134mix compression
-
hi Joel,
the only things I've got on the master channel are a limiter for safety (set at 0.0db and the track peaks at -3db I think or in any case never gets close to 0; the default ableton device) and then VPS Scope which is just the visualizer. the only compression i applied in the whole track was for the bass because at some points it gets out of hand, but it's used with a very low blend, checking now it's 40% with a ratio of 2 (attaching pic in case you are curious or you need it).
Ah I almost forgot: yeah, I did some changes to the drone pad for the side/mono issues (always run into those)
just to understand: you are saying it looks compressed because of the waveform, right? as in, it looks quite compact and the only peaks you can see are the kicks? if that's the case, that is usually what i try to achieve when adjusting volumes: the kick being the main element and ideally nothing should ever top it (except rare cases like transitions, impacts, snare rolls going up, etc). now that is what **I *usually *try to achieve, not sure if it's the right approach. the creative part has unfortunately ended, so we are walking into very low-experience territory for me
thanks for letting me know! unfortunately though, when we start talking about LUFS, short term, momentary, etc. i start to get a bit lost since i'm not an expert in this area ^^ i do understand the general concept though.
-
hi Joel,
the only things I've got on the master channel are a limiter for safety (set at 0.0db and the track peaks at -3db I think or in any case never gets close to 0; the default ableton device) and then VPS Scope which is just the visualizer. the only compression i applied in the whole track was for the bass because at some points it gets out of hand, but it's used with a very low blend, checking now it's 40% with a ratio of 2 (attaching pic in case you are curious or you need it).
Ah I almost forgot: yeah, I did some changes to the drone pad for the side/mono issues (always run into those)
just to understand: you are saying it looks compressed because of the waveform, right? as in, it looks quite compact and the only peaks you can see are the kicks? if that's the case, that is usually what i try to achieve when adjusting volumes: the kick being the main element and ideally nothing should ever top it (except rare cases like transitions, impacts, snare rolls going up, etc). now that is what **I *usually *try to achieve, not sure if it's the right approach. the creative part has unfortunately ended, so we are walking into very low-experience territory for me
thanks for letting me know! unfortunately though, when we start talking about LUFS, short term, momentary, etc. i start to get a bit lost since i'm not an expert in this area ^^ i do understand the general concept though.
@samuraitracks
Hi Val, all good, no need to worry. As soon as I opened up your multi-track session I realized you just have a very balanced mix. That kick is pretty beefy and consistent which is why I originally thought it might have been compressed on the master. The read out on Insight also threw me off a bit because typically I get mixes between -20 and -14 to work from so at -12 I had concerns I may not have enough headroom. The good thing is I managed to squeeze out a few more db after mixing down the multi tracks and youre hitting -8 LUFs which is perfect. Here is the link to the Master:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dtDGmBu0y6w4fd4bgfbtQUiocqO5q15w/view?usp=drive_link
Have a listen and let me know if youre happy with it. I tried to keep the over tonality the same as your full mix but with a bit more separation and and energy. Let me know youre happy with it and I'll move on the full mix next. Thanks! - J
-
hi joel! listened a few times now.
the mix is definitely more "separated" and "energetic" as you said! me personally, i would EVER SO SLIGHTLY lower the volume of the high frequencies a tiny bit. comparing yours with mine, it feels like i have plugs in my ears
i shouldn't be so conservative with the highs next time... but i think this is more of a personal preference: i prefer when the hats and everything in that range is not so strong. though i'm listening to the little speakers now and it's much less noticeable (it is a bit more in headphones); but again, this is a personal preference more than anything. it's not like they are overbearing or anything.the second thing, and i guess there's nothing we can do here: the kick seems to lose a bit of its punch, doesn't it? (i don't know if the word punch is right). but even then, i don't even think it's the kick that's losing anything, it's more about the rest of the elements being more present, so the kick is not as towering as before. not much to say here really, just my impression.
in any case, first of all THANKS a lot for the service. you did some magic somewhere because the track feels as if it's breathing more. secondly, it does sound much more professional! i think this is pretty much finished now. you said you are going to work on another version as well, and that is awesome. can't wait to hear that one as well if you decide to go forward with that. so, final question: are we going over the same process for the second mix? the one sent as mp3?
PS: i just realised i didn't answer about the images in the other topic. feel free to do whatever you want for the cover! again, the track is called "Emergency landing" because I imagined a UFO, but it could literally be anything.
-
hi joel! listened a few times now.
the mix is definitely more "separated" and "energetic" as you said! me personally, i would EVER SO SLIGHTLY lower the volume of the high frequencies a tiny bit. comparing yours with mine, it feels like i have plugs in my ears
i shouldn't be so conservative with the highs next time... but i think this is more of a personal preference: i prefer when the hats and everything in that range is not so strong. though i'm listening to the little speakers now and it's much less noticeable (it is a bit more in headphones); but again, this is a personal preference more than anything. it's not like they are overbearing or anything.the second thing, and i guess there's nothing we can do here: the kick seems to lose a bit of its punch, doesn't it? (i don't know if the word punch is right). but even then, i don't even think it's the kick that's losing anything, it's more about the rest of the elements being more present, so the kick is not as towering as before. not much to say here really, just my impression.
in any case, first of all THANKS a lot for the service. you did some magic somewhere because the track feels as if it's breathing more. secondly, it does sound much more professional! i think this is pretty much finished now. you said you are going to work on another version as well, and that is awesome. can't wait to hear that one as well if you decide to go forward with that. so, final question: are we going over the same process for the second mix? the one sent as mp3?
