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George and I used the studio this week to record the choir section of Latch.
We worked out some unusual and innovative harmonies to add into this to make it sound unique and to catch people's attention. I wanted to play around with the way that we recorded this so that it didn't just sound like one person singing the same part. Therefore, I positioned myself in different places around the room, held my nose shut to create a very nasal sounding vocal line and then also whispered into the microphone for one of the lines.

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Key tools/approaches that were most effective for me last term?
- My songwriting went well
- Live vocal performance

What can I do differently this term?
- Experiment more
- Could have had more input in the production

Will I need to make any considerations/adjustments this term?
- Making sure I make sure people are 100% going to take part in recording - better communication.
- Try to create a sonic USP

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What is innovation?

New, unique, forward thinking, different

Find new ways of doing things that have been done

Thinking outside of the box

How to be innovative in music:

Changing technique

Mixing genres

Technology

Using things but not for their intended purpose

Using everyday sounds and changing to MIDI

Collaboration with others outside my skill set

Networking and researching

Mentoring

Experiment with recording techniques

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In class this week, we took a look at the different uses of vocoders in music. Some cool examples I found were:

LUME - Days to come
- very relaxing, very ambient, only the vocoder for the majority of the song, emphasises the lyrical content,

Phil Collins - In the air tonight
- emphasises and creates a build in particular parts of the song

Jack Garratt - Return them to the one
- comes in at the chorus to begin to create a build to the song

I then learnt how to use a vocoder on Logic Pro X as this is something that I have never tried before and then experimented with this. I recorded a rough vocal track of the first verse and chorus of Best Part by H.E.R and built parts on top of this.

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How can I use the studio as an instrument this term?

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How can I use the studio as an instrument this term?

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Experimenting with the mic I use

Experimenting with mic placement (Inside other instruments)

Creating sample packs (percussion - tapping/switching things)

Using FX

Recording via...?

Experimenting with the way I am singing

Sound-scaping/atmosphere

RE AMPING AND SAMPLING

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I have decided to join up with George Campbell who has been studying on the production course for the past year and a half. I thought it could be cool if we can use this project to learn more about different elements of building a song from each other as a songwriter and a producer.

My individual skills are songwriting, composition, vocals, harmony and genre experimentation.
My individual influences in writing are my past experiences and emotion. I have taken a lot of inspiration from artists like Olivia Dean, Sam Smith and Billie Eilish.

Initial group choice of material:
Creative Cover - Latch by Disclosure (Ft. Sam Smith) - made jazzy
An original song (an indie rock song I wrote over the holidays, but we are going to really change this up)

Some areas of innovation that I think we will work on are experimenting with production techniques and possibly experimenting with mixing genres. Some more production based innovation could include using sampling for percussion sounds, experimenting with FX and playing around with microphones (types and placements).

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What is the difference between the two?
- Invention is the creation of something completely brand new
- Innovation is using things that have already been invented to create new, original ideas.
In what way can invention inspire innovation?
- Invention can help to inspire other people to build off of those inventions to keep things up to date.

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Songs that include synth:
Love/Paranoia, The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala
⁽Parker, 2016)
True - Spandau Ballet
Late Night Talking - Harry Styles
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
Bulletproof - La Roux
Does Your Mother Know - ABBA

What sounds are in use? What type of atmosphere does it create?
The Less I Know The Better - used more in the background to begin with, makes it feel quite spacey. Then there are some synth chime sound as the song goes on.

How would I use a synth in a song?
I would use a synth as more of a background sound most of the time to help to emphasise the atmosphere that I am trying to create in a song.

Use of Theramin:
The Ballad of John Henry - Joe Bonamassa
(Bonamassa, 2012)
BU2B - Rush
Smokestack Woman - Black Country Communion
Dr Who Theme - Murray Gold
Incence - Eryka Badu

Thoughts and Opinions:
Some songs use it as a ver subtle background noise, some as a unique intro and then others will use it as a replacement for a guitar solo.

How would I use it in my music?
It is not something that I think would fit with a lot of my music but I think the idea of using it as a replacement for a guitar solo in a song could be really cool.

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George and I took some time this week to complete out project proposal so that we can begin to make more concrete plans of what we are going to be doing over the course of this project.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iVHNr8HkywGjAof-b2GWXvN_jPsqOACHHPhOQMk2PbA/edit?usp=sharing

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“Tame Impala - The Less I Know The Better - Later... with Jools Holland - BBC Two” (2016) Youtube [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fJGJdjWxGE (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

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Tame Impala - The Less I Know The Better - Later... with Jools Holland - BBC Two

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“Joe Bonamassa-Ballad of John Henry Theremin solo” (2012) Youtube [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8lNpiZSLXY (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

Theramin solo starts at 03:34.

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Joe Bonamassa-Ballad of John Henry Theremin solo

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George and I started placing down ideas for the original track. We started off finding a drum beat that we thought fit closely to the original drum track and then began searching for a synth sound that we felt fit the vibe that we would be trying to build. We decided on the synth sound for now as we felt it was quite a funky sound and laid down the chords.
I decided that I wanted to keep the main guitar riff because I felt that it is a really catchy riff that will stick in peoples' heads. We moved onto building a bass part and then started laying out the structure.
We decided to end at this point as we have agreed that we should work in shorter amounts to avoid becoming burnt out in a session.

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George and I started building ideas for the recording of Latch. We decided on some ideas of innovation that we can include in the track and just some other general production ideas:

Some reference tracks that we want to use are:
Listen Before I Go - Billie Eilish
Focus - H.E.R
Borderline - Tame Impala (Blood Orange Remix)

Some innovative production ideas we have come up with are:
Sample vocals and layer up with loads of reverb (intro)
We want to have a big sub bass drop in the song at some point, probably before last chorus
Have LOTS of delay and reverb on vocals throughout the whole song
The vocal sample in the original track to be made to be guitar instead
Spacey guitar riffs

When we have a recording day in Small Pond on the 24th February, George and I are going to bring a drummer in and experiment with sampling drums and play around with unusual mic techniques and placements. We might also try to experiment with tape delay in the studio.

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What are the benefits of collaboration?
Can build off of each other's strengths.
You can teach each other about personal strengths.
All parties will have different ideas which you can merge together.

What experiences have I had with collaboration?
I enjoy collaborating with other people and bouncing ideas off of each other. However, I have worked with people who would not pull their own weight but claim they did all of the work and this was very difficult and very exhausting. However, although this is very draining to have to deal with, it has built my problem solving skills.

Iconic, unusual, famous collaborations in music?

Silk Sonic - Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars

Old Town Road - Lil Nas X Billy Ray Cyrus

Merry Christmas - Elton John and Ed Sheeran

FourFiveSeconds - Rihanna, Kanye West, Paul McCartney

Bad Habits (Made Heavy) -Ed Sheeran x Bring Me The Horizon

Slash x Fergie

Iconic collaborations outside of music?

Primark x Greggs

Apple - Steve Jobs Steve Wozniak

Pandora x Disney

Nike x Tiffany

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Examples of artists who achieved shock value:
Lady Gaga's meat dress
Miley Cyrus rebranding after Hannah Montana
Lil Nas X's whole persona
Ozzy Osbourne eating a bat
1975, Matty Healy eating raw meat on stage
Sam Smith 'I'm not here to make friends' music video

What could I do to get the audience's attention?
I like the idea of being turning the camera onto the audience on stage during my own performance as more subtle shock value.

