Listen carefully to your favorite songs, and you will notice not only impressive vocals or instrumentals, but also, the balance between these sounds. This would not be possible without strategic mixing and mastering.
By fully understanding and appreciating what makes both mixing and mastering, from one another, producers can achieve balance without compromising their creative visions. Producers often feel tempted to blur the lines between these ideally distinct processes. However, mixing and mastering involve separate goals and unique workflows. If they are blended, producers or audio engineers risk everything from overprocessing to tone imbalances.
Below, we will discuss the many differences between mixing and mastering and offer music production tools and tips that can help you make the most of both essentials.
Understanding the Basics of Mixing and Mastering
Music production novices may recognize that mixing and mastering are important, but might struggle to distinguish these separate, but related concepts. These represent distinct stages of music production that call for specific tools and techniques.
Both processes are essential, for, as an NPR story reveals, “The music you listen to, no matter what the format, sounds worse than it does in the studio where it was recorded. That’s not just because musicians and recording engineers have better equipment than you do, but because the recordings themselves contain more information.” Mixing and mastering can limit these discrepancies add a distinct flavor to each track.
What Is Mixing?
Mixing brings a methodical, yet creative approach to the process of enhancing recently recorded tracks. As experts at NPR explain, “In mixing, voices become clearer, transitions are smoothed, …. and ambience or music beds are balanced.” This stage is heavy on decision-making, with producers making high-level choices that have a significant impact on the overall shape of the sound.
What Is Mastering?
Mastering is all about polishing. As the final stage in the music production process, this pursuit centers around a lofty goal: to achieve optimal sound quality while also ensuring consistent playback across various formats and devices.
The primary goal of mastering is to ready music for distribution, typically by optimizing sonic qualities such as loudness or tonal balance. A guide published in the music technology magazine Sound on Sound sums it up by referring to mastering as “making the music the best it can be.”
Essential Techniques for Mixing
Mixing, like music production in general, is a balancing act. It should be driven by artistic qualities unique to each song and album. It is similar to sculpting — mixing techniques shape the music by removing or limiting what is unnecessary while highlighting the most artistically compelling elements of the song.
No specific audio engineering tips are relevant to every mixing effort, although producers may develop workflows and continually turn to tried-and-true techniques to bring their artistic visions to life.
As Simon Duggal explains in Record, Mix and Master, “Each mix engineer has his or her own particular style and approach to mixing. However, they all have one thing in common — they know how and when to correctly use all of the audio tools at their disposal.”
The following techniques are particularly important because they encourage balance and help tracks sound distinct.
Balancing Levels
Mixing itself may feel like a balancing act, but the focused effort to balance levels represents one of the most important and impactful strategies for shaping sounds. The ultimate goal is to ensure that no single element feels overpowering.
Volume control is essential, as it is otherwise easy for certain instruments or vocals to obscure other important sounds. The previously mentioned NPR mixing guide refers to this process as “fine-tuning levels.”
EQ and Frequency Management
Short for equalization, EQ delivers a balanced mix by adjusting specific frequencies. This is one of the most well-known aspects of the music production process, and for many producers, forms the basis of entire mixing sessions.
The concept of EQ draws heavily on basic sound components known as partials. Elements with similar frequencies but distinct timbres can prompt masking, but EQ adjustments help distinguish these elements so they can be heard clearly. That being said, these must be used in moderation. The previously mentioned Sound on Sound mixing guide explains, “It’s frequently the case that the less EQ…the more natural and open the mix sounds.”
Using Compression and Dynamics
Dynamic range in music reveals the differences between the loudest and quietest parts of a song. This is typically expressed in decibels (dB), with dynamic range control often achieved via compression.
Compression ensures that loud and quiet elements are heard clearly. Thresholds determine where compressors begin to work, while ratios reveal how gains can be reduced once signals surpass various thresholds. The timing of the compressor can be controlled through attack and release.
NPR audio engineer Andy Huether explains, “Compression lowers the highest level portions of a signal, reducing the overall dynamic range (the difference between the lowest and highest parts of a signal). Limiting…is just an extreme version of compression.”
Creating Space With Reverb and Delay
Time-based effects such as reverb and delay help mixes feel more dynamic. This is a three-dimensional concept, influencing musical width to determine whether sounds are perceived as wide or narrow. With sufficient width, tracks feel far more immersive.
Delay serves as an audio processing technique, in which an input source is played back following a carefully defined time. This can not only add width, but also rhythmic excitement.
Reverb is similar to delay but allows sound waves to bounce off surfaces. If added during the mixing stage, however, reverb can capture a sense of realism, even mimicking the natural sounds of instruments in clubs or other venues.
However, as a guide from SBO Magazine explains, “reverb can be a mysterious thing” which, although sometimes capable of “providing depth and sheen” can also feel “too washy sounding where you can’t find the right balance.”
In SBO Magazine, Producer and engineer Bobby Owsinski recommends placing “an EQ on the insert of the reverb channel, but before the reverb plugin” because low frequencies make for a muddy mix while excessively high frequencies may call too much attention to the reverb.
Mastering Techniques for a Professional Finish
Following successful mixing, producers can proceed with mastering. Done right, this will add polish, with professional audio mastering making tracks achieve a marketable sound. This is also important for making tracks sound appealing across several formats. For example, mastering for streaming will look different from mastering for vinyl. Streaming supports a broader frequency range, but vinyl can deliver the warmth of an analog sound.
WBUR reveals the value of Loudness Unit Full Scale (LUFS), which can “measure a piece of audio’s perceived loudness by analyzing its levels over time.” This is important because if “specs vary widely from one producer to another…the user will be constantly fiddling with the volume.”
