New loudness course by Michael White

[jonetsu]

Long time no write.

Mixing and mastering engineer Michael White (Whitney Houston, David Byrne, James Taylor, Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix remixes, etc...many gold records) has a new, and I must say quite interesting course on loudness. Here's the official description. Link at the end. IMHO, for having followed other classes by Mike, this $50 will be solid investement.

Description:

Loudness as a Creative Tool: Achieving loudness is a cumulative process that must be considered at every step of the mix if you want full creative control of the final sound. Otherwise, you may be left to the mercy of an overly aggressive mastering process and a thin, pinched, and lifeless master. The Loudness Chttps://blog.music-production-guide.net/ourse is about far more than just getting loud masters. It is about learning the skills that allow you to be creative with it and use it as a tool to shape the sonic signature of your mixes and productions. Loudness can be achieved in many ways ranging from relatively transparent to heavily distorted. The ‘right’ approach is what best suits the style of music and meaning of the song you are working on, not some preconceived limitation imposed by old grumpy people.

Loudness and the Future: The Loudness Course will also cover the current direction of the consumer marketplace including streaming services and media players. It is expected that by 2020 all streaming services and default settings for media players will set their average loudness level to somewhere between -14 and -16 LUFS (Loudness Unit Full Scale), most have already done so. As a result, heavily compressed masters will have their average loudness level set to -14 LUFS. If that master sounds thin, pinched and distorted at a high level, it will sound very small and lifeless when streaming. Does this mean ‘loudness’ is a thing of the past? No way!

Loudness at Any Level: Loudness is more than a meter reading. It is also about perception and recognition of the listener. The more clear, solid and focussed a sound is, regardless of dynamic range, the more perceptible it will be. It that sense, clear perception equates to recognition which equates to perceived loudness, which equates to a loud master regardless of streaming service standards. So how can you achieve this magic? That is exactly what this course is designed to teach you.

The Loudness Course Includes:

8 Classes (2+ hours for each class)
Email access directly to me for any course related questions
Each class offers hours of loudness demonstrations.
1 Year Access to all Course Videos

The Program

Each of the 8 Classes itemized below includes over 2 hours of detailed information and audio demonstration. The lessons will be divided up into individual videos as listed below. You do not need to attend the Live Classes to participate! All Live Classes will be recorded and available on the website the same evening. You are free to watch each class at your own convenience.

Live classes will begin Thursday, July 6 @ 4 PM US-Pacific Time. Links to the live classes will be provided 30 minutes before the start of class by email.

Class 1: Mix Preparation for Loudness (July 6)

This class starts by defining loudness. and demonstrates the most common fundamental mix approaches used to create loud mixes.

Loudness Perception, Measurement & Online Streaming Standards
Setting Loudness Targets
Sonic Density and Loudness
Loudness Mixing Technique #1: Dry Mono – Wet Stereo
Loudness Mixing Technique #2: LCR Mixing

Class 2: Compression Techniques For Loudness (July 13)

Compressors are the most powerful tool for controlling the dynamics of music. This does not mean you are necessarily removing the dynamic, but rather, making the dynamic more perceptible by making it more consistent.

Averaging (RMS) Compression for Loudness
Rhythmic Compression for Loudness
Vintage Compression Techniques for Loudness
Vintage Limiters Techniques for Loudness
Digital Compression Techniques for Loudness

Class 3: EQ Techniques for Loudness (July 20)

All frequencies are not created equal. Each frequency area has a specific role to play in the perception of loudness and must be processed accordingly.

Frequency Target Zones for Loudness
Vintage & Digital EQ Techniques for Loudness
2 Point EQ Techniques
3 Point EQ Techniques
Dynamic EQ Techniques to Achieve Loudness

Class 4: Creative Loudness Processing Techniques (July 27)

This class demonstrates the many ways you can use loudness techniques to shape sound sources creatively and establish a unique tonal character for your mix.

Defining Creative Loudness
Creative Loudness for Drums and Percussion
Creative Loudness for Bass
Creative Loudness for Guitars
Creative Loudness for Keys
Creative Loudness for Vocals

Class 5: Tape Saturation & Distortion Processing (August 3)

Tape saturation is a powerful way to preserve warmth and dynamics while achieving loudness characteristic. Distortion processing expands on the creative processing techniques realm.

Tape Saturation Basics
Multitrack Tape Saturation
Tube Saturation for Loudness
Solid State Saturation for Loudness
Digital Saturation for Loudness

Class 6: Parallel Processing for Loudness (August 10)

One powerful way to achieve loudness while maintaining control of the dynamics of your mix is to use parallel processing. It allows for quick adjustments to your loudness approach without deconstructing the mix.

Parallel Processing versus Wet/Dry Inserts
Techniques for Focus and Hype
Techniques for Density and Solidity
Techniques for Depth and Movement
Parallel Saturation Techniques

Class 7: Mix Buss Processing for Loudness (August 17)

Mix stem and Mix Bus processing are the final stages before mastering and the best place to pull together all of the loudness work from the previous techniques. There is always room for loudness here if you need it.

Mix Stem Processing for Loudness
Parallel Stem Processing for Loudness
Mix Bus Processing for Loudness
Parallel Mix Bus Processing for Loudness
Mix Bus Limiters

Class 8: Mastering for Loudness (August 24)

Whether you are mastering your own work or not, you must understand these essential mastering techniques. Processing at this level is very different than on the stereo mix buss and it will help to solidify the mix and meet your loudness target.

