Category Archives: Mixing and Mastering

This category includes all posts and articles about mixing and mastering.

Tips on How to Make Drum ‘n’ Bass Drums

As you may or may not know, as well as writing for this site I also produce electronic music under the name HUMJUNKIE. I haven’t yet found myself slotted into any one genre and tend to draw on my influences from many different styles of music. One big influence, however, is Drum ‘n’ Bass. Especially the drum part.

In order to improve my game in programming and mixing drums for my own tracks I have been doing some research online to find out what advice is out there. My digging revealed a number of very interesting articles, which I’ll link to at the end of this. Here are the big tips I pulled out and will be sure to apply to my ongoing work. Continue reading →

DIY Music Blog #12 – Boosting Your Mixing Skills

Hey there guys and gals, thanks for clicking through to the latest DIY Music blog. It’s been way over a month since the last one, in which I wrote about some of my plans for 2016. One reason for the long gap is because I’ve been getting on with working on those targets, among other things… But anyway, here’s an overdue blog post! I’m gonna talk about how I’m hoping to boost my mixing skills and how you can boost yours. 
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10 More Significant Mixing Lessons

A while ago I wrote a list of my ten most significant mixing lessons. These were definitely the biggest game-changing discoveries I made as I was beginning to learn how to mix and if you haven’t read that article already, I think you should have a look before reading this one.

Of course, there are a lot more than just ten important things you can learn about mixing. In this article I will give you ten more significant mixing lessons to help improve your game.  Continue reading →

Five Great Dynamic Compression Tutorials

Dynamic compression is one of those concepts in audio that can be difficult to get your head around. I know it took me a long time to fully understand it. This is partially because of the many different types of compressors available, partially because of the terms used like ratio, threshold and make-up gain, and partially because it’s just a bit of a weird idea… making stuff quieter, to make it louder…? How does that work?

Well. Hopefully after watching these five informative videos on compression you’ll know exactly how compression works.

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Recording ‘Back to The Drawing Room’ – Interview with Aled Jenkins from Smokey Bastard

I’ve known the band Smokey Bastard for some time now, my old band shared a stage with them a few times, they played at my 30th Birthday party and I helped with their previous album artwork (my typography work even appears on one of their T-shirts). I have always admired their exceptional talent and musical abilities with just a mere hint of jealousy.

Now they have a brand new album out (which I’ve been listening to a lot and am loving the direction they’ve taken with it) so I took the opportunity to grill Aled Jenkins, who’s a member of the band but also a skilled sound engineer, about all the work that went into producing it.  Continue reading →

Audio Mastering – Interview with Adam Matza

Adam Matza is the founder and owner of Magic Ears Mastering as well as being a talented musician and writer with a rich history in the art of sound. I recently took the opportunity to talk to him about his company and the subject of audio mastering in general. If mastering is something you’re interested in, then read on. Continue reading →

My 10 Most Significant Mixing Lessons

Every now and then you come across a bit of knowledge which makes a tremendous difference to the way you do certain things. Those little tricks or hacks which make life so much better and you wish you’d discovered sooner.

This definitely applies to mixing.

I’ve experienced a number of these important ‘mixing lessons’ since I started my home studio journey so I’ve decided to share some of the most valuable ones with you here to help you in your own journey towards better mixes.

UPDATE: Once you’ve read these, be sure to check out Ten More Significant Mixing lessons!

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