Denver, CO – May 16, 2011, FaderPRO, the online/DVD mixing and production lessons that have earned acclaim for featuring hit making, Grammy-nominated producer/remixers will now offer for the first time video courses for download at Beatport’s SoundstoSample.com <http://SoundstoSample.com/>  website.

Up-and-coming producer/remixers now have a smart solution to fast track the learning curve related to getting started; Sounds/To/Sample (S2S) sells chart-busting loops and sounds for music production, and FaderPRO’s multi-platinum producers (whose combined credits include Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Nelly Furtado, Lee Cabrera, Kevin Rudolf and Lil Wayne, Moloko) teach video courses on how to assemble them into hits.

Sounds/To/Sample Director Jim Stout says, “We are extremely excited to bring FaderPRO to Sounds/To/Sample. Real-world, how-to expertice offered by platinum-selling producers is what sets FaderPRO’s courses apart from the others available today, and we’re very happy to welcome them as one of our content partners.”

FaderPRO’s Vincent di Pasquale comments, “FaderPRO flattens the learning curve; most of what I learned over the years was not by reading some instruction manual, or hearing some teacher point at things on a computer screen, but by sitting in the studio and watching the best producers do what they normally do. That is exactly the experience we bring to anyone willing to learn.”

With this alliance, FaderPRO becomes S2S’ first – and only – partner for educational “How To Make Music” videos and courses, and S2S becomes FaderPRO’s exclusive source for downloadable courses.

Adds FaderPRO’s Steven Lee, “We have specifically designed FaderPRO for the millions of talented and interested artists who are starving to learn how to make music. Our angle was simple: Go into the studios of the best producers in the world and shoot a video course that shows how they make an original song from start to finish. Topping it off is the user’s ability to get hold of every element of content used in the video and learn by doing the work alongside the Pro.”

DVDs and web-streaming courses will still be available directly from FaderPRO.com <http://FaderPRO.com/> . Two titles are currently available for immediate download:
“The Art of the Remix” features Vincent di Pasquale and Steven Lee remixing Nadia Ali’s “Crash and Burn.”
“Are You Able” – an Ableton Live-specific production course featuring Ivan Coraliza (a/k/a iLL Factor) as he puts a complete track together from scratch.

All future FaderPRO courses will be available for download at Sounds/To/Sample as well.

About FaderPro.com <http://FaderPro.com>
FaderPro.com is the premier online training resource for aspiring musicians and producers offering the fastest, most efficient way to learn the art of modern music making.

FaderPro.com gives users an “all access” pass into the studio of top industry professionals to learn how they achieve their success. Featuring the highest quality videos shot in full HD users experience the “sitting shotgun” point of view of working with the best.

Master bus processing is a key aspect of your mix, and done properly, can give your tracks that finished sound. People seem to readily understand the overall concept of mixing, but few really pay attention to what is happening on the master bus. This month, I wanted to discuss some of the important things to keep in mind when dealing with the master bus, and share the processing chain that I use.

The master bus is the main stereo sum, or output of any mix. It is the last and final signal-flow point before your track gets printed to a final stereo mix. Whether you are working in the box or out , it is critical to know exactly what is happening on the stereo bus. It’s critical to be aware of factors such as the overall dynamic range and the frequency spectrum of your track when dialing in your finished mix.

Peak vs. RMS

It’s key to understand some basic principles regarding overall dynamic range, which, simply put, is the overall loudness of your mix. In audio engineering, there are two types of loudness: peak and RMS. Peak represents the absolute loudest signals that are present. RMS is the average loudness of all the signals present. While it is important to know exactly what both the peak and RMS levels of a mix, the RMS offers more insight as to how loud a mix will be perceived by the listener. Humans perceive loudness based on RMS, because our ears and brains can’t respond to every single frequency and sound in a complex waveform. It is also important to know what the overall peak level is as well to avoid clipping and distortion on your mix, especially when working completely in the box.

There is a constant debate about the dynamic range of many of today’s commercial music. There are those that believe a more natural sound with a wide dynamic range is best and there are those that try to smash the dynamics down so hard that the end result is an ultra-loud, solid block of a waveform. I believe both have a place in modern music. However, most of the commercial projects and remixes that I work on end up being pretty loud. The main reason is that in the clubs, a track needs to hit as hard as possible. As a result most club mixes are compressed pretty heavily.

