Guest article from Big Tone Mastering - Online Audio Mastering Mastering… it’s an area that has come under fire over the last few years, with computers becoming much more clever as algorithms continue to advance and in this sense, advanced to have the ability to understand what we need or understand what we think as […]

Want bigger & fuller sounding songs?  Less is More! The biggest problem I encounter with inexperienced artists, producers, and engineers these days is that there is too much of everything.  Too many parts in the song arrangements.  Too many tracks in the recording.  Too many plugins in the mix.  Too many frequencies competing with each […]

Revised & Updated! This is an old article I wrote in the early 90s. Quite a bit has changed since then, but most of the advice here still applies. With the reworking of my site in 2012, I have gone through this article and made some additions and revisions to make it more relevant. MAXIMIZING […]

Question: how do professionally recorded and/or mastered audio recordings get that "sheen" or that "glass-like quality" ? Is that something done in the mastering stage, or is it something done during the mixdown stage? Is it something done with a compressor? If so, how is it done? There really is no single answer to this […]

Is there any use for a multiband harmonic exciter? A harmonic exciter, I thought and correct me if I'm wrong, adds a high frequency "touch" to a sound. Couldn't an EQ do the same thing? What would be the advantage of multiband harmonic exciter? Harmonic exciters are different than EQ. EQ simply boosts or cuts […]

In a previous post to me you wrote: If I use a high-pass filter it will be set to very low frequencies (10 or 20Hz at most) just to remove any possible DC offset and really low sub rumble that I don't want.  I use Izotope's OZONE and it has the option of using the […]

I was recently watching the Steinberg Internal Mixing DVD and, as a result, I have a question. One of they points they make on the DVD is that, when one is sending pop and rock music off for mastering, the output of the mix at the loudest part should be no more than -14dB. So […]

I have a question regarding order of effects on the stereo output channel. I have Ozone 3 which is a "mastering" plug in. It contains a graphic EQ, some compressors, reverb, etc. I also have a separate compressor which I like to use to add a little kick to the mix and even out the […]

Oh Wise One: If I'm taking a track which was recorded in 16 bits and making it into an audio file to place on a mastering track, do I save it in the audio file as 16 or 32 bits?  Can I save it as a 32 bit file so long as I dither it […]

Greetings Master of All-Things-Audio: I really need your help. About a year ago I had asked you which audio production software you liked, why, etc.  I chose Cubase SX3 and I really enjoy it -it's relatively steep on the learning curve, but once you get that down, you can go nuts. I spent a few […]