Potential dangers of implementing shock value?
People online are always looking for things to pick on and 'cancel' people for. So if you do something that would be considered as 'shock value', someone is always going to have an issue with it.

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“Tame Impala - Borderline (Blood Orange Remix / Official Audio)” (2020) Youtube [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NB8wVFgK5Q (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

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Tame Impala - Borderline (Blood Orange Remix / Official Audio)

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Billie Eilish (2019) “listen before i go,” Youtube [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4z1O3miesI (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

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“H.E.R. - Focus (Official Video)” (2018) Youtube [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5ze4CUAkE8 (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

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Today I worked on our cover of latch alone, putting down the main sections of the track as a demo that I can take to George when we next work on the tracks together.
I decided to rerecord the intro harmonies and put a synth underneath them. I used automation to make the levels build up until the next section comes in. Then I laid down the chords with a soft keys sound. Over this, I recorded the main vocal line and one harmony idea.

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How would you want to advertise/share a new project, release/business with the world?

Using current trends on social media platforms

Making content that audiences can relate to

Spotify playlists (after release)

Submit Hub

Is this something you have experienced?
On a much smaller scale, I used social media to try and promote but I was not as up to date with the trends at the time so it did not help.
Do you know about potential forms of marketing?

Submit Hub

Social media paid marketing

Collaboration

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How are you exposed to live music?

Social media

Spotify/Other streaming platforms

Magazines/blogs

Radio

Word of mouth

Music facilities

Mail outs/newsletters

Posters

Where do you source key info about your favourite bands/artists/producers?

Their social media/websites

Record labels socials/websites

TV

Radio

Interviews with bands/artists

How do we shout about something we want to share?

Create relatable music/content

Context

Be entertaining

Provide value

Collaborations

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Record the sound of a key in a lock

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Pop/Soul artist Olivia Dean is real with us once again.

As an artist who values writing for the healthy couples and mutual breakups, London based singer songwriter, Olivia Dean is bringing us a brand new noteworthy track, 'Ok, Love You, Bye', delving further into the frustrations of love. The emotive writer really forces you to explore the sides of love that are usually hidden in music, maturity, self awareness and communication.

Available on all streaming platforms!
https://youtu.be/rtS9c4PdEVs

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New, charming single to be released!!
Brighton based singer songwriter, Caitlin McEvoy and producer, George Campbell are releasing their brand new encapsulating two track single.

The pop/Soul singer songwriter's new funk/indie track will be appearing with an incomparable, soft cover of Latch by Discloser.

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On the Wednesday, this week, George and I laid down the main parts of the track. We decided that some vintage electric drums would work well for the mix we plan to create. We started with putting down the chords with a synth sound and used this to track chords as vocal parts. After starting this, we figured that sampling me singing a middle C note and using this to create a synth sound. We added a compressor and side chained it to create a pumping effect on this. From here we added the bass riff. We wanted the bass riff to be something catchy using inspiration from Tame Impala.
From here, we decided that we wanted to also recreate the vocal sample that is in the original track as it is quite an iconic part of the song. Initially, we were going to do this with a guitar but ended up recording my voice and adding lots of reverb and delay.

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On the Friday of this week, George and I spent some time in the mixing suite laying down the guide vocals and coming up with ideas for the rest of the track. George had spent some extra time working on the instrumental from home and created a very atmospheric introduction to the track with a swoop sound leading into the verse. We ended up adding an adib to the intro of the song using the adlibs from the end of the original track. After going through and laying down the guide vocal we made the decision to create a choir in the chorus of the song to create some kind of shock factor in the song. I will be recording some of this from home, we may also get George to do some vocals to have a male voice in the track. We are also going to use guitar to recreate the arpeggios just before the chorus from the original track.

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George and I will be in the studio next Friday so we made a plan of what we would like to do in the time we have:
Our main priority will be recording and experimenting with recording the drums for Lifeline as we will have the drummer from my band come in to do this. We will record one normal take of the track and then we may play around with sampling different hits of the drum so we can chop up the one long take and use the samples. We have decided to do this because our plan for the original track is going to be recording the song as normal but we will chop up all the parts and really play around with sampling and using different FX on them.

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(Costumes, lighting, stage presence, etc.)
Do you think that these visual aspects have a direct influence on the music being created?
I think it definitely does have an influence on the audience, especially when it comes to live performances. However, things like album covers or social media posts definitely emphasise the 'vibe' or 'aesthetic' that the artist is trying to put across.

If so, how much does it influence the musical output?
I think this really depends on the artist and how much they intentionally use the visual aspects to affect the audience.

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What famous creative covers are there?

Hallelujah - Many many artists (Originally by Leonard Cohen)

How Will I Know - Sam Smith (Originally by Whitney)

Somewhere Only We Know - Lily Allen (Originally by Keane)

Respect - Aretha (Originally by Otis Redding)

Killing Me Sonfly - The Fugees (Originally by Roberta Flack)

I Will Always Love You - Whitney (Originally by Dolly Parton)

How can you be creatively free when covering other people's music?
Make it 'you'. You can use the most memorable parts of the original tracks and switch them up in subtle ways.

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Love Song - The Cure - Covered by Adele
Key:
Original - A Minor
Cover - C Minor

Tempo:
Original - 140bpm
Cover - 117bpm

Time Signature:
Original - 4/4
Cover - 4/4

Instrumentation:
Original - synth, upbeat drums, clean electric rhythm guitar, vocals, clean bass, second electric lead guitar.
Cover - Acoustic guitar, vocals, soft drums, clean bass, strings section.

Structure:
Original - V1, V2, Ch, Interlude, Solo, V3, Ch
Cover - V1, V2, Ch, V3, Dbl Ch, Outro

Lyrical Content:
They both have the same lyrical content, this was not changed for the cover, the melody was slightly changed to be softer sounding.

Genre:
Original - Rock/Alternative
Cover - Pop/Soul

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Identify musical aspects (changed/same)
Changed:
- Genre (From Dance/Electronic to R&B/Bedroom Pop)
- Arrangement (more layers of synths/instruments to more layers of vocals instead)
- Tempo (122bpm to 90bpm)
- Approach to production has changed massively due to the change of genre.

Same:
- The main melody (for the most part)
- The sample use of the word 'Nother'
- Structure

Evaluate (did this happen organically, planned)
- We planned for the song to change significantly, mainly due to the switch in genre. George and I love the track latch but we also love the remix of Borderline by Blood Orange so we thought that we could mix the two.

Analyse areas of innovation
- Genre Crossovers
- Use of synths
- Use of sampling
- Harmonies
- More to be added over time!!

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We will be recording the vocals in the next half of term!

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We have so far only recorded the drums as I became unwell during development week so could not attend Small Pond to record the rest of the parts.

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George and I had some time to work in the studio at Small Pond this week to experiment with innovative ideas.

We decided to focus on recording the drums for this week and play around with the microphones and their placements to create unusual sounds. We mic'd up the kit and got two full run throughs of the track, Lifeline. We then just got some single hits of each part of the kit so that we can use this for sampling once we have recorded the rest of the song.
I plan to take my band to the studio to record all of the other parts of the songs next Wednesday, during development week.

