Music Post Production tutorial

[page=Before Mixing]

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In this tutorial I will explain "post-production" music recording techniques. This is an important process where you control the PAN, EQ and RMS of a song, aiming to balance out these levels and make it sound professional. It is assumed that the reader will know all these “sound terms”, but where possible they shall be explained. To complete this tutorial you need WAV editing software such as Soundforge or Wavelab.

Note this tutorial is not designed for a specific genre of music, it is a quick introduction which can be applied to any “post-production” work.

So, your song is done and now you want adjust various levels to make it sound clean and at the right volume. If you are new to HDD-Recording then you have to know some things before you MixDown a track, the most important being the PAN levels.

PAN:
What does this mean? This defines where you want a specific track (for example a guitar riff) coming out of the speakers, with stereo utilizing both in a “smart” manner. At the beginning of your sequencer work, all the tracks will be in the centre (Mono), so how you can make Stereo? This depends for the most part on the genre of music, for example in a metal song, there are usually two rhythm guitars, which can't be on the same side (centre) as that will cause an over-plus. So try to pan the two guitars to opposite sides with a value of 90 (90 right, -90 left). If you do something like this, you will notice a clearer and more detailed sound. Now you have also recorded a Bass line, which will be remain in the centre of the Stereo. Try to play with panning on your tracks and listen to the result, sometimes this take many hours to be perfect (when listening to it), so don't worry if at first it sounds bad. This operation will take longer the be more complicated if you use many instruments especially on orchestral compositions.

EQ:
Equalizing your tracks is one of the most important things you can do before and after the mixing process. What EQ is right for my song? Simply alter the frequency of your track based on the instruments recorded in it.

Examples:
Piano - Frequencies from 30HZ to 6kHz, Harmonics from 5kHz to 15kHz
Violin - Frequencies from 300Hz to 3kHz, Harmonics from 5kHz to 16kHz

Try to play with those frequencies on a Graphic EQ, and remember the human ear is tuned more toward the midrange frequencies. By playing with these settings you will notice some clipping in your audio hardware, or your table rumbling, which will mean the frequencies are set too high.

[page=Root Mean Square]
Ok, now we are assuming you have finished recording your song, and have the mixed track in an uncompressed WAV format. The most important next step is the RMS Power or Root Mean Square, which defines the loudness of your track. The higher the negative number, the louder the track will be.

Open a Wave editor (Soundforge or Wavelab) and then open the statistics of the track.

Note the RMS Power value, which is what you will be adjusting to fit your music genre. Some musicians prefer a loud sound for their tracks, so how you can see if is loud or not?

Examples:
-12 is loud
-10 and -12 RMS level for videogames is good (this always depends on the genre and the scene on the game)

NOTE: If the song is long and has various volume levels, don't only use the Statistics option, but also use the Process and then Normalize options. This will allow you to see the Scan Levels and from here you will be able to view the RMS and Peak level for the section of the track selected. Watch also the Spectrum Analysis.

[page=Q & A and Credits]

Q: My song clip on some parts, I can fix this?
A: Open a Wave editor and select "Detect Clip" which will show you all the high peaks which you can then adjust, by changing the level volume or the frequency of some of the instruments (not recommended on a mixed track)

Q: I have recorded a song with guitars, bass and drums, but it sounds confusing, what I can do?
A: Always remember the PAN settings, pan your guitars opposite if they are rhythmic, stay with bass on the centre. The drum is more complicated, you will have to pan every single piece until you get the sound right.

Q: I panned all my instruments right, but my harmonics melodies sounds still confusing, what can I do?
A: This will generally mean your audio settings are not correct. For example if you are using a Virtual Amp, try to change the Bass, Treble and High settings and remember to pan the instruments.

Q: I recorded a solo, but the low notes are too low in volume and the high notes are too high, what can I do?
A: First off, don't use the same settings and rhythm throughout the entire the song. Change the presence and reverb and look at the Paragraphic EQ, which will allow you to adjust individual low and high parts. Also look at the Spectrum Analysis which will also have Peaks & Valleys.

-Credits

Tutorial made by Nicola "Neurological" Capecci, © 2007 neuro-lab.net, all rights reserved.

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