Hi,

Procyon has already given you some advise I am sharing some information from my MMM11dlx which I used to use in past and love it still.

You got different options to do that but first read the pdf help file of MMM11dlx that will give you a rough idea.

here are some for you.

Open MMM11dlx put any audio on arranger click on Mixer as in screen shot. You will see a Mixer, I will suggest play your audio and then play with this mixer, you can add various effects, you can move channel right or left etc.

Next click on Mastering suit as per screen shot I also like this very much even in my MMM 16 Premium I use it often. When Mastering suit open click on drop down menu I have marked for your ease. I will suggest first play your audio then from drop down menu choose various settings and notice the difference.

You can also right click on audio object then from drop down menu can choose what you like as per screen shot.

Finally you can also use Effects menu and choose various settings.

The best way to learn always save your project first then start playing and saving as audio file then play.

Example you export your audio using some effects, then second one with different settings then play one by one and notice the difference you will find out how audio recording will be changed.

Friendly advise it is better not play your audio in Windows Player it will not give you proper audio quality rather Realy Player will work fine.

One thing I forgot there are pre made templates you can also choose from  various effects. File manager, Sound & Videos  then click on Audio & Videos effects you will find some audio effects here.

Hope this answer  will help you.

nihon94

I like what nihon94 says. Procyon makes a good point to start learning and reading elsewhere too. I do research about many other products I don't use, because their tutorials mention things about music creation and editing that help me. You do the same thing in all the programs most of the time, and it helps to know about what another producer may be using and not be a product snob .

First use the pre-sets, then start to mess around with your own ideas, feelings, thoughts, etc.

What I did to learn (and I can still learn everyday and have a lot more to go...) was:

1. Make beats. So filled up the tracks and made songs. (I did some effects, not lots).

2. I then used the Mixing rack like nihon94 did in the first step. So I was making beats and then doing the mixing. I started to do more effects.

3. I really tried to get into effects and use them regularly, not once and a while.

4. Then start using the mastering suite.

5. Learn vocals. Vocals are quite tricky and a whole new realm, it's difficult to get them to come out and sit on a mix well, in the early stages - I still am learning a lot. Spoken word and rap is different than singing. And you need to then learn how to not overprocess the vocals, because they don't sound like a person or sound fake. But when you can get the right robotic or vocoder sounds it's ok, if that is what you want, because sometimes highly processed vocals that DO NOT sound like they should, may work with your song (hip-hop, certain pop, and electronica of course).

Suggestions:

- Use pre-sets, and when you understand a little more, don't hesitate to alter them a little and then make your own. Clicking pre-sets can be a guide, then you make minor modifications. Pros use pre-sets sometimes and may say so (usually they make them once they get good, but some admit to using pre-sets they didn't make).

- When it hits the red bars (sometimes reffered to clipping or a clip), it is too much and will be distorted. So watch the bars, in all thedifferent options. Try to get one or two under them/maybe one or two over them. I say this, but in the mastering suite there is a Limiter (the button in the third set of options), this helps cut off something if it is too high. Sometimes they are not used, and sometimes your levels are too high for certain sounds or vocals. So the Limiter works, but it still sounds distorted.

- I have recently been using the Meter on the bottom side of the program screen. Here: . This changes every single time you put something on your timeline, do effects, do mixing or do mastering.

- If you are intimidated, it's ok. I had no clue about it, and did beats first, some effects, then mixing, then much more effects regularly, then mastering, then vocals last. Don't rush. soon it will be easy.

- Don't forget to archive your seperate tracks, before mixing and mastering if you like and after when you are done. Getting into this habit has helped me, though it takes more time.

- When you get better you can make your own and save your own templates in the mastering suite.

- SAVE your projects before and after, just incase. Maybe call one Song1.mmm and Song1a.mmm (or waves, mp3's, ogg's or whatever you do too).

- The more you do the better.

- Sometimes making it sound terrible, just a little less than good or just a little worse will help you understand why a little is better than too much.

