First time creating original music in years. Used to mess around on GarageBand all the time making music for potential video games in my head. Got really consistent at it but never really focussed on the finesse of it all, the EQ, compression, mixing side of things. Just throwing together melodic and harmonic ideas that sounded good to me. I want to get back into this, I really enjoy making music, but I want to change my brain to be able to simultaneously write my themes but also keep bearing in mind things like balance, both in terms of volumes and frequencies. My older brain and ears knows that there are issues to do with both in this idea that I've spent a couple hours on. If anyone passes and fancies and a listen and potentially a bit of feedback, I'm absolutely grateful for either!

Hi folks, trying to find a reference for the lesson in Production 101 - Working with Busses. The song we're working with is called Panic, but this is the first time no reference is provided for us. I'm sitting listening to it and going through Spotify finding something similar. I've gone through some pop punk songs of the 2000s, some 1975 songs and even a One Direction. Curious to know what reference other people used and if I'm overthinking this a bit...

Hi folks, Just working through the production 101 course, on the Dynamics in the mix lesson. At the very end of the lesson, the tracks (drums, keys, bass and guitars) have all been tamed using a combination of limiters, clippers, and some saturation. This allowed for more headroom and then it was discussed how a further clipping/limiting could be done to the stereo out to get a few more db of headroom, all of which I understand. However I turned my head a little when a clipper was used on the stereo out to gain more headroom rather than a limiter, especially when it had been mentioned how in this genre (country), more subtle, transparent manoeuvres were suitable, whereas I was under the impression a clipper was for much more aggressive jobs/genres. I'd love to hear any insight from anyone passing by.

Working my way through Production 101, I'm on the mixing lesson to do with frequencies. Am I right in betting there's a few lessons, either coming up on this course, or in one of the other courses about not just how to fix the problem (with EQ cuts and boosts etc.) but how to identify problems in the first place? That's the area which I imagine is harder to get good at since once you can find problems, sorting them out should be simpler no?

Working on the "Music Production 101 Course". In the Mixing section, I'm now at the "Power of Volume" section. In the lesson, it's recommended to start by bringing the drums in from nothing to around -10dB. Is this a general rule just for drums? Or would that be a general rule/number for the vocals too? Does it depend on the genre as well? Also, at this stage of the course (not tonnes of experience we shall say) is the mixing of volumes not a matter of taste somewhat? What if I really want the bass to almost dominate the sound? (exaggerating and this is hypothetical but still) I know I often drench my music with reverb as a matter of taste so I can foresee running into issues around people maybe saying "oof those drums are a bit loud pal, damn..."