The recording field is very subjective!
The old days of recording to tape is pretty much gone for sure. Larger studios have fallen away from also but tape is still around. We now have artist that do their own recording from home and do a pretty darn good job too.
Although I have taken numerous courses online my most profitable course was Micheal Whites course. Micheal White is a genus when it come to manipulating sound using all of the fantastic plugin tools in a DAW. What was done in a couple of weeks can now be done in a couple of hours. He does a plugin of the week where he takes that plugin and goes through every aspect of that plugin.
By taking lots of courses on line there are some basic truths you need to know for sure and courses are awesome. I take courses all the time and some of them are free. I try to learn as much as possible. Constantly challenge myself.
Having said that you really need to jump into it with both feet and just start finding your way around the sound spectrum and become good at what you do.
Oh and by the way my site Home Recording Basics site has tons of information about plugins free and paid all in one area . I did the work for you. Most of it is located under my mixing and mastering tab.
YOU WILL HAVE PEOPLE THAT LIKE YOUR MIX AND PEOPLE THAT DON'T. That's just part of the mixing business. You will have to have thick skin when you hear the mix they went with over yours and you feel yours was 10 times better. That's way it is.......
Here is an example of what I mean. Lets take 2 different mixing engineers that mix the same song. What happens over and over again is half will like one engineer and the other half will prefer the other engineer. So its a matter of who likes what and then timing and believe it or not if they like you personally too. That's human nature and it will remain that way because of our humanity. Right?
You may send your work in and it may get rejected yet if you send the same mix to another person they may love it.
I can't stress enough that you should try to avoid too many so called critique gurus. Not saying that it is bad to get opinions but keep in mind it's your ears and it's your mix and you just have to take the bull by the horn and learn from the rejections you get from your work so you can get more likes.
FIND YOUR NICHE AND GO WITH IT.
Once you click the EQ photo go to the eq tab.
Lots of eq's out there some expensive and some not
so expensive. Heck I use Equilibre. It's a free plugin but
it's actually pretty good. I use it a good bit.
You see this little guy right above. He is your friend. Get to know him but be aware you can mess things up if you don't know the frequencies of vocals, kick drums, snares, guitars, bass, keyboards etc.
I mentioned that I like to compress before EQ. The reason I do is because I feel like when I compress it gives me a solid sound to work with. It just tightens the sound up for me and then I just start carving my sound out. Having it compressed I know that the levels are decent.
So what I am saying is the EQ is your best friend when it comes to mixing.
Oh!!! lots of times I EQ'ed too much but I learned from my mistake and I am really careful with this part of the mix now.
I have a FREE 16 step mixing guide click here.
I have been mixing music stems and my own tracks for over 40 years and I have come up with a 16 steps guide that if followed a new recording engineer can product some pretty good stuff.
But and a big but this is my method.
Example: Some engineers want to EQ before compression and some EQ after compression. Your going to hear tons about this subject. Here is the thing if they both produce good work who is right? You guessed it neither one. The finished product dictates whether who is right to them.
The reason I like to compress first is simple I like to compress first because I feel like when I compress first it give me something solid to EQ and carve out my sound. If I EQ first I find that I have taken away some of the dynamics. That's my opinion and plenty disagree.
So find what works for you.
I hope this 16 Step Mixing Guide helps you along the way. Experiment !!! Have fun !!! Each set of stems presents it's own character and try to keep that character through-out the mix.
I have had times where I didn't do a whole heck of a lot because the recordings were done so dog gone good at the initial recording stage I just did what was needed which wasn't a whole lot. Yes I had to do some things but sometimes you get some really good stems to work with.
It's a funny business so jump in with both feet.
David W. Aucoin click here to go to the free 16 Step Mixing Guide ebook and my ebook and my Home Recording Basics 101 ebook.
Take a quick look at my studio below. Looks pretty crude don't it but don't let that fool you. That system right there can produce some awesome stuff.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post.
David W. Aucoin website