Learn how to Record, Produce, Mix & Master your music like a professional in your home studio.
Welcome to our KZread channel dedicated to home music production tutorials! Our goal is to provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to record and produce your music from the comfort of your own home. We cover a wide range of topics, including how to record, and produce a song from scratch, arrange it, mix it, and even Master your music from your home Studio.
Yes, many tips and tricks can help you achieve a professional-quality sound in your home studio. Some of these include choosing the right equipment and software, setting up your studio for optimal sound quality, and using advanced production techniques to create professional-sounding music. It can be challenging to find all of this information on your own, but with the right resources and guidance, it is possible to achieve a high level of quality in your humble home studio.
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Hi Joe, Thank you or that tutorial, it was super helpful and a great starting point. I just got these headphones yesterday. I have a question for you, (and would also be keen to hear others' thoughts on this if you see this comment): When you are at the composition phase of the track (ie when you are just starting out), do you bypass Slate VSX or do you use near-field monitor emulation from the very start? (I imagine its the latter but i just thought I'd check)
Thanks mate for your comment. I'm glad I could help. Now regarding producing music with VSX. I don't like to use a headphone or even my studio system when I produce music. I'm a producer and engineer and learned not to mix or even try to be critical when I'm producing music. I don't want to think about frequencies, I just wanna make music. So, I have those 2 small logic speakers that I produce music on, they keep me out of the critical engineer mind. But where I use VSX in production is while choosing low-frequency samples, like Kick and Bass. As 50hz in my room has a long decay time. So a kick that has a length of 120ms will stop at 1 full second. I need to fix that, but 50hz solutions cost a lot of money. So here is where I use vsx to choose the right kick that fits with the right bass in terms of time. You can always do that with an LFO plugin later on in mixing, but somehow, I like it this way. Also, it helps me find the best microphone recording spot in my studio. Though my studio is treated mainly for vocals, the accuracy of VSX helps me with mic placement to get the best sound possible, was it acoustic guitar or vocals. Other than that, I don't use VSX till after I finish my mix on my studio monitors. I usually fix the kick and bass with VSX first, and I don't touch them till I finish the mix on my monitors Now it doesn't mean you can't use VSX from the beginning. I used it once while I was on a trip. I produced a song, mixed it and mastered it on my laptop only with VSX. So you can do that, and you won't notice any latency while it's on. I heard so many stories of people doing both scenarios. So to each their taste of doing things. But both scenarios were successful. So I don't see any problem using it from the beginning if that would help you in any way through your production journey.
@@HomeStudioGuru Thanks so much for your valuable input. I think I will get used to using it from the get-go as I’m going to be travelling in 2 months and will be away for a while. When you’re working on kick and bass, do you have a preferred room? And what kind of monitors would you use for that (still near-field?)
I usually like Mike Dean's farfields. Cause its low is massive with 2x18inch subwoofers. Perfect to see what's happening in the very low end. Specially that I do a lot of hiphop and electronic music with very heavy sub bass
The best vsx review thank you
Glad I could help
This is a great video.
Thanks man
@@HomeStudioGuru I just ordered them.
@@andthensome512enjoy great accurate mixes.
I was thinking of getting this. You shed some light on a few things for me. Great video!
