What can I know and understand about the difference between mixing and mastering a song?

[paulwatkins929]

My son is showing immense passion for making music and selling records a lot these days. How can I help him achieve his dream by being a supportive father after I researched some terms such as mixing and mastering on the internet?

[jam-s]

I don't get the actual question here, but I suppose by being a loving human role model and not some bot.

[bxbrkrz]

My son is showing immense passion for making music and selling records a lot these days. How can I help him achieve his dream by being a supportive father after I researched some terms such as mixing and mastering on the internet?

Tell him to protect his hearing at all cost. That's the only tool you can't buy again. Switch between pro headphones and pro monitors within your budget. Learn about room modes.

[Loque]

I don't get the actual question here, but I suppose by being a loving human role model and not some bot.

[Ichooselife]

My son is showing immense passion for making music and selling records a lot these days. How can I help him achieve his dream by being a supportive father after I researched some terms such as mixing and mastering on the internet?

look at good presets and tweak them to sound right at first then you’ll get used to where they go , also if you can find it for electronic music the waves experience and the trance experience books or pdf , can get you some of the way there , it’s hard because people who are really good usually get taught in studios and are shown hands on , so the best thing for him to do would be to get a placement in a studio and learn by seeing from
someone who knows what there doing , people will say “ use your ears” but that’s only good if you know what your doing , that’s like saying to someone “ how do i play guitar ? use your hands ! without some understanding of what your doing it won’t be no good , there’s an abundance of tutorials on youtube mate , recording revolution , pensandos place etc

[Jackjackdaw]

Selling records a lot is he?

[robussc]

Rather than doing the research for him, have him start following some really great YouTube teachers, for mixing this guy is fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/@inthemix

Check the video list there's great videos of mixing and mastering and the difference between them. And just a wealth of general info and breaking down the why of things.

Here's the mixing & mastering playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... MV-rET--LL

For actually making music I'm finding this guy to be really inspiring - his enthusiasm is quite infectious:

https://www.youtube.com/@MakePopMusic

[selig]

My son is showing immense passion for making music and selling records a lot these days. How can I help him achieve his dream by being a supportive father after I researched some terms such as mixing and mastering on the internet?

There is no point in you learning something so you can teach him, just provide the support so HE can learn directly and not ‘through’ you. My folks knew nothing about mixing and mastering and yet were still able to fully support my dreams!

[RobC]

Regarding the title:

Mixing = making multiple sounds work together. You level, eq, compress, etc. in context of the whole mix.

Mastering = VERY carefully bring out what you can of the mixdown, which basically is like "1" sound, or a stereo recording. Whatever you change, affects everything. Think of it like processing vocals. Only you have to be 10x more careful.

Bonus:

Engineering during sound design = most of the time, you engineer 1 sound, and you can be as creative as you want. Here, you only focus on the sound.

[integerpoet]

Mixing combines multiple streams of audio into a single stream of audio.

Mastering adjusts that single stream, historically for multiple delivery mediums, e.g. LP or Spotify, but along the way the tools of that trade came to be used to "sweeten" the stream for all mediums in ways which would otherwise be difficult or impossible.

The difference between the two things is that simple except it isn't. There are single devices or software packages which do both mixing and mastering, which confuses people and creates the temptation to perform both tasks at the same time. But conceptually it really is that simple.

Meanwhile, if your son is making music, then I would recommend he focus on composing and performing first. This can be difficult because software makes it tempting to do everything at once. People on this forum do that a lot. But in a perfect world he'd become a confident composer and arranger first and let some nerd mix and master for him. He can always learn to mix and master later, but without worthwhile music? No point. And worthwhile music is challenge enough.

[RobC]

Mixing combines multiple streams of audio into a single stream of audio.

Mastering adjusts that single stream, historically for multiple delivery mediums, e.g. LP or Spotify, but along the way the tools of that trade came to be used to "sweeten" the stream for all mediums in ways which would otherwise be difficult or impossible.

The difference between the two things is that simple except it isn't. There are single devices or software packages which do both mixing and mastering, which confuses people and creates the temptation to perform both tasks at the same time. But conceptually it really is that simple.

Meanwhile, if your son is making music, then I would recommend he focus on composing and performing first. This can be difficult because software makes it tempting to do everything at once. People on this forum do that a lot. But in a perfect world he'd become a confident composer and arranger first and let some nerd mix and master for him. He can always learn to mix and master later, but without worthwhile music? No point. And worthwhile music is challenge enough.

