Making a Great Record, Part III: Editing, mixing, and mastering. By Paul Josephs | May 2008
In our last installment, we explored what a producer/engineer does while the red light is on. Hopefully you captured a lot of great moments. Now you’re ready to move on to the next phase of the game: post production.
So what is post production? Simply put, it’s everything that happens after recording but before the physical production of your CDs. There are three main components: editing, mixing, and mastering.
Editing is the process by which the audio is boiled down to its essential elements. Mixing is where the audio is manipulated on a track-by-track basis and melded into intelligently engineered tracks. Mastering is where the collection of tracks is assembled into a single cohesive whole and where tasteful use of compression and EQ over the entire frequency range brings the overall album into alignment with industry standards for volume and tonal balance.
For most beginning producer/engineers, the most cost effective way to turn a set of session files into a great record is to handle the editing yourself, then pass the project on to professionals for mixing and mastering.
PART ONE: EDITING
In almost all cases, it makes the most sense for you to handle the editing yourself. It takes a lot of time and doesn’t require the advanced skills of an experienced engineer, so why pay by the hour to have someone else do something you could just as easily do on your own?
Editing is the foundation on which your record is built. It’s not difficult to do, but still requires a lot of patience and care. Good editing supports every step that follows it, so take your time and do it right.
The first step is to pare down the material. Perhaps you’ve recorded 15 songs with the intention of keeping just 10 or 12. Now is the time to make those cuts. Be open minded – some of the group’s favorite songs may not have the moxie to warrant inclusion, and some of the tracks laid down just because you were already rolling tape could be the gems that carry the album. Make the decisions based on the merit of the recordings you have.
It’s okay to edit an extra track or two if you think that mixing will really bring them to life, but trim whatever fat you can. It’s always better to have an album with ten amazing tracks than it is to include twelve and have two drag down the overall quality of the record. Great records are like great performances – they grab the listener and don’t let go. The idea is to deliver the goods with authority and leave them wanting more.
Once you’ve chosen the songs, you’ll need to identify each song’s best take. If you’re having difficulty selecting, get outside ears involved and compile honest opinions to help make the best decision.
The next involves cleaning up the tracks. Before beginning, familiarize yourself with the keyboard shortcuts for the essential functions for the job. Using a mouse to do everything can really slow the process and can even introduce inaccuracies. Ten minutes spent studying shortcuts will save you hours of edit time. Zooming, scrubbing, selecting, and fading are the tools you’ll use most.
When you’re ready to dig in, start by using your eyes. Find the dead spots in each track and trim out the silence. Some software includes built-in functionality for this (in Pro Tools, it’s called Strip Silence), but be careful not to trim too much. You should leave the entire transient intact wherever music is present. Once you’ve removed all of the dead space, create small fades into and out of each chunk of audio. They don’t need to be long - just a few milliseconds is fine - but adding these fades will avoid the introduction of digital clicks and keep your audio artifact-free. Most software will provide the ability to apply batch fades, which allow you to select entire tracks and automatically add the necessary fades in and out all at once.
Next, use your ears. Listen to each track individually in a quiet setting to ensure that your edits are good. You don’t want any digital clicks or pops, and you want to make sure you haven’t trimmed into important sections of audio. Once you’re confident that each track is clean, play them back together and listen again for any artifacts or missing parts.
It’s important to note that if you’re doing this correctly, you’re having zero effect on the audio itself. If you were trying to create a “perfect” recording, where every kick and snare was perfectly placed and every note perfectly in tune and on time, now is when all of that work would be done. Each track would be meticulously aligned to synthesize the perfect groove, and each note would be tuned to eliminate any imperfect aspects. Because our purpose is different, the edit is minimal and the purpose is just to eliminate anything that could stand between the audio and the listener or distract the listener from the music. If there’s a need to fix a glaringly bad part, address it as minimally as possible.
Once you’re done cleaning the audio, it’s time to prepare it for mixing. If you’re handing the project off to a mixing engineer, you’ll need to know what software he’s using so you can provide files he’ll be able to use. If he’s using the same software you used to record and edit, the best option is to copy your session files onto an external hard drive or series of DVDs. Make sure you save into a version that your engineer supports.
