disapointment in sound(on semi club speakers)

Hi folks,
I just had the opportunity to listen to some of my music on a "semi club -ish type" set of speakers. And I must admit that I was pretty disapointed in the sound of 'em.. They sound fine on my monitors, my headphones, my brothers monitors, my living room setup, my girlfriends livingroom setup, **** even on my little "boombox"..
I mean obviously my stuff is not as loud as pro studio productions, but I'm still kinda upset about it

The thing is; now that I've heard it I do kinda know what I need to change, but my problem is that I won't be having the opportunity to check the sound very often..

My question to you all is: What are your tricks, or how do you go around making sure that ur sound "works" on such a setup, without actually having the chance to test it???

...What was wrong? Too much bass? Not loud enough?

Honestly, this is where mastering your material comes in.

Strangely enough, after I get a really nice mix on my monitors I play the mix straight out of PT through my DJ setup loud as tolerable and make the the tweaks to get it to sound like I want to. Next, I find the worst car stereo I can find and play that mixdown through that. If it still sounds good and doesn't baffle the car speakers with distortion I'm just about golden.

Try to find a happy medium between all the mixes. I usually go through 5 or 6 mixes before I find the right one. Another trick I use is I make a CD with random tunes on it and maybe every other song I throw one of my mixdowns in between. If you notice too much of a difference that's not the right mix.

Mike Boogie! The coolest name ever

I strongly believe that mastering should be left to the professionals. Ask or pay a professional to master your track just once and compare it with your mix and test both on different systems. This is the only way to know if your doing something wrong.

btw Maybe those clubspeakers just suck?

CoinOP! wrote:Mike Boogie! The coolest name ever

I strongly believe that mastering should be left to the professionals. Ask or pay a professional to master your track just once and compare it with your mix and test both on different systems. This is the only way to know if your doing something wrong.

btw Maybe those clubspeakers just suck?

or maybe not tuned to the room... or maybe you heard them blasting in an empty club which sounds TOTALLY different then when it's filled with bodies.

Also keep in mind, clubs usually have a sound tech who helps control levels and overall sound and is experienced in doing so with plenty of varieties of mixes from different people.

-niN wrote:Hi folks,
I just had the opportunity to listen to some of my music on a "semi club -ish type" set of speakers. And I must admit that I was pretty disapointed in the sound of 'em.. They sound fine on my monitors, my headphones, my brothers monitors, my living room setup, my girlfriends livingroom setup, **** even on my little "boombox"..
I mean obviously my stuff is not as loud as pro studio productions, but I'm still kinda upset about it

The thing is; now that I've heard it I do kinda know what I need to change, but my problem is that I won't be having the opportunity to check the sound very often..

My question to you all is: What are your tricks, or how do you go around making sure that ur sound "works" on such a setup, without actually having the chance to test it???

Think about it for a second. Ever noticed in some studios why they have more than one set of monitors? Riiiiiight, they're able to A/B the mix on other monitor/speaker sets.

If want to step your game up and get better at mixing, then I'd suggest learning how to properly eq, set your volumes, & set your sounds in their proper places. Then invest in a pair of venue (club) style speakers so you can compare how your mixes sound.

There are some good points made about mastering your material too, but it all starts at the mix level first. I have a pair of event bi-amped monitors and a pair of 2 way 15" EV's that I like to use when I mix/master. Having this helps me find the problem areas of my music before I commit to anything.

But speakers alone won't guarantee you'll get good mixes everytime either. Tuning your room plays a vital part in being able to hear the right frequencies too. It's like an artist who can paint a picture with limited resources and try to bring that picture to realness as best they can.

Some have the tools and skills to make it look convincingly real, while others lack these resources & can only come close to allowing the viewer to use their imagination to figure out what it is they're looking at.

As profound as that statement is.You are going to notice a difference in any P.A or room.Take it from a
bass player who has played every club in Los Angeles only to set up play and I CANT HEAR MY AMP .
You will adjust to the equipment and rooms.Good luck TYPO

dabmeister wrote:

-niN wrote:Hi folks,
I just had the opportunity to listen to some of my music on a "semi club -ish type" set of speakers. And I must admit that I was pretty disapointed in the sound of 'em.. They sound fine on my monitors, my headphones, my brothers monitors, my living room setup, my girlfriends livingroom setup, **** even on my little "boombox"..
I mean obviously my stuff is not as loud as pro studio productions, but I'm still kinda upset about it

The thing is; now that I've heard it I do kinda know what I need to change, but my problem is that I won't be having the opportunity to check the sound very often..

