Wats the difference between Mastering and Mixing?

Whats the difference? and how do the professionals get that crystal clean top-notch quality sound??

they pay someone else to do it all.

for real.

elmacaco wrote:they pay someone else to do it all.

for real.

Yeah, but wat is it that they do?

Different people do different things, plugins, effects, compression, filtering, brick wall limiting, mixing at 48khz 24 bit. over compression (as heard in 50's first album), alot of different things. WE just don't know what THEY know in detail about those little things.

I'm talking about the guys who get paid to do it.

yo i was through this one studio like 5 years back, it was a professional studio, i was impressed just to be there, until the engineer played something he had mixed, the mix was VERY,VERY, BRIGHT IT KIND OF HURT MY EARS, but hesat there beamin with pride.

[quote="DaSoof"]Whats the difference? quote]

In general terms........

Mixing is a process that involves getting the indivdual sounds/instruments to gel wel together to form a well balanced sound

Mastering is a process that happens once the mixing stage has been completed. Mastering will compliment and further improve the outlook of the mixed down version. Like the icing on the cake....

However, if your cake is burnt (Mixed poorly) then the icing cant really change the taste MUCH! Deep down, it'l still taste nasty

The difference is that mixing involves effects,processing,volume control,and panning.then the song gets mixed down into a single wave file.then It is givin to a mastering engineer where it gets mastered.Which involves multiband compresion,overall reverb,EQ,harmonic balancing,etc pretty heavy stuff that you should leave to a profeessional.Where as mixing is trial and error but it's possible to develop your skills to do your own mixes.

BRAVO wrote:

DaSoof wrote:Whats the difference? quote]

In general terms........

Mixing is a process that involves getting the indivdual sounds/instruments to gel wel together to form a well balanced sound

Mastering is a process that happens once the mixing stage has been completed. Mastering will compliment and further improve the outlook of the mixed down version. Like the icing on the cake....

However, if your cake is burnt (Mixed poorly) then the icing cant really change the taste MUCH! Deep down, it'l still taste nasty

very well put

mixing is also part of the creative process. You already kind of do it when you are matching "mixing" sounds. You match, mold, and mix your sounds to fit together good, compliment eachother, paint a picture.......whatever your intention is-combined with getting quality. Like combining science and creativity.

ALot of times your mixing depends on what your desired sound is.

Vision of your track can go a long ways. If the person who mixes your track doesnt really see what you want to do with the track, they can **** it up.

Mixing also involves getting the track to sound good on all types of speakers............sort of getting a universal sound that is good, but not just good on your own speakers.

Renegade wrote:The difference is that mixing involves effects,processing,volume control,and panning.then the song gets mixed down into a single wave file.then It is givin to a mastering engineer where it gets mastered.Which involves multiband compresion,overall reverb,EQ,harmonic balancing,etc pretty heavy stuff that you should leave to a profeessional.Where as mixing is trial and error but it's possible to develop your skills to do your own mixes.

yeah, very well put, except.... its two wave files to give to the Mastering House Engineer, Left Track and a Right Track of each song

you learn something new everyday!

on ebay you can find guys who will amster tracks for like a tenner a pop- send your best mixed track- when it comes back a/b the results with the unmastered- you should hear the difference- it will make you wanna learn how to do it- but its often best left for someone who knows

greg

Whats the link for the guy who does it for a tenner?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 01469&rd=1

dubplates:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 72752&rd=1

i also posted a link ages ago for a company that does it for $40 a tune- demos sounded good!!

laterz

greg

mastering is the final mixing process to bring the song up to industry standards