Ableton Forum

Hi there.

I am trying to get behind-study the Eq balance, Mixing etc , and the reason why i like some music more than other music

I would like to know which albums or tracks you consider to be Reference Quality mixed-mastered.
Anything goes but please not "these are the 30 best i know" .
More like Top 2-3 would be sufficient-give me a chance to listen to all of them

Main interest would be Dance music. Especially if you have experienced any songs that sounded extraordinary good in a club or big system. But of course i am open to anything. It can be Pink Floyd , Janet Jackson, Pop, Rock everything goes, am open.

Caution! Please Please Please, don`t suggest any modern DnB with 2 Db Rms and a lifeless flat sounding ridiculous snare as Reference.
It has to have (some) Dynamics (and also NOT have these funny "distorted+layered tom+snare+ street performer plastic bucket" sound and harsch ,
too loud HiHats that hurt your ear drums when listened a bit louder..

Don`t get me wrong. Nothing against DnB but the last things i see-hear simply are too loud to enjoy.


Apart from that it can be basically anything.
Let`s musical-artist taste not be a concern here. Only mixing-mastering quality that does not cause fatigue at loud levels


I will start with three :

Fun Lovin Criminals- 100% Colombian
Juan Atkins+ Moritz Von Oswald - Borderland:Transport
Jamiroquai-Summer Girl

Ok and if i would "have to choose!" one random DnB track i like the mixing-mastering of: Aquasky-"Moondance" and basically all "Lost In Space" compilations (Lacerda Records)

spanktron wrote: Anything goes but please not "these are the 30 best i know" .
More like Top 2-3 would be sufficient-give me a chance to listen to all of them

Main interest would be Dance music. Especially if you have experienced any songs that sounded extraordinary good in a club or big system. But of course i am open to anything. It can be Pink Floyd , Janet Jackson, Pop, Rock everything goes, am open.

These tracks sound right according to me. I use them as reference tracks (obviously in lossless format), though I'm not claiming these are objectively the best per se. I feel they are mixed and mastered in harmony to the music itself, which is what I strive for.

• Rodriguez Jr. "Los Matadores (Feat. And.Id)"
• CV313 "Subtraktive (Deepchord Presents Echospace Live Mix)"
• Moonbeam "Tiger (Roland M. Dill "Got Him By The Tail" Remix)"

* Deadmau5/Haley Gibby - "I remember"
* ICT - "Lasciati Tentare"
* BBE - "Seven days and one week"

In no particular order, but these three have something about them......

BT - This Binary Universe
Tipper - Broken Soul Jamboree (or The Seamless Unspeakable...)

Amon Tobin Isam is one of the most incredible sonic experience of the last decade imho. Amazing tunes, amazing sounds, amazing mix.

Stromkraft wrote:

spanktron wrote: Anything goes but please not "these are the 30 best i know" .
More like Top 2-3 would be sufficient-give me a chance to listen to all of them

Main interest would be Dance music. Especially if you have experienced any songs that sounded extraordinary good in a club or big system. But of course i am open to anything. It can be Pink Floyd , Janet Jackson, Pop, Rock everything goes, am open.

These tracks sound right according to me. I use them as reference tracks (obviously in lossless format), though I'm not claiming these are objectively the best per se. I feel they are mixed and mastered in harmony to the music itself, which is what I strive for.

• Rodriguez Jr. "Los Matadores (Feat. And.Id)"
• CV313 "Subtraktive (Deepchord Presents Echospace Live Mix)"
• Moonbeam "Tiger (Roland M. Dill "Got Him By The Tail" Remix)"

Cv313 and Rodriguez sound spot on. Even though i am biased when it comes to dubtechno so 313 has an easier job being liked by me and also hard to judge mixing wise cause i think
the genre structure helps a lot sounding smooth

[jur] wrote:Amon Tobin Isam is one of the most incredible sonic experience of the last decade imho. Amazing tunes, amazing sounds, amazing mix.

Thank you.
Yes we know Tobin and respect him

I have most of his stuff.

What i am looking here though is less how much someone likes a specific music and more music that has left an impression Mixdown-Mastering wise

Tarekith wrote:BT - This Binary Universe
Tipper - Broken Soul Jamboree (or The Seamless Unspeakable...)

Tipper tipper tipper..... Hmmm i knew him from somewhere. Sounds good.

Thank you

spanktron wrote: Cv313 and Rodriguez sound spot on. Even though i am biased when it comes to dubtechno so 313 has an easier job being liked by me and also hard to judge mixing wise cause i think
the genre structure helps a lot sounding smooth

There's a reason I picked that track. It's not "the genre", it's Deepchord. Everything he does sounds simple and isn't. Great always sounds this way, deceivingly simple. Play this one on a club system and it will stand out compared to other tracks. Which is another reason I picked it.

spanktron wrote: Tipper tipper tipper..... Hmmm i knew him from somewhere.

he also released 2 albums as Crunch (titled 1 and 2). amazing sound design

miyaru wrote:* Deadmau5/Haley Gibby - "I remember"
* ICT - "Lasciati Tentare"
* BBE - "Seven days and one week"

In no particular order, but these three have something about them......

Deadmau5 "I remember" has 2db rms dynamics and peaks at +1db over zero. Not exactly reference material. Thats exactly what i DON`T want to do

completely flat and lifeless (the production-mastering) the song is nice as a song

Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack - duh.

I've recently become a fan of Dieter Meier from Yello. Huge body of work, and highly skilled.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/5873-Yello

While I'm not using it for reference I should mention Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall", the first album where Quincy Jones worked with him. Soundwise this is stellar and the album is very much a part of dance music history. It's available on Spotify, but as before I suggest lossless sources.

I don't know the different releases well enough to tell them apart, but my opinion is based on the original CD. At some point I heard it on vinyl, but I wasn't making music at the time.

uh oh almost forgot,
the best sounding track to me is Terminal Sound System - Ghost Summer. all credits to that guy Skye Klein
not sure it's "Dance" enough tho