Ableton Forum

Hi,

I'm having trouble with a mix I'm working on. I started it yesterday and it sounded okay. As I've been finishing it up, I noticed that around the middle point of the mix, it's starts to change volume (getting softer mostly). I've tried disabling everything, even the Master channel and can't figure out for the life of me why this is happening. It's very frustrating. This has happened before and I didn't understand why.

Thanks for any insight.

Did you accidentally record some master track voluem automation? Do you have a compressor or limiter on the master channel too?

Tarekith wrote:Did you accidentally record some master track voluem automation? Do you have a compressor or limiter on the master channel too?

Thanks for the quick response. Yes, I have the master volume automated but it doesn't kick it til the very end (to fade out the song).

Since I'm new at mixing I haven't slapped a limiter or compressor on the master yet. Should I?

Basically what's happening is I have a sample that I chopped into the drum rack/Simpler. For some reason, all of the chops get louder and louder over time.

It could be the sidechain compression settings on the sample....but I feel like I've deleted compressor and other elements and it's still doing it. Maybe I should check it again...?

Is the velocity increasing just for those parts that got louder?

Tarekith wrote:Is the velocity increasing just for those parts that got louder?

No, in midi view the velocity's the same on all notes. I've been obsessively looking at sampler trying to figure out what's going on.

I can send you the file if you'd like. I guess I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to compression and volume. I know how to use Ableton effects, but my gain staging and compression is by ear, not by any particular logic or system.

massivewolf wrote:

Tarekith wrote:Is the velocity increasing just for those parts that got louder?

No, in midi view the velocity's the same on all notes. I've been obsessively looking at sampler trying to figure out what's going on.

I can send you the file if you'd like. I guess I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to compression and volume. I know how to use Ableton effects, but my gain staging and compression is by ear, not by any particular logic or system.

You haven't got your chops being routed to a send channel by any chance - maybe going through a delay?

Shift Gorden wrote:

massivewolf wrote:

Tarekith wrote:Is the velocity increasing just for those parts that got louder?

No, in midi view the velocity's the same on all notes. I've been obsessively looking at sampler trying to figure out what's going on.

I can send you the file if you'd like. I guess I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to compression and volume. I know how to use Ableton effects, but my gain staging and compression is by ear, not by any particular logic or system.

You haven't got your chops being routed to a send channel by any chance - maybe going through a delay?

Actually, yes I do. Thanks I'll check that out.

And it's not a problem of the ADSR settings with long samples that you get into the release part?

I actually had an issue of this kind only a few days ago, where the drum plug-in Tremor was playing only a kick and suddenly would get an altered character as if the velocity was increased on some beats and modulation responded to this. To my surprise this moved about indicating some modulation source, but removing possible external modulation sources, changing the kick preset and removing processing in the signal chain didn't stop the issue. I didn't have the time to find the cause as this was at the end of the session. I'll look at it later today.

In your case the first thing I was thinking about was side-chaining or phase cancellation in the particular section. If you turn off other tracks and go straight to the master does this issue still prevail?

Look at your return tracks, is there a dry/wet dial at less than 100% wet? Return track audio is delayed by 1 sample so this might cause the phase cancellation Stormcraft mentioned if the sends get turned up in the quieter section.

ikeaboy wrote:Return track audio is delayed by 1 sample.

This is not so for normal master routing, even if this could be the case for certain routings. Search on my name for a recent clear up concerning these facts that I've posted in another thread.

ChironControl wrote:And it's not a problem of the ADSR settings with long samples that you get into the release part?

Nope. The thing is that it's all playing the same thing over and over and in that particular section of the song it just decides to get loud. I definitely was able to fix some of it...part of it was definitely a volume automation issue on a third party plugin that I'd forgotten about.

Stromkraft wrote:I actually had an issue of this kind only a few days ago, where the drum plug-in Tremor was playing only a kick and suddenly would get an altered character as if the velocity was increased on some beats and modulation responded to this. To my surprise this moved about indicating some modulation source, but removing possible external modulation sources, changing the kick preset and removing processing in the signal chain didn't stop the issue. I didn't have the time to find the cause as this was at the end of the session. I'll look at it later today.

In your case the first thing I was thinking about was side-chaining or phase cancellation in the particular section. If you turn off other tracks and go straight to the master does this issue still prevail?

Are you asking does the problem stop if I solo the tracks in question? Nope.

massivewolf wrote:

Stromkraft wrote:
In your case the first thing I was thinking about was side-chaining or phase cancellation in the particular section. If you turn off other tracks and go straight to the master does this issue still prevail?

Are you asking does the problem stop if I solo the tracks in question? Nope.

What happens if you import the problem track to a new fresh project via the Live browser? This will show if it's the track itself that is having issues or if it's outside of it. If the issues stay in the new project I'd wager it must be automation, phase problems or the sound itself.