I should also mention that I don’t really consider master bus processing to be the same as mastering. Mastering is a separate process that not only takes into consideration what is happening on a single track, but what is happening on a group of tracks, like an album or EP, to ensure that they all have consistency as a finished product. Having said that, not all projects I work on will immediately get mastered by a separate mastering engineer. Therefore, I always pay a lot of attention to master bus processing to make sure the mix leaves my studio sounding just I want it to. If a particular project will be mastered separately with other tracks, then I will send two versions of the final mix; my finished master, and a “master-ready” track that I’ll explain later.

Getting Started

It’s never too early in a project to start paying attention to master bus. As you’re going along in the production of your project, it’s critical that you always leave some headroom, level-wise, for your master bus processing. Even as early as when you’re adding your basic drum tracks, make sure you are not taking up tons of level. Otherwise, you’ll start turning everything up as you add other elements, and you’ll run out of headroom and start clipping the master. This is one reason why I wait as long as possible to add the final automation to my mixes. I want to ensure that I can always turn things down and adjust levels, so as not to hit the master bus too hard before the final processing chain.

I typically start making initial adjustments to the master bus chain as I’m putting the track together, especially on remixes or productions that are entirely done inside the box. As the track start to take shape, I’ll start to get some initial settings on the plug-ins on the master bus. This prevents spending tons of time mixing things to sound a certain way, only to discover that the sound changes significantly once the master bus inserts are added.

The Process

Once I have the final to where I want it, I move my attention to the master bus. I loop the loudest section of the song, and work on that first. This may be a chorus coming out of the break, or whatever section has the most energy. After I get the EQ, compression, and limiting set (I’ll give more details on that in the next few paragraphs), I can listen to the whole song to ensure the levels are where I want them. In some cases, I will automate the master bus effects to keep a consistent sound throughout the whole mix.

The first insert in my master chain is a multi-meter. I either use Logic’s built-in multi-meter, or one from Waves or iZotope. This meter shows me the overall dynamic range of my mix as it hits the master. I study the frequency spectrum to see what the high- and low-end of my mix are doing and to also make sure the levels are not clipping. Set your meter to show both peak and RMS levels. (I also put a multi-meter at the end of my master chain, which lets me check the dynamic range post-processing.)

Next, I insert an EQ. I typically focus on three areas. First is the high end. I will always add a little high-end shelving to add some overall brightness to the mix. Ultimately the boost will start somewhere between 6 and 10kHz depending on what I hear in the mix. The next area I listen to is the 300 to 400hz range. This is where a lot of muddiness can creep in. If that’s the case, I’ll put in a sharp parametric cut to help reduce it. Finally, I listen to the overall low end. I like to add a subtle low-shelf to help glue together the drums and bass in the low end.

The next insert is a stereo compressor, aiming for about 4-6 dB of gain reduction. If I use the Logic compressor, I will start with the “analog tape” preset which really sounds good on the master bus.

Next I will add a multiband compressor. I don’t always use one, but it is really great when I want some extra punch in the low-end.

The last insert is a limiter and this really is the finishing touch on the mix. This is really where the power of the mix comes out. My go-to plug here is usually the Waves Ultramaximizer, but sometimes I’ll use Logic’s Adaptive Limiter. Either way, I’ll usually set the output ceiling to -0.1, and then adjust the threshold to get around 3 to 4dB of attenuation.

Over and Out

In the end, my main goal with my master bus processing is to make sure the frequency spectrum sounds (and looks) balanced on the post-processing multimeter. As for the overall dynamic range, I shoot for somewhere between -10 and -5 dbfs during the loudest sections of the song.

Once everything is sounding the way I want, I will bounce a pass and re-import it to listen to it and look at the waveform. If I know the project will be professionally mastered, I will bypass the limiter and usually just use EQ and stereo compression. In these cases, I will just make sure the mix sounds exactly the way I want with a little bit of headroom left for the mastering engineer. Like with everything in music production, the best method is to do what sounds good to you, and take time to experiment and get the results you want.

The two (making music & touring) go hand in hand, in all genres of music and with the huge shift in the learning curve of HOW to make music combined with the huge amounts of money you can achieve by making hit records and touring around the world, we think its important to address the question.. “Can do both at the same time?

For me, touring is my “creative window” time. It gives me the opportunity to go around the world and hear what music is working, and why, and provides the necessary ammunition for shaping my productions in the studio. I see which styles of music are on the verge of going OUT and which are on the verge of coming IN. Both are very important to recognize. It shows me why a record works and why it doesn’t work, how it works in a big room with masses of people and if it does in the smaller venues and if its on the radio, and if its easily recognizable throughout.

