# Is VI a good place to learn about engineering, mixing and mastering in the home studio?



## blakeklondike (Jun 21, 2021)

I expect there is an active community for that stuff here too, but If it's not a real focus here, are there any other fora that are cool and supportive like VI?


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## Anthony (Jun 21, 2021)

blakeklondike said:


> I expect there is an active community for that stuff here too, but If it's not a real focus here, are there any other fora that are cool and supportive like VI?


The numerous in-depth videos on YouTube is a much better resource for the things you're interested in learning. VI-C is more shopping-focused.


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## Technostica (Jun 21, 2021)

SoundonSound magazine has a forum and that is worth using as well as the actual main site for the magazine.
All articles beyond around 6 months old are free to access so there’s a lot of content.


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## Jdiggity1 (Jun 21, 2021)

Perhaps not the number-one focus of the forum, but it's a big one for sure.
If you focus more on the Mixing subforum and less on the commercial announcements, there are a lot of great resources and knowledgeable people to learn from with regards to production and engineering.
Just be aware that there is generally a strong lean towards orchestral and sample-based music, but if that's what you want, then there might not be a better forum for that.
Of course, being a forum, most topics will be rather specific and look at a specific plugin, or a specific technique, and you may need to search through older posts if you already know what you're looking for.


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## davidanthony (Jun 21, 2021)

If you're starting from scratch I would recommend these books over any forum:

Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio (Sound On Sound Presents...)​Recording Secrets for the Small Studio (Sound On Sound Presents...)​Mastering Audio, Third Edition: The Art and the Science - Bob Katz​Master Handbook of Acoustics, Seventh Edition - F. Alton Everest​
None of the above should be considered the ultimate authority, but the information contained within is accurate and concisely explained, and that alone will save you hundreds of hours of scrolling through random forum posts or YouTube videos as you develop a foundation for the topics.

Once you have your bearings is when I would hit the forums. For the topics you highlighted, I find gearspace.com to be my first stop.

Unfortunately I would definitely not describe that community as cool and supportive. It more often seems to be a place where people with technical skills go to feel better about their lack of musical ability by putting others down. But in the midst of all the posturing there are a bunch of extremely experienced and helpful people and quality threads.

Two other general forums I check are SoundonSound and KVR.

To me VIC is best for questions about sample libraries and more directly "musical" topics. I think the average member here probably has the highest level of musical literacy outside of forums dedicated to specific instruments, and that combined with the moderation helps the "Musicians Helping Musicians" vibe along.


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## SteveC (Jun 22, 2021)

Maybre try this forum: https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=62


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## labornvain (Jun 22, 2021)

The Reddit subgroup "r/audioengineering" has a pretty active user base.


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## musicalweather (Jun 22, 2021)

I've gotten good advice on mixing and recording from professional audio engineers here: https://recording.org/forum


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## LivingEdge Studios (Jun 22, 2021)

Jdiggity1 said:


> Just be aware that there is generally a strong lean towards orchestral and sample-based music, but if that's what you want, then there might not be a better forum for that.


Good to know I'm finally at the right place!


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## Technostica (Jun 23, 2021)

SOS have recently added a lot of old content to their site:

"After 5 years' work as a background task, we've finally managed to migrate all Sound On Sound archive articles going back to January 1994 issue onto this website."


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## easyrider (Jun 23, 2021)

blakeklondike said:


> I expect there is an active community for that stuff here too, but If it's not a real focus here, are there any other fora that are cool and supportive like VI?


No,

Here you get squabbling over Albion Soltice 😂


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## marius_dm (Jun 23, 2021)

Anthony said:


> VI-C is more shopping-focused.


Sad, but true. To get a bit cynical, companies are using people’s due diligence to research products as a marketing scheme.


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