Ableton Forum

I have a new song on soundcloud, and when I saw the waveform on soundcloud, it looked nice, but here and there where some spikes lurking out a little bit. I decided to master the whole thing, and noticed I could not make it really loud without distorting the sound. So obviously, I needed to trim those spikes.

I put the waveform of the rendered project into the project itself, and then I had a graph of where exactly those spikes were in the mix. I trimmed them in the mix, rendered the whole thing again, and after like 3 times repeating the process I had a wonderful experience: I could boost the volume to the extend of commercial recordings without distorting the sound.

this is the record I´m talking about (backdoor promotion ) : http://soundcloud.com/grappadura/down-under-1

isnt it a beautyful waveform?

learning to mix is way more important and the first stage before mastering. The track sounds pretty muddy,Id google a tutorial on mixing, its like night and day

yep, sorry to say i gave it a listen too, and the mix is 'dull' slightly muddy and 1 dimensional. it is loud, though.

seriously, go over it again in the morning, with fresh ears a cup of coffee and pay more attention to details, the mix needs room, try to go 2 - 3 dimensional, it is flat.

rather loose volume, but make it sound nice first of all.

well, it sounds near perfect on my speakers, the only mud in the soundcloud version comes from their converion to mp3. It does crush the high hats a little bit and make it a bit dull, but thats normal I guess (I dithered to 32 bit). Or should I do the mp3 encoding myself?

Besides that, I can say the track is totally clean from artefacts and still sounds very pleasing to my ear. weird that you would not agree. theres a lot of bass energy in it when you turn it up.

...interesting what people call a "song" these days...

esky wrote:...interesting what people call a "song" these days...

do you also not like it?

Well, like or dislike are not the right terms, this type of tracks are simply not my cup of tea. And i wouldn't call it a "song". I'd say it's a dj tool, a track for a club situation and it might do a good job there. A song is more about a melody, a chord progression, things like that. Or am i a litte bit too old school here...?

esky wrote:Well, like or dislike are not the right terms, this type of tracks are simply not my cup of tea. And i wouldn't call it a "song". I'd say it's a dj tool, a track for a club situation and it might do a good job there. A song is more about a melody, a chord progression, things like that. Or am i a litte bit too old school here...?

thx esky, I see, well yeah, its meant to be for club situation. It does have tiny progressions (not chord progressions, but rythmic variations, thats why its called minimal I guess). I might add some chords later on, but only at 2 or three spots, then leave the bass naked again. What about the sound, do you also think it sounds dull?

Maybe it's a little dull. I listend to your other track "on endor" which is a little brighter, but also has more space. Actually a fine track I'd say.
Subfunk is right, go for some room and space and put in some more high end and you're fine...but wait until tomorrow and refresh your ears. Listen to Jonny Cash meanwhile...

esky wrote:Maybe it's a little dull. I listend to your other track "on endor" which is a little brighter, but also has more space. Actually a fine track I'd say.
Subfunk is right, go for some room and space and put in some more high end and you're fine...but wait until tomorrow and refresh your ears. Listen to Jonny Cash meanwhile...

thx! just listening to your stuff, really liking it.

and by 2 d - 3d i don't mean extreme stereo settings or something, it is a 'club' track and you need to be tight, but the elements need to breath nevertheless, better and subtle reverb and panning, EQ are your friends. it sounds like one of those cakes where you need to drink a huge mug of coffee with it in order to swallow, dry.

and the track is totally not my cup of tea either, well that is purely a matter of taste, nothing else.

esky has a point to listen in between to different music then berlin club sound, that really changes your perception.

Grappadura wrote:

esky wrote:Maybe it's a little dull. I listend to your other track "on endor" which is a little brighter, but also has more space. Actually a fine track I'd say.
Subfunk is right, go for some room and space and put in some more high end and you're fine...but wait until tomorrow and refresh your ears. Listen to Jonny Cash meanwhile...

thx! just listening to your stuff, really liking it.

i think honestly that he used to make very creative and unique sounding music (and much better mixes), grappadura sound really, lately he tries to 'emulate' that berlin minimal rubbish, a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. but well, that is my opinion.

OK, maybe the old stuff was not totally dancefloor suitable, but it does not mean that to move into dancefloor suitable tracks / productions (i guess that is what he wants to achieve, his music being played by DJs) he has to completely move away from his unique sound he ones had...

SubFunk wrote:

Grappadura wrote:

esky wrote:Maybe it's a little dull. I listend to your other track "on endor" which is a little brighter, but also has more space. Actually a fine track I'd say.
Subfunk is right, go for some room and space and put in some more high end and you're fine...but wait until tomorrow and refresh your ears. Listen to Jonny Cash meanwhile...

thx! just listening to your stuff, really liking it.

i think honestly that he used to make very creative and unique sounding music (and much better mixes), grappadura sound really, lately he tries to 'emulate' that berlin minimal rubbish, a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. but well, that is my opinion.

OK, maybe the old stuff was not totally dancefloor suitable, but it does not mean that to move into dancefloor suitable tracks / productions (i guess that is what he wants to achieve, his music being played by DJs) he has to completely move away from his unique sound he ones had...

I want to learn to tailor stuff exactly the way it works in clubs, and also, I think minimal is the a wonderful genre to explore sounds and soundscapes. The better I get at it, the more freedom of creativity I will have in the end. Minimal doesnt sound all the same, btw., and if you think that then you´re not the right guy to make a call on a minimal track.

Fair enough, to each his own, then tailor away.

Interesting direction you are taking there fella. I do fell it needs a little something in the mid frequencies but that could just be more my tastes.

FYI I think it is good to experiment with other styles.