PS: i just realised i didn't answer about the images in the other topic. feel free to do whatever you want for the cover! again, the track is called "Emergency landing" because I imagined a UFO, but it could literally be anything.
@samuraitracks
All good my man! I made adjustments based on your feedback, let me know how this feels now:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xrxDjdENQoOYzvDlug9znMKXxYqRz0U3/view?usp=drive_link
-
ok spent the last twenty minutes checking it out. the kick is huge here! the only thing i noticed was that the drone/pad is way quieter than the other version. now though while listening for the third time, i was switching between versions, and i must admit, the first version is very phat (technical term), so I'm quite undecided now... on the one hand, we've got a strong version but the kick doesn't hit as hard; on the other hand, the second version has a harder kick but comparing to the first, you can hear that it's a bit quieter.
honestly, at this point i don't know Joel. as i've said, i'm the creative machine behind the track, but now we're entering into technical territory which i'm highly unfamiliar with. if you ask me which one i prefer, that is really not a question i can answer because it's still my track and i love it in all the versions possible (i do love the new version, but at this point i wish i had never heard the loud-beast-first version!
). since we're releasing it on your labels, i will let you choose, i really can't. i will say this: the hats and the highs are balanced perfectly in this new version though (for my tastes!). the acid line and so on (only real thing is the pad being quieter really). the kick sure is stronger and hits quite hard as we want, but the first version is proper loud and i guess that's what people like, don't they? i mean it's normal that loud = more enjoyable, but in the digital realm we are constrained.to put it short: i love the new version (if we could raise the pad a tiny bit); but i must admit that your first version sounded huge now in comparison (at the expense of the kick losing some thump obviously).
sorry for being so indecisive, but i am in uncharted waters now. thanks for adjusting and listening to my feedback though
-
Its all good man, These kind of conversations are how we get to find the sweet spot!
Yeah it really is a balancing act, the original master was very "balanced" levels-wise which is why I could push it harder, nothing was sticking out more than anything else. In the second master the kick is louder which so I cant push it as hard. What I'll do today is a third version to get that sweet spot and I can do some upward compression rather than clip to get it to sound beefier and possibly switch to IRC5 to see if I can squeeze out a little more from the mix. Almost there!
-
ok spent the last twenty minutes checking it out. the kick is huge here! the only thing i noticed was that the drone/pad is way quieter than the other version. now though while listening for the third time, i was switching between versions, and i must admit, the first version is very phat (technical term), so I'm quite undecided now... on the one hand, we've got a strong version but the kick doesn't hit as hard; on the other hand, the second version has a harder kick but comparing to the first, you can hear that it's a bit quieter.
honestly, at this point i don't know Joel. as i've said, i'm the creative machine behind the track, but now we're entering into technical territory which i'm highly unfamiliar with. if you ask me which one i prefer, that is really not a question i can answer because it's still my track and i love it in all the versions possible (i do love the new version, but at this point i wish i had never heard the loud-beast-first version!
). since we're releasing it on your labels, i will let you choose, i really can't. i will say this: the hats and the highs are balanced perfectly in this new version though (for my tastes!). the acid line and so on (only real thing is the pad being quieter really). the kick sure is stronger and hits quite hard as we want, but the first version is proper loud and i guess that's what people like, don't they? i mean it's normal that loud = more enjoyable, but in the digital realm we are constrained.to put it short: i love the new version (if we could raise the pad a tiny bit); but i must admit that your first version sounded huge now in comparison (at the expense of the kick losing some thump obviously).
sorry for being so indecisive, but i am in uncharted waters now. thanks for adjusting and listening to my feedback though
@samuraitracks Ok so I think I got it right in the sweet spot:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VQws2gDCDnMFUAIEoOeL-RSWbNemDOlE/view?usp=drive_link
The kick in this one is slightly more pronounced and with a bit more character. Overall I think it sounds the most balanced out of all of them. It's about 1.5db less loud on the rms meter than the first mix but thats because Im pushing the kick harder so theres a give and a take here. It's hitting -8 LUFS which is still pretty loud... I can try to match the loudness of the first mix but then we're running into the issue where it we start to lose dynamics for the sake of loudness.
Have a listen and let me know what you think. Dont worry about changes, I want to make sure it sounds good to you. Because this will help me gage where things need to be moving forward for the next track.
-
i like this one! listened to it an hour as soon as i got back and listened to it again now. i feel like it hits a sweet spot between the two, yeah. as you know, i usually consider my tracks "finished" once i complete the arrangement and do a bit of mixing. i have never done this part we're doing now, so it is quite hard to decide (and that is also why i try to achieve the most balanced/closest to final product as possible). honestly, i don't hear any problems with version3 joel, to me it sounds great. i'll listen to it again tomorrow with fresher ears but i don't think there's anything else to change.
see you tomorrow
-
https://filebin.net/kl0vnhkaomg7b15g
or
https://limewire.com/?referrer=pq7i8xx7p2This is the .wav file for the second version, Joel. Nothing on the master
-
https://filebin.net/kl0vnhkaomg7b15g
or
https://limewire.com/?referrer=pq7i8xx7p2This is the .wav file for the second version, Joel. Nothing on the master
@samuraitracks HI Val, got it downloaded!
Sorry for the radio silence. Had to do server maintenance over the weekend and I'm just wrapping things up. I'll be mixing the tracks down tomorrow and should have the ready by the afternoon. Will let you know as soon as they're ready! - J
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login