Audio Examples
Short audio files to help you master the fundamental concepts in the "Pro Audio 101" guide. Play the annotated clips below to get an instant idea about how each technique applies to your audio in real life.
Programming
Demo of programming patterns in the DAW.
The foundation of a 2-bar 4/4 rhythm in 100 BPM. Adding a closed hi hat at every half beat. Sounds very mechnical, not much like a beat.
When the velocity of every alternate hi hat is brought down a little, the patterns starts to sound less mechanical and like a rhythm.
Using a open hi hat instead of a closed hi hat in the last note of each bar introduces a tiny variation in our beat.
Shifting the third hi hat note by a sub-division (step), i.e., the first hi hat note of the second beat has been delayed by a step, leading to a more interesting and less monotonous pattern.
Adding a kick on the downbeat and a snare side hit on the backbeat. The pattern begins to sound like an actual rhythm now.
Adding a fill on the fourth bar using additional snare notes and a splash cymbal in the middle of the last beat. The note velocities have also been randomized slightly. Pretty close to what an actual drummer would sound like.
Bassline for a simple 2-bar chord progression of F#-A#m using the root notes of the chords, i.e., F# and A# for the entire duration of the bar.
Chopping up the bass notes to flow along with the rhythm. The pattern begins with a half-beat long note repeated twice, pauses for the next beat, followed by a 2-beat long note.
Using the second note of the chord for an offbeat quarter note in the introduces a bit of syncopation.
Adding more variation by using more notes of the chord makes the bassline even more groovy.
Playing the chords and bassline along with the rhythm we created earlier for a basic 2-bar arrangement.
Automation
Examples of how automation can be used to shape the envelope of audio.
A normal orchestral string section playing a chord.
Using automation to add a "swell" effect to the strings.
Using automation to add a gated stutter effect to the vocals as well as panning it left and right with time.
Editing
Check out how technology enables almost realistic time and pitch correction on vocals.
A raw unedited vocal sample.
Pitch corrected vocals, brought down by 2 semitones from the original recording.
Pitch corrected vocals, pulled up by 2 semitones from the original pitch it was recorded in. However, the vocal begins to develop a childish quality.
Sped up vocals using time correction.
Slowed down vocals using time correction.
The Chipmunk effect: how sample rate conversion affects pitch and time both. In this example, pitch of the vocals have been changed by +5 semitones, but note how the vocals have sped up owing to the pitch change.
Balancing
Below you can hear two mixes: one dry and unbalanced, the other balanced with appropriate effects applied on each track. Check for yourself how balancing can make a big difference to your mix, not just in terms of levels, but panning and depth as well. Note that none of the audio snippets below have had any mastering effects applied to them.
An unbalanced mix. All sounds are at their default levels, no compression, EQ, reverb, delay or any other effects have been used.
A balanced mix. All tracks have been level-balanced using pink noise followed by manual adjustment. Effects such as compression, EQ, reverb, delay and stereo effects are in place, leading to an overall smoother sound.
Frequency Bands
Below is a breakdown of all the different frequency bands of a song. Check out what each band sounds like and you'll get an idea about which instruments predominantly lie in which region of the frequency spectrum.
A short excerpt from a master recording containing all the frequency bands
The sub-bass band (20-80 Hz). You cannot hear this on small speakers. Can you feel the deep pulse of the bass?
The bass band (80-250 Hz). You can hear the bass and a little bit of the keyboards prominently here.
The low mid band (250-500 Hz). The rich tones of the piano start to stand out.
The mid band (500 Hz-2 kHz). The vocals are clearly heard in this range.
The high mid band (2-4 kHz). You can still hear the vocals, but the high percussion and shakers start to become more prominent. The bass is totally non-existent.
The presence band (4-6 kHz). A tiny bit of the vocals, a lot of the shakers.
The treble or "air" band (6-20 kHz). Here you can almost exclusively hear only the shakers and nothing else.
EQ
Some demonstrations of the little improvements EQ can make to sounds. Although EQ is mostly contextual in the while mix and is not much useful on individual elements, this should still give you an idea about its strength and application.
Raw kick drums with other elements of the drum kit attenuated.
Kick drums boosted around 400 Hz for an exaggerated "boxy" sound. This is a bad frequency for kicks you should usually get rid of.
Kick drums EQ'ed with a bass boost at 90 Hz and a cut at 500 Hz to reduce boxiness and a warmer sound.
