|
Judge Schnoopy posted:I remember listening back and thinking "are the vocals too hot here?" but ignored it. I'm with you on taking them down a bit. I think the best mixing tip I've learned the hard way is leaving the mix alone for a night... or a week... and then coming back to listen. Suddenly it becomes obvious that the vocals are too loud etc. I also now keep backups so when I spend all night accidentally ruining a mix I can A/B it with the old version the next day and throw out 90% of what I did. Judge Schnoopy posted:The clipping is a total lack of experience that I need to reign in and pay more attention too. I'm still battling "louder sounds better" bias in mixing. Are you using something as a limiter on your master channel? Something like FabFilter Pro-L or the Waves L2 will let you bring the volume up without causing any clipping. You just set the max output volume (e.g. -1dB) and then bring the overall level up as far as you like. They re-shape the loud bits seamlessly - up to a point. You probably want to do some mild compression on the master channel first, then pipe that into a limiter last. Personally I have a Waves SSL G-Master Buss Compressor pulling things down up to about 4dB (set to 4:1 ratio, 30ms attack, auto release, for what it's worth), and then a FabFilter Pro-L catching the rest. Apparently there are better SSL Comp emulations than the Waves one these days. It's just the one I have. Judge Schnoopy posted:The rhythm guitar is live, plugged into my interface and piped through the Guitar Rig digital amp. The solo is a digital guitar mixed with my best live attempt, blended together to get more "realness" out of the midi. The tone from the digital guitar is not very convincing, but it can play far better than I can. I'm pretty sure I could play it live if I just practiced instead of concocting bizarre effects with plugins. It sounds real enough to me. Just make sure you're using the Instrument input mode when you plug it in. On my interface (Focusrite Clarett+ 4pre) you have to switch it in software, they didn't even put an actual button on the interface for it (although they were nice enough to put an LED). If you end up on Line level instead, it still works but will lose some high end. Nition fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Sep 8, 2022 |
#
?
Sep 8, 2022 04:14
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 21:18 |
|
|
Nition posted:A bunch of insanely good tips Thaaaaaank yooouuuuu You are correct, the Instrument button was off on my interface and this has probably caused me so many problems that I fought to fix with plugins. Never again. I took the entire thing down 5 db, shaved an extra 1.2db off the vocals, and added a brick wall limiter on my master to prevent clipping. It doesn't feel as slammed against the speakers as it used to and is more enjoyable to hear. The new version is up on SoundCloud if you wanted to give it another listen. The next song is going to be much easier and better out of the gate with everything I learned here!
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2022 21:31
|
|
|
Aha, so I was right! I used to have the same problem. So when I heard your guitars sounding a bit dull I thought, I wonder... Of course a lot of other things change guitar tone as well so it's hard to tell. Nition fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Sep 8, 2022 |
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2022 22:52
|
|
|
Listened to the updated mix. I still think the vocals are a little too loud... but let's leave it now. Here's one more tip though that can help the vocals and guitars coexist happily. Next time you do your rhythm guitar, try recording it the same twice, then pan one recording hard left and the other hard right. See how that sounds compared to the centre-panned guitar you have now. Nition fucked around with this message at 08:30 on Sep 18, 2022 |
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2022 23:02
|
|
|
We had recordings for this one sitting around so I took a fresh run at it. The first step was deleting every plugin and starting with raw tracks. From there I tried using as few plugins as possible to avoid muddiness. Also doubled the guitars and panned them to make more vocal space so I could settle the volume down into the mix better. The band says this is the cleanest sound I've mixed so far.  https://soundcloud.com/jamt_band/hurt-nin-cover
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2022 17:35
|
|
|
Nice, great energy in that performance, like you get listening to a band live. Mix-wise I think the drums and vocals sound great. Bass guitar is buried a bit (although I'm listening on headphones). The electric guitar tone is I think where you're losing the most in terms of it sounding like a really pro mix. I've never got electric guitars to sound that great in a mix either. There's definitely some high end tone missing so it'll be interesting if having your interface in Instrument mode makes a noticeable difference.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2022 10:08
|
|
|
Ah yeah those are all midi guitars for that track. They're really cool for pulling off what I wish I could play, while I practice for a few more months. These are all the Ample Stratocaster plugin pushed through Guitar Rig 6 amps. It can sound pretty decent but it's missing the tone of a live guitar. One question as I'm listening back to Driving At Night, what's your favorite synth plugin? The tones at the beginning were really cool and set the perfect imagery of zoning out on a late night drive. How'd you get those?
