everything sounds "loose"

im not sure if mastering covers this problem, but when i listen to fully finished/recorded songs, everything sounds glued together yet wide and full.

all of my stuff, when i have the whole song playing, sounds loose and nothing sounds "connected."

would slight compression over the whole track "bring everything together"?

its pretty difficult to bring sounds that are sampled from completely different records together and combine to be one "new" sound. different dynamics, reverb...

Yes. compression and/or EQ on the master (the stereo file you've rendered/bounced or however you call it) should glue them together. But don't overdo it. If it doesn't work with slightly adjustments you should take a look at the samples and try to mix the single channels again.

peace

It's mostly a mixing issue i think. To glue the drum sounds together, i create a reverb bus, where i send all my drum sounds. Reverb and delay are very useful to create a cohesive mix, as well as EQ.

When I make beats, I like to imagine that it came from a record I dug from a space mission on Mars or some lonely mansion up on a hill of a cemetary. When I think like that, it creates a sticky adhesive and I'll know what to put together. Usually the sample dictates the drums or the drums dictate the melody. I don't compress anything, I sample what I want, where I want whenever I need to. I knew dudes with your problem and the best thing they ever did was to build a studio on the ocean floor of the Atlantic. I think its the pressure down there but now their beats really stick.

A lot of that glued sound comes from experience. Experience producing, and especially mixing/mastering. No one can tell you some tricks or settings to use to instantly give you that glued sound or else enigeers wouldn't exist these days. Granted you don't need to be a pro to have a good bounce. but I've easily spent just as much time if not more learning about mixing/mastering as I have producing.

You can have a good bounce without any compression or EQing just by picking your sounds with that in mind while you produce, that sense of balance. Which I find to be a lot easier than making whenever and trying to fix it later. Eventually it becomes instinct but I still know I have along way to go to consider myself a pro at it.

m56p87 wrote:experience

+4.35*10^14

convolution reverb is a great way to add color to your mix if you are looking to glue sounds together in a creative way.. load up a sample of your choice and have it add its tone and color to the sounds, bringing them closer together in the process.

Ill-Green wrote:When I make beats, I like to imagine that it came from a record I dug from a space mission on Mars or some lonely mansion up on a hill of a cemetary. When I think like that, it creates a sticky adhesive and I'll know what to put together. Usually the sample dictates the drums or the drums dictate the melody. I don't compress anything, I sample what I want, where I want whenever I need to. I knew dudes with your problem and the best thing they ever did was to build a studio on the ocean floor of the Atlantic. I think its the pressure down there but now their beats really stick.

no compresion even on kicks?

Nope. From the sampler to the grave.

It's about picking the right samples that mesh with each other.

even if you start off with just a vinyl static- or any ambience loop listen for the groove, and place the next layer of sample inside there.. creating a new groove, and so on.

If this is not happening theres no point in forcing things together by excessive use of effects and fiddling about.. IMO