Page 43 - Zone Magazine Issue 012

" The aim of these articles is to clear up some of the more popular misconceptions and hopefully provide you with a better understanding of the truth. "
When you think that you are happy with your compressor settings, bring up the level of the compressed signal slowly to the level of the uncompressed signal. Then ask yourself have you really improved the sound of the signal? Have you made the kick drum punchier or have you simply squashed it to within and inch of its life? When it comes to processing the dynamics of a sound or a song as a whole, you should always take it slow and not make any drastic changes, as you do not want to effect the emotional qualities of the songs dynamic range.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 3. “You Need Expensive Plugins”
You do not need to spend unnecessary money to make great music. It might seem like spending that extra bit of money on a new compressor plugin will improve your productions, but how likely will this be if you only use the presets? More often than not, producers flick through presets, because they do not fully understand how a plugin works. If you spend the time learning how a plugin behaves the way it does, then you should have no problem achieving an amazing sound using your DAWs native plugins.
Outside of your DAWs stock plugins, there is also a wealth of free plugins online that you could spend days testing out, that are equally if not superior to some costly plugins. (Look out for the next issue of Zone Magazine where I will give some tips on producing music on a budget). One of the benefits of using your DAW's in-built plugins, is that they have been coded to use a very limited amount of CPU and require a lot less processing power than some high end plugins. Basic mixing tools such as EQ and compression, are relatively simple tools when they are broken down into their primary function. It isn't until you want to achieve a particular sound such as analogue emulation that you might want to delve into the world of high end 3rd party plugins. One of the reasons people speak so highly about expensive plugins, is when they add it to a channel strip and the sound seems to improve almost immediately. This can mainly be due to the fact that a stock preset has been loaded automatically and has boosted the volume of the track, making it seem like it has instantly improved the sound, when in reality it has only made it louder.
This relates back to the point visited earlier in Myth #2, “Louder is Better.” If basic
compression is all you require, then look no further than your stock compressor. But if you want to try and capture a classic sound such as an LA-2A or an 1176, then 3rd party plugins may be the way to go for you.
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4. “Mastering Will Fix A Mediocre Track”
This myth is believed by many amateur and intermediate level producers alike. You might often see a budding producer post a clip of their track online, followed by the comment “The mixing still needs a bit of work” or “This is just a pre-mastered mix.” This is because they feel that if they say it is an unmastered sample, then they won't get judged so harshly if the track is not well produced. Mastering traditionally works with elements as a whole as opposed to working with individual tracks or busses (except in the case of stem mastering). An easy way to think of the stages of production, would be to imagine the creation, mixing and mastering of a track as a carpenter at work. The production stage would be gathering all your pieces of wood and fitting them together. Mixing would be sanding down the rough edges and making the pieces fit perfectly. Finally, mastering would be applying the finished coat of varnish to give it a nice clean appearance.
So in this sense, applying a coat of varnish to a badly constructed table will not enhance the tables aesthetics, as the varnish will not be applied smoothly and will have rough patches. To create a really good track, you should perfect your production from the ground up, pick or create better samples, make use of the stereo image etc.. You should also never be afraid to get your tracks mixed and mastered by a professional. They are people who are trained and have a wealth of experience in that particular area, so they will have a lot more knowledge when it comes to working on your track.
Be patient, perfect your craft and over time you can become more and more involved in the later stages of the music production realm such as mixing and mastering.
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5. “Music Theory and Musical Notation is Necessary”
Do you need music theory to write good music? The simple answer is no. Knowing how to apply chord modulation or recognizing the intervals between two keys is not necessary, but it can help in certain cases. It is very easy to create a melody that sounds amazing without knowing music theory, simply by selecting the keys on your keyboard that you think sound good. Some might argue that by not knowing music theory, you escape the restrictions that might sometimes be associated with traditional chord progressions that can sometimes be overused, such as the ever popular I – IV – V progression.
One very important thing to note in relation to music theory, is that even though you might have an extensive knowledge and understanding of music theory, that does not mean you are fixed to a certain number of rules when creating a composition. Music theory is simply a way of explaining and understanding how and why musical notes interact the way they do. If you think about it, music came before the actual theories. It wasn't until people realised that certain chords or notes sounded good, that they started studying the relationships between sounds and began theorizing the reasoning behind this.
The best way of using music theory to help with your compositions, is to look at them as tools and not as a law that you must obey. Many people treat music theory as a limitation and this can often create writers block. When you start examining your composition and questioning the legitimacy of its structure, you will loose focus on the most important aspect of the creation process, artistic freedom. As an artist you are in control of the rules and how you govern them. You should never be afraid to experiment but remember that the theory is there to help you if you need it.
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Next issue:
Stay tuned for next months issue of Zone Magazine for an exclusive article about producing music on a budget. From buying equipment, to finding the best deals on plugins and samples, next months issue will have everything you will ever need.
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