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For the independent recording artist, sounding good isn't a rarity only available to hit artists anymore - it is a requirement. Music sales may have wanted, but that doesn't mean that recorded music is on its way out. Far from it. More music is being consumed on more devices by more fans than ever before in history! Musicians are making their music available on internet and satellite radio, online music streaming services such as Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, Deezer, and YouTube, selling on direct-to-fan sites such as CD Baby, Bandcamp, and ReverbNation, and still pushing sales through ‘traditional' online retailers such as iTunes and Amazon MP3. Simply put, there is no excuse for an artist to release sub-par recordings. To many, audio engineers are still mysterious. To others, they are ‘evil' manipulators of music, creating phony, auto-tuned, drones out of unskilled artists. This, however, is far from the truth. Every recording, no matter the type, gets touched by a tracking engineer, mix engineer, and mastering engineer. The recording engineer utilizes many of microphones and technique to accurately capture and record the artist's performance as it happens in the recording studio. The mixing engineer takes all of the separate audio tracks and crafts the music to sound convincing and convey the song's emotion. He sets correct levels, panning, equalization, compression, and adds special effects where possible to complement the musician's vision. Lastly, the mastering engineer uses unique equipment and highly trained ears in an acoustically sound room to subtly polish and prepare the track for final release and ensure the recording translates to a variety of playback systems. "While many audio techniques can enhance the final production, we engineers are not magicians and can't replace a poor performance or terrible recording," says Scott of Virtual Mix Engineer. Recordings are more often used as promotional tool for artists and labels. The big dough currently is in converts, publishing, sync placements, and merchandise. When a fan connects with a band's music, they'll listen to their records, comment, and share the music with their friends. The fans want to support the artist and buy tickets to their shows, purchase apparel, and follow and interact with the artist through social media. As the artist grows in popularity, their music may be chosen for sync placements in film and TV, which not only provides great exposure, it also pays very well. To make it to this stage however, it all starts with well written song and convincing recording. The rise of DIY recording has led to more bands releasing music than ever before. With a powerful computer, some microphones, a DAW, and a little know-how, anyone can record and release music. One area where many artists fall short is failing to recognize their weaknesses in mixing. An experienced mixer has the right equipment, but most importantly the knowledge to make a production reach its full potential. Though it can be hard for an artist, letting go and trusting your engineer will take your recordings to the next level and help you stand out from the others. Listeners are instantly attracted to a well-written and performed song that sounds like a hit. Spend the proper time in pre-production, ensuring your composition and arrangement are as strong as possible. Then and only then, go to the best studio you can afford to record your basic tracks. Hire a local or online mix engineer within your budget whose work and personality you like, and tweak the mix until you're satisfied. Finally, send the songs off to mastering for that final polish. Once your recording is completed, you can get the music into multiple sites and into the phones and computers of your listeners and fans. Scott Horton is the ultimate example of today's contemporary mixing engineer/producer/songwriter. He has worked with multitudes of artists the world over in all musical genres ranging from Pop, Pop-Rock, Hip-Hop,RnB, Urban and more. His online mixing and mastering service, Virtual Mix Engineer, delivers artists and record labels with superb sounding mixes which make impressions that count. Come say hi to Scott at http://www.virtualmixengineer.com
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