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Kick and bass levels
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Conny
IsraTrance Senior Member
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Posted : Oct 10, 2010 16:25:14
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Hi !
I wonder which level you people set the kick and bass at ?
Mostly when i listen to my tracks the bass area often sound muddy.I seem to put the kick at a to high level. Today when i was working on a track (different genre than psy trance )and listened to it in my car it sounded quite good.In this song i i had set the level to the kick at a really low level.
Does this apply to psy trance ?
should the kick be set to a low level here aswell ?
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TimeTraveller
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 10, 2010 16:45
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I think this is in each genre the same ,it's always better when the kick and bass has a lot of headroom.If it is electronic or accoustic music recorded with overheads ,it's always better for breathing dynamics to set these faders lower to avoid aliasing or any unwanted distortion.
You want loose anything of the sound ,especially when you mix down at atleast 24 bit.
 https://soundcloud.com/shivagarden |
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 10, 2010 16:56
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if it s sounding muddy i don t think it s cause of the level of your kick, you could use a kick at - 12 db or one alsmost at 0 db and still get no mud ,i mean there is no reason to get more mud depending of the level of your kick.(if you balance everyhting to the kick )
imo if you re not really sure about what you re doing it s better to use low levels like TimTraveller suggested but it s not a rule, i made some track with a friend with the beat that peak almost at 0db (it s the way he work) and it sound great.. so really no rule it s what work for you.
what maybe can help you for all that is first open a good sounding track in your sequencer and make it peak at around let say - 10db ,now set your monitors level at the loudness the track sound the best and use the same loudness for your beat and everyhting(you can use this level just as reference cause it can be good to change monitoring level while mixing ).it s a way to calibrate your monitoring ,cause depending of the level you work you will balance and eq,process things differently . mixing and adjusting the level of low, the mud in the mids is related to loudness, saying there is too much bass or not enought mean nothing if your monitoring level is quiet or very loud..you have no repair ,it s like painting blind( when you are used to the room ,really know what you are doing ... it s less usefull but it can help) |
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 10, 2010 17:27
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i was thinking if you used a limiter it could bring back the mud depending of the level of your kick if you set always the same treshold on the limiter but i doubt it..but it could be a reason |
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Upavas
Upavas
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Posted : Oct 11, 2010 00:23
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No, in trance music your kick should generally be louder in relation to pretty much all the rest, even the bass (a little) It gives the track the necessary umpppphh to make people want to dance. The same goes for house btw.
Start composing your sound with a kick and bass around -10 db or so, then build the other elements around that.
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daark
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 11, 2010 01:08
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Soundmagus
IsraTrance Full Member
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633
Posted : Oct 11, 2010 03:16
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use a well produced psy trance track as a guide for your levels but most of all use your ears there are no magic level settings 
Check out my site for Video tutorials and other tips & Tricks
http://www.music-production-videos.com |
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Pagan
Started Topics :
5
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98
Posted : Oct 11, 2010 08:15
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Quote:
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On 2010-10-11 00:23, Upavas wrote:
No, in trance music your kick should generally be louder in relation to pretty much all the rest, even the bass (a little) It gives the track the necessary umpppphh to make people want to dance. The same goes for house btw.
Start composing your sound with a kick and bass around -10 db or so, then build the other elements around that.
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This is something I struggled with for a long time.
I think its because the overall volume rises as you add more elements, so what originally sounded too soft ends up being way to loud in the end. But thats what a mixdown is for I suppose.
On topic though, I usually set my kicks to around -6/-8db, bass just a tad lower than that, then everything else around there depending on what it is. Main thing though making sure I never peak to high.
www.soundcloud.com/za-pagan
Its beer appreciation month.
Send me beer...I'll appreciate it. |
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TimeTraveller
IsraTrance Full Member
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80
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3207
Posted : Oct 11, 2010 10:21
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I like to set my kicks somewhere around -10,sometimes -12 sometimes -8 and of course it always depends on the source of the kick or the bassdrum & how it was/is to be processed etc.I also have had mixes with kick even in +6 (I don't stick just to numbers).
Also sure,if you look on other sounds than probably you set the kick fader even higher.I dont know,but some of other channels are often much lower than -10 here,especially befor bouncing them.
But I think -10 on a kick or a bassdrum fader is not a bad choice and a good starting point.
You have room to evolve also for a compressor gain maybe for instance or the compressor from a group,and chances are high that you won't peak amongst other channels,especially when you have many channels.
https://soundcloud.com/shivagarden |
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mk47
Inactive User
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118
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4444
Posted : Oct 11, 2010 12:53
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-6 , -7 .. then grouped to -3 or vintagewarmer
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daark
IsraTrance Full Member
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1397
Posted : Oct 11, 2010 13:57
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best results i got for my taste were kick at -4.4 and bass at -5.6...
now because i was use to working like that when my kick were -10 i was maximum getting to -8 so i had to work real dirty to get to -4
still experimenting
http://soundcloud.com/magimix-1/chilling-forest-whispers
Wierd shit happens :) |
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Zero-Blade
Zero-Blade
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37
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331
Posted : Oct 11, 2010 17:11
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daark
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
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1397
Posted : Oct 11, 2010 17:32
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Zero-Blade
Zero-Blade
Started Topics :
37
Posts :
331
Posted : Oct 11, 2010 18:24
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
162
Posts :
8087
Posted : Oct 11, 2010 18:41
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these day my kick and bass are peaking at same level (-8db) and i used in the past -6 db,-10db,-12db..it dont change much imo but i want to try a lot louder,at the level of released tracks so it make me deal with dynamic processing from the begining. it s better to get loud with some small pleasant processing,to get the loudness like a house you built,insteed of using a limiter and/ or cliping on the master like they do at mastering, you can avoid distortion using less agressive settings on the sound that dont need it when limiting , using soft and hard cliping ... .i think there is only benefits to get loud in the mix if you know what you re doing. |
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