So I made a track yesterday and as usual, I put autotune on my vocals (on a slow setting) without really thinking, just to stabilise them like we're shown in the course. But actually, I was listening and there were loads of glitchy artefacts, and instead of trying to mess about with Melodyne to fix the artefacts, I tried the novel approach of removing Autotune altogether and going commando. And to me, it sounds way better. So to tune or not to tune, that is the question. Love to hear your thoughts on this.

Most of you reading this will be somewhat familiar with the process of learning an instrument. There are a lot of ways we can compare learning an instrument to learning music production and draw some useful analogies. One core idea is this: Licks vs Scales Let’s say you’re learning guitar. Most people start by learning “licks”. Instead of learning the fundamentals of the instrument… you learn to play different songs and different phrases. You’re effectively emulating good playing, rather than becoming a good player. At the beginning, this is fine. After all, it’s okay to steal like an artist. But at a certain point, if all you have is a bunch of licks — aka musical phrases — that you use again, and again, and again… It becomes a prison that’s hard to escape. “Why am I playing that same phrase every time I solo?!” you ask yourself for the hundredth time. Here’s the solution: Instead of learning licks, learn scales. Then play them every day until it’s muscle memory. By learning scales, you’re learning the fundamental building blocks of the instrument, rather than throwaway phrases. You develop proficiency by playing them repeatedly. Then when it’s time to rip a solo, the scales are there under your fingers and you don’t even have to think. You can lose yourself in the moment and simply… play. Here’s how this translates to learning production, mixing and mastering: Licks = Tips, Tricks, Cheat Sheets, Presets, Magic Frequencies Scales = Frequencies, Volume, Dynamics 99% of people only ever learn licks. They never get a true understanding of the fundamental principles of audio. They never learn how to truly understand and manipulate the basic building blocks. But when you… 1. Understand the frequency spectrum and how to shape it using an equalizer 2. Understand volume and the key role it plays in all areas of production 3. Understand macro/micro dynamics and how to manipulate them to achieve a desired outcome

Instead of SEEING Fix-the-Mix…let’s STUDY it! Let’s post progress, notes, tips, things from our projects…anything and everything to tide us over until the next edition…WHATEVER and WHENEVER that may be! We know our Skool community is a big study group every day, all day. On this post, let’s try to focus specifically on (past) FTM episodes, specific things we learned and applied, specific problems solved from what was shown, etc. Extra credit: Please post audio clips! Super double extra credit: Reference and/or post a specific month and clip from past events! Just a little sumthin’ sumthin’…STAY TUNED!

What’s the difference between the “make-up gain” knob and the “output gain” knob on a compressor? Let’s say, for example, I apply compression to a guitar track. After I set the ratio, knee, and release, and then, in this example, let’s say that I’m seeing -5 db of gain reduction, I set my make-up gain to 5+ db. And now, my track is 3db louder than it was before, so I set the output gain to -3 db. Would it be the same thing to just set the make-up gain to 2+ db? In other words, can I, or should I, use the make-up gain to get the track level back to the original dbfs before applying compression? Or, should I be applying the make-up gain to add gain in accordance with the reduction amount using the metering tool on the compression plug-in, and then, look at the dbfs in my DAW, and then apply the output gain accordingly? Can anyone provide me with advice on this? Thanks!

Seems like having a tight low is super important for streaming platforms to sound pro level. What plugins or techniques do you use to get your low end instruments right where they need to be? Having said that, if anyone can recommend a mastering.com video from their library that covers this, I would appreciate the link. Thanks and keep on mixing no matter what!