U need to have a good pair of monitors, headphones will not do at all! I agree with Fourstones, Waves is a very good suite. I use it within SoundForge and it really does help in cleaning up the frequencies. My mixes really improved when I had monitor speakers included in the set up. Experiment and let me know, I'll give u some quality feedback, no holds, sometimes the truth hurts! LOL! EZ m8 Morr

The best thing I can say is: learn about sound. Learn about frequencies, which ones sound like what and do what to the overall mix. Whether or not to use a low or high pass filter on something. Fiddle with EQs for hours. And more importantly, get criticism. It's the easiest way to learn what sound to look out for, and such. And most importantly of all: Practice. Mix till your ears bleed. (from the time spent listening to the same song, not due to the terrible mix :P) Mixing is one of my strong suits, but most of it is just being able to hear the song, and make the adjustments that I want, to be able to make the necessary changes and just know what needs to be done.

bravo!

That's a very good point- I started with a Mac LC, EZVision and an M1, with the only audio manipulation being Hypercard. I got good at customizing patches and finding seamless loop points manually just to get what I could out of what I had, with mastering being 1/4"-to-RCA from the headphone jack on the M1 to AUX IN on the cassette player, or the same thing with 1/8" adapter for the 'puter sound files. Then I'd record and bounce these cassette tracks to my 4-track, with final routing from 4-track's headphone-out back to the cassette. Ugly stuff, but that's what I had to work with...

This is a very good point. I think that it's easy to keep adding new gear, and thus miss the richness of existing gear and software. I like to work with more limited software sometimes, so that I can feel as if I am exploiting it to its fullness.

Ive been making music for couple of years now but still cant figure out why my mix doesnt sound professional. Im I doing something wrong? This is the link to my tracks http://www.ourmedia.org/node/300488 Someone please help me out. The first thing I noticed was the lack of higher frequencies in your mix... My mixes always end up being bass heavy (because I suck horribly) so I can see we both have the same problem... There's is (however) an over-abundance of frequency-fighting in your track... A lot of distorted things competing for my attention (at least in my ears). Dunno if any of this has been helpful, but we could all learn things...so hopefully you'll have advice for me in the future ;-) Good luck, and we me luck too! -Joel

This is a useful thread. Im just in the middle of mixing a new ccmixter-based song and its just not coming together for me. The tweakheadz and hometracked sites are great. A couple other useful sites: tips and techniques at gearslutz - http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/168409-tips-techniques.html ; Live tips - http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27120 ; general EQ reference - http://www.idmforums.com/showthread.php?t=11466 Im definitely going to get the mix Im working on up here, I need some blunt advice.

OK, I uploaded Hollywood Picture Book (feat Calendar Girl and Kaer Trouz) and entered a pluggy plug for comments over this weekend.

Borth Audio has released Typewriter, a free sound library add-on for the Native Instruments Kontakt sampler. As the name suggests, Typewriter features a set of audio samples of an actual typewriter. This includes the sounds of typing, individual keys being pressed (Spacebar, Shift, and Caps Lock), levers, and various paper noises(feed, eject, crumple, tear). Six-octave [...]

View post: Borth Audio Releases Free Typewriter Sounds For NI Kontakt

Samples From Mars has released MPC2000 Snacks From Mars, a freely downloadable sample pack containing vinyl and drum machine sounds recorded and processed through the MPC2000XL hardware sampler. The sample pack contains six pre-mapped drum kits of 16 hits each (96 samples in total), along with 29 grooves in MIDI format. The clipped, filtered and [...]

View post: MPC2000 Snacks From Mars – FREE Samples & Song Contest

Plugin Boutique is running a no-brainer 96% OFF deal on the Music Maker’s Bundle by iZotope. The bundle includes eight popular iZotope plugins like Stutter Edit, Break Tweaker, Iris 2, Ozone Elements, and more. iZotope Music Maker’s Bundle contains all four Elements plugins from iZotope (Ozone Elements, Neutron Elements, Nectar Elements, and Rx Elements, along [...]

View post: Get 96% OFF iZotope Music Maker’s Bundle @ Plugin Boutique

Sourc Sync has released Bedford Rascal, a free sample pack featuring the sounds of an old Bedford van. The sample pack contains a collection of percussive sounds, squeaky noises, and processed loops. These were all made by banging, hitting, and otherwise “mistreating” an old van. All samples are provided in WAV format and the library [...]

