Mastering and mixing tutorial in Mulab?

[oldcastle]

Hi,

It would be wonderful if a kind-hearted person could create a beginner's tutorial on mastering and mixing in Mulab. ML9 offers a plethora of features, and this tutorial would be a great way to explore them further. Plus, it could help people to finalize their tracks

[MuTools]

Practical note:
I acknowledge that the use of compressors and other side-chained devices may be a bit complicated atm, it's on the wishlist to simplify that. In fact i'm dreaming of also making the racks pure MUX patches (like how MuDrum, MuSynth, MuSampla and MultiSampla evolved recently) so that it becomes more easy to add side-chained devices within a rack. I'm writing this here now because when racks would evolve in such direction then a tutorial about mastering, and thus also about the use of compressors using the current way of doing things might become irrelevant too quickly. I'll do my best to research that evolution of the racks and soon give a time estimation of when that could be realized. If it's realizable on short term then better to wait a bit with creating such tutorial about mastering. Another solution could be that any tutorial parts about using compressors or other side-chained devices is put apart in a separate tutorial so that one can be easily replaced when the new method would have been implemented.

[robert_p]

In fact i'm dreaming of also making the racks pure MUX patches

Hi, I found out that connecting the Parameter Event Generator to Rack module gives me (theoretically) access to 128 Rack Macro Knobs. Is there any way of using this feature?
---

Rack Parameters.jpg

[MuTools]

Not atm. But that would be one of the benefits to make the racks uniform to the entire MUX modular system.

[MidlandSynthetics]

May I direct you to this youtube channel (see below) where you will find expert advice on mixing with eq and compression. Generally, Daniel's techniques can be used with any DAW.
Mulab does provide enough built-in tools to get satisfactory results without buying into the typical assortment of expensive studio plugins.

I would suggest starting with a little compression on each channel, then equalise each sound to fit in the mix before adding any effects. After you've sorted the effects you move onto the mastering with a bus compressor to glue the mix and then a master limiter to make everything louder.

This is a basic way to do treat the mix but there really isn't any limit to what you might do. Side-chaining can be great, if used carefully. But don't over use it. Stereo widening is also there for consideration but can be destructive if its put on everything.

I may do a tutorial myself because it's a fun to make a mix from scratch.

https://m.youtube.com/@DanielDettwiler

[oldcastle]

Waiting for it

[MuTools]

Working on it

A bit of detail:

I'm researching/prototyping doing the racks in a new way: Racks as standard modular MUXes.
This could have a couple of nice advantages:

• Setting up auxiliary inputs/outputs, eg for side-chaining, would become more visible and user-friendly.
• Racks can be fully customized, both on modular level, but also wrt their front panel ie. what you see in the rack desk! So it would make it possible that different racks have a different layout, eg. make racks with an integrated EQ, etc.

In fact this is something that was on the wishlist for a long time already, but now that also MuDrum, MuSynth, MuSampla and MultiSampla have become pure and fully customizable MUX modular patches, also this Racks-as-MUXes feature wish got on the dev table, extra triggered by this topic.

It's still in research/prototype phase though, and it will still take quite some coding work.
But i'm getting hopeful this will be realizable.

PS: @oldcastle, sorry that i went quite off topic from your original post. Hope that's ok.

[Michael L]

For the sake of discussion I suggest racks have a standard (or maximum) height, with tabs, horizontal scrolling if all tabs are open, and templates for common rack types.

[MuTools]

Thanks Michael.

I removed my question about the rack desk height as i realized it was a bit too early to ask about it, i should first give it some more thought.

[oldcastle]

No worries Jo, all good. I trust you

[MuTools]

I had a deep look at the rack system, tried to make them more transparent from modular pov (= "modular racks"), but after a couple of weeks of prototyping work i had to conclude it's too much work atm and too many aspects i didn't think of at first. So i've put this idea on hold and will let it ripe, and maybe continue it at a later time.

Regarding sidechaining: The next M9.1.8 update includes a new rack slot function "Setup Rack Sidechain" which makes it easier to setup a sidechain. That was one of the goals of the modular racks but can now be done via a quick context function.

[sl23]

Excellent work. Thanks.

[oldcastle]

Just a quick question for all. While waiting for a great tutorial , do you guys know if there are any plugins that can somehow "magically" mix and master my track? Or, as a last resort, a cheat sheet that I could use?

[MuTools]

Just a quick question for all. While waiting for a great tutorial ,

About tutorials about mixing: I see 2 aspects: 1) The general info about mixing, independent from the used DAW, thus things like EQ, compression, stereo imaging, ... There are many many good tutorials out there on youtube etc. It's recommended to learn the backgrounds of good mixing. And 2) How certain things are done in MuLab specifically. If you have specific MuLab questions, shoot.

[pljones]

Or, as a last resort, a cheat sheet that I could use?

viewtopic.php?p=8666783#p8666783 is, really, a very good starting point.