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Research & find 5 songs that you haven't heard before, that use different types sampling, breakbeat or scratching.
- Latch (Disclosure, ft. Sam Smith) samples the lyrics 'Nother' from the song Fairplay (Zed Bias ft. Jenna G).
- Without Me - Eminem (Scratching sample at the start of the song)
- Walk This Way - Aerosmith (the drums have been sampled many times for the use of back beat in a lot of R&B tracks).

What sounds, atmosphere and feeling do the samples create? What have you learnt about sampling?
- Some samples create a more live feel to a track, like they're being played in front of you.
- Others create a sense of familiarity because of the fact that you have possibly heard the sample before, but you may not always know when/where.

How would you maybe use samples, creatively and outside of the box, in a song you have written?
- George and I plan to sample my own voice but use this to recreate a sample that was used in Latch originally ('Nother').

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I would like to use a vocoder as a part of the backing vocals in the chorus.

Can use a synth to build more layers throughout the track.

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This week, George and I finally tracked the main vocal line for Latch. This took so long to do because I have been continuously unwell for a couple of weeks so my voice has been really struggling. Due to the fact that I was still recovering, we decided to record section by section.

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What would you say has had the biggest impact on the modern solo artist?
I think social media has been a major impact on the careers of modern solo artists. There have definitely been pros and cons to this.

Where do you see the future of solo artist?

Again, due to social media, I think that solo artists will continue to be something that we see a lot of.

Is there a place for the classic singer/songwriter with acoustic in the ever changing music industry? If so, where do they fit in?
I think that there will always be a place for them, whether they become internationally famous or not. A lot of people enjoy listening to laid back music at times and this is when this kind of musician comes in to play. I also believe that a lot of classic singer/songwriters could thrive off of things like TikTok creating videos of them playing their songs and showing writing processes.

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How influential were the 60’s on the future of music?

The 60s was a pivotal time for music in many ways...

- Multitrack recording became popular.
- Expansion of electric instruments
- More experimentation with sounds and tech
- Progression of genres
- Lots of civil rights anthems being released

What aspects of 60’s music can you still hear today?

- The use of rhythm and blues is still used across the industry in all genres today.
- The way we record and perform all stems from the experimentation in the 60s and creations of multi track recording etc.

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Listen to the different delays & write down your thoughts:
- phaser:
- tape delay: I like how it helps to build on the idea of space that reverb creates but that it can also be used more creatively to emphasise certain parts of songs.
- flanger:
- chorus: I enjoy the way that it fills out the track a lot especially when used with guitar or vocals.
- tremolo: quite versatile and can be used for different things on different instruments.

How would you maybe use delay, creatively and outside of the box, in a song you have written?
I would like to use a phaser on the guitars in Lifeline, and then a lot of tape delay on the vocals in Latch. I would also like to use chorus on the vocals in the chorus of Lifeline to build emphasis on that section.

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Innovation - Unique Music Creation & Process

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Innovation - Unique Music Creation & Process

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What examples of bands and artists do you know of that approach their creativity and song making in innovative & unique ways?
- Queen - experimented with a few different ways of writing and recording over the years. Even now, Brian May carries on alone but is innovative with his live work as he makes the screens look like Freddie is performing with him.
Are there songs you can share that showcase unique creative process in action?
- We Will Rock You - was recorded in an old church with people stamping on boards to create the iconic beat.
Choose one artist or band that you love, that has a unique approach in their process of creating.
- Billie Eilish and Finneas - they started their career completely DIY.
Research their process & how they made their records
- They used to (and sometimes still do), record in Finneas' bedroom. They would use different, unique recording ideas and experiment a lot to create unusual sounds. For example: & burn' - they used the swipe of a match stick being lit to create the snare drum sound.

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Innovation in Songwriting and arrangement

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Innovation in Songwriting and arrangement

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How has songwriting and it's approaches changed over the years?
- Has been simplified in some ways
- Lyrical content does not change
- Production styles (DAWs)

What key elements make a song innovative?
- Structure
- Keys/Time Signatures
- Genre

Do you think innovative approaches ever have negative effects?
- Can becoming overly complicated
- The 3 minute song somewhat limits people

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Olivia Dean - ‘Growth’ Release

It stands out through the fact that they have built up the idea that the track being released was highly anticipated by many people. It also touches on some of her achievements and underlines larger named celebrities/artists/companies that she has worked with in the past.
(Dean, n.d.)

The Amazons - ‘Ready For Something’ Release

This press release stands out through the type of language that they use to describe the song that is due to be released. This press release also has a quote from the lead singer too which may make fans feel more excited to listen to the track as it explains the way that he hopes that the song will make people feel. Finally, they have mentioned the release of the album following the single release and the fact that they will then be doing a tour!
(The Amazons, 2021)

Both tracks have added bigger names to catch people’s eye, Olivia Dean has more about who she has worked with, Amazons added who their producer/songwriters are and who that producer has worked with.

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How do you create & produce songs currently?
- I will usually write my songs alone with just my piano, I will then sometimes ask my guitarist to come over to help build the song a bit more so that we can take it forward to my band. We will record a demo of this and then from here, finalise the sections and then record the final track when we are definitely ready.
With inspiration from your group, what are the ways that you could break your current routines of creating & explore different and more unique ways to make your music?
- As I am quite new to production in comparison to a lot of people, I am still learning new techniques and building confidence to experiment more. Therefore, working with George, who is far more experienced, will give me new insights as to how I can push my producing more.
Think of one new specific way that you can change & explore your creative process.
- Research into more plugins, experiment with using them, don't care whether it works or not!! For example, using guitar plugins (maybe not just on a guitar), using the vocoder on a new song, or learn new creative EQ techniques.

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What examples of songs can you give that showcase an iconic sound?
- Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight
- My Hero - Foo Fighters
- Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Billie Eilish - bury a friend

In your groups, discuss each musical decade from the 1950s to modern years & discover their distinctive sounds genres, and techniques.
50s - all about rock and roll, lots of inspiration from blues and country & western.
60s - jazz and folk music started to come through more. Music was the turning point for a lot of social issues, lots of protest songs being written.
70s - hard rock started to become very popular. Portable synths were made. Vocoders start to be used as an instrument. Wah pedals becomes more popular.
80s - Synths, drum machines and vocal effects became extremely popular. Punk music and dance/electronic music became vastly popular.
90s - pop/dance-pop was widely listened to. However, grunge music started to grow a lot through this time too. Sampling was used a lot. ProTools and Logic became the most popular DAWs.
00s - indie rock grew as a new genre, alongside pop music being most listened to genre. Sci-fi sounds became popular to use, iTunes became main streaming service, napster started the growth of free streaming platforms.
10s - elecronic dance music was most listened to genres (house, dubstep, techno, dnb).

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Create a short piece of music that includes a distinctive sound you have researched, or use production to highlight a section change.
- To link to the project, George and I have recreated the sample 'Nother' and used it in our cover of Latch. We put a lot of reverb and some delay onto this to make it then fit the vibe of the rest of the track.

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Phantom Power was created in 1966 by Neumann.

Why was it created?
It was created so that microphones could be powered without using bulky external power supplies. This is also because microphones were getting smaller through the 1960s.

How does it work?
The mixer sends a voltage of 48V up the same wires that the audio is travelling down.

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Beach Boys:
Each would record up to 14 tracks on songs (5 x 14 = 70 voices). They would also work off of one microphone as it was the best way to record BVs. It would mean that there would be a lot less work when rebalancing the tracks and trying to keep them balanced during mixing.

