T4.

2 Better mixes
Static mix
A static mix is when no automation is used in the mix. Automation allows you to change the
parameters of volume and effects on each channel. It can be both an audio or midi file which this
can be done to. e do this if the volume needs to increase in audio files at certain times.
Signal to noise ratio
Signal to noise ratio is the sound we do want vs the sound we don!t want. "o matter where you are
there will always be unwanted noise. #or example if you put a microphone the other side of the
room to where you was spea$ing it will be pic$ing up more unwanted noise than you tal$ing. %ou
will have to turn up the gain of the microphone meaning that more noise is pic$ed up. %ou will also
find it hard to get clean sounding mix. So in this example by moving the microphone closing to you
the source of sound you will get less unwanted noise. &owever there will always be noise in a
recording you can acoustical treat a room so there will less noise in there.
'B#S
'ecibel relative to full scale is the loudest a digital audio signal can get before clipping. ( 'B#S is
the maximum level before you would start seeing the waveform clipping. meaning you was lose the
tip of the waveform. )*('B#S means that you are *( decibels below distortion.
Noise Signal
Automation on a midi track in logic
'ynamic range
'ynamic range is the difference between the loudest and +uietest part in the waveform. In most
modern music ,'ance and pop music- the dynamic range is small as shown below.
hereas with classical music the dynamic range is much bigger.
&eadroom
&eadroom in digital audio is the difference between the pea$ level of your master output and (
'B#S. The more channels you add the louder the whole trac$ will become. %ou can create more
headroom by bringing down the gain of certain audio.
./0#re+uency spectrum
hen listening to different instruments you can tell the difference in how they sound. This is
because they cover all different fre+uency ranges. #or example a $ic$ drum will cover much lower
fre+uency whereas a crash on a drum set will cover much higher fre+uencies. Therefore using a
e+ualiser on 1ogic pro can do three things2
Change
frequency
Boost/cut
Bandwidth
3hanging these 4 factors can ma$e a mix sound completely different. #or instance by cutting all
fre+uencies below 5(&6 on a instrument which do use them fre+uencies will give you more
headroom. #or example if you have two channels of a 7uitar and vocals8 you can ta$e some mid
fre+uencies out of the 7uitar and add some to the vocals this way you have not lost any volume on
the mix out.
'igital distortion
'igital distortion in a mix is very bad. 'istortion ta$es place when a certain instrument is too loud8
this will lead to the waveform clipping. 'igital distortion will sound very harsh to listen to. To
avoid distortion bring down the whole level of that trac$.
3ompression
The main aim of compressing audio is to ma$e the sounds which are too loud +uieter and the trac$s
to +uiet8 louder.
3ompression Threshold
hen loo$ing at audio waveforms you can see spi$es8 this is when the audio is at its pea$. The
threshold range is (dB to )9(dB. As you start to bring down the threshold it will reduce the audio
waveform.
3ompression output0:a$e up gain
As the threshold is bought down the more gain reduction there will be on the compressor8 this will
effect the output by reducing the gain of the trac$ ma$ing it +uieter. If The gain reduction is );dB
then you must ma$e up for that reduction by adding ;dB but the effects of the compressor will still
be active and doing its <ob.
3ompression ratio
The ratio on a compressor will effect how hard it wor$s. This will effect the gain reduction. &aving
it *.(2* will mean that you will not see much gain reduction. here as having it at *(.(2* will have
a bigger effect. %ou will see much more gain reduction as the compressor is wor$ing much harder.
3ompression attac$0release
The attac$ will depend on how +uic$ the compressor acts if it goes past the threshold . #or example
if the attac$ is at (ms it will act instantly however if it 9(ms it will ta$e much longer to act. The
compressor release will depend on how +uic$ the sound which falls under the threshold is stopped.
&ere is a video showing how to use a compressor on a $ic$ drum.