Framing the Mix
Mid Band Compression for Loudness
Low Level Compression for Loudness
Tape Saturation and Exciters
Brick Wall Limiting – Reaching Your Loudness Target

MPG Music School


Here is a sample tutorial as Mike makes many available on youtube from his weekly free online class on Wednesdays 'Mixing with Mike' :

Choosing a Reverb

[Owlmerlyn]

Thanks for the tip. I agree, his material is of the best there is out there in internet land. I have worked through his mixing course. That was def worth it

[melodiousthump]

This is a topic of great interest to me and I signed up right away based on the syllabus. After the first class I wonder if it might not be for everybody. What did you guys think?

The presentation felt scattered to me, and I could barely keep up with his thought train or visually decipher the notes/illustrations that he scrunched into the margins of his presentation, when clearly those ideas *were* the presentation. And it's a huge bummer that customers can't download the class to watch offline. This is a significant inconvenience (says the man with a 3-4 hour commute to the day gig).

I'm definitely going to give him the benefit of the doubt and sit through another class since he is highly regarded mixer and educator. Just a little down on it after the first class.

[jonetsu]

Well, the course will be downloadable. It's already listed amongst the other courses at the MPG web site.

From the description I posted here:

The Loudness Course Includes:

8 Classes (2+ hours for each class)
Email access directly to me for any course related questions
Each class offers hours of loudness demonstrations.
1 Year Access to all Course Videos

Notice the access. And the questions.

Now there were problems with the youtube streaming last Thursday. The switch from google to youtube was made recently and as we can see, it's not problem free yet.

As for the contents, I found it very interesting. Michael will refer to previous audio notions such as the 3D sound field. This course is specifically about loudness, not mixing in general. You might want to see the following for the basics of 3D sound field:

Mixing and the 3D sound field

I'm not sure about the notes you couldn't see. I saw the full screen here, notes and all.

This said, I'm a newbie in mixing and want to learn. I went through a substantial amount of Mike's learning material and the way I proceed is that I keep open a text editor and take a lot of notes. I pause a lesson, rewind it when I'm not certain, and take more notes. I would do that in a live class except that I would exacerbate the teacher by asking to repeat so frequently

I am also relying on going through the loudness course when it becomes accessible on the web site, to freshen up.

I consider that what Mike offers is serious learning, as in giving the tools and sharpening them in order to use them in turn. So he's not about "quick hints and tricks" but rather about creating tools for the students to use. The nuts and bolts of it, so that when one makes something in the mix, it makes sense related to other decisions that were taken. This is even more important since the quality of mixes is made of a good number of little decisions made here and there that interacts with each other to create a rich audio composite. At least, that's how I see it.

[Owlmerlyn]

I consider that what Mike offers is serious learning, as in giving the tools and sharpening them in order to use them in turn. So he's not about "quick hints and tricks" but rather about creating tools for the students to use.

Agreed, he delves into the theory behind what works, rather than just giving "go-to" settings and such. I have learned many "secrets" from him that has lifted my game massively

I also do agree, though, that his videos should be down-loadable (my advance mixing course videos aren't)

[jonetsu]

I consider that what Mike offers is serious learning, as in giving the tools and sharpening them in order to use them in turn. So he's not about "quick hints and tricks" but rather about creating tools for the students to use.

Agreed, he delves into the theory behind what works, rather than just giving "go-to" settings and such. I have learned many "secrets" from him that has lifted my game massively

I also do agree, though, that his videos should be down-loadable (my advance mixing course videos aren't)

It would be indeed practical to download the courses. When I signed up about a year ago I looked at the web pages source code and found that some extra videos (not the main ones) were in plain sight so I downloaded them. A bit after that Mike reworked the web site and they were not shown anymore. That's OK. That's the choice that he made and I go along with it. When it's open in plain sight I deduct that's the state of it: open.

One thing I do though is to take notes while following a lesson. A take a lot of notes. I pause, rewind, go at it again, make sure it's clear, write it down in a text editor. That motion of taking notes gets things into the skull.

I couldn't follow the Loudness course when it happened on Thursday evenings so now I'm starting to go through. Great material. The loudness of pieces from an artist creates a signature. I'll ask him about the following which is not clear. In the Loudness courses so far there are two approaches to mixing in order to align a mix for loudness and I wonder what about the mixing techniques in previous mixing courses then. I think the (Advanced) mixing courses is more about getting the feel and comprehension of the techniques and the Loudness courses is an actual application of those techniques in a specific context.

[SimonGreen]

As an all access subscriber to Mike's site I would say that without a doubt it is the best investment I ever made in the field of audio engineering education.

Not only does Mike have the credentials to back up what he says but the content is explained in a way that allowed me to understand both the hows and the whys at a level that has really made a difference to what I am able to do; I understand some fundamentals that just eluded me for ages and when the light bulbs came on I had a few facepalm moments.

It's fair to say that sometimes he wanders around the subjects a little but that doesn't worry me as it's mostly insightful stuff. I also find the trips down memory lane and the historical development really useful as it places stuff in context. Mike also displays a passion for this stuff (and wanting to get it across in a way that allows people to understand it) that is somewhat infectious and has had me laughing out loud on many occasions...

The most beneficial thing of all is that pretty much every question I have ever had or concept/technique that I wanted to understand/master is available in the course content. There is some repetition of content across courses but that content is often the stuff that's so utterly fundamental it bears repeating (and is critical to anyone taking the course in isolation).

I have no affiliation to Mike's content other than I am prepared to pay for it personally but would point out that anyone who signs up to the site for free gains access to the 'fundamentals of mixing' classes. Unless you're surname is Lord-Alge or equivalent than I pretty much guarantee you could learn something from even this free content!

Regards,

Si

[SeabassG33]

Wow, thanks for sharing! Sounds like this is the more in-depth instruction I need than just little tips and tricks.