Beatles:
Norman Smith used two mics to record Ringo Starr's drums, an AKG D19c above the kit and an AK D20 in front of the bass drum. Used the Neumann KM microphones a lot during their recording sessions, especially for drums and guitars. Then used the U67 o the guitars which used to be used more for keys/piano/overdubs.

Steve Albini:
(Pixies - Where is my mind)
Drums - liked to use natural reverb - he would use up to 3 mics, mainly room mics in reverberated rooms.
Bass - many of his recordings having a very crunchy bass line because he uses this technique with his own band, 'Shellac' like in the song 'Ghosts'.

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Initially, George and I wanted to have had this song started a long time ago but due to poor health (Mentally and physically), we have not had the opportunity. Therefore, we sat down together and made a plan of how we can go about getting this recorded at a faster pace to ensure we have it completed in time.

We had the drums recorded back in Week Five which is ideal as this would be the hardest bit to have finished as it takes the longest and we had so many innovative plans with it. Therefore, we have decided that we will be recording the rest of the instrumentation in Week Nine with my band as they know the song inside and out. Then at the end of that week, we will use the studio in HQ to record my vocals and then most likely do any backing vocals from home if we do not have spare time in the studio.

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Slap Back Delay:
Sam Phillips (Elvis Presley Producer) - created it because he did not like the natural reverb in his studio using two Ampex 350 tape recorders in 1954.

Reverb Plugins:
First digital reverb created was the EMT 250 in 1976 by Dr Barry Blesser to artificially recreate reverb and have more control over it, which then went on to lead people to recreate the reverb of specific places and venues.
(LiquidSonics, 2021)

MIDI:
Invented by Dave Smith in 1983. He created the Prophet 600 which was the first synthesiser that had a fully programmable memory for production.
(Hosa, 2021)

What benefits are there to innovation through necessity?
- Possibly creating solutions to multiple issues at one time
- Can either think freely or not at all - ideas flow subconsciously
- Could help with income streams
- Influencing future generations

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George and I have had to innovate through necessity purely through the fact that I have not had as much opportunity to help get everything recorded and ready due to my poor health. We have decided that we are going to be innovative through the idea of recording from home as opposed to in a studio all of the time. Kind of Billie Eilish and Finneas style!!
This was quite a stressful idea initially but after plenty of discussions and planning, I feel much more at ease with the idea and feel that we can easily have everything completed in time for the hand ins.
We will be using a lot of plugins that will make the guitars (which will be recorded via DI) sound like they are being tracked through an amp at a recording studio.

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After many weeks of just making plans, George and I met up with Matt (the guitarist from my band) to record the rest of Lifeline. We started with the the bass line which we used previous rehearsal videos to recreate what we play live. We then recorded the main guitar lines, and the main riff which we could then copy over to any other section in the track. From here, we played around with what extra layers we could do. To begin with we added a catchy little guitar riff that repeated in each verse which led into a ringing guitar sound through the pre chorus.

In the second verse, we all agreed that we needed another layer/texture, so we added some claps. To do this, we picked five random single clap samples which we edited slightly differently so that it sounded like five different people. We then created three separate tracks for each clap, all slightly delayed to different times so it ultimately sounded like 15 separate people clapping. After recording this, we added some of these claps into the bridge.

In the live version of the song, the bridge is a massive breakdown that goes into half time for the first half of it. We decided that we needed to really emphasise this section through the production of it. We used a pedal to create a rising sustained guitar sound, added a tonne of shimmer reverb before reversing it to create a funky synth sound to go under the drums and the bass.

In the second half of the bridge we added another lead guitar moment with a lot of rhythmic delay which is playing a polymetre rhythm.

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XY Stereo

Near Coincident Pairs, uses a 100 degree angle with the microphone heads positioned 6 inches apart. The slight separation mimics the space between our ears.

AB Stereo

Spaced Pair, uses two microphones positioned anywhere between 3 to 10 feet apart, both facing the same direction. The distance between them will create phase and amplitude differences in the inputs.

Blumlein

The Blumlein pair is built on a vertical-axis perpendicular to the sound source. In other words, the microphones would be stacked one above the other. Both microphones also need to be as close to each other as possible and their front-ends need to be positioned in a manner that creates a 90-degree angle.

This technique provides a direct centre image and a wide sense of space much like the human ear so, your listener will actually feel as if they were there in the room.

Decca Tree

The Decca Tree uses between three and five microphones that provides a well balanced stereo recording. It was invented in 1954. It is shaped like the letter T with microphones suspended from this at each end of the rods. It has been used a lot in recording orchestras for warmth and spacious sounding tracks.

Double Tracking

Double tracking is the act of recording a certain instrument two times, maybe more than this. You have to try and record each performance as close to the original track in phrasing and in pitch. This can then be used when mixing the track later on through panning or used to add depth or texture.

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In one of our lectures this week, we discussed 'The Helsinki Bus Station Theory'. The concept of this theory is that if you fail at one journey, you can either stop and start something new or stick at the one you're on.
Helsinki explained that you need to 'stay on the bus' because somewhere down the line, someone will find you or find older work and everything you've worked for will fall into place. (Clear, 2018).

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In June of 2004, Arno Rafael Minkkinen stepped up to the microphone at the New England School of Photography to deliver the commencement speech.

As he looked out at the graduating students, Minkkinen shared a simple theory that, in his estimation, made all the difference between success and failure. He called it The Helsinki Bus Station Theory.

The Helsinki Bus Station Theory

Minkkinen was born in Helsinki, Finland. In the center of the city there was a large bus station and he began his speech by describing it to the students.

"Some two-dozen platforms are laid out in a square at the heart of the city," Minkkinen said. "At the head of each platform is a sign posting the numbers of the buses that leave from that particular platform. The bus numbers might read as follows: 21, 71, 58, 33, and 19. Each bus takes the same route out of the city for at least a kilometer, stopping at bus stop intervals along the way." 1

He continued, "Now let's say, again metaphorically speaking, that each bus stop represents one year in the life of a photographer. Meaning the third bus stop would represent three years of photographic activity. Ok, so you have been working for three years making platinum studies of nudes. Call it bus #21."

"You take those three years of work to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the curator asks if you are familiar with the nudes of Irving Penn. His bus, 71, was on the same line. Or you take them to a gallery in Paris and are reminded to check out Bill Brandt, bus 58, and so on. Shocked, you realize that what you have been doing for three years others have already done." 2

"So you hop off the bus, grab a cab-because life is short-and head straight back to the bus station looking for another platform."

"This time," he said, "you are going to make 8×10 view camera color snapshots of people lying on the beach from a cherry picker crane. You spend three years at it and three grand and produce a series of works that elicit the same comment. Haven't you seen the work of Richard Misrach? Or, if they are steamy black and white 8x10s of palm trees swaying off a beachfront, haven't you seen the work of Sally Mann?"

"So once again, you get off the bus, grab the cab, race back and find a new platform. This goes on all your creative life, always showing new work, always being compared to others."

"Stay on the Bus"

Minkkinen paused. He looked out at the students and asked, "What to do?"

"It's simple," he said. "Stay on the bus. Stay on the f*cking bus. Because if you do, in time, you will begin to see a difference."

"The buses that move out of Helsinki stay on the same line, but only for a while-maybe a kilometer or two. Then they begin to separate, each number heading off to its own unique destination. Bus 33 suddenly goes north. Bus 19 southwest. For a time maybe 21 and 71 dovetail one another, but soon they split off as well. Irving Penn is headed elsewhere."

