that I am asking those questions that make a room go silent. Questions like "what's a limiter" or "what's a compressor" and those sorts of things. I'm an instrument-player, not a remixer by trade, and the remixes I've had success with so far have largely been by accident. I'm looking for a resource to bring me up to baseline. When to use EQ, when to use reverb, the difference between different types of reverbs...what the hell does mastering mean, vs. mixing...what's automation and how do I apply it...what the hell is quantizing? etc. I can go out and search youtube tutorials for the next three years, but that's a crapshoot. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 It's too bad we don't have a guides&tutorials forum. It's also such a shame that nobody writes remixing guides and puts them in their sigs. I guess you're on your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPRTNovice Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 Well, having already read your guide, and having already gone through the G&T forum, I wanted to see if there was something that was more baseline. Titles like "Chiptunes Without a Tracker", "Guitar Amp Buyers Guide" and "A Gear Guide For Multiple Budgets" aren't going to answer the questions I was just talking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Hey Joe, don't you have a mix pending posting? (Not the Taxi you Whistled For) Like, direct post (no panel)? So yeah, your question is suprising. These are some resources that have helped me (and continue to do so): The Dance Music Manual Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio Mixing Audio Also you can always find a wealth of information by Googling or looking on Youtube for a specific topic. The advantage there is you can find tutorials using your own specific daw. Rozo's feeling saucy today, haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPRTNovice Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 Hey, thanks for those resources. I'll grab them when I have some extra money in my pocket. They ain't cheap! I have 3 mixes pending including the 2 from the FF6 album, but I still needed a lot of help on the production side from some of the project directors. I still listen to OCRemixes and think "Wow, I have no idea how to make anything I do sound like that." And when I watch youtube tutorials and stuff, I myself flopping back and forth between understanding complicated subjects and balking at the most basic terms. That's why I'm looking for a "baseline". Not the Taxi You Whistled For was 100% instruments, recorded live and modeled after a live performance so there wasn't much production for me to do. I think I had reverb in there, and maybe some EQ. When you get into producing synthetic music, I very quickly start to become at a loss for how to do anything beyond hitting the record button Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 I suggest starting with Youtube. Type in "eq beginner tutorial" and see what comes up. You need to learn the basic concepts. Ok I just went to Youtube and typed in "basic eq tutorial cubase" and found several things, this looks good: You could do the same with compression, and reverb. Those are probably the three most important things to learn right away (eq, compression, reverb). After you get a basic understanding of what these things do, you should spend some time playing with them. Just make some random sounds in Cubase and really play with the settings on the plugins to see what they do to the sound. You're gonna have multiple "aha" moments, haha! Once you master the basic effects you can start getting creative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPRTNovice Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 You've given me a lot of food for thought, thanks. I also just found an electronic copy of a cubase manual at my local library that I am reading on my computer, and each section gives an intro with some basics before talking about the actual interface. I use Cubase almost exclusively, so this helps a lot. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Btw, are you settled in now? I was thinking of asking you if you wanted to contribute some sax or something to my shop song. Pm me if you want! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Questions like "what's a limiter" or "what's a compressor" and those sorts of things. When to use EQ, when to use reverb, the difference between different types of reverbs...what the hell does mastering mean, vs. mixing...what's automation and how do I apply it...what the hell is quantizing? etc. I'm pretty sure I've covered these in my guide, and zircon some of them in his. How could I explain eg the compressor better in the guide? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpretzel Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 There's a lot of stuff out there on the web, but culling the good from the bad is part of what I think you're getting at... I'm thinking that the addition of blogs to the site will help address that at some point, but also that upgrading the forums and allowing youtube & soundcloud embeds will also help. The main problem is one of curation; we need someone willing to put in a lot of hours & time towards building something out, and proposing a logical structure for the presentation of such information, with usable navigation. We can think outside the box on this a bit, because I think part of the problem might just be with presentation - forums can seem a bit unstructured, whereas a dedicated page that including onsite and offsite references might facilitate a layout that was more intuitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garpocalypse Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 Before you spend any money for mixing information take a look at Recording Revolution on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=recordingrevolution Best resource i've ever seen and it's all free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ectogemia Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 I found the demo project included with FL Studio to be extremely high-quality and high-yield as far as mixing, mastering, composition, and sound design techniques go. Assuming Cubase has high-quality demo projects packaged with it, maybe you should take a look at what those artists did and emulate their techniques in your own music. It's a great way to learn the logic of EQ'ing, what sorts of compressor controls are used and when, how mastering can be approached, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPRTNovice Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 Thanks guys! Between re-reading Rozo's guide and the stuff you all have provided, I've been consuming stuff for the last 24 hours. I'm still an idiot, but I'm getting there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.