compression
0 tracksReducing the difference between the loud and quiet parts of a sound. Compression makes vocals and drums sit forward and steady; pushed hard, it becomes an audible effect.
Production
mixing
2 tracks.
What it is
The stage of making a record where all the recorded parts are balanced into one finished stereo track: their levels, placement, tone and effects. Mixing comes after recording and before mastering, and is often done by a specialist rather than by the producer.
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lo-fi
1 trackMusic recorded with modest means, often at home, that keeps the marks of its making: room noise, simple equipment, imperfect takes. Lo-fi can be a necessity or a deliberate aesthetic, and many listeners hear it as more intimate than polished studio sound.
remastering
2 tracksPreparing a finished recording again at the mastering stage, the last step before release: adjusting its loudness, tonal balance and dynamics, often from the original tapes and for a new format or reissue. Unlike a remix, a remaster leaves the arrangement and the balance between instruments as they were and changes only the overall sound.
reverb
3 tracksThe sound of a space: countless reflections that blend after the direct sound. Reverb places a voice in a room, a hall or an impossible space, and long reverbs make music feel distant or dreamlike.
Hear it in these tracks
Róisín Murphy
Primitive
The slow, string-laced turn on Róisín Murphy's 2007 electro-disco album Overpowered, co-written with Ill Factor and arranged by Philadelphia soul veteran Larry Gold, heard here in a live performance from the album's era.
Luca Malina
FCKRZ
'FCKRZ' is a 2021 single by the Viennese singer Luca Malina, R&B-inspired pop about the darker side of relationships, produced by Luca Pivetz with guitar by Lukas Koffler and a self-made video.