COM 3270 AUDIO PRODUCTION

IN-STUDIO DEMO REVIEW

The mixed and mastered song we recorded is here in mp3 format. You'll note that the pitch was raised a semitone in the mastering stage. "Mastering" a song is a concept we'll discuss in future class meetings. It's a process and basically cleans up a mix with editing, further EQing, or the addition of effects. I added a fade up at the beginning. I cut more of the bass frequencies below 250 Hz (I thought the acoustic guitars were 'rumbling' too much) and added a bit more reverb to the entire mix.

When you listen to this song, you'll learn the importance of relying on a steady rhythm track you're comfortable with during the recording phase. I am personally not a big fan of "click tracks" found on many digital recorders. To me, they sound like an '80s era video game sound effect. I prefer something that sounds like actual drums. If you are going to use a commercial recording to play along to, be sure it has the fidelity that will be able to be clearly heard in your headphone monitor mix while you are playing guitar. Be careful with downloaded mp3 tracks; lower bit rates below 128 kb/s lose that fidelity needed to be able to hear everything in a mix clearly.  It's a good experience for students to hear a finished track where everything wasn't exactly right. Please keep in mind that your projects will take two weeks, not just one to complete everything. We were moving at a very rapid and compressed pace to give you the whole picture of a recording session in one class meeting. Over a two week period, there would have been ample time to get the initial guitar tracks in proper rhythmic harmony. We will be able to discuss the process of mixing more in-depth when you have your scheduled sessions in the future.