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Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
Been messing around with production for about a year, finally got together with some friends to release two original rock tracks.

https://soundcloud.com/jamt_band

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Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

Trig Discipline posted:

Yeah the good ones are seriously amazing these days. I remember the first time I heard Embertone's Blakus Cello library, it just blew my mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NClNjn0eHHc

Helloooooo impulse purchase on the spot. I'm in love with this.

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
I started writing a new song. Got through the progression, realized it was a match for Billie Eilish, and leaned into it hard.

everything i wanted (Billie Eilish instrumental cover) by Jamt on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/75ouj

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
New release, this is a very different feel from what I'm used to making. Also used a lot more live instruments instead of midi.

https://soundcloud.com/jamt_band/apart-of-me

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

Nition posted:

Finally making some new music after ten years away.

https://soundcloud.com/roadsofbalatran

This is a level of self production I dream about. It's so clean, so well thought out, and really hits. Awesome work.

My band just released this one. I'm the sole recorder/producer/mixer and handle most of the instruments, then my band mates pitch lyrics, melodies, ideas, and vocals. I feel like I'm still improving a lot with each song, but have so much further to go.

https://soundcloud.com/jamt_band/prisms-and-prisons

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

Nition posted:

Thanks guys. :)

If you've got any questions about my equipment/process/instruments used or whatever feel free to ask.

You're being too hard on yourself though I think, your track is good! And I've released tons of badly mixed music in the past. Having said that I have a few thoughts on how you could maybe improve your mix a bit:

- The vocals are too loud IMO, personally I'd bring them down quite a lot, like ~2dB? Except for the part at 2:20 which is already spot on. I'm guessing you've lowered the volume on purpose there to get more dynamics out of it, but I'd totally bring it all down to that level.
- Guitar solo at 1:00 could be a lot louder, more like the level the vocals would be at if you brought them down as above.
- Obvious clipping at 0:41 and the very end. If it's not clipping in your master, it might be the format conversion. You can have a wav that doesn't clip but the mp3 conversion will. I've started mastering with the limiter at -0.5dB to allow some room for it.
- I reckon the guitars could have some more mids and highs, or at least some more highs. At the moment the vocal sits on top of the guitars, but if the guitars had some more treble I think the vocals could sit with the guitars a bit more and still not get swamped. Side note: If your guitars always sound like they're lacking high end, one thing to check is if you're DI-ing them with passive pickups then you need to be at instrument input level, not line level. Electric guitar into a line level interface automatically loses some tone. Yours sound like they're mic'd on an amp so probably not an issue, although who can tell what's real anymore? The drums and bass guitar on my track are both fake.
- The drums and brass are totally sweet. One thing I still really need to improve on myself is writing good drum arrangements.

Feel free to ignore any and everything I said, there aren't any real rules.

This feedback is amazing and I'm incredibly grateful. I can hear each song we make is getting better, but we'll hit diminishing returns because we lack the technique to fix what's not working. Getting direct pointers is much appreciated.

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.

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.

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.

The drums and horns were my favorite to make. It was my first time using Aria Player and woof does that take a lot of time to get anything halfway decent. I'm pretty happy with how it ended up sounding pushed a little further back in the mix where you might not hear some of the rough edges.

I'm gonna open this one back up and see if I can't use your feedback to get some quick wins. Thanks!

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

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!

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
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. :feelsgood:

https://soundcloud.com/jamt_band/hurt-nin-cover

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
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?

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

Woolwich Bagnet posted:

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.

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.

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
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

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

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:

https://on.soundcloud.com/bZfbb

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".

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

Woolwich Bagnet posted:

I like this. I think maybe the vocals are a bit off pitch though? It could just be me.

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

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

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.

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

Woolwich Bagnet posted:

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.

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

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
Love all the posts in this thread, the ambient stuff is cool and always unique.

I've been trying to hone in on my favorite presets for my instruments so I can be more consistent. This was a blast to work on and I'm super happy with where each instrument ended up.

https://soundcloud.com/jamt_band/everybody-dies-billie-eilish-cover

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Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
https://soundcloud.com/jamt_band/sell-it-on-ebay

FRENCH BREAD FRENCH BREAD

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