"It's the separation that makes all the difference," Minkkinen said. "And once you start to see that difference in your work from the work you so admire-that's why you chose that platform after all-it's time to look for your breakthrough. Suddenly your work starts to get noticed. Now you are working more on your own, making more of the difference between your work and what influenced it. Your vision takes off. And as the years mount up and your work begins to pile up, it won't be long before the critics become very intrigued, not just by what separates your work from a Sally Mann or a Ralph Gibson, but by what you did when you first got started!"

"You regain the whole bus route in fact. The vintage prints made twenty years ago are suddenly re-evaluated and, for what it is worth, start selling at a premium. At the end of the line-where the bus comes to rest and the driver can get out for a smoke or, better yet, a cup of coffee-that's when the work is done. It could be the end of your career as an artist or the end of your life for that matter, but your total output is now all there before you, the early (so-called) imitations, the breakthroughs, the peaks and valleys, the closing masterpieces, all with the stamp of your unique vision."

"Why? Because you stayed on the bus."

Does Consistency Lead to Success?

I write frequently about how mastery requires consistency. That includes ideas like putting in your reps, improving your average speed, and falling in love with boredom. These ideas are critical, but The Helsinki Bus Station Theory helps to clarify and distinguish some important details that often get overlooked.

Does consistency lead to success?

Consider a college student. They have likely spent more than 10,000 hours in a classroom by this point in their life. Are they an expert at learning every piece of information thrown at them? Not at all. Most of what we hear in class is forgotten shortly thereafter.

Consider someone who works on a computer each day at work. If you've been in your job for years, it is very likely that you have spent more than 10,000 hours writing and responding to emails. Given all of this writing, do you have the skills to write the next great novel? Probably not.

Consider the average person who goes to the gym each week. Many folks have been doing this for years or even decades. Are they built like elite athletes? Do they possess elite level strength? Unlikely.

The key feature of The Helsinki Bus Station Theory is that it urges you to not simply do more work, but to do more re-work.

It's Not the Work, It's the Re-Work

Average college students learn ideas once. The best college students re-learn ideas over and over. Average employees write emails once. Elite novelists re-write chapters again and again. Average fitness enthusiasts mindlessly follow the same workout routine each week. The best athletes actively critique each repetition and constantly improve their technique. It is the revision that matters most. 3

To continue the bus metaphor, the photographers who get off the bus after a few stops and then hop on a new bus line are still doing work the whole time. They are putting in their 10,000 hours. What they are not doing, however, is re-work. They are so busy jumping from line to line in the hopes of finding a route nobody has ridden before that they don't invest the time to re-work their old ideas. And this, as The Helsinki Bus Station Theory makes clear, is the key to producing something unique and wonderful. 4

By staying on the bus, you give yourself time to re-work and revise until you produce something unique, inspiring, and great. It's only by staying on board that mastery reveals itself. Show up enough times to get the average ideas out of the way and every now and then genius will reveal itself.

Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers popularized The 10,000 Hour Rule, which states that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert in a particular field. I think what we often miss is that deliberate practice is revision. If you're not paying close enough attention to revise, then you're not being deliberate.

A lot of people put in 10,000 hours. Very few people put in 10,000 hours of revision. The only way to do that is to stay on the bus.

Which Bus Will You Ride?

We are all creators in some capacity. The manager who fights for a new initiative. The accountant who creates a faster process for managing tax returns. The nurse who thinks up a better way of managing her patients. And, of course, the writer, the designer, the painter, and the musician laboring to share their work out to the world. They are all creators.

Any creator who tries to move society forward will experience failure. Too often, we respond to these failures by calling a cab and getting on another bus line. Maybe the ride will be smoother over there.

Instead, we should stay on the bus and commit to the hard work of revisiting, rethinking, and revising our ideas.

In order to do that, however, you must answer the toughest decision of all. Which bus will you ride? What story do you want to tell with your life? What craft do you want to spend your years revising and improving?

How do you know the right answer? You don't. Nobody knows the best bus, but if you want to fulfill your potential you must choose one. This is one of the central tensions of life. It's your choice, but you must choose.

And once you do, stay on the bus.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Proven Path to Creating Unique and Meaningful Work

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In June of 2004, Arno Rafael Minkkinen stepped up to the microphone at the New England School of Photography to deliver the commencement speech. As he looked out at the graduating students, Minkkinen shared a simple theory that, in his estimation, made all the difference between success and failure.

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'Mixing is the stage after recording where you blend individual tracks together, while mastering is the the final stage of audio production where you polish the entire mix to prepare for distribution.' (Messitte, 2021)

I have much more experience in the mixing process but after a masterclass with Tony Cousins from Metropolis Studios in London, I learnt a few things about mastering:
- Usually, with mastering, you tend to only make changes of -/+ 2Db.
- You must do a lot of critical listening beforehand. Make a list of the things that you would want to make changes to.

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Copy of Lifeline Assessment Final Mix.wav

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George and I met up again this week to make some final tweaks and mix both of the tracks. One of the first things that we decided before starting the mix was that we wanted to add another layer to the second half of the bridge to build even more energy before the final chorus. We decided to add an arpeggiated synth harp sound which we then ran through a guitar amp and is now panned from side to side to make the song feel more alive.
Once this was done, we finally moved onto the mixing process. I have attached screenshots of the main parts of this process.

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On the same day, we moved onto the final tweaks and mix of Latch. George mentioned that he had learnt about harp harmonics on guitar and thought it would be a cool idea to use in the song. We decided to record one harp harmonic note, sample it and use it to build the arpeggios. We had to use micro rhythms for the recreation of the pre chorus arpeggios like in the original track. We then decided to try and spice up the sound of the vocals in the second half of the bridge, after listening to some other tracks like 'Intimidated' by KAYTRANADA ft. H.E.R, we decided to use a flanger to create tension before the release into the final chorus. We also added some sub bass into the bridge to again help to build tension to emphasise the feeling of release.
Again, once everything felt finished, we moved onto the mixing process. I have once again attached screenshots from this.

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“KAYTRANADA - Intimidated (Audio) ft. H.E.R.” (2021) Youtube [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK9hxakQMN8 (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

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KAYTRANADA - Intimidated (Official Audio) ft. H.E.R.

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Clear, J. (2018) The proven path to creating unique and meaningful work, James Clear. Available at: https://jamesclear.com/stay-on-the-bus (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In June of 2004, Arno Rafael Minkkinen stepped up to the microphone at the New England School of Photography to deliver the commencement speech.

As he looked out at the graduating students, Minkkinen shared a simple theory that, in his estimation, made all the difference between success and failure. He called it The Helsinki Bus Station Theory.

The Helsinki Bus Station Theory

Minkkinen was born in Helsinki, Finland. In the center of the city there was a large bus station and he began his speech by describing it to the students.

"Some two-dozen platforms are laid out in a square at the heart of the city," Minkkinen said. "At the head of each platform is a sign posting the numbers of the buses that leave from that particular platform. The bus numbers might read as follows: 21, 71, 58, 33, and 19. Each bus takes the same route out of the city for at least a kilometer, stopping at bus stop intervals along the way." 1

He continued, "Now let's say, again metaphorically speaking, that each bus stop represents one year in the life of a photographer. Meaning the third bus stop would represent three years of photographic activity. Ok, so you have been working for three years making platinum studies of nudes. Call it bus #21."