If you’re using Pro Tools LE 7.3, and he’s on version 6.4, you’ll need to save backwards to make sure he can open your files. If he’s using different software altogether, the best approach is just to create one set of mono .WAV files of equal length. He’ll then be able to drop them into the software of his choice without worrying about having to line things up. Be sure to maintain the integrity of the audio – use the same bit depth and sample rate you’ve used thus far. If you’ve recorded in 24 bit/96kHz, don’t create a set of 16 bit/44.1kHz WAV files.
PART TWO: MIXING
In most cases, the beginning producer/engineer will opt to have the edited tracks mixed by an experienced mixing engineer. To find one, networking is the best way to go. Talk to your friends and colleagues, perhaps there’s someone nearby whose style and rate suits your project. If not, cast a wider net. MySpace is a great tool, because it allows you to audition work easily and quickly. Check out the MySpace pages of acts within the group’s genre and identify the tracks on which the production values mirror the qualities you’d like to hear in your group’s recording. Contact those bands directly to find out who mixed their songs, what their experience was with the engineer, and who else they’d recommend.
Mixing budget can vary significantly, with some engineers working for flat fees and others charging by the hour. Some will do an entire project for just a few hundred bucks because they’re just starting out, they’re trying to stay current, or because they like the material. Engineers with established credentials can easily run well into the thousands of dollars per project. Be in touch with your budget and leave room for a little overage. Remember that money does not necessarily relate directly to quality. Listen to each engineer’s work and let your ears decide whose work is best.
If you have the inclination to mix your own project, figure on spending a lot of time doing it. Here are a few tips to get you started.
First off, keep it simple. It’s natural to want to break out the crazy effects, to flange and phase, filter and distort, but you’re almost guaranteed not to help with those effects right off the bat. You’re new at this, your five primary tools will be: EQ, volume, panning, reverb, and delay. Your object is to use them as sparingly as possible, and to use each in just the right place and amount. In the back of your mind, you should always be thinking, “What is the song doing, what does the song need, and how little can I do to get that point across?”
To get started, audition the song. Set a rough playback level for each instrumental track, just so you can hear all the parts of the song enough to critically listen. Then, assess the song’s strengths and weaknesses. What do you want to accentuate? How will you call attention to those parts? (Hint: boosting or effecting them is usually not the answer – reducing the prominence of their adjacent tracks probably is.)
Remember that good mixing is 95% ears and 5% fingers. Always work from the audio to the effects, not vice versa. Listen in such a way that the audio tells you what it needs and then simply provide it, don’t use the audio to try and find ways to use your favorite effects just for the sake of using them. You should have a purpose for every decision you make.
Once you’ve identified the things you want to do, start working on the individual tracks. Make a point to listen to tracks individually as well as in conjunction with the other tracks. You’ll find that you can solo EQ an instrument beautifully only to have it disappear in the mix or bury another track when you play it in conjunction with other instruments. Apply EQ and make volume decisions first, then move on to panning, reverb and delay. When applying effects like reverb and delay, fight the urge to overdo it. One way to keep from overdoing it is to solo the track, apply the effect just until it’s clearly there, then back it off by 10-20% or so.
One final and crucial consideration is dynamic range. If you need to apply compression to individual tracks, do so judiciously. Leave the dynamics of the songs intact and let the mastering engineer maximize the impact of your mix. Good mastering is inextricably linked to dynamic range. If you squash all of your tracks and the whole record is as hot as can be when it goes to mastering, you don’t leave the mastering engineer much to work with. Subsequently, you’ll lose much of what can be gained by mastering.
When you’ve got the mixes exactly the way they need to be, it’s time to bounce each song down to a single stereo WAV file. Maintain the same bit depth and sample rate you’ve used throughout the process. Burn them all to a DVD as data, and you’re ready to go to mastering!
PART THREE: MASTERING
Mastering done correctly will “glue” your individual tracks into one cohesive whole, breathing life, fullness, and vibrance into the sound.
It’s a good idea to have the mastering done by an engineer who did not participate in the recording or mixing processes. Mastering engineers have keen and well-developed sensitivities to musical idiom; their objective and fresh ears can pinpoint exactly what your mix needs to stand up to other releases in your genre while highlighting the unique aspects of your recording.
Once you’ve got the finished master in hand, just make a few slow-speed copies for security and you’re ready for replication!
Tune in again next month for our conclusion: identification of historically great records and analysis of the production qualities that make them what they are.
In our last installment, we explored what a producer/engineer does while the red light is on. Hopefully you captured a lot of great moments. Now you’re ready to move on to the next phase of the game: post production.
