Getting the LOUDEST CLEANEST mix

[Emerald]

Hey there DJTT

I am on my way to my own little EP release and ive learned an obscene amount in the past few months only thing is...

when i look at the decibel output of a skrillex production song its pinned to the limiter THE WHOLE TIME yet still has a nice clean wave form and a solid dynamic, without distortion or any sort of mix mess. im only a few dB away from acheiveing that kind of loudness (not with as much clarity) but i cant seem to make it there without making everything sound like crap! is there something im missing? will i ever be able to do it on my own or should i just send it to a M.E. and stop wasting my time? any help would be great, tips and tricks too...

here is a link to my sound cloud. my producitons on there sound like crap compared to what im making but maybe it will give you insight as to where im at. thanks guys


https://soundcloud.com/erick-samwise-samuelson


Sam

[AllDay]

When it comes to mastering your own tracks just concentrate more on making everything sound proper in the mix without clipping and going in the red. This alone with proper eqing will be good enough for you to play out..

Id recommend getting someone to master your tracks if you want to get them to sound more clean and professional tho.


Off topic im gonna hit you up with a follow, im from the Okanagan, I see your from Edmonton!

[Tarekith]

A lot of getting tracks LOUD comes down to the arrangement, more than most people realize. Having only a few key parts in a song playing at any one time gives everything a lot more room to stay bouncey, and gives the mastering engineer (or the artist, if they self-master) a lot more flexibility when it comes to reducing the damage from making things super loud.

Obviously a good and well balanced mixdown is crucial too. Having a track where the bassline and the upper highs are already in line and don't need a ton of attention helps, but of course that's the hardest thing for most people to pull off without years of practice too.

Finally, monitoring. When you can hear what you're doing while working on your track, it's easier to push things farther as you can quickly hear when it's not working and try something else.

Making loud and clean masters is like anything when it comes to getting better at producing, it's a combination of the right tools for the job and lots of practice. No offense to the OP, but keep in mind you're trying to compare something you've only been doing for a few months to someone who's been doing this for a living for many years (Skillet, Skiller, Dreadmaudlex6 or whatever his name is). Sucks, but sometimes there's just no substitute for lots of practice.

[Emerald]

Yes, i work with that. Ill give you a quick rundown of my mix process if you care to read it.

first i level all my tracks to around -10dB so nothing is too loud for mastering. i then take unwanted freq's out in specific instruments (excessive low end or shrill unwanted highs in instruments that are not focusing in that band etc) i then base the volume of my tracks off of the kick, all of my levels are based off that. sometimes i tweak artistic effects before or after and adjust the volume accordingly i then side chain instruments that i feel like clash and then throw int through a multi band compressor and other mastering processes (stereo imaging, harmonic excitement, loudness reverb etc.) im almost there but it doesnt sound to me like there is enough going on in my song.

Yes i know, i have actualy been at this for many years just never quite this in depth. (played around in garage band to make rock music a few years ago) I know what good sounds like, im just having trouble getting there and wondering if there is something im missing, or if i should just send it out. i run adecent pair of nearfield monitors (ysm5's) and have several reference points on other speakers if needed. im curious to see how other people do thier mix downs.

BTW i followed you on soundcloud man hit me up and maybe we can do a remix for shits and gig's =D

Terakith, i would like to hear more about how you conduct your music and such, i watched your video and you seem like you could have some useful nuggets of knowledge.

Thanks guys

[AllDay]

BTW i followed you on soundcloud man hit me up and maybe we can do a remix for shits and gig's =D

I gotchu, I thought i followed you yesterday.

Tarakeith is the shit for having info and just generally knowing his stuff. For me personally I would just make sure your not clipping and that everything is eq'ed well then either just play it as is or send it out to someone who does masaters for 20/ a song or offers bundle deals. Joshua Casper has some good examples for mastering CLICKYCLICKY

[Emerald]

i never clip an instrument. thanks man

[antifmradio]

Emerald. I own a studio here in the New York area.
I also produce my own tracks, samples, and still do some radio work for a couple radio stations here in New Jersey

So do me a favor, let me check out the specific track you are having trouble with.
Can you send it to me as a WAV file?
Let me do a couple things to it to master it.
I think theres two things you may have missed or have gotten out of order

Set your effects. Set your levels
finish eveyrthing and send over a WAV version ( to make sure your new song isnt going to be tossed all over the net) because you and i dont know eachother
you can always just send me a long section of the song.


PM me and ill send over my email address

[Tarekith]

Tarekith, i would like to hear more about how you conduct your music and such...

Not sure what you mean?

[Emerald]

Tarekith. I mean, how do you go about conducting your arrangement to get a full and pinned mix without killing it? is that what im missing? any tips and tricks for an amatuer mixing engineer about the order that certain processes should be done? (effects, levels, side chain, then eq .etc.)?

[Patch]

Tarekith. I mean, how do you go about conducting your arrangement to get a full and pinned mix without killing it? is that what im missing? any tips and tricks for an amatuer mixing engineer about the order that certain processes should be done? (effects, levels, side chain, then eq .etc.)?

I've always struggled with production, simply because I've never heard a really good written description of what a professional arrangement looks like.

I use Ableton, and I'd love to get hold of a finished track, as a Live set, along with a description of what the hell is going on. I'd love to see:

1) A Live set for a completed track, with;
2) A description of what is happening on each channel, and;
3) A description of the effects used on each channel (reverb/compression, etc... NOT performance effects), and;
4) An explanation of WHY each effect is being used, and what it does, and;
5) An explanation of how certain groups of tracks are actually grouped, and why (buses?!?), and;

You see, those are the kind of questions I need to be able to ask, and have answered so that I can understand how to arrange and mix/master.

It's REALLY hard to avoid having an arrangement sound like a casio keyboard demo if you don't know how to make it sound like a proper production...