View post: The Sounds Of An Old Van – Bedford Rascal Free Sample Pack

Andreas T. Music has released Crystal Glass, a free melodic percussion sound library for Native Instruments Kontakt (also includes WAV samples). You can now play melodies using a virtual set of crystal glass. Add the sparkly chimes of crystal glasses to your music and use them as the lead instrument or for layering on top [...]

View post: Free Crystal Glass Sound Library By Andreas T. (Kontakt + WAV)

8Dio has released The New Cajon and Bongo, a freely downloadable percussion sound library for Native Instruments Kontakt. The New Cajon and Bongo sound library is based on over 7,500 individual Cajon drum and bongo sounds. The sounds were captured from four bongos, two Cajon drums, and two Cajon snares with multiple articulations and velocity [...]

View post: 8Dio Releases FREE Cajon And Bongo Library For NI Kontakt

SampleScience has released Toy Keyboard 2, a freeware sample-based instrument featuring the sounds of the Yamaha PSR-78 home keyboard. Toy Keyboard 2 is a free virtual instrument in VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats for compatible digital audio workstation software on PC and Mac. It features 73 individual presets, including one drum kit. The presets [...]

View post: SampleScience Releases FREE Toy Keyboard 2 VST/AU Plugin

Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign asked an Ohio judge Tuesday to allow it to join a legal fight there over whether election officials in one county may sit out the state's impending recount.

The state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that at least 573 previously disqualified absentee ballots -- potentially enough to swing the state's tightest election ever for Christine Gregoire -- can be counted.

With the increasing maturation of the Internet as a political tool -- and the huge sums that can be raised online -- experts said those addresses can remain valuable long after an election.

Invoking rules that sometimes seem quaint as quill pens, the House and Senate certified President Bush's reelection despite a rare objection, which was intended to spotlight voting irregularities in Ohio and elsewhere.

The freshly inaugurated Democratic governor's grip on the job she won by the tissue-thin margin of 129 votes remains wobbly, as Republicans press state courts to order a new election.

Sen. John F. Kerry, in some of his most pointed public comments yet about the presidential election, invoked Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy on Monday as he criticized President Bush and decried reports of voter disenfranchisement.

Interviewing for the 2004 exit polls was the most inaccurate of any in the past five presidential elections as procedural problems compounded by the refusal of large numbers of Republican voters to be surveyed led to inflated estimates of support for John F. Kerry, according to a report released Wednesday by the research firms responsible for the flawed surveys.

Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:

Years ago, the federal government spent $117 million on an experimental "clean coal" power plant in Alaska designed to generate electricity with a minimum of air pollution -- but the project never got up and running.

Eating healthfully can sometimes seem daunting.
"Who are they kidding?" a Lean Plate Club member from Frostburg, Md., complained in an e-mail soon after the latest U.S. Dietary Guidelines were released in January. "Two cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables [daily]!"

An exercise demonstrated that middle-age, out-of-shape women who wore pedometers and were instructed to take at least 10,000 steps daily walked more than those who were told to take a 30-minute walk.

A new government study has concluded that obesity causes about 112,000 deaths each year in the United States, far fewer than a previous, highly publicized estimate by another part of the same agency.

Kanzlerin Merkel hat den Kulturschaffenden in Deutschland umfangreiche Hilfe versprochen. Dies stehe "ganz oben auf der Prioritätenliste". Eine Weltklasse-Geigerin will sich zum Sprachrohr armer Künstler machen.

Vor einem Monat hatten die Finanzminister der Eurozone ein Milliarden-Rettungsprogramm in der Corona-Krise vereinbart, nun sind auch letzte Details geklärt: Strikte Auflagen für ESM-Kredite wird es nicht geben.

Zahlreiche Länder lockern nach und nach ihre Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung der Coronavirus-Pandemie. Das weckt Hoffnungen auf einen Sommerurlaub im Ausland. Ein Überblick, wohin die Reise vielleicht bald gehen kann.

Jahrelang fuhr die Bahn Fahrgastrekorde ein. Mit der Corona-Krise kam der Einbruch. Viele Kunden kämen so schnell nicht zurück, glaubt der Chef der Gewerkschaft EVG, Hommel. Das liege vor allem am Rückgang von Dienstreisen.

