Advanced Level

Evolve Your Skills | iZotope:

A true soundmage is never finished learning. The advanced-level series contains in-depth articles on EQ, stereo bus and submixing, compression and dynamic range, and more!

Tips for Mix Bus Processing

3 Techniques for Handling Your Stereo Bus

5 Approaches to Submixes

11 Tips to Fix Cheap Sounding Audio in the Mix:

I don’t know about you, but I get a lot of material made in home recording studios. And while a lot of the raw sounds coming my way are great, many recordings sport flaws that impart a palpably “cheap” sound to the material. These flaws have many root causes, such as interfaces that don’t do well for dynamic range or harmonic content; rooms that impart comb filtering to vocals; basses recorded without definition; and badly mic’d drums.

It’s my task, among others, to make these “cheap” sounds feel more “expensive”—that is, to help these mixes play nicely against their better-recorded references. They need to work in a Spotify playlist. They cannot be trounced by the competition. This is my fundamental meaning when I use terms like “cheap” and “expensive.”

The audio in my room doesn’t sound “cheap”, but sometimes I mix it that way by accident.

I want to check this one out…

3. Your snare sounds like someone flicking a piece of paper
Try a cut around 6 kHz, and a boost between 100–200 Hz to see if that adds some body. If you’re lacking impact on snare hits—if it feels a bit flat—try some compression next, emphasizing the transient with a medium attack and a medium-fast release.

You may still hear that dreaded papery noise. If so, solo the snare and see if it goes away. You may be surprised: one of the first things I look for in dealing with a papery snare is whether that sound is actually coming from the kick; often it is. In this case, attenuate that frequency in the kick track with a dynamic equalizer that’s sidechained to the snare. You can easily set this up in Neutron 2, as shown below.

Audio Dynamics 101: Compressors, Limiters, Expanders, and Gates:

In this article, we’ll demystify the compressor and other dynamics processors. We’ll cover the four main types of plug-ins used to control dynamics: limiters, compressors, expanders, and gates. We’ll discuss the mathematical processes behind these tools, how they affect the sound, and the best scenarios in which to use them.

Expanders are my least understood tool. Gates are kind of troublesome as well. This is a good description of what they do.

Gain Staging: What It Is and How to Do It:

Gain staging in the analog days

Before the advent of digital, records were made with analog equipment. Microphones, outboard EQs, compressors, console desks, tape machines—every piece of gear had to be leveled properly for the next piece of the chain, in order to achieve a good result.

Always good to know why we do things.