- The Mastering Suite gives your music that full sound or punch. If you export a song, then do mixing and export it and then do mastering and export it, you will notice that with each step the sound gets louder and fuller compared to just exporting it as is. The original un-edited song will be quiet compared to the later steps. So buy some extra blank cd's and try it out, or export a few different kinds of formats in files and check them out.

- MAKE SURE you burn a cd and export song files with a few of your songs and then test it on your players (boomboxes, home stereo, portable music player, phone, in different cars, etc). Then set the bass, treble, etc to normal, and start playing with the settings to see how it sounds in real life products that you and other people will listen to the music with. You also can learn to make some finer adjustments. For me: I have my portable music player, a discman (if I ever use it) and a 20W or above mini-stereo (I prefer a seperate sub-woofer to get the balance and bass right). I also can use a larger setup. This is probably how you/others will hear the music, and you need to know too.

- Try to export in 320kbps mp3, the high quality ogg files and wav. I recommend this because, although you might not normally archive in the higher quality files that take up more space: There are web-sites that offer music to listen to or sell at the higher settings. And at the higher settings, you can start to hear the good and bad about the recordings. This is good to help you improve and understand what you are doing and why. Also a note: Most music studios record in high-quality settings and then go down settings with each step until you hear the final product, not the other way around. You cannot create quality, you try to record the best and then output according to your market or listeners. Don't short change yourself or the customers, it's easy to tell.

- Some bad recordings or certain methods (mixtapes), are not the best radio or cd quality. That is ok for a few songs, but they were edited and the point is to hear the song and person(s). And maybe for some promo or mixtapes, etc you can get away with not radio or CD quality. Again: Don't shortchange yourself or the customers. You want to learn and people can tell who's giving them crap.

Hope it helped.

Hi,

This is very informative and well explained.

Why dont't you turn this answer in to a tutorial and upload in TUTORIALS so other users can also benefit from you fine ideas.

Thank you

nihon94

I like what nihon94 says. Procyon makes a good point to start learning and reading elsewhere too. I do research about many other products I don't use, because their tutorials mention things about music creation and editing that help me. You do the same thing in all the programs most of the time, and it helps to know about what another producer may be using and not be a product snob .

 

 

First use the pre-sets, then start to mess around with your own ideas, feelings, thoughts, etc.

 

What I did to learn (and I can still learn everyday and have a lot more to go...) was:

 

1. Make beats. So filled up the tracks and made songs. (I did some effects, not lots).

 

2. I then used the Mixing rack like nihon94 did in the first step. So I was making beats and then doing the mixing. I started to do more effects.

 

3. I really tried to get into effects and use them regularly, not once and a while.

 

4. Then start using the mastering suite.

 

5. Learn vocals. Vocals are quite tricky and a whole new realm, it's difficult to get them to come out and sit on a mix well, in the early stages - I still am learning a lot. Spoken word and rap is different than singing. And you need to then learn how to not overprocess the vocals, because they don't sound like a person or sound fake. But when you can get the right robotic or vocoder sounds it's ok, if that is what you want, because sometimes highly processed vocals that DO NOT sound like they should, may work with your song (hip-hop, certain pop, and electronica of course).

 

 

 

 

Suggestions:

 

- Use pre-sets, and when you understand a little more, don't hesitate to alter them a little and then make your own. Clicking pre-sets can be a guide, then you make minor modifications. Pros use pre-sets sometimes and may say so (usually they make them once they get good, but some admit to using pre-sets they didn't make).

 

- When it hits the red bars (sometimes reffered to clipping or a clip), it is too much and will be distorted. So watch the bars, in all thedifferent options. Try to get one or two under them/maybe one or two over them. I say this, but in the mastering suite there is a Limiter (the button in the third set of options), this helps cut off something if it is too high. Sometimes they are not used, and sometimes your levels are too high for certain sounds or vocals. So the Limiter works, but it still sounds distorted.

 

- I have recently been using the Meter on the bottom side of the program screen. Here: . This changes every single time you put something on your timeline, do effects, do mixing or do mastering.