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2022 01:17
|
|
|
Judge Schnoopy posted:Ah yeah those are all midi guitars for that track. They're really cool for pulling off what I wish I could play, while I practice for a few more months. These are all the Ample Stratocaster plugin pushed through Guitar Rig 6 amps. It can sound pretty decent but it's missing the tone of a live guitar. The background synth sound is played on an Alesis Micron - unfortunately not a plugin. With a bit of saturation and filtering added in the DAW (via FabFilter Saturn 2 and FabFilter Volcano 3). The guitar sound over the top of it is electric guitar played with an eBow, through a couple of plugins: SimulAnalog JCM900 and SimulAnalog Tube Screamer. Those are free and really good: https://www.simulanalog.org/guitarsuite.htm. But they have no GUI so it's just bare sliders, no pretty graphics. The lead synth sound at the very end that's mixed with the violin sound is from the most unlikely source: Plogue Chipsounds. It's a synth plugin that simulates the sound boards on old game consoles and mostly makes beeps and boops and so on. But there is one preset, called Polymento, that's different. It's the coolest synth sound ever and nothing else sounds like it. I actually don't have a really good general synth plugin. I'm kind of looking for one.
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2022 01:40
|
|
|
Got a bunch of stuff on the YouTube page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ3OrU1ML1c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZQxuA-02QY I record everything live with the whole band on an old tascam portastudio with 8 inputs.
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2022 05:32
|
|
|
https://on.soundcloud.com/touFe I was never asked to dance at high school dances, because I was a gigantic punky weirdo, but all I ever wanted was to dance to this song. So here it is, sad. Because of course I made it sad. Hero - Enrique Igelias.
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2022 16:21
|
|
|
I was messing around with guitar plugins and ended up with this https://soundcloud.com/poltzart/carefree I really like the pipa as an instrument.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2022 04:02
|
|
|
Woolwich Bagnet posted:I was messing around with guitar plugins and ended up with this gently caress yeah, this is awesome. Love the vibe. I was caught off guard by the minor strings about halfway through and it hooked me through the end. What plugin are you using for the flute/pipa? You're extremely good at utilizing it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2022 04:38
|
|
|
Judge Schnoopy posted:gently caress yeah, this is awesome. Love the vibe. I was caught off guard by the minor strings about halfway through and it hooked me through the end. Thanks! The flute is actually 2 dizis from jade ethnic orchestra. A single one didn't cover the range that I wanted so it crosses over in certain ranges. The pipa is East West's EW Silk.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2022 19:24
|
|
|
What the gently caress? I wrote a song? Don't ask me how or why, all I know is I was playing around with a preset with Bad Cat and Powerball models in stereo. It just made me want to chug chug chug and pinch harmonics. Next thing I knew this was recorded. This is often how it happens, for some reason. Two hours, tops, and that was mostly loving around with vocals. The guitar is my Strat-style home-built and it is ALL Pearly Gates. The bass is my Spector Legend 5 Classic through the Dug PInnick Tech 21 preamp pedal, just basic. The vocals are sad and I am sorry, but my bassist is going to put a real bass part on this and also sing the chorus for me (I wrote it for him, in fact.) Sorry the lyrics are marble-mouthed, that will get fixed if we finish the tune. In the meantime I just really really enjoy the chugga chugga. That rig sounds loving mean. https://soundcloud.com/dr-faustus777/we-face-it-alone-demo-3-with-bass-normalized/s-U8FyUOspFdv
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2022 14:34
|
|
|
Dr. Faustus, that is shaping up nicely. I too am big on the tone and the various things you're doing with the guitar part in there. I'll be curious to hear how it shapes up.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2022 14:30
|
|
|
Yeah, great guitar tone on that.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2022 21:38
|
|
|
Dr. Faustus posted:What the gently caress? I wrote a song? This is sounding really good, love the chord progressions. Can't wait to hear it finished! This one started with the piano part at the beginning and just... expanded from there. For whatever reason it makes me think of pirates or something. Or at least something to do with the sea. https://soundcloud.com/poltzart/memories-of-the-sea
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2022 03:20
|
|
|
