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This week, there’s more than just the mix - Let’s go -
I was working with some cats on the final mix of a project, when the mastering process started it had to be sent back to fix something in the mix. Because I’m not an engineer, I thought it sounded fine. But the artist and engineers agreed that the issue needed to be fixed before going to the marketplace. Spotify, for instance, will sometimes put their own spin on the mix if it doesn’t fit their format. Meaning that the mixing process is a totally different animal than the mastering, but in the same family…kinda like a - tiger and a panther so to speak.
Usually in this post production period songwriters are usually quite removed from the process…but here’s why you should stay; it’s your song! This is an opportunity to learn another facet of the business, and yes, they are the experts, but you want to grow, learn the language and give input to your creation. To speak on the differences of the two; mixing happens after the recording process is done and the individual tracks are blended together. Consequently, mastering is the final stage of the audio production where the entire mix is polished and creates consistency across the single and the album and prepares it for distribution and market.
Both the mixing engineer and the mastering engineer have specific goal targets they are looking to achieve. For the mixer, equalization or eq is when the sculpting and manipulation of the sound frequencies happen, this prevents masking of tracks. Masking happens when two sounds overlap. Mastering is as said earlier, all about enhancing the sound, polishing it, and ensuring consistency throughout the song and the album or EP.
In a nutshell, the biggest difference between mixing and mastering is mixing deals with the individual track while mastering deals with the entirety of the song and album. For the most part the same tools and techniques are used but because they apply to different stages in the production process, they serve slightly different purposes. And just know that you want to put the same energy in mixing and mastering as you did in the writing and production; you want that thing to sound gooood!!!
This week's #IAOTW - Independent Artists Of The Week - Kyee. This dynamic powerhouse singer songwriter was born in Oakland, and now resides in Texas and is oh so soulful!
Click on her name, scroll down, click the picture to find out more about this incredibly soulful artist.
For more information on this or to hire Unda The Hat as your brand or label consultant send a message via undathehat.com. See you next Tuesday.