 

- If you are intimidated, it's ok. I had no clue about it, and did beats first, some effects, then mixing, then much more effects regularly, then mastering, then vocals last. Don't rush. soon it will be easy.

 

- Don't forget to archive your seperate tracks, before mixing and mastering if you like and after when you are done. Getting into this habit has helped me, though it takes more time.

 

- When you get better you can make your own and save your own templates in the mastering suite.

 

- SAVE your projects before and after, just incase. Maybe call one Song1.mmm and Song1a.mmm (or waves, mp3's, ogg's or whatever you do too).

 

- The more you do the better.

 

- Sometimes making it sound terrible, just a little less than good or just a little worse will help you understand why a little is better than too much.

 

- The Mastering Suite gives your music that full sound or punch. If you export a song, then do mixing and export it and then do mastering and export it, you will notice that with each step the sound gets louder and fuller compared to just exporting it as is. The original un-edited song will be quiet compared to the later steps. So buy some extra blank cd's and try it out, or export a few different kinds of formats in files and check them out.

 

- MAKE SURE you burn a cd and export song files with a few of your songs and then test it on your players (boomboxes, home stereo, portable music player, phone, in different cars, etc). Then set the bass, treble, etc to normal, and start playing with the settings to see how it sounds in real life products that you and other people will listen to the music with. You also can learn to make some finer adjustments. For me: I have my portable music player, a discman (if I ever use it) and a 20W or above mini-stereo (I prefer a seperate sub-woofer to get the balance and bass right). I also can use a larger setup. This is probably how you/others will hear the music, and you need to know too.

 

- Try to export in 320kbps mp3, the high quality ogg files and wav. I recommend this because, although you might not normally archive in the higher quality files that take up more space: There are web-sites that offer music to listen to or sell at the higher settings. And at the higher settings, you can start to hear the good and bad about the recordings. This is good to help you improve and understand what you are doing and why. Also a note: Most music studios record in high-quality settings and then go down settings with each step until you hear the final product, not the other way around. You cannot create quality, you try to record the best and then output according to your market or listeners. Don't short change yourself or the customers, it's easy to tell.

 

- Some bad recordings or certain methods (mixtapes), are not the best radio or cd quality. That is ok for a few songs, but they were edited and the point is to hear the song and person(s). And maybe for some promo or mixtapes, etc you can get away with not radio or CD quality. Again: Don't shortchange yourself or the customers. You want to learn and people can tell who's giving them crap.

 

Hope it helped.

While some good advice has been given here, there is far more involved in the proper recording, mixing and mastering of tracks.  There will be some disagreement as to what the final result should be.  It is often a matter of personal taste and current trends.

In many cases, when using the soundpools in MMM, much of the work has been done for you.  That is done intentionally to make things easier for the average person and less technically inclined to produce a reasonably satisfactory result.

When recording all of your own material, YOU alone will be responsible for every aspect of the process, from recording to arranging, mixing and mastering.  Simply "messing around" by adding some effects and then compressing and boosting to create maximum sound pressure levels (even though that is the current fashion) does not constitute proper technique and may not given you the results you desire.

To get truly professional results, you should research and learn to apply the proper professional techniques (within the limitations of your equipment) and develop a professional "ear".

Although it will probably be meaningless to anyone born in the last twenty years or so, this article is worth reading to understand the sad and disturbing trend in music production...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

Thank you nihon94. How do I do that? I think what you say should be included too since your post states most of it.

Again Procyon says some important information Sagadavillin.

Prycon: I only say "mess around" because Sagadavillin is probably new and needs to enjoy the process and not be too serious yet.

I myself "Messed around" and enjoyed learning. If I don't still mess around sometimes, I don't learn some tricks I would over look. The ear I develop is to do certain steps, but leave room for mistakes and potential new ideas which will make me and others better or gives ideas for another project.

I am serious about production in all forms. Even too serious. I am only scratching the surface in so many ways and have learned a lot being in the program.