Raw kick drums with raw acoustic bass playing together.
EQ'ed kick drum and bass. Kick has been boosted around 85 Hz and 900 Hz, with deeper cuts between 170-500 Hz. Bass is boosted around 150 Hz with multiple cuts at 80 Hz, 150 Hz, 1.5 kHz and low pass filter at 4 kHz.
Raw drumkit and bass playing together.
EQ'ed drums and bass playing together for comparison. Same EQ settings as in the above example has been applied to entire drumkit .
Compression
The following examples demonstrate the power of compression. Please listen on good-quality monitors or headphones to spot the subtle differences.
An uncompressed bass signal with gain compensation
Compressed bass signal with threshold: -30 dB, ratio: 7.5:1, gain: 15 dB, attack: 43.4ms, and release: 16 ms for an even sound.
Compressed bass signal with same threshold, ratio and gain but slower attack of 15ms, and slower release of 800 ms, leading to transient peaks. This is not typically ideal for bass as it makes the bass sound weak.
An uncompressed drum track with some backing guitars.
Drum compression with slower attack and release to preserve transients. The compressor is set to -12.5 dB threshold, 7.5:1 ratio, 9 db gain, 50 ms attack and 200 ms release. Observe how the snare smacks with more power now.
Drums with two serial compressors in chain. The first is a compressor with faster attack and release, with threshold -9 dB, 3:1 ratio, 4.5 dB of gain, 0 ms attack and 80 ms release. The second compressor is the one in the previous example. This gives a bigger sound along with transient peaks.
Drums with parallel compression on an aux send. The compressed signal with both slow attack and release is mixed with a slight amount of aggressively compressed signal (-13 dB threshold, 10:1 limiting ratio, 13 db gain, 0 ms attack and 60 ms release), leading to a fatter sound.
Drums with parallel compression as above, but with an additional delay effect on the parallel aux channel to make it blend in better with the other instruments.
Electronic kick and bass without sidechain compression. Observe how the bass overpowers the kick, resulting in a muddy and masked sound.
Electronic kick and bass with the bass sidechained using the kick signal. Observe how things are much clearer and controlled now, with the bass pumping in-between the kicks. A compression ratio of 2:1 has been used on the bass with 2.75 ms attack and 3.84 ms release.
Reverb & Delay
The following examples are meant to show you how reverb and delay can be used to create depth and how too much of it can spoil your mix.
An excerpt from a track with 100% dry vocals (no reverb or delay). The vocals lack depth in the mix.
A basic delay has been added to the vocals. Note how the repeated echoes interfere with the main vocals, making it indistinct.
A basic delay with a bandpass EQ filter (center frequency at 800 Hz) has been added to the vocals. The delays are a bit more controlled now, leading to the main vocals being more distinct than the previous example, although there is a lot more room for improvement.
A little amount of both reverb and delay have been added to the vocals. The effects are subtle enough to add the right amount of ambience and depth, without being too overbearing as in the previous examples.
Other Effects
We will look at a variety of miscellaneous creative effects used in music production.
Vocals with heavy reverb applied.
Vocals with a chorus effect applied.
Vocals with a flanger effect applied.
Vocals with a phaser effect applied.
Vocals with a vocoder effect applied. The underlying sound is a chord that is following the envelope of the vocal signal, leading to a robotic-sounding voice, or an instrument that "sings".
Stereo Widening
Simple tricks to widen mono sounds across the stereo-field. But remember to always listen to your mix in mono before exporting your final track to prevent phase issues that make things sound thinner or altogether vanish when played on monophonic devices.
A mono signal of a strumming guitar.
Stereo widened guitar with the signal duplicated across the left and right channels, with a phase delay of 1.5 ms on the left channel.
Stereo widened guitar with the signal duplicated across the left and right channels, with a phase delay of 30 ms on the left channel, leading to a much wider sound.
Mastering
Understand the difference that mastering can make, and how loud you can go without distorting your audio. Note: these examples are a bit exaggerated to help you compare and contrast. You should be more subtle and conservative in reality.
Excerpt from an track without mastering, with peaks at around -4.5 dB.
Mastered audio with moderate use of limiting and loudness maximization with almost no audible distortion. Peaks are around -1 dB.
Extremely loud mastered track with heavy use of limiter and maximizer, leading to an unpleasantly distorted and squashed audio. This is an example of what not to do.