An Indie Musician's Diary VOL...

By ElisabethKitzing

319 0 6

This is how I go forward with my music - the real story from November 2017 and towards the album release but... More

Intro
Contact
November 30, 2017: CCLI (Registering Music)
December 1, 2017: Friday & Black Friday Music Deals
December 2, 2017 Advent, Alternate Chords & Baking
Sunday December 3, 2017: The Importance of Resting In God
Monday December 4, 2017: Understanding the Mastering Process
December 5, 2017: Professional Vocal Tips
Dec 6, Christmas Party
Dec 7th: CCLI and STIM
Dec 8: Reference Tracks/MagicAB
Dec 11: Mondays: :-( or :-)
Dec 12 Christmas, Candy & Plugins
Dec 13 Lucia Day & Getting Low End Frequencies Right
Dec 15 Music Theory
Dec 16: Mixing vs. Mastering
Dec 18: Pebble Bread & Music Theory for Producers
Dec 19: Vision for 2018
Dec 30: End of the Year Stuff
Dec 31: Making a "One Page"
Jan 2nd: Stats, Strategies & Updates
Jan 3: Learning Piano, Ending Excuses
Set Lists, the Renaissance Plugin & Gain Staging
Jan 5th: Construction and Compression
Frustration, Real Success & How to Finish a Mix
House Concerts, Udemy & Ari
Worship Nights & Gain Staging Continued
Jan 10 + 11th: Life is ....
Jan 15: Networking
Jan 16: Cold in the Studio
Jan 17th: Sick but still kicking
18 -21/Jan: Minds.com & Refreshing Featherheadmedia.com
Jan 22-26 Sinus Pain and Sinus Curves
27Jan - 1 Feb: CDBaby, Reverb & Album Art
2 Feb -8th : The Round Up
11 Feb - Update
14 -20th Feb.: Wunderlist +
Audio Work Structure/Indie Burnout
March 7 - 9th The Vine Update, Clip Gain & Reverb
March 10 - 16: Pink Noise, Sub bass etc
March 20 - The Two Ditches of Music Production
March 21 - Making Mixes Believable Using Reverb
March 22 & 23 - Panning & Automation
March 24- 26 Progress & the Fear of Failure
28th March: Exporting/Bouncing, Landr & Loudness
March 29 - Amuse, triads, vocal widening
March 30: Cleanup
March 31: Indie Music Financing, Product Strategy and Other "Stuff"
3- 4 April: Indie Depression vs. Balance & Superfans
Chit Chat in The Studio, Bass Multiple Compression, Shaping & more
Scotland & Mixing/Mastering Faster
Song Structure and EQ- cut/boost?
Should You, a Robot or a Professional Master Your Album?
Songwriting Development
Growing A Community
Audio Fixes
The 5 Second Rule, Vulnerability & Saturation
Finishing a mix & mastering tips
Make Your Music the Cream in Someone's Coffee
Shout Outs, Panning, Life, Death & Taxes
Indie Music Videos
Collaboration & Pro Tips for Making Music
About Recording & Mixing Guitars
Making Indie Music Videos Inexpensively
Even Elon Musk thinks Indie Musicians are Paid Too Little
Loudness Wars
I've Learned Not to Overdo Mixing
Think Auxes, Sends, Busses in Logic Pro X are Confusing? You're Not Alone
Indie Album Promotion Tips
Getting Paid for Your Music
Reverb is a big topic
Doing an Outdoor Photo Shoot for Promotion
May 26th: Vocal Effects
Mixing On Small Speakers
Reverb vs. Delay on Vocals
Planning an Album Release
Contacting Gatekeepers Sucessfully
Preparing Your Master for Replication on CDs
Mastering an album in Logic Pro X
Warning for Indie Songwriters/Musicians on YouTube
Adding the human touch to Midi Piano
Getting Indie Music Licensed
Indie Music Rights
Choosing a Mastering Studio & The Shadow of Fear
Finding Your Sound & Reference Songs for Mastering
The Vine & Summer Stress: July 7th 2018
Taking My Daily Vitamin
*****Reference Track Tips
Signal Chain Hierarchy & Loudness Penalty App
Mastering Alternatives
Monetize Your Lyrics
Recording, Mixing, Panning & Automating Guitars
Backup and Maintence
Having fun
Submitting Music to Radio Stations
Using Reference Tracks To Check Sonic Consistency
Mastering the Album
Collaboration
Building an email list
Album Cover Design
Artist Profile on Streaming Services
Soundcloud Tips
Mixing Vocals
Income Through Sync Licensing
Sept 26th: Got Music Theory?
Referencing, Side Chaining Vocal Effects
Thickening My Soprano
Automate, Then Compress Vocals
"Just Do It"; Coolgram Matrixes for Promos & Split Processing,
MONO check
Acoustic Guitar Recording Tips
I WANT TO QUIT But the "why" keeps me going
Last Chapter in Volume 1: Delay vs. Reverb

Getting a Wider Sounding Mix

1 0 0
By ElisabethKitzing

July 13th 

I  just got a day to mix while my husband is out sailing and our guests are in Copenhagen over night. So, what do I do? I didn't mix all that much...I studied Stereo widening techniques...BECAUSE I need to know that before I go on....and I might just go swimming today too.

