Resources
Lesson Summary
Bring the voice, music, and other sounds together into one balanced finished recording. Youâll learn how to make small improvements to the voice, set the relative levels and stereo positions of your tracks, create a high-quality mix, and prepare the final master without clipping or overprocessing it.
Transcript
Module 7: Mixing and Mastering.
Welcome back. We have the Meditation Sample REAPER project that we edited in Module 6. It contains the vocal recorded in Module 4 and the music created from the lessons in Module 5. The soft electric piano came from Ambient Mixer, while the Tibetan bowl and forest ambience were created with NatureSoundsFor.Me.
Let’s begin with the mix. We already processed the vocal in the previous module: ReaFIR reduced the microphone’s background noise and ReaComp added compression. It now sounds quite clean.
The quality of your result depends on factors such as microphone placement, the character of your voice, the distance between your mouth and the microphone, and background noise in the room. Turn off fans and air conditioners, and keep the microphone away from a laptop or any other device that produces low-level noise. Condenser microphones are extremely sensitive. Listening through one on headphones can feel like using a stethoscope because it reveals sounds the unaided ear tends to miss.
Room sound may leave some high-frequency noise. Open the vocal track’s FX panel, add ReaEQ, and examine its frequency bands. Play the vocal while adjusting the EQ. Rolling off too many high frequencies makes the recording muddy, while allowing too much through makes it overly bright. If the earlier noise processing has not removed everything, gently reduce the upper frequencies and adjust the midrange until the voice has a natural balance.
Wear headphones throughout this module so you can hear the detail and nuance in these changes. Audition the track while moving the EQ, listen for warmth in the lower range and clarity in the voice, and stop when you find a sound you like.
I’m keeping this EQ setting and saving the project. The vocal now has three active effects: the noise reduction, compression, and EQ. Listen to it with the full mix and then solo it while toggling the effects on and off. Without the processing, more of the room is audible and the vocal sounds boxy. With the plug-ins active, it has more warmth, brightness, body, and presence, and it cuts through the mix naturally.
A well-recorded condenser-microphone signal already contains much of the voice’s natural warmth and frequency range, so it should not require excessive processing. These three plug-ins are included with REAPER and produce a useful result quickly. Save the project after making the decision.
I also want the vocal to begin a little earlier, so I move it left on the timeline and listen to the entrance with the backing tracks. Once the timing feels right, I save again.
Before moving to the music, I’ll experiment with reverb on the vocal. Open the FX panel and add ReaVerbate. We want a subtle, natural echo that gives the impression of depth in a room or space. The âIntimate Vocalâ preset is not suitable here, so I try âLive Vocalâ and then a âWideâ setting that I have used on guitar and vocal tracks.
The Wide preset begins with far too much reverb. Reduce it until the effect is subtle in solo; in the complete mix it should be felt as added depth rather than heard as an obvious echo. Experimenting like this is useful. I do not know every technical detail of every plug-in, but I have produced albums, EPs, and singles by listening and trying the available controls.
Use the high-pass and low-pass controls to adjust how the high and low frequencies enter the reverb, then audition the voice again. In this case, the effect still cuts through too stronglyâespecially on S soundsâso I leave ReaVerbate in the chain but deselect it so it is not applied. The dry vocal sounds better.
Now move to the music. The vocal item shows one waveform because it is mono. The music and soundscape items show two waveforms because they were recorded in stereo.
Solo the soft electric piano and open its FX panel. Try ReaVerbate presets such as âMix Alive,â âFlutterize,â and âWide.â Some reduce the apparent volume or color the sound too strongly. Settle on a subtle reverb, then remove Solo and listen in the context of the complete mix. Always check an isolated processing choice against all the other tracks; that is the only way to know how it really sits.
Meditation music normally does not require heavy processing. The soft piano only needs a small amount of reverb, so I leave it there.
The Tibetan bowl is already well recorded and does not need another effect. Lower it slightly with the channel fader and pan it a little to the right so it occupies its own place in the stereo image. The vocal remains in the center, which is the traditional position for the most important part of a recording. The stereo piano already spreads across the left and right channels. Leave the forest ambience broadly centered, with only a slight movement to the left; a forest should feel as if it surrounds the listener rather than coming from one sharply defined direction.
Play the mix and make any final level adjustments. The reverb on the piano should be just audible, the bowl should move gently in and out of the mix, and the ambience should sit behind the centered voice. Save when the overall balance feels right.
Next, glue the approved edited items into continuous tracks. Because you may later want to move an item or alter a crossfade, first duplicate the track. Mute one copy as a backup, then select the items on the working copy, right-click, and choose Glue Items. Repeat this for the piano, Tibetan bowl, and forest ambience after confirming that their crossfades are correct.
Zoom out vertically to see the complete project and play it from the beginning. We now have a soft electric piano over forest ambience, with the Tibetan bowl appearing occasionally. Make any final fader adjustmentâfor example, lowering the ambience slightlyâand save the project.
We will render these stems into one stereo master file and perform the mastering on that stereo file. Choose File, Render. Set the output directory to the Meditation Sample project folder, name the file âMeditation Sample Stereo Master,â and render it as a WAV.
During this render, the output is around â12 dB and does not peak into the red. That leaves headroom for mastering, where we will compress the sound and raise its overall level. When rendering finishes, close the dialog and save the project again. The current project contains the master stems that combine to create the stereo master.
Close the stem project and locate the newly rendered Meditation Sample Stereo Master WAV in the project folder. If it does not open directly through REAPER’s file dialog, drag it from the folder into a new project. It appears as one stereo item containing all four combined stems and runs for approximately five minutes.
Mastering will add compression and bring the overall volume up as far as practical without distortion. The aim is an even playback level and tonal quality whether the listener hears an MP3, a digital-store release, a CD in the car, or a home audio system.
Open the master track’s FX panel and add ReaComp. Play the stereo WAV and adjust the compressor while watching the master meter. Keep the signal out of the red and aim for peaks around â6 to â5 dB. In this example, compression raises the volume but prevents the signal from exceeding roughly â5 dB.
Toggle ReaComp off and on while listening. With compression active, the complete mix is louder and bolder; without it, the mix sits farther in the background. Keep the compressor enabled and save this as the Meditation Sample Stereo Master project.
The final additions are a fade-in and fade-out. At the top-left corner of the stereo item, drag a natural fade over roughly the first ten seconds. You can choose different fade curves; use the one that brings the music in smoothly before the vocal begins.
At the end, start the fade near the point where the vocal finishes and extend it through the end of the music. On the first attempt, the forest ambience and Tibetan bowl stop too abruptly. Return to the original stems, repair those outros, render the stereo master again, and replace the earlier file.
With the corrected master, recreate the fade-out from the end of the line âOpen your eyes and enjoy this great dayâ through the remaining background audio. Listen to the complete ending and confirm that every element now disappears naturally.
Save the finished stereo master. We recorded the vocal in Module 4, found the music and soundscapes in Module 5, edited the pieces in Module 6, and have now completed the mix and master. In the second half of this module, we’ll discuss how to outsource mixing and mastering.