Glad I could help. 🙏
@@HomeStudioGuru I had one question i just thought of. My question is output. What are you listening from?... direct from computer or sound board or interface.? I'm wondering if either outputs will color the sound due to individual pre amp amplification/noise. Curious. :)
@@mcsstudios101I have an Rme fireface 400 connected to Audient Nero monitor station on my Studio PC. And with my laptop I use motu m2 interface. Abd though I jump a lot in between the 3 interfaces I didnt see any effect on the translation. The only time I felt something is wrong when I connected my VSX directly to my asus laptop headphone amp. The sound was a disaster. Other than that you won't feel the difference as long you have a good interface
Please Give me the Link of the product of the same device because I have one Fireface 400
Heres an eBay link to a Texas Instrument chipset. Make sure it's only Texas Instrument? Nothing else will work. Even that's what RME recommended 20 years ago when I bought their fireface 400. www.ebay.com/itm/115947214919?epid=2164347383&itmmeta=01HY4T24BBV27VPZ6A2WPC2R8Z&hash=item1afefe1847:g:jT8AAOSwqCJlMS9I&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8K4BVsgoR4RkG7HO81j0wLPHKZn1W1RsnQL%2Bx3e86nPvrkeZ6O%2F69bjLbef1x22sTZaDMxQfhyj2e%2FQVvdCqWAbZOfwpGKP2sNpG8Y19qMJUfU%2BKQMZOGbakCgWwprQCp3BcKV%2B2yNkuVGZyhHrindWTZK1JLEjdDw3Mrun1fBuHBfd4iLhHX%2FkS80uMMGi%2FsG0lGSGxECQDvwc5jqt9kUEKHkP6wvbtzPL6fsnRrJvkR9oFEsRbMwRjY8QzUXt0%2BA%2FzFaqDEMEetGoTxvc2czyrbAD5m%2FYU1tLA4%2BvwtG6NlEgwpjsvuhcRg61qXv4ZCw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBM3sWImvFj
@@HomeStudioGuru Thank you so much for the feed back. 🤝
Great info glad I listened
Glad I could help 🙏
I am considering getting the VSX, thanks to you now.
Glad I could help 😊
Amazing video...! Thanks...!
You're welcome
Well, like others said, very good explanation, but I'm still a little lost of how to use it.. so let me see, I record then when i proceed to m mixing, I will mix with the VSX using a room, not mixing as I mix before with the other headphones... and at the end of exploring and tweak my mix around the rooms It should be a better mix?, I was listening to project's that I finished before VSX and to my understanding they sound very good, but when I add the VSX at the end and start listening on different rooms is very awful, I might doing something wrong here..
Did your mixes, that sounded good before, translated well outside your studio or headphones? Or it sounded good only on your old headphones or speaker system in the studio. The idea of VSX is not how it sounds. Sounding good doesn't help much here, otherwise, no one would have used the Yamaha NS10 ever. It's all about accuracy and translation. Like if you mix a song in a studio, does it sound the same in the car, in the club, on headphones, or small speakerphones? That's what the VSX or a calibrated studio was made for. To be accurate enough to get your mix out to the world. Now if your mix already translated well and sounded good everywhere after mixing in your studio or headphones, and you find it sounding weird in VSX, it's one of these problems. Either you were mixing on headphones before, and never mixed on studio monitors that are far from you or something is wrong in your setup or you might have a faulty VSX, or your wire is not plugged properly. If you never mixed in a studio before, VSX will sound ad weird to you as you enter a real studio now and hear your mix for the first time. No matter how good it was mixed on headphones, it's a big mess, cause there are only a few headphones out there that are accurate enough for mixing, and none of them is less than 1500 dollars. So all I mentioned above are questions I usually ask to solve a problem. Any of these questions could be what is happening depending on your answer. So I will wait to see which scenarios are you in and then give you the right answer
Is it necessary to use the VSX headphones exclusively? Does the software work with ANY headphone?
No. The software was designed to work perfectly, translation-wise, to the VSX. Now you can try it with any other headphone I doubt you will get the right translation.
That was helpful
Glad I could help 😊
Beyerdynamic DT770
Yep
Is the extra couple hundred bucks for platinum worth it? I can spend if it’s worthwhile but if essentials is likely to get the job done I’d rather go with essentials - ty!
Essentials will do the job and more. All you need is to pick a room and know it well. However, some rooms help in finding resonances and sharpness more than others. I honestly use most of the rooms to get a 100% mix that translates 100% from the first time. But still, if you use references in the same room, you can catch these resonances on the spot, especially in the small speakers. Especially the Sonoma room. The only thing I believe you will miss is the Yamaha NS10 in the Dean's room without the subwoofer. These can get you great results. Now the essentials come with two EXTRA-free rooms. Archon Studios and NRG. So it's great to buy the essential and learn it well and then go ahead and try several rooms for free for 30 days and pick the one that you like the most and buy only that room. Also, the iPhone emulation is crazy.
Thanks really well explain!
Glad I could help! 🍻
Thanks for the Video! It was a lot of help!
