Nectarios
Martian Arts
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 14:22
You need to get better at hearing/judging on what needs to be done. There is no shortcut around this. Things sound good to you because you lack the experience at identifying issues that need addressing in a mix.
Are you making music using headphones only? Do you have studio monitors and is your mixing environment somewhat treated acoustically?
woodster77
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 14:37
a general rule with eq is that if you have to boost or cut a freq by more than 3db then youve got the wrong sound for the part
put a high pass cutoff at about 200khz on everything but the bass and kick
also start playing about with the phase of a track as this can help similar ferquencies sit together eg kick in phase, bass line out of phase
instead of using compression and limiting try using some sort of Vocal Riding plug (waves have a great one that levels everything out and is very transparent)
try working in mono as muck as you can and also pan everything (if you think of some of the classic tracks that use proper analogue gear each track will be mono and therfore wont be a load of stereo plugs that hog up the mix)
try layering sounds. this will help you with the eqing tip i gave you....eg is a lead sound has a week bottom end then layer another sound under it and the same if it has something missing from it somewhere else
same for basses that have the bottom end but lacking the top
always tune your kicks.....trust me it makes a big difference to the feel of the track
and finally because every soft synth maker these days has a hardon for their gear sounding louder than everybody else i like to turn everything down....turn the output on your DAW up FULL(not your speakers) and bring in the bottom end till i have a good reference level for the track ...this will give you a much better headroom to work in and will open up the track
hope this helps
psyraal
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 14:42
Quote:
On 2011-01-25 14:22, disco hooligans wrote:
You need to get better at hearing/judging on what needs to be done. There is no shortcut around this. Things sound good to you because you lack the experience at identifying issues that need addressing in a mix.
Are you making music using headphones only? Do you have studio monitors and is your mixing environment somewhat treated acoustically?
Peace out.
About the hearing and judging part, i can't you know "classify" my experience or knowledge in that area, but i sure hell know what a music needs to be and have to a nice hit, i'm a addict listener to psytrance for some time now, not just a few months, people who know me, know me by my psytrance addiction, i have become more and more and more alone, and with alone i mean, i gived up the most of my social life, to be alone, with my laptop, headphones and my musical expression, and perhaps that's the problem, cause i swear, in my headphones the music sounds a lot better then in any another sound system, i'm not just a kiddo that started to make music last month, i've been reading, reading, researching, practicing, reading and researching again, in order to understand the psy history, and how tracks should be made, now, in response to your question, no, i don't have those monitors, and the mixing envionment, i have heard of them, but no, just my headphones, and that's probably the problem...
woodster77
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 14:46
i think hes talking about "ear training" and not saying your a bit deaf
theres loads of stuff on the net bout this topic
even top producers use it
Nectarios
Martian Arts
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 14:48
Well then, mastering is the last thing you should be worried about. Get some decent monitors to start with. Reading, researching does not make up for lack of experience in knowing what things need to sound like in your listening environment in order to sound good on a P.A.
It's all down to training/tuning your ears. For example when I mixed our first two albums, I thought they sounded fine (I thought the second album sounded great!), but as I trained my ears more, they sounded far from great. Although our 3rd unreleased album, really sounds great
And regarding giving up social life, anyone who's done anything, has been there/still is there
psyraal
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 14:59
Quote:
On 2011-01-25 14:48, disco hooligans wrote:
Well then, mastering is the last thing you should be worried about. Get some decent monitors to start with. Reading, researching does not make up for lack of experience in knowing what things needs to sound like in your listening environment in order to sound good on a P.A.
And regarding giving up social life, anyone who's done anything, has been there/still is there
Peace out.
I wasn't talking about my social life with no reason, i was just .. you know what , forget that part, about the reading and researching part, yes i know they don't and can't replace experience, that's true, but now i'm thinking that i have a bad habit, i'm using fl 8 now, i got reason to learn how to mess with it, got cubase a few months ago, spent about an hour looking at the cubase interface, with moving a finger, and then i got mad, cause i wanted to play a simple kick, and i couldn't, cause i had no tutorial at hand, now i heard that reason is good, but not great in psytrance making, but i always come back to fl8, because if i just want to make a kick and a bass play, i can actually do it, without spending hours looking at the monitor, my point is, i'm getting frustrated because i want to eq my 4 tracks so they can be , actually good tracks, without the mess that they are today, i'm gonna try out something, eq, compress and filter anything i see in my projects, and pan of course, and see the differences...