The Vine song is so complex that it makes my head spin. But the good news is that my Wunderlist list is now down to a few small nit picky notes so it is time to pick some reference songs. What I am specifically looking for besides the same kind of instrumentation and a female vocalist are sonic consistency and stereo width. 

Only the best survive: Let's face it - there's a lot of music out there. Too much, in fact. If I am going to be able to compete with the world at large my music had better be as good as any commercial stuff out there. I have taken up the process of A/ - ing my mixes with commercial tracks in an earlier chapter. In order to do that legally, I need to buy albums/songs. That's why I have been looking for possible reference tracks on Spotify and have been buying CDs for referencing when I find the songs I like on Spotify in the second hand store shelves. 

One of the things that makes a song a good reference is how wide the song is. When you listen to music you use both your ears. They interpret the sounds as how far away and 

The featured video (above) uses the Ableton DAW and covers these things:

Top 10 Stereo Width Techniques:1. Auto-panning

How to use tremolo plugin for auto panning in Logic

2. Reverb - is a big topic in itself but we all use it. It's an echo. See other chapters in the book for more info. Don't forget that you can send the right guitar's wet reverb signal to the left and vice versa to get a great widening effect! 3. Delay

In Logic, use the "Sample Delay Plugin" or if you have Waves Gold, you can use H-Delay : 

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4kUvIRkDjI

https://youtu.be/aWqcQ3wrIMM (for the H-Delay)

4. The Haas Effect

Put simply, if I hear a sound from the left and the same sound slightly after the first I might sense them as one sound but wider and louder than if I had only heard from the left.

In Logic Pro you can duplicate your track and then nudge the copy a few milliseconds (no more than 30) after the first track above it (the original one in time with the beat). In this way you can create wideness by using the Haas Effect. Of course you might want to make sure that the combined sound is not too loud (use a submix and pan one left and one right.)

NOTE: Always check the Haas effect in mono. If the distance between them is too much, then you'll notice it. 

5. Sound Design

Sound design involves processing two similar signals differently and in parallel. The Haas effect is one example. Here's another: take a synth arpeggio panned to the left and add another similar one but with the same track raised an octave and panned to the right is a way to increase wideness. 

If you have the same one on the left and right there will be no sense of wideness. You only get a mono feeling. 

6. Parallel Processing

In parallel processing, you send the same signal as you have on the left but you apply different plugins/effects to the one on the right. 

You can also 

Be sure to check them that they actually are wider in mono. 

7. Mid-side Processing (MS processing)

Waves: 

Read the article in the references below from Waves: "....modern digital algorithms are capable of further separating stereo content into a monophonic mid channel (sometimes called a "center" channel) and a stereo sides channel. This means that you can apply equalization, compression or other effects to the sounds in the middle independently of the sounds panned to the sides – a technique called mid-side (MS) processing.(1)"

This process can only be used when all the elements in your mix are balanced properly left and right and is usually used when mastering. Read the Waves article to find out more. Of course Waves plugins cost a whole bunch. 

Fabfilter's Pro Q plugin is also demonstrated in the featured video. 

Here's the free alternative...

MS Processing in Logic for free: 

No matter how you do it, just be careful to keep the things that should be center in the center (bass, kick, solo vocal)

Check the effects in mono!!!

8. Chorus, Phase and Flange FX

Here he demonstrates Ozone's Imager. 

9. Stereo Imaging Plugins10. Double-tracking


He also shows how not to misuse these tricks. 

I will be applying many of these tricks on the Change My Mind Album. But I can't do some of them yet. Some cost too much for me right now (Ozone etc.), others are just too complicated for some of the songs. I just need to get done asap within my time and money constraints. But, by listening to this video, I found some tricks that will make my music sound better than ever.

I can't stress the need to constantly learn the trade. These videos are examples of a great video that stretch me...but where are the women producers?

References: 

1. Mid side processing (waves blog) https://www.waves.com/mid-side-processing-with-plugins

July 27th: Additional tips about PANNING

Panning is the placement of instruments on the virtual stage. There are some rules of thumb to go by but this next video tells you how you should think about placement. A good video from Audio Skills. (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLGkRoxyfg0). 

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