the mix down

any producers here able to help out with a few pointers about final mix downs, plug ins and normalising et al? wondering what people use on their master channels to bring up the levels, make it sound fat etc etc. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

using logic 6.4, if it helps to be specific.

don't normalize....it adds way to much processing power for simple attenuating volume (this leaves room for calculation errors = digital distortions).... use limiting n compression to bring out the desired volume/loudness.....just dont over do it with these or your mix will be squashed....

  test pattern said:

don't normalize....it adds way to much processing power for simple attenuating volume (this leaves room for calculation errors = digital distortions).... use limiting n compression to bring out the desired volume/loudness.....just dont over do it with these or your mix will be squashed....

*nods/mental note

thanks very much, much appreciated.

i try to record everything as loud as possible basically (not bringing the mix out of balance ofcourse)... if the final mix still isn't loud enough, i very carefully maximize it... carefully looking at a frequency spectrograph to see which frequencies need more volume... i use a multiband maximizer in that case (waves l3).. and i limit the entire mix at -0.2db.. some cd-players produce (very small) distortion on -0.1/0.0 mixes...

when mastering for vinyl theres more things to keep an eye on.. if you need info about that, let me know..

i <3 isotope ozone

<3!!!!

but if your mix is good enough on your monitors, all you should really need is ultramaximizer+

one thing to keep in mind is to let the different elements of your tracks hold their own key to the eq grid... you don't want every sound to hold every frequency, that will crowd a mix.

listen to each sound you are using, and decide where it should stand in the frequency range. it's good practice to refrain from changing dynamics on the whole mix based on one particular sound that's out of place. if each sound is where it should be, the mix will sound clean, and easier for a final touches.

i'm no expert, i'm just shootin the obvious reminders at you because i'm bored...

i guess my point is mainly that you don't need expensive software as long as you have an idea of what you're doing...

take a lot of time to get used to your speakers so you know when something sounds good; have a certain sound in your mind that you want to achieve and try to get there with whatever means. a lot of this sound should already be in the track, but often you want to give the track a subtle feel to it. to me that's mastering.