Great thoughts!

Interesting point on the mastered-for-different-mediums part! I know it's part of mastering, but I kind of think of it as post-mastering, or similar to album-mastering (meaning a finishing touch).

I'd add that it's good to avoid a common mistake I fell into, too. When I basically thought that we have to do some restoration magic during mastering ~ which in fact was basically a very complicated form of mixing, done on a single stereo mix channel.

As for the OP, there are tricks to add a little extra flavor to the mix during mastering. Things like M/S EQ, maybe applying randomized panning (either on L/R or even "panning" M/S) on a parallel copy of the mix, to add a little variation, and gently injecting a little bit of that to the original, clean stereo mix.
Stuff like that.
I used to be like: "oh that breaks the mix and stereo positioning, etc and who needs that" - but then I realized, that it doesn't break anything, but enhances the mix. It adds a more impressive flavor to it, that is nicer to listen to.
Of course, there's also gentle dynamics processing - but mind the hazards of the loudness war! Know the tradeoff.

And I'd add, too, always separate tasks. Even if you're a full pro. Focus on one thing at a time.

[integerpoet]

I'd add that it's good to avoid a common mistake I fell into, too. When I basically thought that we have to do some restoration magic during mastering ~ which in fact was basically a very complicated form of mixing, done on a single stereo mix channel.

It doesn't help that "remastered" means whatever "they" want it to mean and may include mix changes.

It doesn't help that "remixed" means whatever "they" want it to mean and may bear no real resemblance to the original material.

It's best to stay out of the marketing domain. Those people are crazy!

[selig]

I don't get the actual question here, but I suppose by being a loving human role model and not some bot.

I'm beginning to lean more towards the latter than the former, as the OP has not replied even once so far.
Carry on though, it may be a more interesting conversation without them!

[integerpoet]

I don't get the actual question here, but I suppose by being a loving human role model and not some bot.

I'm beginning to lean more towards the latter than the former, as the OP has not replied even once so far.
Carry on though, it may be a more interesting conversation without them!

I never let pointlessness obstruct my urge to pedantry.

[RobC]

I'd add that it's good to avoid a common mistake I fell into, too. When I basically thought that we have to do some restoration magic during mastering ~ which in fact was basically a very complicated form of mixing, done on a single stereo mix channel.

It doesn't help that "remastered" means whatever "they" want it to mean and may include mix changes.

It doesn't help that "remixed" means whatever "they" want it to mean and may bear no real resemblance to the original material.

It's best to stay out of the marketing domain. Those people are crazy!

Good point! I guess that's yet another mistake I tend to fall into, if I don't dare to break the rules. Gotta take every rule with a grain of salt. There's room for creativity everywhere as long as we achieve what we wanted, and make improvements. Plus there's always room for experimentation everywhere.

[integerpoet]

It doesn't help that "remastered" means whatever "they" want it to mean and may include mix changes. It doesn't help that "remixed" means whatever "they" want it to mean and may bear no real resemblance to the original material. It's best to stay out of the marketing domain. Those people are crazy!

Good point! I guess that's yet another mistake I tend to fall into, if I don't dare to break the rules. Gotta take every rule with a grain of salt. There's room for creativity everywhere as long as we achieve what we wanted, and make improvements. Plus there's always room for experimentation everywhere.

And it will only get more confusing with tools like iZotope Ozone seeming to isolate a channel from a master and apply effects to it. Jimmy Page and the labels won't be the only ones endlessly reissuing Zeppelin records.

[RobC]

Good point! I guess that's yet another mistake I tend to fall into, if I don't dare to break the rules. Gotta take every rule with a grain of salt. There's room for creativity everywhere as long as we achieve what we wanted, and make improvements. Plus there's always room for experimentation everywhere.

And it will only get more confusing with tools like iZotope Ozone seeming to isolate a channel from a master and apply effects to it. Jimmy Page and the labels won't be the only ones endlessly reissuing Zeppelin records.

When it comes to tools, I prefer to know what they are doing though. There are certain surprises I don't like. x D

[Josdams]

Re: What can I know and understand about the difference between mixing and mastering a song?

You practice Mastering when making an album of many songs and you want everything to sound evenly.

You practice Mixing when making a song and you want the entire song sound as good as possible from each channel to the top master channel.