Lessons
Who I Am
04:13 2Free Preview: Introduction to Mixing
05:42 3The Mixing Toolset
07:39 4Reference Makes Perfect
22:26 5Calibrating Your Room
19:28 6Using a Reference Track
08:37 7Preparing Your Mix
08:50 8Understanding Gain Staging
08:46Analog vs Digital Gain Staging
05:12 10Adding Dynamics to your Mix
11:12 11Getting a Balanced Mix
09:55 12What is Loudness?
14:15 13What Is Compression?
05:06 14Compression Parameters
14:08 15Basic Compression Techniques
19:55 16Multiband, Sidechain and Glue Compression Techniques
15:34 17The Golden Rule of Compression
07:29 18Basics of Equalization
06:07 19High Pass and Low Pass Filters
07:09 20Additive and Subtractive EQ
17:23 21Mid-Side EQ
22:36 22Spatialization and Panning
07:26 23Panning In-Depth in Ableton
14:13 24Using Reverb
28:04 25Mixing Recap
03:44Lesson Info
Analog vs Digital Gain Staging
Now this gets into an interesting idea about analog versus digital, and I found this out a while ago, and it completely changed the way in which I handled volumes. Now, in an along music, we're analog recording you. When you're dealing with analog gear, it actually comes down to electrical just electrical information and how that moves from pieces of gear to pieces of gear. And the output volume is different on analog versus digital and analog zero DB is actually minus 12 db in digital. That's why we can get so much headroom in digital. And we don't have to worry about it because we're working in a system that has way more volume inherently in it than with an analog now an analog recording. You were generally trying to get things as close to zero as possible because you're recording through analog gear guitars or whatever. And the most important thing was to get volume because you had to deal with this thing called noise floor like ground home and just noise so close you got two volume...
. Usually the better be for the mix. Well, we don't have ground floor concerns as much within digital. We're not worrying about that as much. Oh, another thing is an analog. If we go past zero, just do the natural nature of analog going past. That doesn't sound all that bad. It has a character, but it's nothing compared to digital clipping. Digital clipping is horrendous. Nobody likes digital clipping. You weren't so worried about going over zero. An analog now in digital, you never want to get near that. That is why we've used the case system. That is why we're having much more headroom in our mix. And this is an important thing to keep in mind. Have I don't know if either of you guys have used waves plug ins, other people online. Might of, uh, any piece of emulating software that emulates old school compressors or anything like that are used to these analog digital. I mean, it's analog signals because that's what they're based off of their emulating gear that usedto work that way. You want to keep it at that negative 12 toe, run it through the's emulating ves teas because then you're getting a more appropriate effect to what you're going for. Because of that, try to keep it around. Minus 12 It doesn't matter if you go over that like it could be minus 10 or whatever. But I like to stick around that range because it's it's more appropriate working with different views teas. And it also leads to the case system and better mixing Great, uh, dues. Anyone have questions around digital versus Analog? I know it's a big world, or if either of you guys dio with those lines because now we're gonna look at, like, affecting those volumes within live well, one thing that you just hear people talk about all the time. It's like the warmth of analog and that it's like there is a so sort of, like a superiority thing that I sense with different worlds and my ears still sensitizing to that level of detail. But what do you have to? I think a lot of that has to do. I mean, it's that's a big, big debate, and I'm gonna make some people mad at me and some people totally into me and like there is no right or wrong, it's very complicated, but I think that it has to do a lot with harmonics that naturally get found within, like tube compression and stuff like that, because the way that it's dealing with harmonic exciting the way it's going through, the different gear you you end up bringing up different harmonics, which give it that warmth. That's why we have in the digital realm a lot of digital saturation, like a analog style saturation and stuff like that to give it that sense. Um, that's just because the dirt in analog actually makes it seem more natural and realistic than super clean. That's what I found personally. My first album as sub A quiz is super precise. All sine waves placed perfectly and it just felt stale. And now I just I dirty things up on purpose. I add noise in the background like we were talking about waterfalls during the break. I'll add that in the background, Orel lad saturation is and things to give it more that quality. So that's that's one way to look at it. Also, you start looking in a tape and final, and those are completely different ways of viewing sound in the way that you would master, because it will be warmer just by the natural gear that it's being being used
Class Materials
bonus material with purchase
Free Downloads
Ratings and Reviews
Jose Gerardo Rendon Santana
Excellent Course, Isaac Cotec is a great instructor and a great producer. The course is very well organized explaining each important step of the mix. as well as great tips and techniques. He also includes a great deal of support material with the course including an Ableton Live Pack with tons of great presets and tools to put to practice the knowledge acquired in the course.
Ian turner
this is the best thing money can buy in my life. Isaac makes it look easy and the way he teaches makes you understand everything and makes it easy for you as well. its exactly what i wanted to learn in each video! i cant even sleep because another video loads and im like "ohhhh i need it" lol. i thank god for this class being affordable and the real deal.
a Creativelive Student
Isaac covers an amazing amount of material in a clear and concise way. Great intro to mixing with Ableton or review for the intermediate user who wants to solidify their best practices, DAW knowledge as well as gain some production tips.
Student Work
Related Classes
Electronic Music Production