Glad I could help. 🍻
Bought a 20$ via chip firewire 400 card, win 11 rme fireface 400, rme asio driver works like a charm 🎉
Also removed the onboard audio drivers
That's 👍
I am learning to mix and still not decided if I like VSX yet, but I learned a few things here that seem to be help using them , thanks! I did a mix last night and set the drums level and didn't change it the whole mix and sort of mix into it , I found that really helpful , I don't know if that is a common thing people do.
Till a certain time in the mix. This is 100% right. Except if your client ask for a very hot mix, about 8 or 6 LUFS. this is the only time I would touch the kick and Bass levels. But other than that I would never touch them
Do it its a game changer
Waiting on my vsx headphones delivery today.My mixes are good now but I’m hoping they can take my mixes to a new level.Thank you for the information.Its going to help me get started quicker and informed!
Following for the update
some very helpful tips thanks
Well you are really a guru of home studio 😁 Thank you for explaining everything you know. I will buy this headphone soon when I got the money👋 High Five big brother 😁
Glad I could be of help. ✌️
Hello, excellent video, just one question, how can I know if I am mixing at an adequate volume? Since the headphones are closed, I can't test turning up the music until I can't hear a conversation, or how do you do it?
If you ever mixed on real monitors. Usually, the best volume level is around 75 to 80spl which is equal to a conversation level. Never mix in high volume. Stop exactly when you feel the music is relaxed and getting to your ears. Anything above that, is noise and will exaggerate a lot of frequencies that are not actually in there l.
@@HomeStudioGuru yes but how i know that I am in 80 dbSPL in headphones??
As I said in my previous message. Conversation volume. If you get someone in your studio and talk to them in a normal conversation volume, no shouting, no screaming, that would be the right music volume. It has to be as relaxing to the ears as possible so you can sit for hours without feeling stressed or annoyed by the volume.
I have mixed feelings about Slate VSX. The bass in the emulations seems to be totally overpowering (in the reference tracks, not mine). It may sounds cool and exciting, but I can't believe that studio monitors have such an overly bassy sound in recording studios. In addition, the speaker balance within a given simulation seems strange, because when switching from small near-field speakers that can sound as if they somehow had sub-bass, we suddenly get even more bass. Totally weird thing. In the meantime, out of curiosity, I checked Realphones 2.0, which I was skeptical about, especially after spending a lot of money on VSX, but I must say that after listening to their emulations, it sounds much more realistic. I recommend checking it out. After a long time of comparing Slate VSX vs Realphones vs my KRK 5, I'm considering returning the VSX.
Did you try to do a mix and see if it translates to other systems regardless of how it sounds in the headphones?! Cause the whole idea of VSX is not how it sounds, but how good it translates?!
You’re spamming every vsx video with the same comment.
I'm thinking between getting these $299 or Arc System with mic that came out $299 as well. Any thoughts?
Honestly no idea about the arc system...but out of my experience with SOUNDID. I can say its really capable specially in the area of phase between the two speakers...which gives you the full power of your speakers. Don't know if the other systems do that...cause these are so important when you're reading 2.1 systems with subwoofers. It will compensate the timing coming to your sweet spot from 3 different locations
@@HomeStudioGuru I heard from most reviewers say SoundID was very similar to Arc System. If that’s true. Would you choose VSX over SoundID for your home studio? My goal being to have my mixes translate a bit better.
Soundid or arc system are the last step after perfectly treating your room. So if your room is treated well? And then you have a few peaks that you wanna lay straight. Only then you can use these systems. But don't expect soundid or arc to fix dips. cause these are physical issues with the room and nothing can fix them except speaker placements and acoustic panel absorption. Now if you don't have a good room and you want something that translates, here is where VSX comes and saves you so much money and gives you the best translation ever.
Because of this video I bought VSX and absolutely love it!! Do you have some experience with other plugins like that, for example Realphones or SoundID Reference with their Virutal Monitoring addon?