"You take those three years of work to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the curator asks if you are familiar with the nudes of Irving Penn. His bus, 71, was on the same line. Or you take them to a gallery in Paris and are reminded to check out Bill Brandt, bus 58, and so on. Shocked, you realize that what you have been doing for three years others have already done." 2

"So you hop off the bus, grab a cab-because life is short-and head straight back to the bus station looking for another platform."

"This time," he said, "you are going to make 8×10 view camera color snapshots of people lying on the beach from a cherry picker crane. You spend three years at it and three grand and produce a series of works that elicit the same comment. Haven't you seen the work of Richard Misrach? Or, if they are steamy black and white 8x10s of palm trees swaying off a beachfront, haven't you seen the work of Sally Mann?"

"So once again, you get off the bus, grab the cab, race back and find a new platform. This goes on all your creative life, always showing new work, always being compared to others."

"Stay on the Bus"

Minkkinen paused. He looked out at the students and asked, "What to do?"

"It's simple," he said. "Stay on the bus. Stay on the f*cking bus. Because if you do, in time, you will begin to see a difference."

"The buses that move out of Helsinki stay on the same line, but only for a while-maybe a kilometer or two. Then they begin to separate, each number heading off to its own unique destination. Bus 33 suddenly goes north. Bus 19 southwest. For a time maybe 21 and 71 dovetail one another, but soon they split off as well. Irving Penn is headed elsewhere."

"It's the separation that makes all the difference," Minkkinen said. "And once you start to see that difference in your work from the work you so admire-that's why you chose that platform after all-it's time to look for your breakthrough. Suddenly your work starts to get noticed. Now you are working more on your own, making more of the difference between your work and what influenced it. Your vision takes off. And as the years mount up and your work begins to pile up, it won't be long before the critics become very intrigued, not just by what separates your work from a Sally Mann or a Ralph Gibson, but by what you did when you first got started!"

"You regain the whole bus route in fact. The vintage prints made twenty years ago are suddenly re-evaluated and, for what it is worth, start selling at a premium. At the end of the line-where the bus comes to rest and the driver can get out for a smoke or, better yet, a cup of coffee-that's when the work is done. It could be the end of your career as an artist or the end of your life for that matter, but your total output is now all there before you, the early (so-called) imitations, the breakthroughs, the peaks and valleys, the closing masterpieces, all with the stamp of your unique vision."

"Why? Because you stayed on the bus."

Does Consistency Lead to Success?

I write frequently about how mastery requires consistency. That includes ideas like putting in your reps, improving your average speed, and falling in love with boredom. These ideas are critical, but The Helsinki Bus Station Theory helps to clarify and distinguish some important details that often get overlooked.

Does consistency lead to success?

Consider a college student. They have likely spent more than 10,000 hours in a classroom by this point in their life. Are they an expert at learning every piece of information thrown at them? Not at all. Most of what we hear in class is forgotten shortly thereafter.

Consider someone who works on a computer each day at work. If you've been in your job for years, it is very likely that you have spent more than 10,000 hours writing and responding to emails. Given all of this writing, do you have the skills to write the next great novel? Probably not.

Consider the average person who goes to the gym each week. Many folks have been doing this for years or even decades. Are they built like elite athletes? Do they possess elite level strength? Unlikely.

The key feature of The Helsinki Bus Station Theory is that it urges you to not simply do more work, but to do more re-work.

It's Not the Work, It's the Re-Work

Average college students learn ideas once. The best college students re-learn ideas over and over. Average employees write emails once. Elite novelists re-write chapters again and again. Average fitness enthusiasts mindlessly follow the same workout routine each week. The best athletes actively critique each repetition and constantly improve their technique. It is the revision that matters most. 3

To continue the bus metaphor, the photographers who get off the bus after a few stops and then hop on a new bus line are still doing work the whole time. They are putting in their 10,000 hours. What they are not doing, however, is re-work. They are so busy jumping from line to line in the hopes of finding a route nobody has ridden before that they don't invest the time to re-work their old ideas. And this, as The Helsinki Bus Station Theory makes clear, is the key to producing something unique and wonderful. 4

By staying on the bus, you give yourself time to re-work and revise until you produce something unique, inspiring, and great. It's only by staying on board that mastery reveals itself. Show up enough times to get the average ideas out of the way and every now and then genius will reveal itself.

Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers popularized The 10,000 Hour Rule, which states that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert in a particular field. I think what we often miss is that deliberate practice is revision. If you're not paying close enough attention to revise, then you're not being deliberate.

A lot of people put in 10,000 hours. Very few people put in 10,000 hours of revision. The only way to do that is to stay on the bus.

Which Bus Will You Ride?

We are all creators in some capacity. The manager who fights for a new initiative. The accountant who creates a faster process for managing tax returns. The nurse who thinks up a better way of managing her patients. And, of course, the writer, the designer, the painter, and the musician laboring to share their work out to the world. They are all creators.

Any creator who tries to move society forward will experience failure. Too often, we respond to these failures by calling a cab and getting on another bus line. Maybe the ride will be smoother over there.

Instead, we should stay on the bus and commit to the hard work of revisiting, rethinking, and revising our ideas.

In order to do that, however, you must answer the toughest decision of all. Which bus will you ride? What story do you want to tell with your life? What craft do you want to spend your years revising and improving?

How do you know the right answer? You don't. Nobody knows the best bus, but if you want to fulfill your potential you must choose one. This is one of the central tensions of life. It's your choice, but you must choose.

And once you do, stay on the bus.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Proven Path to Creating Unique and Meaningful Work

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In June of 2004, Arno Rafael Minkkinen stepped up to the microphone at the New England School of Photography to deliver the commencement speech. As he looked out at the graduating students, Minkkinen shared a simple theory that, in his estimation, made all the difference between success and failure.

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Will you continue to work towards a further project based on what I have experiences?
- I will be using the recording of Lifeline towards a professional studio recording over summer with Small Pond Emerging 2023. I plan to carry on experimenting with my production skills, now that I have learnt more through the lectures and from working with George.

Has it sparked new creative inspirations?
- I have definitely got a lot of new inspirations through experimenting and learning about different production techniques each week and will definitely be using some of them to write new songs.

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A brief history of reverb (2021) LiquidSonics. Available at: https://www.liquidsonics.com/a-brief-history-of-reverb/ (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

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EMT changed the game once again in 1976 with the launch of the world's first digital reverb, the EMT 250, built in conjunction with American manufacturer Dynatron. (In fact, 1972's EMT 144 was first digital reverb, but it was so rudimentary and under-supplied that it can be largely overlooked.) Marketed as a digital version of the EMT 140, the 250 was a comparatively mobile floor-standing unit that actually went several steps beyond the capabilities of its forebear, generating chorus, phaser and delay effects as well as reverb, and sounding absolutely phenomenal doing it. Marking a turning point in pro audio technology, the 250 was followed four years later by the EMT 251, which upped the processing from 12-bit to 16-bit, extended the frequency response and expanded the control panel.

With the EMT 250 costing $15,000, the market once again demanded a cheaper alternative, and it initially came in the shape of Lexicon's 224, which landed at half the price. From there, it didn't take long for digital reverb to achieve ubiquity in professional and home studios around the globe, and the next couple of decades saw a raft of increasingly affordable and powerful models launched by an array of manufacturers including Eventide, TC Electronic, Roland, Yamaha and Alesis.