Social Distancing, Corona-Party oder Covid-19 - seit der Pandemie benutzen wir Wörter, die vor einigen Wochen noch unbekannt waren. Einige davon könnten es in den nächsten Duden schaffen - wenn sie eine Bedingung erfüllen.

Die Folgen der Corona-Pandemie sind dramatisch - nicht nur gesundheitlich, sondern auch wirtschaftlich und politisch. Tausende Menschen sterben. In großen Teilen der Welt kommt das öffentliche Leben im März 2020 zum Erliegen.

Weltbekannt wurde Roy Horn als Teil des Duos "Siegfried & Roy" - vor allem durch deren Auftritte mit weißen Tigern und Löwen. Nun ist er im Alter von 75 Jahren an den Folgen von Covid-19 gestorben. Von Julia Kastein.

Die ganz großen Erfolge blieben für Little Richard seit den späten 1950er Jahren aus. Doch sein Einfluss prägte über Jahrzehnte Generationen von Künstlern. Nun ist das Urgestein des Rock'n'Roll mit 87 Jahren gestorben. Von Arthur Landwehr.

Was ist nur aus dem großen Friedensprojekt Europa geworden? Für Alexander Göbel ist es eine Liebe mit herben Enttäuschungen, immer wieder zum Haare-Raufen. Und trotz der "Fortwurschtelei" ist es alternativlos.

Seit April sind im bayerischen Waldkraiburg Anschläge auf Geschäfte türkischstämmiger Inhaber verübt worden. Jetzt nahm die Polizei einen 25-Jährigen fest. Ein extremistischer Hintergrund ist nicht ausgeschlossen.

Wie viele bestätigte Coronavirus-Fälle gibt es? Die interaktiven Karten geben einen aktuellen Überblick für Deutschland und die Welt. Sie zeigen auch an, wie viele Menschen gestorben und wie viele genesen sind.

Eine Corona-Resolution bringt den UN-Sicherheitsrat an den Rand eines diplomatischen Debakels. Die USA und China streiten über die WHO, ein Kompromiss droht zu scheitern. Entwicklungsminister Müller spricht von einem fatalen Signal.

Freude über die Lockerung der Ausgangssperre? In Frankreich haben viele eher Angst davor. Und anders als in anderen Ländern wächst in der Krise auch das Vertrauen in die politisch Verantwortlichen nicht. Warum ist das so? Von Martin Bohne.

Putin allein an der Kremlmauer: Wegen der Corona-Ausgangssperren fiel die große Parade zum 75. Jahrestag des Sieges über Hitlerdeutschland aus. Das rückte die Trauer in den Vordergrund. Von Ina Ruck.

Wenn es mehr als 50 Corona-Neuinfektionen je 100.000 Einwohner gibt, muss ein Landkreis reagieren. In drei Kreisen - Greiz, Coesfeld und Steinburg - ist das derzeit der Fall. Doch es gibt noch weitere Regionen, die nur knapp unter der Marke liegen.

Nachdem bei Hunderten Schlachthof-Mitarbeitern das Coronavirus nachgewiesen wurde, fordern mehrere Politiker Konsequenzen. Sie kritisieren vor allem die beengten Wohnverhältnisse der meist osteuropäischen Arbeiter.

Mississippi State's new coach posted, and later deleted, a tweet of a photo of an elderly woman resting in a chair and simultaneously knitting a noose to pass her time during coronavirus self-quarantine.

Rolovich has brought his fun to The Palouse, hired in January as Washington State’s new football coach, replacing Mike Leach, who went to Mississippi State. But winning Cougs over will ultimately be decided on the field.

The former Cougars coach is expected to participate in “listening sessions” with student and community groups and tour the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum after he tweeted an image of a noose last week.

To help compensate for lost NCAA distribution and added expenditures caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak, Washington State announced multiple “cost containment” measures Monday.

The Woodinville grad, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles, sent packages the school will distribute to its athletes.

Washington State football player Bryce Beekman died in his Pullman apartment on March 23 from ‘acute intoxication’ of fentanyl and promethazine, the Whitman County Coroner's Office said Friday.

On the heels of three productive seasons at WSU’s “Z” wide receiver spot, Patmon was chosen by the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth round, and with the 212th overall pick, of the 2020 NFL draft.