disapointment in sound(on semi club speakers)

Alot of people add extra bass to there music because they want it bass heavy. Most club systems already has a massive bass boost built into their rigs as standard all your boosted bass does is boooom the room out with resonant frequencies and low and behold you lose the clarity in the rest of your mix.So that's def something to watch for - resonant frequencies in the bass.

thanks.

If your music sounds good on every other speaker, maybe the club speakers you were using sounded like $#it. All club gear is not the same. I've played some crap mixes that sounded GREAT at one spot, and I've been to other clubs where everything sounded like crap. Mixing and mastering will always help, but its not a necessity nowadays like it was 10 years ago. Today, the sounds in software/hardware are already processed to the max.

Ok , this is what happens to the guy who mixes as loud as he can stand it.. 5mins into it , EAR FATIGUE.. boom , ears are toast for the rest of the day. So , he starts pulling the faders up , "boosting" frequences.. and wonders why it "sounded cool" last night.
First thing you need to do is think. Pull all faders down. start with highest Frequence tracks and bring levels up. Why?.. Because if you have to raise higher freq tracks so they can cut through the Bass , then all your doing is creating NOISE and distortion and Killing all your crest factor(head room). work your way to the kicks. Now , start with Light panning. Left tends to lower the volume , right tends to raise. Im talking +4--9 in any direction. Obviously not on all tracks. Then , St Delays. 1/4 or 1/8 notes keep it around 70-80% wet so you dont have to send so much it raises track volume and kills headroom. Also , reverb (the right) reverb will help tuck things behind or pull thing up front. Not alot. just to "sprinke" less is more trust me. Then after levels and mix is done , sum the drum bus ,inst bus , key bus , and synth bus to a aux track and call it sum aux track. On sum track put a presend bus on it. make a new Aux track. call it para. put a multibuss parallel compressor on it. send it at unity to the sum track. use the fader to control the wet/ send to controll dry signal. now. the para aux should be going into your main out channel. BEFORE your mastering plugin ( i use Ozone ) use a Limiter BUT only to control the volume going into the master plug. ( it gives ozone more resources to process in real time when its not also have to allocate cpu to fight peaking transients.) Then. use your mastering plug in. listen at 5 min intervals for 20 mins. 5 on , 5 off at average volume. then , after a 30min ear break. Listen a loud level and evaluate the headroom and dynamics. Good Luck.

I forgot to mention.. ALL my tracks but the kicks and subs have a pan of +1- in any direction. Why? Because the compressor is not compressing exaggerated peaking transients. I also nudge by 1sample tacks so that as little waveform peaks are peaking at the same time as possible.

Yes im a Beast.

^^ Links to your tracks please?

I'm curious to your tracks too Ghosty.

I agree with the firts paragraph. The rest I'm not so sure. Ever heard about the Panning Law? Starting with high frequencies makes no sense to me unless you make elevator music the low end theory rules. But he! If it works it works. Mixing is not written in stone.

Moderation. High Frequency leveling first actually is a process started by Car audio guys who show and compete in SQL ( sound quality Level ) shows and not SPL (sound pressure level.) The inaudible things that add up in the end tend to show up more on a spectrometer that a regular eq. So , when you first start bringing up the highs and get to a comfortable area , Open a channel eq. Analyze it , and set to highest resolution. Reduce the eg output by -10 db. Then start using a Sharp bell cure and raise the gain on a freq to +20 db and start sweeping the bad "hiss" and sharp "tones". the bell i sweep with is at 2.4.... I never reduce a freq more than -4db and try not to sweep more than 3.. 2 is more safe.set output back to unity. You will find that the actually makes the sound Warmer. When im moving to the Low end , im going back and tucking and pulling here and there. once im at the low end , I can tune my kicks a Little better. I start with amazing sounds already so its minor , but a song turns into a giant chord progression as you add majors , minors , and other things in scale and key. So when im at the kicks , i just tune , side chain a noise gate and oscilloscope and set the scope to the freq i want the noise gate to trigger. Nice booff and punch. Im also not peaking in my Drum,key,inst,synth bus going in. Now I can level via musical placement ( drums , insts , keys, synths) and warm them up to taste on the way to the para-multi compress aux.. I try to NEVER peak a Channel or Aux. Its a bad look. things are not working as they should at that point.

But anyways , High first. Its the most damaging thing on the perceived volume of a track. plus as you create unwanted noise , the only time its heard is when someone wants an amazing mute or treat and something sounds like crap solo. Drums hide ALOT until its time for vocals to clash and fight for headroom. Drums in back of the BAND at all times. Gutair-bass up front , piano-keyboard off to the mid side.. Vocals front , multi vocals , spread out. Standard Band setup applies to mixing in order for a mix to make sonic sense.

I don't want to be that Guy.. Although I have E-Raged and Name Dropped a few people in a single post (I was really angry at someone who insists i'm an amateur at best.) I just prefer to help.

If you're a "beast" then you should at least put a few snippets up so we can check the mixes. It's not about being called out... If you're giving out 'the definitive guide to mixing' type advice, you should back it up with a few examples.

Now , start with Light panning. Left tends to lower the volume , right tends to raise.

I'm sorry but can you elaborate on this? As it's written, it makes absolutely no sense, and we got to really watch the misinformation being spread around here.

It sounds to me like you are saying, if you pan something to the left it sounds quieter, and if you pan it to the right it sounds louder.

That is totally untrue in any normal setup...only way that would make sense is if you speakers and/or ears are messed up.

I'm not trying to come at you, but please clarify or expand on what you are trying to say, because RIGHT does not equal LOUDER.

I know in many PA systems with the subwoofer being mono... it would be of the left channel... so if you pan stuff below 80 hz or so then it cuts off but that cant be what he's talking about because in that case panning to the right would lower it, not raise it.

nogginj wrote:

Now , start with Light panning. Left tends to lower the volume , right tends to raise.

I'm sorry but can you elaborate on this? As it's written, it makes absolutely no sense, and we got to really watch the misinformation being spread around here.

It sounds to me like you are saying, if you pan something to the left it sounds quieter, and if you pan it to the right it sounds louder.

That is totally untrue in any normal setup...only way that would make sense is if you speakers and/or ears are messed up.

I'm not trying to come at you, but please clarify or expand on what you are trying to say, because RIGHT does not equal LOUDER.

Thanks, because I was kinda counfused about that one too... I guessed his left ear must be a wee bit def or sumthn But maybe it all makes ense in some way.. I dunno...