Tips and Tricks for Modern Producers

Discover tips, workarounds, and time-saving techniques to help music producers work smarter in the studio and enhance their final productions.

Are you interested in taking your productions to the next level? In this course, instructor Evan Sutton shares tips, workarounds, and time-saving techniques that can help music producers work smarter in the studio and enhance their final productions. Evan dives into drum programming and processing, and discusses synth programming, including how to get from MIDI to audio. He also shares practical tips that can help audio engineers as they work with vocals and get their mixes ready for mastering. Plus, learn how to apply EQ precisely, combine additive and subtractive EQ methods, and smooth out peaks and standing resonances with multiband compression. The final chapter introduces a workflow bootcamp to keep your files organized and secure.

Introduction

• Tips and time-savings techniques for producers

1. Drum Programming and Processing

• Tuning programmed drums
• An approach to layering drum sounds
• Parallel compression on drums
• The virtues of parallel distortion
• A mixer's guide to drum routing

2. Synthesizer Programming

• Rhythmic synth sounds with MIDI FX
• Getting from MIDI to audio
• Layering synth parts with hardware
• Tips on hardware synth processing

3. Vocals Tips and Tricks

• Tracking vocals for maximum impact
• On-the-spot tuning
• Quick and dirty vocal chain
• Quick and dirty parallel vocals

4. EQ Roundup

• Surgical EQ and filtering
• Help elements sit in the mix
• Tame harsh elements
• Different flavors of additive EQ
• Combining additive and subtractive EQ
• The smile EQ shape
• Additive EQ on busses and 2-mix

5. Multiband Compressor Bootcamp

• Multiband compressors: A breakdown
• Using de-essers on tracks and busses
• Taming peaks and resonances
• Sidechain multiband compression
• Intro to expansion or re-essing
• Multiband expansion

6. Mix to Master

• Mix buss processing: Is it necessary?
• EQ and filtering with a multi-buss mix
• Gassing your mix with a limiter or two
• Prepping tracks for mastering

7. Workflow Bootcamp

• Organization and backup
• File management for the modern producer
• Stemming and prep for mixing

Conclusion

• Next steps