learning at the elbow of the internet

10 Tips for Mastering if You’re Not a Mastering Engineer

by Nick Messitte, iZotope Contributor February 7, 2018

Maybe you’re a singer songwriter who has mixed a song and wants to release it quickly. Or perhaps you’re an EDM producer working at a fast clip, and you don’t want to shell out the money to bring every new track to a competitive level. Maybe still you’re a mixing engineer looking to give a client a pseudo-master—not just any pseudo master, but one that sounds better than the average limiter-slam.

How to Mix Hi-Hats: 8 Tips for Added Energy

by Daniel Dixon, iZotope Contributor September 9, 2019

A hi-hat is vital to an overall great drum mix.
In our blog articles “5 Tips for Mixing High End” and “8 Tips for Taming Harsh Treble in the Mix” we provided some general tips for managing high end in a mix. Today, we’re diving into a specific sound that occupies the top end of the frequency spectrum: hi-hats.

Logic Pro X keyboard command of the day. #LogicProX @StudioIntern1

  Explode Folders ⌃F

Used in the Score Editor to show/hide contents of folders in the display. Folders are a workflow thing, and I’m just not seeing the benefits in smaller projects.

Show or hide folder contents — Logic Pro X

If the current display level allows more than one MIDI region to be viewed simultaneously (linked or unlinked), the Explode Folders setting lets you display, and print, the contents of different display (folder) levels simultaneously.

Still not seeing where it can help me…

⇧ SHIFT – ⌃ CONTROL – ⌥ OPTION – ⌘ COMMAND

Logic Pro X keyboard command of the day. #LogicProX @StudioIntern1

  Automation Curve Tool    W

I claimed that I wouldn’t use keyboard commands…

Set Automation Curve Tool — Logic Pro X keyboard command of the day — learning at the elbow of the internet

It appears that the ‘W’ key selects the Automation Curve Tool. It is highly unlikely that I will use key commands. I have set the right mouse button to show both tools and menu commands. Lots of visual reinforcement.

but I didn’t really state it well. The ‘W’ key selects the Automation Curve tool when the Tool menu is open. The proper key sequence is ‘TW’. I doubt that I would assign a whole, special key command to replace simple two key sequence.

Some poorly worded documentation.

Common tools — Logic Pro X

Use to Automation Curve tool to bend or reshape the curve between two automation points, creating a nonlinear transition between the points.

⇧ SHIFT – ⌃ CONTROL – ⌥ OPTION – ⌘ COMMAND

How To Analyze A Hit — Bobby Owsinski’s Music Production Blog

If you really want to understand an audio recording and hear it in a new way, here are a few pointers on what to listen for. I’m going to break it down to a general technique, and then add an additional advanced technique for experienced musicians, engineers and producers, since they already have more refined listening skills.

Always good to practice. In traditional music theory courses of study there’s the part called “dictation” where you learn to write down what you hear, including basic rhythm and intervals. I should remember to run songs through Capo sometimes.

Studio One has a chord track to help.

Logic Pro doesn’t have a chord track anymore, but you can certainly use it to track tempo and pitch.