Woolwich Bagnet posted:This is sounding really good, love the chord progressions. Can't wait to hear it finished! I was playing this for my girlfriend and trying to explain: there's a person who's happily making money to live on in an unrelated field, then they come home and to nothing but a hard drive full of instrument samples, a MIDI grid, a mouse, and an unrelenting ability to look at that blankness and, note-by-note, expression by expression, turn it into a huge piece of great music. And all they get for it is goons saying, "Wow!" She kinda got it, I think. She says, "That is impressive, babe." I still say, "Wow." So now I'm listening to Cinematic Feels again and wishing my bassist would get back to me with the vocal part I need. I don't like mine. That's my own scratch bass part and I am fine doing that myself if he doesn't come through; but my enthusiasm for the tune is waning because I don't like what I did with the lyrics so much. Typical second-guessing that I always do and I try to ignore it. At least I re-sang everything so there's not as much obvious hackery in there. I've put down an entire song of drums again, but the muse eludes me today.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2022 17:26
|
|
|
Dr. Faustus posted:Thank you! Thank you for the kind words as always! I definitely know the feeling of listening to something so much that I start to think it's bad. I usually have a lot of short things that I'm working on that I'll go back and listen to occasionally and be like hey that's actually good I can expand on that. Also sometimes where weeks will go by and I won't do anything because I don't feel like it, and I think if I did something like this as a job, that would kill me knowing that I have to get something done. I have another song that's nearly complete but I'm not really happy with the second half of it so I haven't touched it in a week or two. I'll go back and redo it some day. Maybe. When I'm not feeling any inspiration I listen to other music for a while and sometimes that gets me what I want. Other times it doesn't and that's fine too.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2022 19:55
|
|
|
Here's a WIP that isn't even the one I mentioned in the last post  It's getting closer to being done.. slowly... https://soundcloud.com/poltzart/fast-then-slow/s-mPXQgypL6iG
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2022 20:59
|
|
|
This one was a ton of fun to work on. My guitarist showed up with a riff he liked, we kept expanding and expanding until we ended up here. https://soundcloud.com/jamt_band/galaxy-brain
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 04:48
|
|
|
Spent the weekend with my old drummer buddy and whipped up a track. Rarely do songs come together so easily for us, this is about 24 hours of work from writing to tracking to final mix. Heavy-ish rock with a little prog sprinkled in. Feedback appreciated: https://on.soundcloud.com/bZfbb
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2022 01:01
|
|
|
Iucounu posted:Spent the weekend with my old drummer buddy and whipped up a track. Rarely do songs come together so easily for us, this is about 24 hours of work from writing to tracking to final mix. Heavy-ish rock with a little prog sprinkled in. Feedback appreciated: I like the pitch shift on the verses creating some dissonance, that clears up on the chorus for it to really ring out. That's a cool technique that I'm absolutely going to steal! The octave vocals on the bridge hit deep, and book-ended by solos is sweet. And the major 3rd flip in the last choruses is a neat surprise, though I would maybe accentuate it a little more in the instruments somehow to prove it's intentional. I think it was the second chorus or around there, the crashes were masking the vocals just a bit and I lost the message a little bit. Overall the mix is cool and the effects really work for what's going on here. I need to gain more confidence in leaning into vocal effects and owning it, rather than trying to blend them to sound "natural".
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2022 17:03
|
|
|
Judge Schnoopy posted:I like the pitch shift on the verses creating some dissonance, that clears up on the chorus for it to really ring out. That's a cool technique that I'm absolutely going to steal! The octave vocals on the bridge hit deep, and book-ended by solos is sweet. And the major 3rd flip in the last choruses is a neat surprise, though I would maybe accentuate it a little more in the instruments somehow to prove it's intentional. Thanks so much for listening. My drummer bud is the mixing mastermind between the two of us, I have a decent ear for arrangements and effects so he helps me implement those along with his own ideas. Drums are a real set tracked live, guitars and bass were going through the Helix Native plugin, the keyboards are plugins too but I can’t recall exactly which ones. There’s a distorted Hammond B3 starting at the solo going through the end of the track to beef things up, and Mellotron strings and choir. The atmospheric elements before that are all guitar. My buddy handled drums, rhythm guitars, and backup vocals on the final chorus. I did main vocals, bass, lead guitars, and keys.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2022 01:48
|
|
|
3 tunes down 18 to go. Have been at this for over a year now and the below have had many versions, some of which have been posted before. Essentially doing everything myself with some help from a vocalist, drummer and a seasoned pro who has been a god send. Been scammed on fivver (more than once), had every insult on submithub, but I am going to keep on trucking. I, Slacktivist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXSg8XUS-kc This Great Depression https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK4l7-fgfv4 This Great Depression (Orchestral) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSblWRWMPhg Also, if any of you like any of this just say and I will give a direct link to a google drive download if you want a permanent copy.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2022 19:25
