KBJ Records

SHOULD I ADD COMPRESSION BEFORE EQ OR EQ BEFORE COMPRESSION? As an old rule, it is customary to add compression after EQ.   This produces a more warm and mushed together sound.   When compression is applied before EQ, you typically get a more crisp and stand out type of sound. When should I use each? If a piece of audio needs a lot of work in the EQ department, it could be useful to add compression before EQ so that you can benefit the most from your EQ adjustments.   Compression will not squash out much of your EQ adjustments with this method. If the audio is almost perfect and will not need very much EQ, it could be useful to add your compression after the EQ.   With this method, you won’t change the sound very much and will instead add more warmth and control to the audio. Why do you get two types of sounds? When you add compression after EQ, the compression attempts to bring the lower volume dynamics in the song ...

TRY TO GET YOUR RMS VOLUME TO REACH -10DB During the mixing process, a song need not to try to be it's loudest.  It is the mastering engineer's job to get songs loud.  Most DAW plugins cannot successfully reach the high RMS volumes that mastering programs can reach.  Mastering plugins and equipment also process the audio signal differently than mixing plugins and equipment. You should aim for about -14dbs before mastering and -10dbs after mastering.    When mastering pop music like Rock, Rap, or even some R&B songs, you should try to reach a RMS volume of -10db.   It is not required but a good rule of thumb. Most professional Pop music tries to hover around a RMS volume of -10db.   This is seen to be very loud.   Many home recordings will not be able to reach this level without drastically degrading sound quality but it is a good number to shoot for.   If you are mastering a pop song, you should try...

DO NOT LOWER YOUR SAMPLE RATE OR BIT RATE WHEN EXPORTING YOUR TRACKS! When you lower your sample rate or bit depth, you lower the quality of your recording.   If you plan to get your songs mastered, you should export them at the same sample rate and bit depth that they were originally recorded in.   Keep in mind that most DAW and interfaces are set to record at 44.100kHz and 16bit by default.   You can set your session to record at a higher sample rate and bit depth to get a better quality recording but do not lower it down when you export the tracks.   The mastering engineer can work with those higher formats.   A good high quality setting for recording is 48.000kHz and 24bit. What is the sample rate? It basically refers to how fast samples are taken of a particular frequency or piece of audio per second.   It is often shown in kHz meaning 1,000 times per second.   Keep in mind that the standard sample rate for...

1.      Your song’s overall volume level should reach no higher than -3db.   This is because the mastering engineer will have to enhance the dynamics of your song.   This will most likely make it louder.   If your song is already too loud, the mastering engineer will not have enough headroom to enhance without bumping into distortion. ·       This can be done by simply lowering the master track volume until it consistently shows a -3db or below reading. 2.      You should not add any compression to the master track during mixing.   If you plan to get your music mastered, do not try to add compression to the master track to obtain loudness.   Doing that can greatly hinder the engineer’s ability to master your track correctly. ·       It is the mastering engineer’s job to get your song to its loudest level.   If you add compression and the...