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Finally making some new music after ten years away. https://soundcloud.com/roadsofbalatran
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Sep 4, 2022 09:45
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| # ¿ May 5, 2024 15:47 |
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Thank you very much! It's all done myself in a bedroom studio, although I can afford some better equipment now than I used to have. And I have a lot of past practice making badly written, badly mixed, and badly mastered music to draw on. Since this is the first thing I've finished in a long time I really tried extra hard to release it polished. BPM is 116, so very close to 60 if you halve it.  That "almost a capella" first verse is me quickly engaging the practice pedal (actually a lever on mine) on the piano to bring the felt down. Acts almost like a natural lowpass filter.
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Sep 5, 2022 02:09
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Thanks guys. Judge Schnoopy posted:This is a level of self production I dream about. It's so clean, so well thought out, and really hits. Awesome work. 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.
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Sep 8, 2022 02:50
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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 |
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Sep 8, 2022 04:14
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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 |
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Sep 8, 2022 22:52
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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 |
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Sep 8, 2022 23:02
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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.
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Sep 18, 2022 10:08
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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.
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Sep 19, 2022 01:40
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Yeah, great guitar tone on that.
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Oct 4, 2022 21:38
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Finished a new thing: https://soundcloud.com/roadsofbalatran/time I have to say, I think honestly this might be the first time ever that I'm happy with my mix. See what you think.
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Jan 12, 2023 22:50
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Nition posted:Finished a new thing: https://soundcloud.com/roadsofbalatran/time Well, in hindsight, I changed my mind. I've updated the mix. Same link: https://soundcloud.com/roadsofbalatran/time
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Mar 17, 2023 10:05
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Thanks! That organ is actually recorded samples from a 1980s Farfisa transistor organ, but run through another plugin that does the leslie speaker thing ("Spin" from GG Audio). Everyone's grandma used to have an electric organ, right? But now nobody seems to care about them anymore, it's like an almost forgotten bit of history. You can go buy one for $1 since there are so many out there and nobody wants them, but most of them are starting to break since they're 40+ years old. I went looking for a Farfisa transistor organ plugin and there's almost nothing. Arturia has the Farfisa V but that's 1960s - I want that 70s/80s sound like the Farfisa Metropolitan. I found this sample pack and that's what's used in the song. Nition fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Mar 21, 2023 |
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Mar 21, 2023 00:58
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Thanks man.
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Apr 4, 2023 21:59
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I like the sound that starts at about 1:54, along with the way the whole mix pulls back a bit there and sounds more open. It's a bit avant garde compared to the rest obviously but when it hits that point I feel like I'm sitting in an actual space hearing the sounds around me, it's cool and pretty unique.
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Apr 11, 2023 09:42
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| # ¿ May 5, 2024 15:47 |
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I did a sort of folk-rock thing with lots of vocal harmonies (in the second half): https://soundcloud.com/roadsofbalatran/from-the-hills-to-the-sea
Nition fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Mar 30, 2024 |
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Mar 30, 2024 23:09
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