I'm glad the video helped. Now I use SoundID extensively in my room and all my 10 headphones. So yeah I love soundid. But to make soundid translate, you will need to eq things after flatting it out to translate. You can use VSX to help you equalize everything you hear in soundid on whatever source, speakers or headphones. You hear the sonic sound in your favourite VSX emulation and Try to imitate it on Soundid while listening to your favourite song. Now I can use both, and I even equalized my room and my speakers to sound exactly like the Neumann Neirfield in Yellow Matters room cause I do have them.
Sounds awesome, thank you, definitely will try this out when getting Soundid too. Such an amazing technology available today, its crazy.@@HomeStudioGuru
Never thought I’d watch this long video but boy this helped me so much. Thanks so much for posting such valuable video, this got me over the fence and I ordered the vsx. Thanks so much!!!
Glad I could help. Thanks for you support 🙏
one of perfect lecture about mixing, and a good explanation about VSX Like and follow 👏
I'm glad that was helpful... thanks for watching
Thanks!
Thanks for watching.
mucho gracias!!!!!!
Most welcome 🙏 🤗
I have a quick question what is the best export settings is it? The emulation reference are from your favorite room, but we had three different systems of speakers.
Hey man. When exporting, as I mentioned in the video, the emulation will shut off. The emulation is just to help you get a proper mix. Just like a real studio, but it's not made to be exported. Cause it will sound so weird in anything other than the vsx headphones.
Thank you man! That was a super helpful video for this new VSX customer. Rock on!
Glad I could help. Now hit the studio and make some awesome music 🎶
Hi home studio Guru, is it possible to send you a track for you to mix and master it? I will appreciate your response
Hey man. Email me at [email protected] and we can discuss it.
@@HomeStudioGuru Sure!
for best results should i mix start to finish wth vsx, or could i mix with my monitors and check with diff vsx rooms?
I like mixing on my monitors and I just make sure that all my mix is right with VSX. But you still can mix the whole thing on VSX...I did two songs in a hotel in the UK from scratch to finish...they sounded like they were in my studio...but it cause headache having a headphone for hours and hours..I prefer my ears to be relaxes
@@HomeStudioGuru ok, thanks for the response
I love using mid/side compression
Definitely..its a great technique
Very helpful. Where can I find the song?
Thanks, man. You can find it on my Soundcloud on this link on.soundcloud.com/EWkTs
I own VSX Platinum, and I record and mix in a home studio. I use amp sims for electric guitars and midi instruments for everything else. In other words the only things that are not happening in the box are vocals and acoustic guitars. I have some room treatments in my studio to reduce early reflections. It is a room within a room so the acoustic isolation is reasonably good (my furnace is on the other side of one wall). TBH, I'm using the VSX to check the final mix. There's something happening in the software that makes things sound odd. If I pan something hard left or right, it doesn't sound that way in VSX. That's really odd. When I compare how VSX sounds to my two pairs of monitors (Tannoy Reveals and Adam T7V, two speakers that couldn't be more different) it's another data point. The Tannoy's bass goes surprisingly deep but overall is rather weak. The Adam's bass is rich but falls off a cliff below 40 Hz. So the VSX is accurate bass down to at least 25 Hz, maybe lower. If I can get a mix to sound good on all of them, including all the rooms within VSX, plus my stereo speakers upstairs (midrangey Celestion Hifi speakers with metallic treble that makes excess reverb sound awful) then the mix will translate to almost anything.
Thanks for your input. Now regarding the panning. I feel something is wrong with your VSX if you're not feeling it as it is in a real studio. Can you check the cable going all the way in the headphone socket? Cause it feels like you have a mono input if you don't feel the right and left panning. For me, I feel so much. I have the same Nearfield Neumann in my studio, the same as the Nearfield Yellow Matter Studio, and the panning feels the same. Try to contact support and see what would they tell you. It could be a faulty unit or a wiring issue. Cause these things pan like crazy...some of them feel the sound almost go left or right behind me. Especially the Zuma studio.
If I use say waves abbey Road mixing plugin then the hard pans are no longer hard. That's adbut should be as it is emulating you sitting in a triangle with your speakers... So even if left speaker has 100 per cent of the pan your right ear will hear it. When I disable the plugin then I hear the 100 pan.
