gain structure and mixing aka THE MONEYSHOT THREAD

[fassyman]

safe
im sure this questions been asked before but when i bounce my tracks and play them on other speakers it sounds bare dull and muddy
how would i go about tackling this problem.
cheeeers

[ellis clavane]

Wotcher Ellis,

Maybe copy that post and put it here;

http://www.dubstepforum.com/put-your-wo ... 71469.html

It's more tailored for that sort of thing This is theory class, that's practical

Tnx for the advice macc. iv just done that

[lowpass]

safe
im sure this questions been asked before but when i bounce my tracks and play them on other speakers it sounds bare dull and muddy
how would i go about tackling this problem.
cheeeers

What are you using to monitor your tracks? sounds like your monitors might be quite bright

if your tracks are dull and muddy on other systems then the odds are you have too much low energy in your track, are you a/b'ing your tracks with other commercially released tracks on your monitors?

try that

[macc]

safe
im sure this questions been asked before but when i bounce my tracks and play them on other speakers it sounds bare dull and muddy
how would i go about tackling this problem.
cheeeers

3 main things:

1 - practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice - don't expect to get there overnight.

2 - listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen - listen to as much music of ALL sorts on your speakers, in the same position you sit and at the same volume that you work at. Get to know your system. Do your best to listen at a constant level by adjusting your volume down for loud tracks, up for quiet tracks etc

3 - A/B your tracks against 'pro' tracks you like as you are working. Be sure to turn down the 'pro' track so that it sounds the same subjective level, or their track will just sound really loud and the extra volume will just confuse things. This is VERY important! It is the quality of the mix and not its level that you are trying to match at this stage. The level will come later.

Good luck

EDIT: As lowpass said it seems your speakers are bright and/or bass light, but if changing/buying gear isn't an option then get started on number 1 and number 2. And if you do upgrade, then get started on number 1 and number 2 as soon as you have

[ellis clavane]

Judging by this thread and your banner, your pretty sick at mixing and mastering macc. So..... I was just wondering weather you can tell me if my mixing is alright on the track i am workin on. If not, recon u could give me a few pointers? :)Havnt mastered it yet lol. Also, how would i get rid of that anoying high pich sound on the sub bass (only rly hear it on soundcloud lol, not on ableton or itunes), would i do it with compression? tnx man

Soundcloud

[macc]

I'll try to give it a listen when I can man - constantly busy!

You could always post it in the work in progress thread, lots of good feedback in there

[ellis clavane]

I'll try to give it a listen when I can man - constantly busy!

You could always post it in the work in progress thread, lots of good feedback in there

tried that with the tune earlier on lol. ill wait till u got time to giv it a listen m8. im not in a rush

[Littlefoot]

guessing by his name I'd say Fassyman might be a fake poster...

[86.]

LOL @ "fassyman"

but theres an AnalGangstaHo so who knows

[phrex]

safe
im sure this questions been asked before but when i bounce my tracks and play them on other speakers it sounds bare dull and muddy
how would i go about tackling this problem.
cheeeers

3 main things:

1 - practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice - don't expect to get there overnight.

2 - listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen - listen to as much music of ALL sorts on your speakers, in the same position you sit and at the same volume that you work at. Get to know your system. Do your best to listen at a constant level by adjusting your volume down for loud tracks, up for quiet tracks etc

3 - A/B your tracks against 'pro' tracks you like as you are working. Be sure to turn down the 'pro' track so that it sounds the same subjective level, or their track will just sound really loud and the extra volume will just confuse things. This is VERY important! It is the quality of the mix and not its level that you are trying to match at this stage. The level will come later.

Good luck

EDIT: As lowpass said it seems your speakers are bright and/or bass light, but if changing/buying gear isn't an option then get started on number 1 and number 2. And if you do upgrade, then get started on number 1 and number 2 as soon as you have

Little question to you as a pro:
does it make sense to premaster at a low volume? I used to premaster at a high volume, nowadays i somehow prefer to premaster at a low volume. does it make a difference? which one does make more sense?

i often got the problem that the Subbass takes effect at a quite high volume. (though, not on my monitors, but on every other system ) and that's the reason why I started now premastering it at a low level.

[Littlefoot]

safe
im sure this questions been asked before but when i bounce my tracks and play them on other speakers it sounds bare dull and muddy
how would i go about tackling this problem.
cheeeers

3 main things:

1 - practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice - don't expect to get there overnight.

2 - listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen listen - listen to as much music of ALL sorts on your speakers, in the same position you sit and at the same volume that you work at. Get to know your system. Do your best to listen at a constant level by adjusting your volume down for loud tracks, up for quiet tracks etc

3 - A/B your tracks against 'pro' tracks you like as you are working. Be sure to turn down the 'pro' track so that it sounds the same subjective level, or their track will just sound really loud and the extra volume will just confuse things. This is VERY important! It is the quality of the mix and not its level that you are trying to match at this stage. The level will come later.

