10 Tracks, 1dB Each: What Happens to Your Mix?
If 10 tracks peak at -10dB and you boost each fader by 1dB, the output rises by 10dB, not 1dB. Mixing math every producer should know.
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Compressor Attack Release Nuance
Somebody told you the attack and release time on a compressor is the amount of time it takes for the compressor to kick in, which impacts the transient or the sidechain or blah blah blah.
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Thirty-Two Octaves Below C-Sharp
Thirty-two octaves below C-sharp on the piano gives you a frequency of one year. A thought experiment on octaves, scale, and teaching.
Mixing in Headphones: The 3dB Center Problem
Center-panned content is 3dB quieter in headphones than on monitors. Understanding why helps your mixes translate.
AI: no joy in creation
A machine’s ability to make music should have nothing to do with the joy that you as an artist derive from creating it in the first place.
As: Stevie Wonder
Tuesday’s Music Theory Gym and its Stevie Wonder adds where we find a convergence of ascending and descending movement.
Explain Compression and Sidechain in thirty seconds
When the TV is on too loud and you turn it down, you are acting like a compressor.
Tetrachords — Learn 4 Patterns, Build Every Scale and Mode
Music theory books list scales one at a time. Here's the shortcut: every scale is two tetrachords joined end to end. Learn the four types (major, …
Stereo Width: fields and flashlights
Stereo width is not one thing — it can come from microphone placement, processing, or panning. Fields vs. flashlights: two mental models for how width …
Monsters: acoustic standing waves
They say monsters aren’t real, but I’m not so sure.
Voicing Variation: Quiet Day in Office Hours
Some voicing variations on a popular chord progression that came up during a quiet office hours session.
Perfection
This is a story about perfection.
Color Tones: suspended two diatonic bridges
One thing most pianists understand intuitively is that you can freely fill the gap between the bottom two notes of any root position triad, as long as …