It must be said that the emulations presented by these unarguably wondrous devices didn't often sound all that convincing, but their synthetic, glossy textures, unnatural characteristics and criminal over-use were hugely influential on the sound of music in the 1980s, from Phil Collins and every power ballad of the time, to Vangelis and Eno/Lanois. In the decade of excess, it seemed there was no such thing as too much reverb.

A huge milestone in the development of digital reverb hardware was hammered into the ground by Sony, whose 1997 DRE S777 unit blew our collective mind with the introduction of real-time convolution processing. Without relying on FFT techniques to lessen the load, it uses a brute-force FIR implementation using various custom silicon.

While regular algorithmic reverbs generate their imaginary spaces using networks of delay lines, convolution reverb uses impulse responses sampled from real environments and spaces to emulate them with unparalleled realism. The captures painstakingly taken by Sony stand as some of the finest ever made, and despite the efforts of some key reverb figures in the industry Sony have never been convinced to make them available for use in newer designs. You can read more about the differences in this article about convolution vs algorithmic reverb.

The pinnacle of digital reverb design to date is Bricasti's M7 algorithmic processor. Released in 2008 it is still considered by many to represent the last word in hardware reverb, eclipsing what were the final designs of other great manufacturers like the Lexicon with the 960L or Eventide with the H8000, its beautifully organic-sounding tails and supernatural transparency genuinely competing with the physical fidelity of convolution. It has a wonderfully subtle approach to modulation, and is one of the most transparent reverbs ever made making it particularly suited to score mixing with a wonderful low end processor creating particularly convincing small rooms.

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A Brief History Of Reverb - LiquidSonics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
EMT changed the game once again in 1976 with the launch of the world's first digital reverb, the EMT 250, built in conjunction with American manufacturer Dynatron. (In fact, 1972's EMT 144 was first digital reverb, but it was so rudimentary and under-supplied that it can be largely overlooked.)

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History of MIDI - what is MIDI? (2021) Hosa. Available at: https://hosatech.com/press-release/history-of-midi/ (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

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By textbook definition, MIDI is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It's an electronic standard used for the transmission of digitally encoded music. But what exactly does that mean? MIDI isn't a sound or an instrument, it is simply the carrier for messages that specify the instructions of music.

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Olivia Dean - The Bloom (no date) The bloom. Available at: https://the-bloom.com/olivia-dean/ (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

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Olivia Dean, Singer-Songwriter and East London native, jumped onto the scene sharing her lyrical and soulful music with the world. In 2020 Olivia her debut EP, 'What Am I Gonna Do On Sundays?' which was produced by Felix Joseph (Jorja Smith, AJ Tracey, Mahalia) to an amass of acclaim from the music industry.

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The Amazons (2021) Chuffmedia. Available at: https://chuffmedia.com/artists/the-amazons (Accessed: May 1, 2023).

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Following two huge Top 10 records and sold out shows across the globe, one of the UK's most exciting bands, The Amazons, have announced their stratospheric, anthem-packed new album How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me - out September 2nd 2022 on...

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‘Olivia Dean - Ok Love You Bye (Official Video)’ (2019) Youtube [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtS9c4PdEVs (Accessed: 03 May 2023).

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Olivia Dean - Ok Love You Bye (Official Video)

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Messitte, N. (2021) What is the difference between mixing and mastering?, iZotope. iZotope, Inc. Available at: https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/what-is-the-difference-between-mixing-and-mastering.html#:~:text=What%27s%20the%20difference%20between%20mixing,mix%20to%20prepare%20for%20distribution. (Accessed: May 4, 2023).

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If you're not a mixing or mastering engineer, you probably have questions about how the two processes differ. The technical talk and knowledge of gear leave even the most experienced musicians feeling confused, so that outside of the engineers themselves, few people really know what happens during these final stages.

And this mystery leads to lots of misinformation-some people consider the two processes one and the same, or discard them as unnecessary if the music composition is good to start.

To pull back the curtain, we'll look at five key differences between the two phases and offer insight into why they are important to the music you make and listen to.

First, we'll start with a broad and simple overview of both disciplines. Then we'll move on to granular differences when it comes to workflow, perspectives and tools.

In this article you'll learn:

What's the difference between mixing and mastering?

Mixing is the stage after recording where you blend individual tracks together, while mastering is the the final stage of audio production where you polish the entire mix to prepare for distribution. Mixing is when an engineer carves and balances the separate tracks in a session to sound good when played together. While mastering a song means putting the finishing touches on a track by enhancing the overall sound, creating consistency across the album, and preparing it for distribution.

To put it another way, here's an analogy in terms of books: The artist is the author. The mixing engineer is the editor, helping the author frame their project in the best light. The mastering engineer is the copyeditor, minding the Ps and Qs. So what do they really do in a musical context? Let's break down each part separately.

What is mixing?

Let's start at the beginning. You laid down some rhythm parts, you made some music, and you sang a few choice words: you (or your band) produced an arrangement, and now it's time to make that arrangement feel like a song, rather than a loose affiliation of parts and tracks.

This is where the mixing engineer comes in. It's their job to balance all the tracks and do whatever it takes to make them feel like a solid, cohesive song. With tools like EQ, compression, panning, and reverb at their disposal, mix engineers reduce clashes between instruments, tighten grooves, and emphasize important song elements. In some cases, they might even layer drum hits with samples from outside the session or mute redundant instrument parts.

Mix engineers EQ instruments to shine over other instruments, or to fit into the right context. They compress individual tracks to reign them in, or to punch them up. They add all sorts of crazy effects when necessary-reverb, delay, modulation, pitch fx, anything that serves the material.

This transitions us to a mix engineer's second function: to serve the emotional impact of the song -to bring it to life. You give them three to 200 tracks of material, and they give you a cohesive song.

What is mastering?

A mastering engineer is your last line of defense before your song, single, EP, album, or mixtape hits the world. They are the QC-the quality control-and their job boils down to tasks best delineated in contrast to mix engineers.

A mixing engineer balances ten, twenty, or upwards of a hundred tracks into a single song, one that sounds great in their studio. Mastering engineers predominantly work with a single stereo track (before sequencing and metadata tagging), and they do everything in their power to make this track shine on every conceivable playback system.

This doesn't mean simply slapping an EQ, a compressor, and a limiter across a stereo track and making it as loud as possible -though mastering engineers do use these three tools.

Their goal is often translational and relational: they want to make each song fit with every other song in the project. They also aim to make your entire project compete with (and hopefully trounce) similar material by established artists in the genre.

They want to make sure this competitive edge holds on every single playback media under the sun, as best they can-and often, they do their best to make the result timeless, both in terms of sonics (a song that will stand the test of time in tone), and file delivery (giving you everything you need going forward to re-release your project as the media landscape changes).

The tools to accomplish this go beyond EQ, compression, and limiting. In a mastering context, the room they master in is arguably one of the most important tools, helping the mastering engineer catch any potential problems and fix them on the spot.

The speakers, in conjunction with the room, are also vital: a mixing engineer often does just fine with a pair of NS10s. A mastering engineer will likely utilize a full-range, perfectly-tuned monitor configuration in a perfectly-tuned room. This helps them hear and feel every aspect of the music.

For the final QC pass (the Quality Control pass), they might use the best headphones they can afford to catch any artifacts before the song goes to market.

