A snare tail can be anything you want really ..Just make sure the short transient bite the way you want.FM synths are great for making transients .

After producing for 3-4 hours a day 4 days in a row, I've hit a new level of ear fatigue. I can feel the pain. I need to start being more conscious of my volume while producing & mixing. 

I don't know why I push it, even when I feel fatigue coming there's this masochistic urge to continue at the volume I'm at. I somehow convince myself it's okay and it's worth it.

I feel like at lower volume I can hear the sounds as well. I know that's false, I've learned that your ear can actually differentiate sound better at lower volumes, kinda why at a nightclub you can hear someone easier if you stick your finger in your ear.. Overall volume goes down and you can mix out different sounds easier. You can finally understand that friend asking you to buy him that Moscow mule.

How did you guys learn to produce at lower volumes? How do you still get the same enjoyment out of it? How often do you turn it up? I can't keep hurting myself. Wanted your thoughts on it.

I keep a DB meter on my desk .Constant 78 DB . Once you get used to it your mixes will improve too by keeping it at a constant level .I do crank it at the very end of finishing just to checl at high volume,but always work low

Quote from: TeeBee on January 16, 2016, 08:09:32 pm

Quote from: mattlange on January 08, 2016, 05:40:14 am

mwahaha

Jeeez Matt you've gone in ! I've held off for so long ,but think it's time to start . My fav is the Prophet 12 and the Sub37 .

Oops

You gotta come play with it next time

For sure ! I'll be in town in march

Right now, I currently own a pair of AKG k240 and a recently purchased ATM m50. I really do like producing using the m50s, but I wonder if getting a pair of monitors would be beneficial for me in the long run. I was looking at the Rokit 8s, but I hear they end to exaggerate the low end a bit too much. In addition, I heard producers like Juventa can produce using only headphones and can still achieve a really good mixdown. Any thoughts?

Getting used to how a mix should sound in headphones you know is very handy .The monitors are only as good as the room you put them in,but with headphones you can be anywhere .Having said that ,a combination of both is the way to go . I get a lot of ear fatigue when using headphones,plus no one has developed a DB meter for headphones so ears tend to take a Beating . Treat the room rather than getting really expensive monitors (unless you can afford both)

Hello Forum! 

I know some of you might be annoyed with this question but here I go! Lol Anyways my question is basically this: I have been told in different forums that If I want maximum quality from a sound without distorting it I have to keep it the mix below 0.0 db like -0.1 db or something if I understood correctly. However from my knowledge the only way to keep a mix from a certain peak is to put a limiter on. However if let's say I have a mix peaking at 3db and then I gradually use a limiter so the peak never goes above -0.1db the sound gets squashed and creates a very unpleasant sensation for the listener.

So I guess my question is how do you make your mixes so loud without distorting and squashing them? Or maybe I should just go above 0db?

Thanks in advance very cool forum btw

A loud mix isn't made by clipping the master 3-4db .A loud mix is made by extreme channel control,deciding what sounds occupy what frequency space in your mix .Maximising the sounds by clipping them individually as seen fit ,multiband compression,limiting and  enhancers plus eq . Cutting away what is not needed and boosting where lacking is crucial .Always put focus on what is the driving elements of your mix and balance everything around that by sidechaining/volume automation where seen fit . A/B-ing with other tracks you really like is very important too . Don't be afraid to go way overboard with limiters,as certain sounds can easily handle 7-10 DB of reduction without soinding very different .Always focus on headroom ,and gain it from  whatever sound you can . Same thing goes for your groups/bus'es . If you implement all of this whilst making sure ypu pick good source sounds,you should be able to get a very loud mix with no more than 2DB of limitng on your master .

Laidback Luke says he spends 4 hours tops on a track...although he hands it over to his ghost producer to finalize things...Ill Gates says 20 hours tops to complete a track...if you go over 20 hours scrap it, gut it for parts and move on. I find that when I am in serious music writing mode I can have a track fully arranged and most of the main parts done in one sitting. It's usually around 6 hours for one sitting and I am def not a pro. Then I start to concentrate on the finer details, EQ, synthesis, effects, fine tuning. All in all it usually takes me 2-3 sessions before I am "done." Then it is time for the mixing stage to begin. To me they are separate, I split up my work flow like this because things seem to come together quicker and easier. Then I usually send off to an engineer for mastering. If I am going to master a track myself, I hold off, start a new track or take a decent break (1-2 weeks*). I was told you need to be separated acoustically from a track before mastering or you become deaf to the track from listening to it so much.

*approx

This couldn't be further away from how I work .In modern production,arranging/mixing/mastering goes hand in hand in order to be able to compete in any genre of modern electronic music.(unless you have a ghost writer/mixer/masterer who do everything for you )Choice of sounds /beats etc. are about as vital as the content in order to get the mix up to todays loudness standards too . I don't think I have spent LESS than 150hrs + on a track for well over a decade .Some tracks probably stupendious amounts more than that .A good idea is still that ,even if it takes ages to complete it .Some of Calyx & mine best and biggest tracks has taken us over a year to get right in various stages.A lot of the time ,each tune ends up being 3 different tunes before it reaches the endgame too .

I never EQ the master bus, recently my master bus usually looks like this:

ozone maximizer (loudness)>oxford inflater with the clipping off (for filling in harmonics very slightly)>camel phat with everything off (to bring it back to 0)>oxford limiter (for a bit of extra loudness + slightly filling in harmonics again and limiting obviously)

I guess compression on master is becoming obselete with extreme sc and channel/bus control . My master chain is all analogue . 16 channels of neve,then A-Design Nail (valve comp) in paralelle with sidechain set at 150hz (EDIT:allowing every frequency below 150 hz to pass relatively uncompressed within my NAIL comp then squashing the rest and blend in via wet/dry to about 20%) ,then SSL G BUS,doing maybe 0,7DB of comp into Zähl EQ1 into PENDULUM PL2 limiter .Might add another DB of itb limiting with Ozone 6 .

I don't know how to mix the kick and subbass

What I'm doing is I'm using the sidechain compression method

How about the EQ? from what hz range should the kick be where it doesn't clash with the subbass, or how should the subbass be eq'd

As Mat mentioned,really quick sidechaining , but that isn't always getting good enough results .The best way I find is actually cutting a hole in the element I want ducking and tailoring the volume curve to the curve of the kick/whatever I want prominent for that split second .I also look at a bus with both sources going to that and make sure I manage to keep the volume about the same as when the kick/snare goes by itself to maximise headroom overall .A loud,punchy mix is made on the channels,not the master .-TeeBee