Some musicians or film producers just starting out will often perform their own audio mixing to save costs and then hire a studio for the mastering step. As can be imagined, it is not uncommon for an audio mixing studio in San Antonio Texas to find less than great quality in these attempts made by music and film creators. If you hire a professional for the mixing and mastering steps, you will achieve better sound quality and avoid the mistakes that compromise your master. Here are a few issues to consider:
- Avoiding dynamic range: This is an issue especially apparent with popular music. With competition for radio play being very intense, there is a mindset that louder recordings are more likely to attract attention. The result is mixes that have no volume range—it is a constant assault of maximum decibels. Someone with more experience in this area can balance the market demands with having options during mastering. There is no reason to limit this range, and maintaining it will help more than hurt.
- Finding the right eq settings: Each instrument or element needs a good place to sit in the mix (in terms of the human audio frequency spectrum). A good mix starts with eq settings that make each instrument or element shine with out covering or overpowering other elements in the mix. This is an art learned by experience and much listening.
- Panning: Amateur recording artists will sometimes concentrate the sound’s elements near the center. Sometimes the opposite extreme happens by panning elements that should be dead center off to the sides of the stage being presented in the recording. Good panning provides a listening experience which feels and sounds natural like being at a live performance of your favorite artist or band. Having a good balance so it is more pleasant for the listener and more likely to impress a record label.
- Heavy bass: Too much bottom is a common mistake arising in amateur studios. Part of this involves the equipment and the imperfect acoustics. Not only can the bass be overpowering, but some low notes will also be heard better than others, which creates a very unbalanced presentation. Since professional studios not only have the equipment but also the acoustics, this issue is more likely to be avoided.
Windmill Valley Recording is an audio mixing studio in San Antonio with skilled audio engineers ready to help you out with your film, music or spoken word recordings. Contact us today to increase the quality of your music and screen dialogue.