|
|
|
Judge Schnoopy posted:This one was a ton of fun to work on. My guitarist showed up with a riff he liked, we kept expanding and expanding until we ended up here. I like this. I think maybe the vocals are a bit off pitch though? It could just be me. Iucounu posted:Spent the weekend with my old drummer buddy and whipped up a track. Rarely do songs come together so easily for us, this is about 24 hours of work from writing to tracking to final mix. Heavy-ish rock with a little prog sprinkled in. Feedback appreciated: I really like this too, but it sounds flat. Try boosting the drums/guitar in the 3-5 kHz range. Here's a bit over a min that I modified as an example: https://soundcloud.com/poltzart/01-221105-2130a/s-Ds6B16TRNv1?si=74fcfcf5892245b991e41c3dd243e1cb WhyZodiac posted:
As you should, these are fantastic! I've been traveling for work so couldn't do a ton but got some time so I put this together. Just another soundtrack type thing I guess? https://soundcloud.com/poltzart/so-dramatic
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2022 03:02
|
|
|
Woolwich Bagnet posted:I like this. I think maybe the vocals are a bit off pitch though? It could just be me. Could be off pitch, yeah. I'm running auto tune but his voice has heavy vibrato that I'm trying to preserve, so auto tune is set very softly with a lot of leeway before it steps in. I could probably push it to be slightly more aggressive. I've heard other feedback that this just isn't his range and we should either find a different vocalist for this track, or change the melody to get closer to his voice. Part of the issue is he's allergic to cats and my cat hangs out in the recording room. By day 2, when he's more practiced, the sound gets nasally. I love the edit you made on Riptide. Question: were you able to identify the frequency range that needed a boost off the top of your head, or did you play in the daw first to figure it out? That seems like a superpower to me that I just don't understand yet. As for your track, I enjoy the direction and sound, very PS2 video game adventure style of sound. I feel like it's missing some bass and low end to fill it out and boost your highs a little. Maybe some cello or low brass could punch it up.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2022 21:44
|
|
|
Judge Schnoopy posted:Could be off pitch, yeah. I'm running auto tune but his voice has heavy vibrato that I'm trying to preserve, so auto tune is set very softly with a lot of leeway before it steps in. I could probably push it to be slightly more aggressive. I've heard other feedback that this just isn't his range and we should either find a different vocalist for this track, or change the melody to get closer to his voice. Ah, yeah, having a closed throat is no fun for trying to sing in that range. For Riptide, I knew that it needed a boost around that range based on the sound of the hi-hats so I put it in adobe audition and messing a bit in that range and ended up with this:  Needed to add a limiter as well as the left channel was a bit heavier than the right but just by a little bit. Also rolled over the super low frequencies to try and make a bit more overhead for it. For mine you're definitely right! I went back and looked and realized I hadn't put in the double basses, and had forgotten to put in the bass trombones for the accents. Uploaded the new version over the old one and I think it's better now. Especially the part with the cello pizzicato. Adds a much nicer punch to it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2022 23:00
|
|
|
Woolwich Bagnet posted:Ah, yeah, having a closed throat is no fun for trying to sing in that range. Oooh yeah there's the low end, very cool! Here's my take on a more dramatic vibe. Took some Hans Zimmer sheet music and ran with it using instruments I'm more familiar with. https://soundcloud.com/jamt_band/interstellar-hans-zimmer-cover
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2022 05:36
|
|
|
https://soundcloud.com/kohlbern-jary/brap221108-phrygriff Tinkering around a bit with a little riff, think I'm going to try to expand it out. First time processing drum samples, think they came out pretty well but probably will throw in a few kicks to vary things up a bit.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2022 05:52
|
|
|
SoundCloud has screwed up some of my tracks over the past few days. The track starts playing for 20 seconds, then abruptly ends and goes to the next track. I re-uploaded the track, then discovered it happened to 2 more! These are non monetized cover tracks I do for fun. Any ideas? JeffLeonard fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Nov 9, 2022 |
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2022 19:27
|
|
|
JeffLeonard posted:SoundCloud has screwed up some of my tracks over the past few days. The track starts playing for 20 seconds, then abruptly ends and goes to the next track. I re-uploaded the track, then discovered it happened to 2 more! Going through them now and they seem to be working fine. (Tried from Chrome on Mac while signed in, and on phone not signed in, seem to be playing okay) WhyZodiac fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Nov 9, 2022 |
