Reddit mentions of Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio (Sound On Sound Presents...)

omg it's fate! hello fellow duck <33

1. there are some awesome books if you want to start learning about mixing and mastering:
   
   Audio Engineering 101
   
   Mastering Audio, The Art and the Science
   
   Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio
   
   ​
   
   those are a great place to start! the weird thing about mixing and mastering is that it's simultaneously complicated and very, very simple - in my experience the strongest engineers often use the most basic tools, they just have a very in-depth understanding of how they work and how to wield them effectively. don't get frustrated if it's not easy right away - i have been producing and engineering for a really really freaking long time and i am JUST starting to feel super confident with mixing and mastering. it takes dedication and patience but it is soooooo rewarding! you should totally do it!
   
   
2. i got to go to australia on my first international headline tour last year and it was SO COOL
   
   
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Mike Senior's Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio is solid: https://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets-Small-Studio-Presents/dp/1138556378/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

Do you have a link? Or do you mean Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio?

Please tell more about your current situation (budget, experience with music, the digital audio workstation that you use, do you compose music or just mix music etc.) so that anyone can help you better.

Most important advice is don't buy anything yet, because spending any amounts of money on something you know nothing about is a really bad choice in the audio realm.

The reason I say this is because you can get away with a lot for free if this is just a small hobby to you and you have a small budget. There's three things you need to have in order, before you even consider buying third party audio plugins:

1. Do you have a decent computer to produce music with?
   
2. Do you have a decent pair of headphones / studio monitors to mix with?
   
3. Which DAW (FL Studio, Ableton Live, Reaper, Logic etc.) do you plan to use?
   
   I ask these because I don't want to recommend anything before I'm sure how new to this you really are. There are a lot of free software around (especially plugins) that some argue are even better than most paid ones -- plugins that'll get you 80-90% of the quality of paid ones -- but buying plugins is mostly done in consideration of the preference of workflow, genre and "that extra something" that free plugins don't have.
   
   There's a book that I recommend for you and anyone new to mixing and it's called "Mixing Screts for the Small Studio (2nd ed.) by Mike Senior. The long awaited 2nd edition just came out a few months ago and it's probably the best book about mixing right now. It will go more in depth about mixing at home than any reddit comment, so consider buying it before any plugins. His website also has a ton of free multitrack files for mixing practice that even I do weekly just for fun and to learn new plugins. I've studied music technology and film audio for a combined 8 years and it's still a very helpful resource.
   
   TL;DR Don't buy plugins yet, tell what you use to make music with and buy the book linked above to get started on learning how to mix.

No. I didn't start until I was 34 (been doing it less than a year.) I record and mix all of my own music now. If you want if bad enough you'll find a way. Buy this book. It's amazing. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1138556378/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I began as a classical pianist, got a DMA, been teaching for almost 20 years, mid 30s now. I like the Mike Senior books on building and running a studio (mixing and recording ), and used them in a commercial recording class I taught a while back. They are a great place to start.

I would reccomend reading Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio.

It's an amazing book that doesn't really focus on recipes for the perfect mix, but rather teaches you how to approach a mix,what's the right mindset when deciding the levels for each track and so on. It goes through every basic aspect to more advanced topics.

Give a look to its table of contents. This book may be what you need to find aswers to your questions.

Similarly, I found this series by Izotope very useful.



These are few of the things that helped me when facing the same issues you've mentioned and I hope they help you as well.

I've never used Audacity but I doubt it's causing any problems with your sound. DAW's generally don't directly impart anything to the sound of the audio. I think it's more likely to be your mic, recording technique or mixing.

It sounds like your vocals are clipping. I've never used a USB mic. Does it have an input gain? How do you control the strength of the signal that it sends to the computer? Are you running any plugins on what we hear in this recording?

I would focus on getting a cleaner recording prior to mixing. That being said, if I had to work with this vocal recording as-is, one of the first things I would address is the sibilance. It's pretty brutal. I would definitely put a de-esser on these vocals. If Audacity doesn't come with one, you can probably find a freeware plugin or you can shell out $30 for one from Waves:

https://www.waves.com/plugins/deesser?gclid=Cj0KCQjwho7rBRDxARIsAJ5nhFqMUAjLTR8WqSPyRmzn0JKgjxp7_oprsVoreHbSUdBXDSwa_xr1tpcaAhdeEALw_wcB#andrew-scheps-on-deessing-guitars-and-cymbals

The vocals also are a bit loud which is making the rest of the instruments sound small. You might get a mixing book and practice some mixing. I recommend this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets-Small-Studio-Presents/dp/1138556378/ref=sr_1_2?crid=ARKCMXORM8IP&keywords=mixing+secrets+for+the+small+studio&qid=1566872451&s=gateway&sprefix=mixing+secrets%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-2