We have highlighted a few of the most impactful mastering techniques below, but with an important caveat. No mastering techniques should be pursued within the confines of a mixing session. Instead, mixing should be a separate process, followed by a significant break, and finally, mastering.
Finalizing the Mix With EQ
EQ plays a vital role in mixing and mastering, although, with mixing, individual elements may call for strategic EQ adjustments. In mastering, EQ is all about the overarching tonal balance and how energy is distributed across the full range of audio frequencies. Ideally, EQ in music production (and especially mastering) will enhance or polish the sound without changing its already established character to a significant degree.
Although EQ can be heavy-handed in mixing, it takes on a subtler approach in mastering. Filter shape is a priority, with various curves applied to the audio signal to impact the subtlety of the EQ adjustments. Low-pass or high-cut filters can reduce harshness, while shelving filters impact the overall tone of the track.
Compression in Mastering
Like EQ, the concept of compression is relevant in both mixing and mastering. With mixing, compression tends to involve specific elements and smoothing out vocal variations or influencing the attack of the drums.
When mastering audio tracks, compression takes on the distinct goal of subtle adjustments that impact the entire mix and promote consistency. Ultimately, mastering-based compression makes tracks feel glued together. That said, NPR warns that this is “easily overused and can result in an aggressive, pumpy, in-your-face sound.”
Compression in mastering often centers around the concept of absence. This makes compression more difficult for novices to grasp. Further complicating matters? The reality is that compression is not always required in mastering, as over-compressing could actually hamper natural dynamics.
Limiting and Maximizing Loudness
Music production is all about balance, especially when it comes to loudness. Concerning loudness in mastering, it should be adjusted to make the final track stand out, but without causing distortion.
Limiters set thresholds that cannot be exceeded by audio signals. Once such control has been exerted, overall loudness can be increased without prompting a phenomenon known as clipping, in which cut-off waveforms result in a harsh sound. Sound editor Alex Knickerbocker adds that, in addition to avoiding clipping, limiters can help tracks “sound more full and present.”
Preparing for Different Formats
File formats can have a huge impact on finalized tracks, determining everything from sound quality to storage practicality. Lossless formats such as WAV are generally preferred for mastering, as these are uncompressed and therefore, capable of delivering stellar audio quality. Unfortunately, these result in sizable audio files.
Other formats remove frequencies to compress the audio and limit file sizes. This may improve compatibility but may pose problems from an audio quality perspective. Select high-resolution formats offer both excellent fidelity and sizable files but may not be supported by all digital audio workstations (DAWs).
Tools and Software for Mixing and Mastering
Many advanced tools and technologies can enhance the mixing and mastering processes, although ideally, these will be manipulated by producers who possess a thorough understanding of music theory and composition.
Essential Mixing Tools
Mixing tools help music producers bring shape and dimension to sounds. Some of the most important tools we’ve already discussed, including EQs and compressors. Used properly, these tools can reduce dynamic range, enhance clarity, and enhance tonal balance.
In addition to these essentials, producers should be prepared to use metering tools to visualize levels and frequency balance. For instance, experts at MusicRadar recommend “audio goniometers” for visually representing stereo signals’ spatial characteristics. Many producers and engineers rely on stereo imaging tools to help control an audible space known as the stereo field. For example, panning places signals between the stereo field’s left and right channels.
Mastering Software and Plugins
Music mastering software and plugins bring versatile opportunities to essential production processes. These can streamline otherwise time-consuming tasks while still encouraging producers and audio engineers to bring their creative ideas to the forefront. Mixing and mastering plugins worth exploring include:
- IK Multimedia T-RackS 5
- FabFilter Pro Q3
- iZotope Ozone 10
- Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain
Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Mixing and mastering can elevate musical pieces, but challenges are to be expected. As mentioned previously, the overarching challenge involves balance, which can be difficult to achieve while also making tracks sonically cohesive and distinct. Below, we’ve highlighted a few of the most common concerns, along with mixing and mastering tips to overcome these issues.
Avoiding Mix Fatigue
Prolonged listening, especially at high volumes, can make it hard for even trained ears to identify sonic features or decide which levels need adjustment for balance.
Resembling writer’s block, this problem may simply indicate the need for a break. This should occur between mixing and mastering, but additional time off may be required during individual mixing sessions. Experts at NPR also advise to “take off your headphones or turn off your speakers and let your ears rest before your final mix quality check.”
Dealing With Problem Frequencies
Certain frequencies are more likely to prompt a harsh or even muddy sound, making it far more difficult to achieve balance. These challenging frequencies exist across all areas of the audio spectrum. Sub-bass, for instance (typically between 20 and 60 Hz), can cause distortion or overwhelm the mix, while high frequencies (between 8 and 16 kHz) are prone to displeasing tinny effects.
Each frequency calls for nuanced handling; there is no one-size-fits-all approach. This is where dynamic EQ may be preferable, as this offers precise control and can more readily address specific concerns such as muddiness or tinniness.
Ensuring Consistency Across Tracks
Many producers successfully create spectacular-sounding tracks but struggle to translate these skills to entire albums or EPs. A common problem there is a lack of consistency across multiple tracks, with some sounding louder than others or differing in terms of tonal balance.
This can be jarring for the listener and can limit the cohesive appeal of a well-designed album. Differences in rhythms and vocal energy can exacerbate this. Many producers use benchmarking to form a reference, typically related to the overarching vibe of the album. A consistent listening environment can also help, limiting differences in interpretations of frequency balance or other key elements.
Level Up Your Mixing and Mastering Skills With RMCAD
Are you fascinated by the nuances of mixing and mastering? These production processes can elevate music, but it takes time and commitment to develop an ear for production. Studying with Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD) will help.
RMCAD’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Production provides a deep dive into everything from music theory to audio engineering. Get in touch to learn more about this online program and the opportunities it can unleash.
