Mixing, Mastering & Distributing Your Music: A Guide to Going Indie
From Joe Shambro, former About.com Guide
In this guide, you'll learn how to quickly get your music mixed, mastered, and on it's way to being sold. It's never been a better time to "Go Indie"!
Mixing Your Music
If you recorded your music in multitrack format, you've probably got a need to mix your music. Whether you're using Garageband, Pro Tools, or Logic, the idea's pretty much the same. Mixing your music is a complicated process, but once it's done, you'll have a product ready to release!
Getting a good mix isn't so hard if you learn some basics!
Mastering Your Work
Mastering is the step after mixing; basically, mastering takes your songs and equalizes and compresses them, making them a uniform volume, and fixing any frequency or editing anomalies.
While it's great to master your own music, this is definitely one step in the process that you should consult a professional for. Once you're done mastering, it's time to get your music on the market!
- What is mastering? A quick guide to getting your music mastered.
- Mastering: The Pros & Cons of Using a Hired Engineer
Duplicating & Distributing Your Music
Now that your masterpiece is done, and assuming you want to try to commercialize upon it, you'll need to duplicate and distribute your music!
In today's market, digital distribution is king. And it's not just the most popular reason because of it's convenience: not only is digital distribution eco-friendly, it reduces overhead for both labels and indie musicians, making the profit far better for those who are unisgned.
You'll also learn about duplicating (and the difference between replication & burning), and how you can get your project replicated for the least cost!