Good luck

EDIT: As lowpass said it seems your speakers are bright and/or bass light, but if changing/buying gear isn't an option then get started on number 1 and number 2. And if you do upgrade, then get started on number 1 and number 2 as soon as you have

Little question to you as a pro:
does it make sense to premaster at a low volume? I used to premaster at a high volume, nowadays i somehow prefer to premaster at a low volume. does it make a difference? which one does make more sense?

i often got the problem that the Subbass takes effect at a quite high volume. (though, not on my monitors, but on every other system ) and that's the reason why I started now premastering it at a low level.

Hey, can you clarify what you mean by low level/volume, are you talking about running levels higher in your DAW or monitoring loud?

[incnic]

waow
im very new to production and i just read most of this thread, looking foward to putting it into practice.
macc et al - thankyou very much.

[morphesis]

Quality Affordable Digital Mastering Solutions are here !

http://www.wix.com/teksteppa/tek-mastering

Only £10 per track ! check the website above for more info and details.......

[macc]

Please don't ruin this thread with pure shameless spam, it's cheap and embarrassing


By the way, sorry I've not been about but it has been completely manic and I barely have time for sleep - I'll be back properly asap!

[lowpass]

Macc dishes out the warnings,

I got a question on mastering while we're on it. (@Macc)

Recently I've started to make use of the linear phase eq in Logic, from what I found out by reading and just using the thing it is most effective on lower frequencies because that's where most of the phase issues lie when using minimum phase eq's.

is this where you find you use LP eq's most of the time during mixing? or do you sometimes gravitate to using them in other applications and maybe preferring MP eq's for the lower end?

Okay that was a mix question, the mastering question is this:-

Say you wanted to use a LP eq for your low end (maybe cut a bit from the low mids and add a slight boost lower down)

but that same eq was screwing with your high end a bit when you wanted to boost the high shelf (adding some ring up there)

would you add an MP eq in series to your LP eq to sort out the top end or would you just go straight for the MP eq and use it on it's own?

[macc]

Macc dishes out the warnings

We've all got our adverts and banners and all that on here, but at least we're trying to contribute in a positive and meaningful manner.

Recently I've started to make use of the linear phase eq in Logic, from what I found out by reading and just using the thing it is most effective on lower frequencies because that's where most of the phase issues lie when using minimum phase eq's.

Not sure where you got that from or what makes you think that, but go ahead.

is this where you find you use LP eq's most of the time during mixing? or do you sometimes gravitate to using them in other applications and maybe preferring MP eq's for the lower end?

I ain't had time to do a mix in so f#ckin long I couldn't tell you

Say you wanted to use a LP eq for your low end (maybe cut a bit from the low mids and add a slight boost lower down)

but that same eq was screwing with your high end a bit when you wanted to boost the high shelf (adding some ring up there)

would you add an MP eq in series to your LP eq to sort out the top end or would you just go straight for the MP eq and use it on it's own?

All commonly used filters ring. Prering in LP eqs is far more noticeable at the low end due to the longer period/wavelength lower down. The prering is longer as a result. Shelves also are not particularly prone to ringing unless you're doing mental shit with them in terms of slope. Point here being sharper filters = longer ring (be it 100% post ring as in MP eq or 50/50 spread in LP). Anyway - point behind your question seems to be 'can you use a mixture?' and the answer would be 'why not?'. It depends, horses for courses. I use a mixture all the time, one tool for one job, one for another

Here, I might (might, not often that I do) have an LP, an MP, 2 analogue eqs and a modelled analogue plugin, if that's what sounded best

So much for being busy, doh! Back to work!

[lowpass]

hehe thanks for taking time out to still answer all these annoying questions we throw at you, hopefully when I can afford it I can send some work your way instead of more questions lol

big up again

[macc]

Mate (and everyone), in case you hadn't noticed I just fuckin love it. No thanks necessary!

[macc]

BTW I can't let it go.... my mind can't rest:

LP in the low end IS very useful when it comes to highpassing, for all the reasons we mentioned in that thread a while back. But still, moderate slopes are best or you get weirdo preringy shit going on.

I just don't like, say, boosting a kick drum at 100Hz with LP, that shit is ugly IMO.

[lowpass]

BTW I can't let it go.... my mind can't rest:

LP in the low end IS very useful when it comes to highpassing, for all the reasons we mentioned in that thread a while back. But still, moderate slopes are best or you get weirdo preringy shit going on.

I just don't like, say, boosting a kick drum at 100Hz with LP, that shit is ugly IMO.

Haha, hopefully you feel better getting that off your chest now.

I was wondering if you knew of any eq's that are really badly designed or maybe they were designed this way which really accentuate this pre ring?

I'm finding it hard to tell the difference, I may have heard it a few times when adding reverb but that could be down to the reverb itself not necessarily the eq.

So am I right in assuming, when you are affecting a larger area, LP eq will usually be more transparent as it keeps the same phase relationship over that large area? But when it comes to doing narrow boosts and cuts, the MP will keep the pre-ring down which occurs when eq'uing with sharp slopes?