Nectarios
Martian Arts
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 15:05
If you know how to use FL stick with that. It supports 3rd party plug ins, like all the other DAWs.
Using a DAW that does not frustrate you is important as you already found out for your self.
The only advice I can give you right now, is to relax and take your time. Don't feel rushed in order to finish tunes and release them.
You're supposed to enjoy the process of making music, no get frustrated by it.
There is always something to learn. The more I learn about production, there more I realize I have a lot more to learn and that is what I love the most about production.
psyraal
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 15:14
Quote:
On 2011-01-25 15:05, disco hooligans wrote:
If you know how to use FL stick with that. It supports 3rd party plug ins, like all the other DAWs.
Using a DAW that does not frustrate you is important as you already found out for your self.
The only advice I can give you right now, is to relax and take your time. Don't feel rushed in order to finish tunes and release them.
You're supposed to enjoy the process of making music, no get frustrated by it.
There is always something to learn. The more I learn about production, there more I realize I have a lot more to learn and that is what I love the most about production.
Peace out.
You know what i tell you ? You should be a poet, that's what i tell you
I'm gonna place here a link, to a not finished track that i have been working on, still needs work, hear this out, and tell if this is a bit better than the others (assuming you heard the others), or just hear to see if it sounds good, i already try to make it a bit EQued and panned
link -
aciduss
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 17:20
Quote:
and perhaps that's the problem, cause i swear, in my headphones the music sounds a lot better then in any another sound system
YES! That's a huge problem...
Look, in psytrance bassline place a huge role u know so when u headphone you lose most of the low end... most heaphones also have a factory equalization to make them sound smooth or bassy, they have notches and boosts so they won't give you a flat spectrum response as a pair of nearfields.
Also your ears will thank you some rest, listening to raw kicks and synths for hours on headfons will tire your ears and make your decisions inaccurate.
Can't listen to your track here at work but I will later.
Peace.
psyraal
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 17:28
Quote:
On 2011-01-25 17:20, aciduss wrote:
Quote:
and perhaps that's the problem, cause i swear, in my headphones the music sounds a lot better then in any another sound system
YES! That's a huge problem...
Look, in psytrance bassline place a huge role u know so when u headphone you lose most of the low end... most heaphones also have a factory equalization to make them sound smooth or bassy, they have notches and boosts so they won't give you a flat spectrum response as a pair of nearfields.
Also your ears will thank you some rest, listening to raw kicks and synths for hours on headfons will tire your ears and make your decisions inaccurate.
Can't listen to your track here at work but I will later.
Peace.
I also have a 2 sound systems at home, and two powerful speakers in my room, when i hear my tracks with those speakers, the tracks don't sound so niet as they did in my headphones (sony headphones)
minus
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 19:28
k ,for ur 4 tracks, i suggest you go to a friends place, or another studio and remix the stems, maybe u get a better mix on a different setup, maybe better monitors, and there is no way around this, the only way is to experiment, stumble, drop,pick urself up, learn,evolve.ur sound sounds ok to me, tho the mix is muddy, the kick need to be tightened,the rest of the sounds also,but like broz here said, keep a cool head, and put a fukin smile on ur face, cause u r supposed to enjoy this, so do.i dont know cuse, or fl8, or reason, all r good, choose any, until and unless you dont put in the hard work, you will not get results, so it dont matter which u choose, reason,or abelton etc, maybe u need better headphones get beyerdynamics dt770's or something like those,maybe ur reference headphones is fuked, but monitors definately help u see the image of ur sound precisely.to when when u r doing the right thing in ur studio, observe urself, when ever u smiling, ur doin the right thing!
peace
psyraal
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 21:44
Damn, i should really get started to learn how to mix music and get it to sound nice, maybe this is a stupid question, but, how do i start doing that? A guy said to EQ, pan, compress, my samples, and the entire track, in fl studio 8, what should i use, a vst soft?
https://soundcloud.com/neervos
aciduss
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Posted : Jan 25, 2011 21:54