Because we all carry laptops and we all have the ability to have Ableton Live and/or Logic Pro on our computers, it also allows us the ability to sequence, create, edit, remix, and even perform Live seamlessly. Having that awesome idea for a record and having the ability to get a good portion of it down and saved on your computer while its still fresh was a huge inspriation for both Fader Pro’s “Are You Able” & “The Art of the Remix” courses. I know a ton of DJ’s including myself that hear a tune in a club while touring and suddenly its the inspiration for a late night and early morning studio session so its not forgotten. Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) has been quoted in saying that he would get up at all hours of the night or day if he heard something in his head and record it as ‘your first creative inspired thought is the most important of them all’.

I tour a lot and at times for over a month at a time and sometimes more, and when you get back, its not like you suddenly want to immediately dive into the studio to get back on the music. The travels are strenuous and the late nights are multiplied by the thousand and its important to recharge and get back to basics. BUT you cant let that awesome tour go suddenly flat by forgetting all that incredible music, and you dont have to, if you have the ability to get a good chunk of that idea down and saved so it can be referenced when get home. This process for me is 100% the inspiration to almost every record I have done and from speaking to DJ’s & Producers, its the same. I have also heard of great projects being lost because they just didnt act on that inspirational idea when it came, and then its lost in the clutter of all the other ideas and will never see the light of day.

Now I know some do not have the ability at this very moment to get that “magical idea” from their heads through their software and save onto their computer, but for when you can, I highly recommend getting it down and saved so that its not lost in the shuffle no matter where you are. And if you are looking to find that simple & powerful solution to making that idea, into a finished song, then take a few minutes and check out the courses at Fader Pro. Within in minutes you will be on your way to making music and staying and maintaining that creative edge that is so important in the music world today!

Good Luck!

STARTING HERE
At first, I spend some time getting familiar with the original version of the song that I’m remixing. I lock in on what the song is trying to say to me as the listener and what the overall emotional feeling is. This comes into play when I decide on a new direction. I wouldn’t want to take a happy love song and remix it with a lot of dark, angry-sounding synths or vice versa. Really successful songs have a symmetry between the lyrical and musical content.

Next, I’ll continue listening so that I can break down what the rhythm, harmony, and melody are doing. For the rhythm, time signature is important as a vast majority of the remixes, especially the club mixes, are in 4/4 time. Luckily, most commercial music today is written in 4/4 so it is rarely an issue.

Beyond the time signature, I listen to what the beat is doing, especially the kick and snare, and how that relates to other parts of the song. For example, is it a straight beat or is there some sort of atypical pattern? Also, what is the bass line doing, and is it really locked in to support the beat or is it supporting more of the harmony or melody parts? For the harmony parts, I will figure out what chords and what progression(s) are being used for each song section. And last, what melodies are happening in any musical parts and what is the top-line melody of the vocal?

It is important for me, as I break things down, to identify any feature or signature parts that “make” the song. It could be an atypical drum pattern or bass line that really defines it. That’s important because I have to decide whether to retain those parts in my remix. If I choose to use a featured part from the original, it may restrict me a bit on creating new musical parts. I rarely like to simply re-create the same parts from the original. However, the benefit in maintaining a signature part is it can help the listener recognize the record and, if done creatively, add to the strength of the remix. Sometimes I will explore both paths as the project starts to take shape. In the end, I always trust my musical instincts and go with what sounds best to me.

Next, I’ll start to deal with the vocal files and any other parts from the original that I have. I tend not to use anything except the vocals for most remixes unless, as mentioned, there is just that undeniable feature that I want to keep around. In those cases, I try to somehow put my own twist on it. The best-case scenario is when I have access to the original project or at least all of the various vocal stems. When I have the ability to isolate the leads, the background vocals, and any ad-lib tracks, it gives much more freedom and flexibility when creating new arrangements and parts.

STRETCHING OUT
Once I have created a new project and lined up the vocals and any other original parts in my DAW, the next step is to alter the tempo and time-stretch the files (see Web Clip 1). Because the vast majority of the remixes I do are electronic/club remixes, the tempo needs to be in the upper 120s to be viable for DJs in the clubs. Even in the cases where the original song is already in the right tempo range, I will still change it even if it’s only a few bpm. Because a remix is performed to put a new interpretation on a song, a new tempo can help you turn in a new direction creatively.

For the actual time-stretching, I start with the built-in feature of whatever DAW I am using, be it Flex Time in [Apple] Logic or Elastic Time in [Avid] Pro Tools (see Fig. 1). Ableton’s Warp features are very useful, too. Even though I may need some fine-tuning later, time-stretching the vocals right away lets me get started quickly. If I have to stretch something very far or if I want to play with some new harmony parts or creative pitch changes, I will then switch over to Celemony Melodyne.