A good deal of mastering these days involves purging problems on an artifact level using tools such as RX Pro for Music. Mixing engineers, caught up in the swell of things, might not catch random ticks, pops, plosives, distortions, or spectral anomalies. A mastering engineer is expected to do this.

If you have a series of tunes meant to be heard in a sequence, a mastering engineer also "tops" and "tails" the tunes. This means carefully positioning the start and stop points so the album has the right flow. Whether your material seamlessly segues from one tune to another, or requires specific pacing to get you out of one mood and into another vibe, it falls on the mastering engineer to execute these moves.

"Topping and tailing" is what we call it, and it segues nicely into another aspect of the job: metadata creation. ISRC numbers, UPN codes, song titles, artist information, all of it must be collated and imbued into the file, usually handled by the mastering engineer.

Keep in mind that there are a lot of different delivery systems out there. Streaming platforms may sometimes prefer a high res sample rate and a 24-bit resolution, but CDs require 44.1 kHz/16-bit files, and broadcast media still want 48 kHz/24-bit files. Some aggregators call for premade mp3s, and how these are encoded makes a big difference (RX, again, has a great MP3 encoder that naturally fights distortion).

Your mastering engineer keeps track of all these formats, as well as conventions behind modern day deliveries. Depending on how you're releasing your project, mastering engineers send out dedicated files for specific formats. Each set of files is quality-controlled to ensure no glitch gets through.

A common misconception: stereo bus processing is not mastering!

It's not hard to see confusion at the overlap points: Mixing and mastering engineers often deploy stereo bus processing on the song as a whole to get the effects they desire. But this doesn't mean mastering and mixing are in any way the same.

Now, with generalized definitions out of the way, we can cover what differentiates mixing from mastering in a more granular way.

What does a mixed song vs. a mastered song sound like?

Here's an example of a song, pre and post master, to illustrate the changes that take place at this final stage. Singer/Songwriter Pete Mancini asked me to master a live album for him, and this tune was one of my favorites on the project.

Now, here's the master. Note that not much has changed, but you'll feel an added excitement in the drums, an additional clarity to the vocal, a new separation among the harmonic instruments, and a reinforcing of this live performance's cohesive groove.

Differences in mixing vs. mastering workflow

While I cannot speak for all mixing and mastering engineers, there are some key differences in workflow between these disciplines, regardless of genre. Because mixers receive multiple tracks, a chunk of their job, at least in the earliest stage, is organizational in nature-labeling and color-coding tracks, ordering them hierarchically in a DAW, and creating instrument groups and submixes.

Once this is done, a mixer will proceed to the more creative tasks of mixing-EQing, compressing, transient shaping, effectuating, and more.

Mastering engineers also need to be organized, but their focus is narrower. A typical mastering workflow goes something like this:

1. Critical listening: what does this song need to hit its market and genre targets? Do I actually need to change anything? How should I order my signal path?

2. Forensic fixes: are there clicks, pops, and distortions I should take out with RX? Any rough edits I need to massage?

3. Levels: Setting final levels for the song based on genre, character, release format, and of course, the song itself (never forget: the song tells you what it wants to do).

4. Sonics: Apply broad EQ and compression to improve tonal balance, while A/Bing the master with a gain-matched original version for quality control.

5. Flow and reference: Consider how the individual songs on an EP or album work together, or sound against references. Is the character and loudness of each song uniform and consistent?

6. Forensic fixes part two: did any of my work create artifacts? Are they best addressed with RX (simple, occasional momentary distortions) or an entire remaster?

7. Metadata and export: Applying metadata and preparing export settings based on listening format.

8. Final QC: Listen to things and make sure they a) have no errors, and b) sounds good.

The creative changes that happen during the mastering stage are subtler than those at the mixing stage. Most EQ changes are around 1 dB up or down. Compression happens as much for "box tone" as it does for effect-or, for transparency, if dynamics-taming is actually required.

Since changes are made to a stereo file, there will be unexpected consequences that need to be listened for. Has a cut in the low-end somehow added an edge in the presence range?

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How much time does it take to mix or master music?

Depending on how a production sounds when it reaches the mixer, a full song mix can take anywhere from a day to a week. This time investment requires mixing engineers to develop a routine that enables focus and avoids ear fatigue. It also requires discipline in the face of external issues, from computer malfunctions to sinus infections.

Mastering, however, traditionally takes much less time. An album can be addressed in half a day. The quickness in time is tied to perspective.

Perspective

It's important to note that the perspective behind each practice is different. The mixing engineer takes a deep dive into your music, shaping it over the course of days or weeks. This is by design and necessity: you want the engineer to pay close attention to every little thing in every track that contributes to the vibe.

Mastering engineers, however, aim to provide a balanced and objective perspective, so they try not to get lost in the weeds. They work quickly, deftly, subtly, and still manage to catch any/all errors.

Mixing engineers think about things like "how does this kick sample affect that kick sample." Mastering engineers think about things like, "what frequency range is out of whack here across the board, if any?"

Mixing and mastering tools

While EQ, compression, and limiting are applied in both mixing and mastering, the degree to which they're used varies between both processes. Let's use iZotope tools as an example and explore how they're used in different stages of post-production.

Both Neutron and Ozone offer EQ modules. Look closely, and you'll see that one plug-in is tailored for mixing, while the other plug-in is tailored for mastering. By default, Neutron offers a broad gain range for its equalizer: with a mouse, you can boost up to 15 dB in Neutron, and cut down to -30 dB. This is more suitable for mixing.

Not so in Ozone. In Ozone, the gain range is sized with mastering in mind: the mousable range is decreased, made subtler for the practice of mastering-you can only drag up to 6 dB and down to -10 dB. Ozone also offers linear-phase filtering which is arguably more suited to mastering than the mix. You can turn this on by default in the EQ preferences by clicking "Show Extra Curves."

Linear phase filtering in Ozone

When you make curves, it will look like this:

Adjusting linear phase in Ozone

In the above screenshot, note how the phase response isn't linear for the low end, but is for the mids and highs. This is a useful feature in Ozone: you can opt to use linear phase on a per-band basis; sometimes, it sounds better if you don't use linear-phase on the lows, for example.

EQ is but one tool that both engineers use which can differ in application and features. Compressors also differ: Nectar offers an Optical mode, which emulates the subtle harmonic coloration and non-linear attack and release characteristics of classic hardware optical compressors, while Ozone does not. Ozone offers expansion, to breathe life into overly-compressed tracks, typically in a mastering session. Neutron Pro does not.

Another available tool that's more relevant to mastering than mixing is a limiter, which is used to bring loudness levels to market standards. A song doesn't have to be the loudest thing around, but it should be within the ballpark of similar music. Mastering engineers often use brickwall limiters to hit these targets without causing too much distortion.

Putting what you've learned into practice

For those who are new to the world of audio, mixing and mastering can feel a lot less accessible than production or playing instruments. I hope the points listed in this article have allowed you to achieve a higher understanding of what happens during these important post-production steps, so that perhaps you too will get in on the secret. Whether you're starting to mix or master, start a free trial of a Music Production Suite Pro membership to access all of the core plug-ins you'll need to get the job done.

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What Is the Difference Between Mixing and Mastering?

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If you're not a mixing or mastering engineer, you probably have questions about how the two processes differ. The technical talk and knowledge of gear leave even the most experienced musicians feeling confused, so that outside of the engineers themselves, few people really know what happens during these final stages.