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Messages - hugehits

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WIPs / Re: I KNOW MY LATEST TRACK NEEDS BETTER MIXING/MASTERING. BUT I NEED TO KNOW HOW?
« on: January 07, 2016, 10:08:23 am »
Here is a quick and dirty master on your track as an example reference that you might find sounds a bit better:

https://instaud.io/haw

Multi-band compression and limiting, eq-ed to boost and shape the kick, take out some low mid, high boost around 8khz and gentle roll-off on upper frequencies. Would need a target reference track and more time than the 5 minutes I spent on it to make it shine, but the improvements needed are really in the mix and not post in mastering.

The first thing to think about here when mixing is to, in general, keep space in the frequency spectrum for each of your instruments in each octave (http://www.recordingeq.com/EQ/req0400/OctaveEQ.htm). Get a good eq that will allow you to solo each octave, and do so on each instrument, so you can hear what is going on.

In your track there is a lot of competition in the lower octaves. Try muting your pads and see what the lead synth sounds like with just your kick. The lead probably needs to fatten up and be SC compressed to the kicks, which also need to be shaped up. Get those to sound right first before finding room to add the pads back.

HTH!  8)



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Mixing/Mastering / Re: I can't figure it out and it is frustrating.
« on: January 06, 2016, 05:35:17 pm »
To second what @Volant mentioned... I quickly threw your track into a spectrum analyzer and you can immediately see areas for improvement.

It looks like there is a hard high cut around 11khz on your pads and piano as well as a high shelf maybe starting around 3khz cutting away high frequencies until your shelf. You've also allowed these two instruments to bleed into the lower frequencies from 200kz to 0. It ends up sounding like a bass heavy am radio filter with all that mid and low end.

Similarly your vocal seems to have been hard low cut from maybe around 3khz and high cut around 17khz, which sounds flat and probably not the effect your are going for.

The tops percussion seems to not have been messed with as much, but your kick is super muddy.

Levels are all around way too high mid-track when all the instruments are playing and it's clipping or otherwise over-compressed. You can see the waveform is almost a big black blob of sound with no headroom.

Try undoing all of the eq-ing you've done and first experiment with your levels targeting 6dBFs between zero and the highest peak of your song. Adjust your track levels, not the master. Then eq each track and add super gentle compression so there is distinct areas for each sound in the mix and limited frequency competition - maybe an octave per instrument. Google for advice on suggested eq points for each instrument. For example, the piano:

http://www.audiorecording.me/how-to-mix-piano-keyboard-panning-eq-and-compression-techniques.html
https://talkinmusic.com/musicproduction/advice-mixing-piano-sounds/

Synth pads:
http://theproaudiofiles.com/video/mixing-synth-pads/

etc, etc....

Producer bros totally geek out on eq-ing kicks, using things like the Kick VST to set key and shape dynamics, but simple eq-ing and sidechain compressing other tracks to your kick will help you tons.

The stereo image is also super narrow to the middle except for the synth stab that drops on the 4, which is super wide. Just like the concept of finding spots in the frequency spectrum for each sound when eq-ing, you need to balance stereo imaging, except your low end, which should be mono for club systems.

Good quality monitoring equipment is always important, but I suspect you just need to approach it differently as you already know it doesn't sound right.

Respectfully, it's not just a matter of time, but having someone more experienced tell you what's wrong so you know what techniques you need to work on. Keep posting tracks here and places like GearSlutz and Reddit, amongst others, asking for feedback and try to find a production mentor with more experience.

Getting past this is part of your producers journey - enjoy the moment of frustration!

 ;)

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