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Mixing or creating?
The gadget show once did an episode where the presenters were challenged to use technology to produce music. Unlike pretty much every other challenge, they weren't able to complete the task and had to call in the experts. I guess this just point to music production being a pretty complex hobby and is not for the faint of heart (or the shallow pocketed ! lol).
Assuming you are comfortable with the musical side, the technical artistry of mixing a track IMO comes from years of doing, comparing and learning.
However, a good start is to think of your mixed track in 3 dimensions.... frequency, amplitude (volume) and position (width and depth).
Spread out your component sounds in these 3 areas so as not to overload any one area, being particularly careful not overload frequencies below 100Hz... here things build up very quickly and muddy your sound.
My advice... EQ all bass out of any sound that isn't a dedicated bass instrument or kick drum.
Controlling frequencies is at a basic level achieved through judicious use of EQ.
Controlling amplitude is achieved through volume automation and compressors.
Controlling the position of sounds is achieved through stereo panning (width) and reverb (depth).
Of course there are hundreds of other ways to manipulate and mix sounds, but starting off with EQ, compression, stereo panning and reverb will give you a feel for what does and does't work. |
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