How to Mix Music Professionally
The superiority of one music track over another in terms of quality often has nothing to do with the music or melody. Frequently, the better track is superior simply because it has been professionally mixed whilst the other has been constructed without an audio skill set. No matter, because creating a sweet mix is merely a result of acquired knowledge and skills, some of which are listed below.
1. Always use the very best and cleanest recordings or samples to create your music track. Terrible recordings will only muddy up the mix and make it sound amateur and dull.
2. Utilize equalizers to cut out spaces in the audio spectrum for each instrument. For instance, cut cymbals at 1KHz to keep them in the higher registers and cut bass guitars at 100Hz to keep them from muddying up with the bass drum.
3. Create a nice stereo field by panning some instruments. While the bass drum and guitar should stay in the center to give the track stability, other elements such as cymbals and strings can be panned to add depth and sonic intrigue.
4. Understand and use compression to give clout to presence to each instrument. Tracks sound weak and lame without compression and is often a main difference between professional and amateur sounding tracks.
5. Compare the overall sound of your track next to favorite CDs in the same genre before you master. Make sure your track sounds as close to possible as the professionally made track and if it doesn’t, then figure out why and correct.
6. During final mixing, limit high peaks with a limiter which will let you increase the loudness of the entire track to its highest potential without distorting.
After you’ve mixed down to CD, play your fresh new track in a variety of speaker systems to make sure it holds up in all listening environments.
