Mixing/Editing Music?

[ClubMed]

What software do professional artists use to mix and edit music?

For example what would the guys or Aphex Twin or Massive Attack use to make their music ?



Thanks.

[LnxMad]

Hmm well u get Sonic Foundry Acid , Maven3D Pro, Alot of spacialaudio is music editing. umm soundfordge.....hmmm

[tonyromen]

Protools?

[JohnE.]

ProTools, Logic Audio, Cubase SX, Nuendo, Reason, etc for multi-track recording and WaveLab or SoundForge for 2 track editing - ProTools, Logic Audio and WaveLab running on Macs being the most common in professional recording studios. In the really, really high-end studios (think Electric Ladyland, The Record Plant, Abbey Road, etc) they use custom-made, proprietary hardware and software - sometimes costing hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

[ClubMed]

whats multi-track and whats 2 track?

[JohnE.]

Multi-track is the original instruments/performances recorded in the studio to a multi-track analog tape machine, stand-alone digital recorder or a computer hard disk system. The resulting recording is often referred to as the "original session tapes".

Typical multi-track recorders can record anywhere from 4 to 32 tracks of audio, with many more tracks possible depending on hardware and budget. For instance, it's possible to chain 2 or more 8 track digital recorders (an Alesis ADAT, for example) together to get 16, 24, 32 or more tracks for recording. Computer hard disk recording systems (ProTools, Logic, Cubase, etc) often offer many more than 32 tracks, but this is limited to the computers power and resources. The more CPU power you have and the faster your hard disk sub-system is, the more tracks you can record and play back simultaneously.

In the studio, when you record, say, a drum track for a song you would typically set up 5 (more or less) microphones and point them at the snare, kick drum, hi-hats and a couple of overheads (one on the left, one on the right) and send the signal to 5 inputs of a multi-track recorder. If you're recording to a 16 track system, this leaves 11 available tracks for layering (recording) the bass, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals, saxophone, backing vocals, etc. The resulting finished "multi-track" recording is then played back through a multi-channel mixer, with each input matching an output of the recorder. This is then "mixed down" to a...

2 Track is the sum of all the recorded instruments/performances, mixed down to a stereo, left/right field and recorded to an analog tape machine, stand-alone digital recorder or computer hard disk system. The resulting recording is often referred to as the "original master tapes".

The 2 track master recording can then be further edited, manipulated or enhanced, either by passing the signal through out-board equalizers, reverbs, compressors, etc or by using the corresponding "effects plug-ins" in a computer-based 2 track editor such as WaveLab or SoundForge, or both. The resulting "mastered" recording is often called the "final master". This is the finished product that is then sent to the replicators for duplication and distribution.

Whew, that's a lot easier to explain when speaking than it is in writing, heh

[ClubMed]

Thanks very much

Now if I wanted to take a snippet out of a piece of music and mix it into another piece, what software would I need?

I wont be recording from any musical instrument, only remixing music.

[JohnE.]

You'd use a 2 track editor such as WaveLab, Sound Forge or Adobe Audition for that. You'd mix your snippet into another piece of music just like using a word processor, but with audio data - copy and paste, or in this case you'd use "mix-paste" which will blend the two sound files.

Those high-end applications can be a bit pricey if it's not something you'd use often but well worth it if you edit sound files regularily. I believe all 3 products have a demo available but you can't save the results.

There are freeware editors available via a Google search and Nero comes with it's own sound file editor that is actually not bad and includes some effects. I believe Easy CD Creator does as well but it has less features than the Nero one.

Another option is to use a DJ-style music mixer such as MixMeister Pro. I've not used anything like that so can't say how well it works but could be worth looking into.

[Brainchild]

CM you can also use something like Acoustica Audio Mixer. It's a nice easy to use software.It has a 30 day free trial also.You can drag and drop files,ect.

HTH

[ClubMed]

Thanks for the info guys.