Say What's On Your Mind
New Track for you produced by Juicebeats Productions...
Say What's On Your Mind - Jake Brown
Jake and I have been working together on music since he was 15 and I was 16 years old. He is one of the reasons why I started my own production company and have been working on music among other things for almost 14 years. My first album was a collaboration with Jake "Chapter 1" in which we released our first single "Whatz Up" on the radio in Knoxville, Tennessee. We recently collaborated on the track "Brother In The Brooks" which earn over 31,000 views before it was taken down by YouTube for becoming too popular too fast. It has been re-posted and you can find the links in my other blog posts. Listen and comment on the New single.
Upcoming events:
Holocaust Documentary: TBD
Inside the Mind of Juicebeats
I wanted to tell you a little about what I am thinking when mixing a song. The first thing I start with is listening to the whole track all the way through. The reason for this is that I will get a better feel for how I want to hear the track later on. This gives me a chance to hear what effects I want to use as well. I may listen to the track several times before I start editing and mixing.
The next step I take is to break the song into parts: chorus, verse, bridge. This way I can focus on each part individually. Usually, the chorus is the biggest part of a track, so I will spend a bit more time on it often using plugins to make it sound wider and bigger. I like using waves plugins, in particular waves doubler. It gives the voice a doubling and widening effect. I will throw this plugin on an aux track, send the chorus vocal to it, and use it to my liking. Without getting too technical, I use a basic plugin set up for all my vocals including Renaissance EQ, Waves DeEsser, CLA-76 Comp. This just gets the vocal to sound clean, crisp, and clear. The rest of the plugins I use are mainly to give color to the vocal.
Simultaneously while mixing vocals, you also want them to sit right in the mix. It can take a lot of practice to get this just right, but a good rule of thumb is to set the vocal in line or a db above the snare. It can depend on the song too and what you want to feature the most, the music or the vocals. For this particular song, "Dreamer," the vocals sit just above the snare.
QT likes to have some autotune on his vocals. I know that the chorus will definitely need some treatment. The key with autotune is to set the tune to the key of the song. In this case it is C major. He did 3 different vocals for the chorus, so I will need to blend them to sound as close to one vocal as I can. Mostly, you will try to do this in the actual recording part, but since I am only getting what was pre-recorded, I have to blend the best I can. I will set the level of the vocal that I want to be up front and then use the others to complement it. Using panning and my doubler effect, I am able to get the 3 vocals sounding nice and blended together. I have sent all 3 vocals to the doubler aux, reverb aux, and slight delay aux send. The delay and reverb are mainly there to help fill some space in the mix.
The next part I worked on was the verses. There wasn’t too much to work on since QT didn’t want any vocal effects, besides the normal treatment. I used EQ, Deessing, and Compression to clean up the vocals. Then used the doubler aux, reverb aux, and Waves H-delay aux. Doubler was used to beef up his vocals since they were only 1 take. The reverb and delay were used for filling up space in the mix. I used the same treatment on the non-singing part of the chorus and the at the end of the track. I also noticed that the second verse was a little louder than the first verse when it was recorded. Since I had both verses on the same track with the same treatment, I used Automation to lower the volume a bit on the second verse.
On the Master track, since I am not really mastering the track, I will still give it a mastering treatment, so the artist can hear what it would kind of sound like when it is mastered. I used the PuigTec EQ1-A, SSL COMP, and L2 limiter, basically, some mastering eq, not too much, but just enough to clean the track a bit. Some basic compression to even out the entire track, and the limiter so the audio will not clip or distort when it is played back in a car or stereo.
I know this is kind of broad, but I can’t give away all the secrets. It has taken years of learning to get the mixing part down, and I still feel that I need improvement. I’ll let you guys be the judge though.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. If you get a chance, check out my videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/j32messing and subscribe to my channel.
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Music Secrets
People have asked me the process for making a good music track. While there are many techniques in the music business, not one way is the correct way. Music can sound good to many different people, but it can also annoy or not sound so good to others. Certainly there is a fine line and it can go either way.
I know my music isn't for every one's taste or preference, but I also know that being in this business its all about finding your audience and targeting people who will follow. I try to put the best content I can together for people to listen.
Secret #1: Do not get discouraged because people do not like what you put out there. As I said before, people have different tastes. Find your audience and target the ones who will actually listen and like your content.
Secret #2: Keep going...do not stop, keep trying no matter what. You might just catch a break. That one time that you do stop could be the time you could have been noticed.
Secret #3: Develop your skills. Keep evolving. Music changes like babies change diapers, so you gotta keep up.
Secret #4: Get the right equipment/software. Pro Tools and Nuendo are studio standard, along with Logic, Cubase, Adobe Audition, etc. Need a Mic. A good condenser can give you great sound on certain instruments and vocals, and a good dynamic mic can produce amazing results. Get both!!! and do your research to find out which one will work best for what you are doing. Your going to need an interface or soundboard also. Usually if you have a studio at your house you will not need a soundboard unless you just want to be hands on and have the room for it. If you are on a budget, and need something smaller for your home studio, look for a brand known for making good mic pre's. I have a Motu Ultralite MKIII. but brands like RME, Universal Audio, Avid are all great too. You will probably need a Compressor and EQ also. Personally I think Universal Audio makes some of the very best, but for budgets I would pick up a presonus studio channel. You can pick one up for $299 and it will give you Tube sound with compression and EQ. You will also need plugins. Most of the top Digital Audio Workstations (DAWS) come with there own plugins, but if you can afford it pick up Waves and Universal Audio plugins you will not be disappointed.
Secret #5: Study. Learn the basics, but keep looking for information on new techniques and use them in your mixes. Trial and Error. You never know unless you try. I find many things online showing how people make music, so I try what they did. Sometimes it works out, and other times it doesn't sound very good. I have a very nice library of presets I use now after coming across them online doing research. Of course every mix is different so you still have to tweak, but having a good starting point is essential to taking your workload down a bit.
I know this is kind of broad, but this is how I learned. No one is going to reveal everything to you. You still have to work for it. If you still want to learn more though. Leave a comment that you would like to learn more.
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