CHOOSING A PATH
Once the vocals and any original parts are lined up and time stretched, I’ll start creating tracks in the new tempo. There are several factors I consider when choosing a direction. As mentioned, the emotional mood of the song is crucial as is the musical inspiration I get from the vocals. I try to experiment with designing and choosing sounds that convey a similar musical message, but in a completely fresh way. I also factor in the direction the label/artist may be looking for and combine that with what I think would be the strongest direction.

Music is a highly subjective field, but at the end of the day this is my career and it is a business. It’s my job to be on top of current sounds and production tools that I can use to create something special and new for each project within my target genre. Even though I may make a remix that’s more “house-y,” “tech-y,” or “trance-y,” I always try to balance what the label/artist is looking for, what I am trying to say musically, and what I think will have the biggest impact on the dancefloor. It is very important for people looking to remix to not only have technical chops, but a strong understanding of the target genre.

When I’m at the point of creating new tracks to supplement whatever I’m keeping from the original, I’ll start experimenting with parts and treat the project at that point like a big jam session. I’ll write several ideas and just have fun with them until something really starts to stand out and grab my attention. I will usually mute the vocal tracks and just write as if I am creating a whole new song. Once I have something that I like, I’ll reference it against the vocals to make sure it works. If it does, I’ll tweak it some more, keeping in mind that symmetry with the song’s emotional feel. I may start with a sound and shape, something that I think is cool and build up from there, or I may just start by sitting at the piano working on new harmony or melody parts, really focusing on the musical aspect first.

When I am first arranging a remix, I focus on the song’s main sections such as the verses, choruses, and breakdowns. If the final product is going to end up in the pop/commercial direction, I’ll create sections that are in stark contrast with each other. If it’s destined for the dancefloor, I’ll create sections with only slight variations.

These initial steps are crucial to the project’s final shape. By spending the time to analyze the original song, you gain an understanding of it, which will help you explore new directions for your remix. All the technical processes of recording, production, and engineering can come in later after the initial idea is developed. But if you don’t have that great, raw musical spark, no production trick can make up for it. As always, the bottom line is to stay in the studio and stay creative.

[This Article was featured in Electronic Musician and the original can be found here]

Building off the successful launch of FaderPro’s “The Art of the Remix“, a comprehensive remixing DVD course taught by multi-platinum producer Vincent di Pasquale, FaderPro will give aspiring producers, DJ’s, and recording engineers a taste of the new courses to be released in 2010.

At this year’s Winter Music Conference, FaderPro, in sync with SAE Institute will present 6, one-hour seminars: March 25th starting at 12:00pm on the top floor of the Eden Roc Beach Resort & Spa in Miami Beach, FL.

These seminars are free and open to the public, all attendees are encouraged to arrive early for the seminars in order to secure entry.

FaderPro LIVE Seminar Schedule at WMC 2010:

12:00 pm: “Are You Able?” with iLL Factor.
iLL Factor will showcase a taste of his FaderPro debut course on Ableton Live.

1:00 pm: “The Art of Recording and Mixing Guitars in Garage Band” with Matt Knobel.
How you can achieve big sounding guitar production using Garage Band with Matt Knobel (owner of Setai Recording studio, credits include: Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, & Busta Rhymes).

2:00 pm: “The Art of the Remix” with Vincent DiPasquali.
Multi-platinum remixer, Vincent DiPasquali demonstrates more production techniques from the FaderPro DVD course, “The Art of the Remix”.

3:00 pm: “Down and Dirty?” with Dirty South.
A special talk with Grammy-nominated DJ/producer/remixer Dirty South; covering production techniques he has used working with artists including U2, Depeche Mode, Tracey Thorn, and Snoop Dogg.

4:00 pm: “Drums+Bass+Genre” with Jimmy Douglass.
Watch this multi-Grammy-winning engineer break down how he sets his EQs and compressors for achieve the sounds he’s known for working with artists including Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Justin Timberlake, and the Rolling Stones. He’ll help tune you in to the mechanics of the groove for dance, hip hop, and pop.

5:00 pm: “Blazin’ Hip Hop Beats” with Just Blaze.
Learn from one of the most prolific hip hop producers of all time who will give insight into how he gets his signature sounds with drum machines, samplers, keyboards, and turntables.

For more info on SAE Institute and FaderPro