music standards

blingstef · Post by **blingstef** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:56 pm

i have 2 questions:
1) can somebody tell me what are the music standards or where i could find them? (ex: not to make some sounds louder than they should be...). i think it has to be some tricks in the mixing and the mastering.

2) what do i do when even if my composition is clear, it hurts the ears listening to it( not bcuz it's not good but bcuz the quality isn't that good)? i don't know how to say it in other words but if i listen to some of my beats and after that to another more proffesional, my ears stop 'hurting'. what am i missing in mixing and mastering then ? i tried many things in live but you veteran livers should have more information.

rbmonosylabik · Post by **rbmonosylabik** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:19 pm

You have to read, practice, read more, practice more, analyze other people's music, if possible take some classes with someone who knows how to record and mix, practice more, practice some more, read some more, analyze, practice, read, practice, read, practice, analyze, practice, read, read....

Making a track sound good is an art in itself which requires lots of technical knowledge and a trained ear. We could give you pointers, tips and some general rules, but if you don't understand the basics of how both analog and digital audio work at least, they will go right over your head.

This topic makes me wonder. Does anyone know some good books for people starting into audio? Something not too complicated, but that covers the basics in a clear and understandable way.

peter181 · Post by **peter181** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 4:31 am

I used to feel like that about my tracks a lot and now I do less often. here are all the things I have learned from myself and others in the time of reducing that feeling... hopefully you don't know some of them.

make sure things aren't clipping at each stage of your track in live - adjust the volume on your vst or sampler or whatever so that the little volume indicator after it is at the top but not peaking (turning red/orange). do the same thing for effects you put after it - use utility if you need to turn down the input - after this you'll get a clearer sound out of the track

the important sound probably isn't everything that is coming out of a track. put an eq-4 at the end and see how much you can cut off the top, bottom, or even out of the middle and still get the part of the sound that you like. also make sure to try different speakers at times so you know what's really there are what is just crap from resonance and things like that.

get into your song, love it, figure out what part you are humming/airdrumming. then listen objectively and figure out what is distracting from the essentials. maybe a rhythm is filled in too much, or a sound is sustained more than it needs to be, or two parts are forming a line that distracts from the main one... etc

really loud stuff around 2-4 khz hurts sometimes!

f*k standards, do what sounds good. read this forum and learn how, not what.

stay in school and stay focused, and you can become your own hostess.

that is all I know, I am still learning. and that's probably the most useful thing I'll ever post.

borg · Post by **borg** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 10:32 am

indeed, read, try, learn... over and over again.

you might find the 'freakoscope' plug (or something alike) by smartelectronics a handy tool (it's free). with this you can check your frequencies... one important thing in mixing, is keeping your frequencies 'organised', meaning that too many tracks/sounds having the same freq range will do your mix no good. learn which tracks in your song need specific frequencies, try cutting them in other tracks.
a lot of sounds have low frequencies you don't need/hear but are making your mix muddy.

try running your bass line through a true side chain compressor and feed the side chain with your kick. this will make your bass track 'drop' everytime a kick is sent through the comp.

compress your rhythm track

use mild reverb(s) it can do wonders

have fun and keep working...

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:39 am

The absolutely most basic thing (said above, but I say it again): Make sure that there is absolutely no clipping! Not a single blip of red on the master fader.

blingstef · Post by **blingstef** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:24 pm

i've read and understood what u've been writing until here... let's say that i am at the stage of frequencies in my mixing and mastering learning. i know how to adjust volume of tracks; nothing's clipping, no red or orange light is flashing and the sound is much clearer. for now i am reading on frequencies but i am going to try the 'freakoscope' thing and see if it helps me. (i might try to learn about human ears too; knowing what are audible by the human ears or not may help me trhougt the process...

).

blingstef · Post by **blingstef** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:25 pm

i've read and understood what u've been writing until here... let's say that i am at the stage of frequencies in my mixing and mastering learning. i know how to adjust volume of tracks; nothing's clipping, no red or orange light is flashing and the sound is much clearer. for now i am reading on frequencies but i am going to try the 'freakoscope' thing and see if it helps me. (i might try to learn about human ears too; knowing what are audible by the human ears or not may help me trhougt the process...

).

blingstef · Post by **blingstef** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:29 pm

peter181 wrote:
f*k standards, do what sounds good. read this forum and learn how, not what.

don't u think that whatever u do u gotta have some kind of standards? i mean in order for you composition to sound alike or 95% alike throught 2 differents stereo system or car's audio system ipod etc...

peter181 · Post by **peter181** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 4:09 am

yeah, you are definitely right in that sense, unless you get a new body or perform underwater then sounds are always gonna move around and be heard in similar ways. although the space (or lack thereof with headphones) and the intended volume can make a big difference. we hear bass and treble more evenly with midrange at high volumes, so say if you're making a track intended for a club, you might want to turn it way up at home and make sure the midrange isn't painfully loud.

but I meant what I said in terms of composition and ways of making sounds more than in terms of mixing.

borg's advice on frequencies is great... clearing out low frequencies can really help. although with clashing it's good to take rhythm into account too - if you're making a techno song where the bassline is on the offbeats, for example, you could probably leave in the same frequencies as the kick.

blingstef · Post by **blingstef** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:47 pm

got it now let's continue working on it

particle · Post by **particle** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 11:36 pm

get "the dance music manuel" i forget who its by but its great for learning about mixing and dynamic processing. its a big text book thats purple and it has everything! you can find it on amazon

kosovopascal · Post by **kosovopascal** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 6:27 am

I honestly thought that the beginning chapters in my first recording book (Modern Rec Techniques) and Power Tools for Synthesizers were rarely divergent and equally informative in regards to the some of the basic underlying problems you seem to be having. I would say drop an mp3 into Live and fuck with some drumsounds or whatever and try to make it similar, and save presets, and listen hard. I dunno