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[Mixinthecloud]

Hi buddy. I'm not a sound engineer. I'm trying to learn how to do the mixing. I didn't understand what you mean when you say ''you have squashed the life out of it''. Can you tell me exactly the problem? You mean that there is a problem about balance, compressor or something else? Thank you very much in advance. Take care of yourself...

Hey there. Sorry this reply took so long. I'd like to thank the others who chimed in on my behalf.

It can be difficult to learn the language of mixing, but most of the terms have some relationship to devices or processes which perform them. Compression = Squash. Savvy? I think you got that.

Can I ask a few questions? Are you a musician? A tech? A music lover? What are your influences? What do you like to listen too? Do you like the game of Golf? OK?

# I'm a music teacher. But I don't have any training in recording.
# My equipments: EMU 0404 USB
                            Mackie CR 4
                            Cubase 5
# I usually listen to metal music.

What instrument(s) do you play?

I assume you know music since you teach it. Do you write too?

Golf?

I play electric guitar. I've several project. I don't know how to play golf.

I mention golf because it offers a good analogy to music (and a lot of other life lesson type things). But pick a sport. Any sport and the analogy applies. The golf game is defined by the terrain on which it is played. In music mixing and production, an approach to a song is defined by the emotional terrain the lyric, tempo, type and number of instruments playing, loudness, intesity, the key, etc., which makes up the song. As a mixolydian, I'm sure you understand modes. Experience is important. As is acuity. In golf, you must master the ability to strike a golf ball. You must know without thinking about it how to make the golf ball do what you want it to do. If the terrain of a golf course demands a low curving shot from left to right because of where the pin is on the green, which way the wind is blowing and how hard, the lie of the ball at your feet, yada, yada, yada. It is a never ending list of variables you must solve for. Years of experience allow you to envision a solution while years of practice gives you the skill to hit that shot. In music, your experience allows you to understand the musical landscape and your practice allows you to instantiate the sonic vision your experience puts in your head. Yet, as in music and golf, there is no one solution. It is only a solution if it works for the song or the shot. Whatever solution you chose, you need to acquire the skills to bring your vision into effect. And along the way you learn the language of the craft. But until you master hitting the golf ball, or using the incredible pallet of audio mixing tools, then you are neither playing the game of golf or mixing music. Without those skills at hand, you'd be just swinging hard and looking up and praying you can find the ball for your next shot, or you are creating sounds without the cohesion of a solid goal with a means to reach it in a creative and musical way.

Here's the kicker. Sometimes it's a blast to just "grip it and rip it". Just get in there and dig away. If you love it you will thirst for more. Solo up a kick drum and drop a compressor on it and start flailing away at the controls and learn what each one does and what it sounds like. Learn to recognize these effects when you hear them. Then do it on a guitar, a piano, a voice. What does a de-esser do. Just what you'd expect it too. It takes the harsh esses out of sounds. Learn the difference between a gate and an expander, a compressor and a limiter. Learn the variables of modern and legacy delays. Same thing for reverbs. Learn how they can work together and how they don't. Learn the language then walk the talk. Learn to listen and more importantly, learn how to listen. Eventually you will.

The reward? There is nothing so sweet as hitting a great shot in golf. To see it, be it and hit it is a magical feeling and trust me, it does not happen often, even for the very best golfers. The crowd may applaud and see a great shot, but the player knows he didn't quite get all of it. The same thing is true for mixing a song. When you've conquered the variables and exposed the musicality of instruments and players and then put all the pieces together in a musical statement that enhances the feel of the song, that's a great and magical feeling too, and unlike any other. It's hard work for most, and easy for a rare few. But rewarding for all.

OK. Life lesson number 1 and done.