That Professional Sound!!!

Hi all,

Im in a spot of bother here, i just wanted to know what is it that makes a mix sound really professional.....ive tried a lot of things...im using redrum and battery for drums (they sound great infact theyre the only thing in my mixes that sound good)....apart from that the rest just dosnt result in a fuller, rich professional sound......ive tried tempelate sheets for instrument frequencies used with the EQ.......ive tried to pan stuff, you name it! ive even tried to go crazy with effects but somehow i dont know where im wrong.....all of this did help at times but the "feel" is always missing!!! plz help.......thanks in advance.....if you want i can upload a few tracks too!

shapertakh

yeh upload the problem track.. I'm no wiz on mixing either but with an example of what you are talking about it, it would be much easier for someone who knows to help out, I would think.

It's a combination of a whole bunch of things.
The mics you use, the cables, the mixer etc etc...
Finally, you have to master the whole thing.

Last but not least, when you mix everything down to MP3 it loses a whole ton of quality so use 320 kbps if you can.


If you have full access I've got a series of tutorials on my lessons page with recordings starting from scratch all the way to fully mastered if it'll help.

Besides being able to play the instruments to a high standard with polished technique, good quality gear really helps. A nice guitar with good pickups, a good audio/digital convertor is very improtant for capturing the sound is a must. Preamps compressors etc all depend on what you are recording. I use a UAD-1 card for post recording insert VST effects and compression, it's great and means that I can make non destructive changes to reverb levels etc at any stage in the mix. Really the most basic part of the chain is a good quality soundcard. As Kevin mentioned, MP3 loses clarity when converted down from wav so keep the bitrate as high as possible for mixdown. Also, you need to make sure you are recording wav - at least 24bit 44Khz (32bit float is better if your system can handle it and IF you are pushing towards levels that could otherwise clip). Mastering makes a massive difference to a final recording, I use a combination of a limiter and the magneto vst plug-in to add warmth (makes such a big difference). I add this to the final mixdown stero wav then convert to 320kpbs MP3. You can tweak the overall EQ at this stage too but that is way beyond my level. Getting your own sound has a lot to do with experimentation and luck!

yeah, you definitely need good gear to do it...
look at it this way,

the band as i lay dying isnt REALLY huge or anything. lots of people know them and like them, and i think theyre good, but they will probably never reach "superstar" status.


YET, the recording for their drums alone, on their last album "an ocean between us" costed over $100,000

its all in the gear man.

Or just go to my site WWW.SEQUENCE.NET and take a listen to a few of my tracks and see if that is the kind of sound you want.


Paul " SEQUENCE " Ferguson
Just trying to give back