Guides

Notes on Measuring and Mixing

Each guide explains one idea and points to the tool that demonstrates it. They are short on purpose: long enough to be useful, not long enough to replace practice.

Analysis

How to Read a Spectrum Analyser

What the axes mean, why the trace moves, how averaging changes what you see, and which details are worth trusting.
How to Read a Spectrogram

A spectrogram is a spectrum drawn over time. Here is how to read the axes, the colour scale and the patterns worth spotting.
LUFS Explained: Loudness, Targets and Normalisation

What LUFS measures, why streaming platforms normalise to a target, and what happens to your mix if you master to the wrong number.

Equalisation

Finding Mud Between 200 and 400 Hz

Why the low midrange accumulates in a mix, how to hear the problem, and how to cut it without hollowing the sound.
High-Pass Filters: What They Do and When to Use Them

Every mix has a low-end problem. Here is where the high-pass filter goes, what to set it to, and the two mistakes that ruin it.
How to EQ a Kick Drum

A step-by-step method for EQ-ing a kick: find the fundamental, decide whether to move it, and tame the click without losing the punch.

Dynamics

Crest Factor and How Much Compression Is Enough

Crest factor measures how much transient detail a file still has, and tells you how much compression it can take.
How to Set Up a Compressor

Threshold, ratio, attack, release and knee, in the order that actually works, with the numbers to start from for drums, bass and vocals.
Sidechain Compression: The Pumping Effect, Explained

How sidechain compression works, why the bass moves the kick, and when the pumping is worth keeping rather than fixing.
Parallel Compression: Getting Density Without Losing Punch

Splitting a signal, crushing one copy and adding it back. What it actually does to transients, and how to set it up.

Mixing

How to Fix Frequency Masking

Two parts fighting for the same space is the most common problem in a mix. How to find it, and which of the two to change.

More guides are planned. New writing appears here first.