audio post-production

Audio stems is a sound engineering jargon term to describe the organization of multiple audio tracks grouped as one unit according to specific sound categories. You can create stems in your DAW (digital audio workstation) by using group channels (also known as either aux channels, bus or buss...

What would y'all recommend as the best free DAW that has an easy learning curve?

The amount of headroom you should reserve before mastering music after audio mixing is subjective. What matters the most is to avoid hard clipping i.e. making sure you are not going over 0 dBFS on the master fader. However, some sound engineers may recommend having your final mix peaking at -6...

The main reason why software brickwall audio mastering limiters sound different is because of the proprietary algorithms used by the developer. You can think of algorithms as different styles of approach which are meant to process audio with the motive of handling different program material...

What type of audio formats are supported by Soundcloud music streaming service?

What's the underlying reason music sounds different when uploaded to Soundcloud online music streaming platform?

The technique of mixing kick and bass is often a common struggle that beginners are prone to deal with on a constant basis. This is mainly because noobs fail to understand that for particular genres of music the listener is not used to hearing so much bass in the song. Instead, they do the...

In music production software, dBFS (i.e., decibels relative to full scale or full code) and dBTP (i.e., decibels relative to true peak) are both units of audio measurements used in the digital domain but the two aren't quite interchangeable. dBTP is essentially a way to gauge extra volume above...

To understand what is meant by the terms 2-pole filter and 4-pole filter, you first need to know that the word "pole" in the context of filters refers to a 6 dB per octave roll-off. Well, a 2-pole filter = 12 dB/octave slope, and that's because 6 dB x 2 = 12 dB. Furthermore, a 4-pole filter =...

For the most part, there's no difference between audio software plug-ins referred to as maximizers and those marketed as brickwall mastering plug-ins. The contrast is that some developers simply decide to name their digital audio processors as maximizers whilst some may settle for the term...

Digital audio software linear-phase equalizers do not alter the phase of the input signal. And in contrast to linear-phase equalizers you've minimum-phase parametric EQs that act by introducing phase shift whilst processing. What's important to remember here is that if you need an ultra-clean...

In audio mastering, brickwall limiting is the final signal processing before releasing a song. Every brickwall limiter or maximizer will in most cases basic controls such as threshold, ceiling, and release time. It's not uncommon for some brickwall limiters to have extra controls such as attack...

The simplest way to fade out your beat (an instrumental) or a song in Image-Line's FL Studio DAW is to automate the master fader's volume level. However, for the most part, it's not a good idea to create automation clips using the master channel's slider knob because this can result in hard...

The term "lookahead" in the context of dynamic signal processor effects refers to how an audio software plugin will delay the signal e.g., 0.1 to 1 ms or more, for the sake of implementing the process of analyzing the incoming audio material. And once a brickwall limiter analyzes the input...

Audio aliasing is a digital signal processing term that refers to how high frequencies (or harmonics) above the Nyquist limit are thrown back into your human hearing audible range (i.e., 20 to 20 kilohertz), particularly when using some of your favorite non-linear audio software plugins such as...

Oversampling is a technique of digital signal processing that helps audio software plug-ins to minimize the level of artifacts often caused by aliasing distortion. The process of oversampling is done through means of sampling audio material greater than its Nyquist rate. For example, if you...

The process of normalizing audio isn't the same as using a brickwall limiter on the master bus. In fact, when you normalize audio this will make the loudest part of the audio material as loud as it can be without going over 0 dBFS. And as for the quieter parts of the same audio file, they will...

If you want to normalize audio in Image-Line's FL Studio music production software, you need to use the Edison audio editor VST plug-in or you can use the sampler's precomputed normalization effect to accomplish this. However, for this tutorial, I will demonstrate how to do it using Edison...

The simple answer is no. This is because one of the rules of thumb in audio mastering is you should do no harm since reverberation has an overwhelming potential to make your music muddy and ruin a sound engineer's mix. Best believe they won't ever work with you again. Experimenting with reverb...

The Fairchild 670 compressor is a well-known vintage stereo limiter that was released way back in the 1950s by Fairchild Recording Equipment Corporation. This audio compressor's attack and release times are controlled by the switch labeled "time-constant" and the settings are as follows...