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2022 20:10
|
|
|
Thanks man. It seems to be working on my end now too.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2022 23:02
|
|
|
Judge Schnoopy posted:Oooh yeah there's the low end, very cool! That's really cool, I like it a lot! I made a thing with a bunch of bassoon and whatnot. https://soundcloud.com/poltzart/a-bit-of-magic
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2022 01:27
|
|
|
I think if I made a collection of these, this would be the first one. It starts off like a like a psychotic, oscillator ho down. A little intolerable, especially if you're suddenly awoken by it at 3am. Can you figure out why it's called "Nine Supernovæ"? https://soundcloud.com/ctenophore/nine-supernovae
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2022 04:06
|
|
|
I spent my entire Saturday on this. I still don't know what I'm doing, but at least I can get something after a day or so. https://on.soundcloud.com/6fz6H Ends abruptly cause I got sick of working on it. Some thoughts in spoilers: The skeleton seems alright, might need a bit of reviewing. The voices clash a bit, ideally they’d be more varied and live in their own harmonic space (or something). As is, it feels a bit muddy. In retrospect, I would probably not introduce the raw-sounding wave loop while the lead guitar and the shimmery pad thing are still going. Give it a couple bars on its own so that the listener gets used to it without juggling the other parts. Too much at once otherwise. My big-picture skills are still crap. I don’t quite get how to arrange or develop ideas over time. There’s no rhyme or reason to what I put down, it just ends up being whatever kinda sounded good in context. Maybe professional music producers have a plan going in. edit: Slightly updated version: https://on.soundcloud.com/kqRuh Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Nov 27, 2022 |
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2022 01:04
|
|
|
Pollyanna posted:I spent my entire Saturday on this. I still don't know what I'm doing, but at least I can get something after a day or so. I like it the way it is right now. You might hate me saying this, but it reminds me of an arcade game, late 80’s/early 90’s. People say the same thing about my music, even though I barely see that and isn’t intended. I think maybe you could try some crazy effects, but that aren’t constant. Also somehow making it sound like it’s coming out of speakers. It’s also fine the way it is too. Just some ideas.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2022 21:26
|
|
|
You are not wrong! It’s kind of a natural consequence of its cadence, beat subdivision, the voices I use (lots of samples and simpler waves), the relative emphasis on short but sweet/awesome per second, and the fact that most of the musicians I’m influenced by were in video games (Uematsu, Koshiro, Kondo, et al). I think I actually use a module based on the VRC6 for the little melody partway through the song, so it’s Konami-flavored for sure. Believe it or not, the second voice that comes into the track is actually a sample of a rhythm guitar.  But because I put a snappier/more percussive envelope on it, and because it plays in chords and doesn’t ring out much, it sounds like a piano instead.I’m not sure how much of this is because of me, and how much of it is because FM + samples + 8bit-style techniques. I also am not sure what I want to be - I’m gonna have to mull over your thoughts for a while. Edit: on a relisten, parts of this remind me of Sonic CD for some reason. Maybe cuz I’ve been listening to its soundtrack a lot. I also think I have a fair bit of 80s pop influence. Compare my melody/harmony lines to Maniac or something. I actually really like 80s pop, prolly cause I’m so into synths and video game music. Feels gross to say I like pop tho cuz I grew up with (not on) 2000s pop 
Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Dec 1, 2022 |
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2022 15:27
|
|
|
this isn't good but I'm posting it because I'm proud of it. I've always wanted to be more musical but never really had the opportunity as a kid and as an adult just never went for it. I've always been a big finger drummer though. I saw a video of fred again playing a song live on his Maschine Mk3 and kind of thought hey.. is that the instrument I've been practicing my whole life to play? aNyways, a ton to learn. a ton a ton a ton. but this thing let me make this very rough track in maybe 20 minutes, after owning it for a week and putting in ~10 hours of mostly just loving around. I am going to put in the time and work and become a loving master on this thing I swear it. and even if I don't I'm having an utter blast. this is pretty much just a couple live beats laid down, not much editing - and then some effects added with the extremely fun performance bar (all the tremelo at the beginning) https://soundcloud.com/colin-b-6136...=social_sharing
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2022 01:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 21:18 |
|
|
I dig this
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2022 14:42
|
|