HSG: Thanks for putting together this great tutorial. Love the way you really took the time to go into details and sharing your own workflow. I got the VSX Platinum a couple of days ago and since then, I have learned a lot on the proper use of my VSX based on your video! Thanks again! Quick question: After you get your mix where you would like it to be (after testing it in different emulations), do you render your mix with the VSX plugin enabled in the master channel or do you disable it? I know it may be an obvious question but thought I ask since it wasn't covered at the end. One last question: I use Ozone Advanced in my master channel as a mastering plugin. Do you recommend I use it before or after the VSX plugin in the chain? Thanks again HSG. New fan of channel!
I'm glad I could be of help. Now regarding your question, I did cover it at the beginning of the video. So the emulation shouldn't be part of your export. So it has to be shut off...VSX has an automatic option to shut off when you export and it is set ON by default. You can see it in the setting next time to "Auto Bypass On Export". Make sure it's enabled and enjoy mixing without thinking about it every time you export.
Does anybody knows if the fireface works on an amd chipset with usb 4?
I believe it would work. Never tried though. But I read success stories about Thunderbolt 4 to Firewire converters on Mac and worked. I don't know if it will power it though. So you would need the power adapter with it .
Hey! I am having a lot of windows (11) crashes (blue screen) since I installed this pci for my fireface 400. I have latest drivers and updates. Any idea how to solve that?
Yep, I got a few too with the last Windows updates every time I set my buffer to anything below 256. So I uninstalled my PCIe driver and allowed Windows to find it and install it again... And now for 1 week, I got no BSOD at all. Hopefully, this is it...otherwise, I will have to go back to Windows 10.
thank you!!@@HomeStudioGuru
Thanks a lot, this was a very helpful video! Slate should link to this video - all I found in his playlist were a bunch of “ads”. I really like the way you explained how you used different speakers from different rooms to check bass, nasality/harshness in vocals etc. Tip: You should make a 3-5 min video of just those tips, because that’s not necessarily something an inexperienced mixer finds out right away I reckon? And it will boost your channel, I think. Thanks again, I’ll share this video with my friends, very relaxed and to the point presentation too, you know what you’re talking about! Subscribed and liked 👍😀
Thanks, man...I appreciate your lovely comment...I will take your advice and do a short video with the main tips of this video. Cheers
@@HomeStudioGuru Very cool, looking forward to it!
Awesome vid! Curious, what`s your opinion on the new Yellow Matter Studios room?
Thanks, man...I kinda like them, but I still didn't gotten used to them..they're so analytical ... in my studio, I use the same Neumann KH120 in the nearfield and I have it nearfield too...so it was amazing to see how close to mine it is...I'm using also Soundid in my room with my 3 monitors. I think Yellow Matter Studio is different than all the others in terms of tone...they're toned very very mid and high..less muddy...but I use it only to find a mistake...I can't stay there..it gives me a headache. Especially the sharpness in the highs and ssss in the vocals are very very clear in this studio. There's nothing like it in all the other studios...so it fills the missing parts.
You brought so much understanding, and changed my mind about returning them!!! Slate should pay you!!!
Thanks Man... glad I could help. ✌️
Your other VSX video helped to convince me to grab and then got the expansions in the deal they ran. Thanks for the great tips in here, I've just been throwing mine on so will be sure to set on my ears properly now. This might be a silly question but not seen it covered anywhere - but you do turn VSX off when you export right? I'm questioning myself after noticing such a level mismatch like the threads below have. It is changing the signal so must be off, but then what with the mixdown that's quiet - normalise it?
Thanks, man...glad I could help. VSX has an option to turn off automatically when you export. You will find it up in the setting. Mine is on the listening bus. So it doesn't get exported even if it's turned on or off...so the vsx level doesn't get exported. Your limiter level. On my limiter, I have a LUFS meter that shows me where is the level. I usually export at a specific LUFS level with a peak of -0.2 dB. Also right before I export...I shut off vsx totally and I listen without the emulation on other systems to compare the levels with other reference tracks and see if my master translates well and that there are no distortion peaks ..but I do this one time at the end.
Can't believe I came back for another watch, and you explained the above 3 mins in! Thank you for pointing out, logically it's the only option of course.
