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Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2013 5:36 pm
by Apex
Hi!
Sorry for the badly worded title I'm not entirely sure how to put this, basically listen to the high end in these tunes, they are fantastic! They are so clean and tightly bound with the rest of the mix, but they still keep the supersaw style feel, I'm not sure how to put it into words.
Soundcloud
Soundcloud
Now here are 2 tunes I have made and as you can tell the high end is really loud, uncomfortable and just makes the end product sound messy:
Soundcloud
Soundcloud
Any tips on keeping the high end under the thumb would be great, thanks a bunch, have a great day!

Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2013 6:11 pm
by mthrfnk
I have similar problems sometimes, would appreciate any tips people offer

Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2013 6:26 pm
by eyeatus
I like rolling off the highs around 16k hz
Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2013 10:54 pm
by ChadDub
you could try a multiband compressor on the master and only using the high band compressor while keeping the lows and mids uncompressed.
Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 1:41 am
by breachofpolice
download mixcraft 5, enter said sample, play around with the presets..

Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 2:04 am
by breachofpolice
breachofpolice wrote:download mixcraft 5, enter said sample, play around with the presets..

They even have a low end preset for compresion, just tweak it, listen and learn
Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:10 am
by Planet V
I think you've got it pretty close already man! I like your tunes, very quality.
Multiband compressors can definitely help you, you can isolate the top end that you want to smooth out and only allow the compressor to trigger on those freqs.
Also, i noticed around 1 minute in your track, the saw chords that come in every few bars seem over sidechained (or delayed too much if you aren't actually sidechaining) you could always let off the compressor a bit there and then turn the sound down or compress the entire sound more.
One more thing is parametric EQing, throw some surgical cuts ( high gain reduction low Q ) on the synth in the areas you find annoying on the ears, this really helps i find, you can create some space to enjoy the other freqs.
V
Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:03 am
by mthrfnk
ChadDub wrote:you could try a multiband compressor on the master and only using the high band compressor while keeping the lows and mids uncompressed.
Hmm nice idea, I'm gonna try this on my synth buss rather than the master.
Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 1:03 pm
by Icetickle
mthrfnk wrote:ChadDub wrote:you could try a multiband compressor on the master and only using the high band compressor while keeping the lows and mids uncompressed.
Hmm nice idea, I'm gonna try this on my synth buss rather than the master.
I heard that you should focus more on compressing lows at the end.
Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 1:35 pm
by mthrfnk
Icetickle wrote:mthrfnk wrote:ChadDub wrote:you could try a multiband compressor on the master and only using the high band compressor while keeping the lows and mids uncompressed.
Hmm nice idea, I'm gonna try this on my synth buss rather than the master.
I heard that you should focus more on compressing lows at the end.
But the point I'm making is to attenuate the upper high end, compression on the high end of the synth buss will reduce the dynamic range and make anything that's excessively loud (and potentially harsh sounding) quieter, smoothing out the sound.
Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:39 pm
by Icetickle
mthrfnk wrote:Icetickle wrote:mthrfnk wrote:ChadDub wrote:you could try a multiband compressor on the master and only using the high band compressor while keeping the lows and mids uncompressed.
Hmm nice idea, I'm gonna try this on my synth buss rather than the master.
I heard that you should focus more on compressing lows at the end.
But the point I'm making is to attenuate the upper high end, compression on the high end of the synth buss will reduce the dynamic range and make anything that's excessively loud (and potentially harsh sounding) quieter, smoothing out the sound.
I've just lowpassed my saw lead @ 12600Hz and I liked it.

Re: Controlling the high end to not over-exagerate itself?
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:58 pm
by mthrfnk
Icetickle wrote:mthrfnk wrote:Icetickle wrote:mthrfnk wrote:ChadDub wrote:you could try a multiband compressor on the master and only using the high band compressor while keeping the lows and mids uncompressed.
Hmm nice idea, I'm gonna try this on my synth buss rather than the master.
I heard that you should focus more on compressing lows at the end.
But the point I'm making is to attenuate the upper high end, compression on the high end of the synth buss will reduce the dynamic range and make anything that's excessively loud (and potentially harsh sounding) quieter, smoothing out the sound.
I've just lowpassed my saw lead @ 12600Hz and I liked it.

Obivously lowpassing helps, although that seems a bit too low imo
