
ADVANCED MIXING AND MASTERING (INTRODUCTION)
- LEVEL 2 COURSE -
ABOUT THIS COURSE
This Course is designed for musicians in general, students, producers, DJs, that are already working with a DAW and are also familiarized with the basics concepts of the Mixing Process, and wish to go deeper into this in order to achieve more professional audio results. This is also the perfect and recommended continuation for the Recording and Mixing (Level 1) Course. Students from everywhere around the globe are welcome to participate. You will need a computer at home with an already installed DAW for practicing, good internet connection is also recommendable.
During this 8 lessons we will present you theoretical and practical concepts for the purpose of taking our Mixes to a next level and being able to pay attention and work with the small details that, really make the difference a lot of times. We will expand our knowledges about Compression, EQ, the use of Send FXs, Automations, special treatment for Vocals, Drums and other specific elements of our Mix. We will also take a look at different Mixing styles for different music genres and introduce the process of Mastering, including its main audio tools.
We will analyze different professional mixes and you will also get the possibility of mixing several songs at home, in order to apply the concepts that you will learn during the lessons.
By the end of this Course you will be able to analyze better your mixes, achieve a better sound compatibility with other audio systems, develop your critical ears, applying new processing tools on your tracks, being more efficient in the use of Compression, EQ, dynamic processing FXs and with the treatment of important elements such as your Vocals or Drums. You will also understand more about the Mastering process and you’ll be able to start applying all this Mastering tools in your own works.
WHAT DO I OFFER IN MY COURSES?
A Complete system: each one of my courses contains many lessons and hours of material (you can check the Course Syllabus below) so that you can have a full understanding of the concepts that you are learning and to know all this tools in depth. This is not a Course that you will complete in 1 or 2 days, but it is rather designed to sustain your learning process during a period of time, while you put all this tools into practice.
Direct contact and the opportunity of learning with an Instructor: once you are enrolled in the Course we will be constantly in touch and you are welcome to ask me questions at any time. You can also send me your exercises if you wish to receive comments and suggestions from me.
The possibility of studying from home, at your own pace.
Unlimited access to a great amount and varitas of material material: each Course contains Videos, written material, pictures, exercises to practice, audios examples to listen and analyze, and more. One Universities call this “Interactive Learning".
My Courses are NOT pre-recorded lessons, neither 2 or 4 Zoom meetings. Each lesson was thought and designed topic by topic, following a program, combining different types of content in order to give you a learning experience that is clear and fun.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Gonzalo Esteybar is a Professional Music Producer, graduated in Berklee College of Music and Pro Tools Certified Operator (Music Production) by Avid Technology. He is the current producer and engineer for River Flow Records where he has worked in dozens of records for local artists producing, recording, mixing and mastering.
As an Instructor he has more than 7 years of experience teaching courses about Music Production, Songwriting, Recording and Microphone Techniques, Mixing and Pro Tools, in the City of Rosario (Argentina) as well as Online / At-A-Distance Courses and Seminars across the country. Nowadays hundreds of students from all around the world have attended to this activities and we have 100% of positive feedback in our social media, always.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Once you are enrolled in the Course we will give you access to an exclusive website that contains all the course material, this means every lesson including videos, audios, text material, exercises, etc. The access to this website is unlimited and has no restrictions, you can log in at any time and watch the material at your own pace and convenience. The suggested time to do this course is to take one lesson per week, this means that it will take around 8 weeks to complete the entire Course, but you can go faster or slower depending on your own needs, the website will remain open forever and you will have free access in case you need to review any material.
This Course is designed for being practical and interactive and not only just about accumulating new information. Once you are enrolled you will have the possibility of being in touch with me directly, if you have any doubts regarding the Course material or any other questions. You will also be able send me your own mixes / exercises so that I can take a listen and let you know what I think.
SYLLABUS
Lesson 1: Taking Organization to a next Level
Color Coding techniques
Working with markers
Groups and Sub-mixes
Creating Tempo Maps
Advanced Editing Tools
Warp Audio / Elastic Audio functions
Lesson 2: Compression (special uses) and other Dynamic Range Processors
Compression parameters
Parallel Compression. Concepts and new ideas
Stereo Bus Compression and Sub-Mixes
Gates. Parameters and uses.
Side Chain / Key Input effects. Side Chain Compression. Side Chain Gating.
De-essers. Concept, ideas and uses.
Exercise: Mixing work
Lesson 3: Delays and Time Based Effects
Use of Buses, Sends and Returns
Special uses for the Delay effect. Stereo Widening. Artificial Double Tracking. Slap Delays.
Time-based Delays and Echo effects
Delay Parameters and plugins
Delay types. Mono vs Stereo delays. Ping Pong Delay.
Modulation function and Time-Based effects. Working with Chorus, Flangers and Phasers.
Lesson 4: Vocal Production
Concepts of Vocal Production
Vocal Editing techniques
Vocal Comping
Vocal Mixing: Balance, EQ, Compression and Automations
Other vocal FXs. De-essing techniques. Auto-tune. Saturation and Distortion.
Vocal Send FXs: Reverbs and Delays.
Exercise: Mixing work
Lesson 5: Drums and Rhythm Section
Drums Production. Concepts and main ideas.
Preparing the Drums for Mixing.
Fixing Phase issues. Editing. Groups and Sub-Mixes.
Individual Processing. Stereo and Parallel Processing. EQ, Compression, Gates, Parallel Compression, Saturation and others.
Drum Triggers. Sampling and Sound replacements.
Reverbs and other effects.
Working with Real Drums vs Electronic Drums.
Lesson 6: Other Instruments and effects
Auto-Tune effect. Uses and techniques.
Pitch shifting effects.
Noise reduction processing. De-click, De-Noise, Spectral Repair. Offline / Audio Suite and standalone functions.
Chorus, Flanger, Phaser
Distortion, Saturation, Virtual Amps and analog equipment emulation plugins.
Mixing the Bass. Concepts and ideas
Mixing Electric and Acoustic Guitars
Mixing Strings and other instruments
Exercise: Mixing work
Lesson 7: Mixing styles and Music genres
Concepts and ideas for Mixing Acoustic Music
Concepts and ideas for Mixing Jazz Music
Concepts and ideas for Mixing Rock and Pop Music
Mixing Electronic Music
Final tips for completing our Mixing work
Final checks for the Final Mix
Characteristics of a Final Mix
Lesson 8: The Mastering Process
The Mastering chain: global concepts
Volumen meters. Meter types and uses. Peak vs RMS vs LUFS.
Limiters / Maximizers. Uses and parameters.
Multi-band Processing. Multi-band Compression. Stereo Imagers. Harmonic Exciters in Mastering.
Mid-Side Processing. Concepts and ideas. Mid-Side EQ techniques and other effects.
Dithering and finalizing our Mastering.
Exercise: 3 songs Mastering work.