Brilliant video. Well paced & very informative. Thank you. New sub too ☺️
Thanks man...glad I could help 🙏
Should I mix with these headphones as I produce my song? or wait until my song is finished and then begin mixing from scratch with these headphones on? Thanks.
You can do both...starting production through them help you specially with chosing the right and wrong samples or sounds...helps you with reverb ...even when you record vocals through them...you can tell how good is the recording or the sound of your room...they're so revealing...so having them in all steps if making music..mixing and mastering is a 😊
Good news for me thank's
Glad I could spread the good news.
thanks mate. i have my 400 running on win 11, but the cpu-usage is 7 times higher than with my rusty old tascam 16-08 usb interface. My pc has 64 ram and an i5 9600 cpu. I tried the legacy-firewire-driver, reinstalled everything a couple of times, but at an ableton project with just 10 audio stems and some fx, the rme fireface 400 takes 32-35 % cpu-usage with 128 samples configurated. the bad old tascam, which is sold cause of distortion issues (from time to time) worked fluently with 48 samples and had for the same stem-project just an cpu-usage of 5 %. I really thought, upgrating from the Tascam to an RME will get me to 2% cpu-usage at my audio-stem-project, since i red very often in internet forums, how bad the tascam is - and how good the rme is. Is it just an issue of win11 with firewire, or why is it so bad? Im really somehow shocked. Im thinking about buying an Clarett Pre 8 USB or going back to an old Tascam 16 08 MK1, if i dont get - at least- the same cpu-quality as the old usb-interface was able to. thx for help, and a happy new year to all, Felix :-)
I believe it is a driver issue between RME and your motherboard and win11. I think it's a hit of luck for some motherboards...mine is the latest z790h with 12700k CPU. So if it is not working with you, then definitely you can move to something else. Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to work at all and I was ready to buy a new interface. But it was a hit of luck that worked the same as on Windows 10 on my old PC. Look for Motu ultralite MK5 or the low end MOTU M2 or M4 ..its really as good as the expensive RME.
@@HomeStudioGuru thx man. very interesting. good to hear its fine with your system. :) i ordered two new firewire cards and check them out tomorrow, but i have little hope. i mean, everythoing works brilliant. installation, its running fine. the only issue is the heavy cpu usage compared to my rusty old tascam 16 8 mk1. buffersize 64 samples now and 8 times more cpu usage than the trashy old tascam, which runs even on 48 samples. still somehow shocked how this is possible. if it comes out the firewire card was broken, and everything works brilliant within at least 64, i let you know mate. in the past i had many issues with motu travellers mk3, so i guess i might look for a scarlett usb, clarett usb or an shitty tascam usb again ;)
But why are you setting the buffer size that low while you're mixing. I usually set it 1024 as long I'm mixing and only set it at low buffer size when I record !
@@HomeStudioGuru thats just the start of a track. i produce fast and make everything directly to audio. but thats just in the middle of a track, and there need to be like 5 to 10 stems coming. so still producing the rest. the point sadly is: my dirty old tascam mk1 with usb has just 5 % cpu usage that far, wihch should be normal with 64 GB ram. the RME has 42 % cpu usage, even with 64 samples, instead of the tascams 48 samples.
i could put in 256 samples in the RME, and it seems alright then, when CPU is like 27 % but why the heck does an old tascam does the same with just 2-4 % cpu. this just cant be right.
My home studio is decent. I have good acoustic treatment and such, pretty decent studio monitors, good gear etc... ... But it's still a home studio. The room dimensions aren't going to be that of a proper listening environment, so yes - I just got the vsx headphones this week, and while I only have the base model and will definitely be upgrading soon to get more rooms - I'd say the vsx are going to absolutely help be a game changer. And the noise cancelation on them are actually pretty impressive. But sound wise, you can absolutely hear differences and nuances you can't hear from just your monitors, and each "room" and "speaker" has different tonal characteristics. It's quite impressive so far.
100% the same here... thanks for sharing your experience 😊 🙏
Thanks so much buddy,very helpful indeed
Glad it helped
I just got them … this was super helpful..thanks a lot
Excellent tutorial on how to use these headphones the right way - thank you very much - I learned a lot - been doing a few things wrong but did not realise until I watched this.
So glad I could help