My question to you all is: What are your tricks, or how do you go around making sure that ur sound "works" on such a setup, without actually having the chance to test it???

Think about it for a second. Ever noticed in some studios why they have more than one set of monitors? Riiiiiight, they're able to A/B the mix on other monitor/speaker sets.

If want to step your game up and get better at mixing, then I'd suggest learning how to properly eq, set your volumes, & set your sounds in their proper places. Then invest in a pair of venue (club) style speakers so you can compare how your mixes sound.

If his music sound good on common systems like earplugs, car speakers etc. his mixing is not the problem. Yes for proper mixing go to a professional studio, but lots of well known home producers(dance music) do there own mixes and test it on a variety of systems.

As mentioned before, clubs have a soundengineer, because even the commercially masterd tracks can sound like shit on a club system. Also on a clubsystem your sound is going through several modules like limiters etc. etc.

CoinOP! wrote:If his music sound good on common systems like earplugs, car speakers etc. his mixing is not the problem. Yes for proper mixing go to a professional studio, but lots of well known home producers(dance music) do there own mixes and test it on a variety of systems.

As mentioned before, clubs have a soundengineer, because even the commercially masterd tracks can sound like **** on a club system. Also on a clubsystem your sound is going through several modules like limiters etc. etc.

Basically, I see that you can do this thing two ways, either you pay out the @ss for someone to do something you can eventually do yourself, or you can take your time and learn & practice a skill that will save you some $.

Without learning the craft first and going about it through trial & error, can be one way of learning, but you'll have to sacrifice more time & patience doing it this way.

If it's done through educational means, then that cuts out a lot of the guessing and the user can go about it in a more direct & professional manner, but he/she may or may not break even where cost is concerned.

It just depends on a few factors such as equipement investments & class time, vs. how much is spent over a period of time getting the same thing done elsewhere and never learning it at all.

My suggestion to the op is...for simple boosting/normalization of tracks, try a couple of mastering plug ins, or work more in depth with a two track editor.

I've recently taken my speakers off the wall and sat them on my desk, and the difference in sound is drastic. It's pissed me off actually because I can now pick holes in my mixes that I previously thought were decent.

My next investment is definitely a good pair of monitors I can trust, plus a bit of acoustic treatment for my room.

specifically what did u not like about ur tunes on a big speaker?

was the bass weak?

or was the overall mix too low?

was there distortion?

^^^lmao, I asked that in the first response. I guess the op doesnt want to know where the problem is.

jpeg wrote:specifically what did u not like about ur tunes on a big speaker?

was the bass weak?

or was the overall mix too low?

was there distortion?

There was no distortion and the bass was really the least problem ,meaning the low end was "there" but the bass-drum was lacking punch. The high mids and the high end was fairly thin so that the snare didn't really have much impact. But after just a little bit of fiddling around with the EQ the overall sound did improve.
On the one hand, the set wasn't exactly brilliant. I've heard some of the 1993-'96 Wu-tang joints on a similar set once and it had a soundscape not too difrent from my stuff mentioned above.., wheras other newer and especially pop..ier music sounded clear enough. So I guess my style of sound just doesnt really have much club potential, more living room.. But still I'd like my stuff to sound good everywhere..
My guess towards solving the problem(s) is; I need to work on my level mix as well as on my equing(I tend to krank up the 63Hz and below a lot, ...what can I do I luv Bass ) also I need a little more low end on the snare to get 'em to thump more(One of the songs the snare sounded like a **** HiHat...). So now when I make my music I do try to keep that in mind. The problem that still remains is that I don't have the option to check it that often.
Thanks for the (helpful) replys

jonestown massacre wrote:^^^lmao, I asked that in the first response. I guess the op doesnt want to know where the problem is.

I must have overread your answer... Of course I do want to know where the problem is, otherwise there wouldn#t have been much point in posting this thread in the first place...

...read my above post...^^

Nothing a multi-band compressor can't fix! Just don't go crazy...