done with arrangment. not loud enough?
Results 1 to 7 of 7
  1. #1
    Tech Guru BestLegsinHD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Houston TX
    Posts
    581

    Default done with arrangment. not loud enough?

    i've completed a song and i'm pretty happy with the arrangement. i followed some tips from tarekith regarding the mixdown and left some headroom (i also have a version of the same song with very little headroom and one with no headroom). when i export any of these versions they dont seem to compare to other songs in volume. how can i get these to be louder without making it sound crappy?

    obviously, i don't want to master it myself but i'm a college student and kinda broke atm. just thought i'd mess around with it for a while until i can send it off (probably to tarekith lol) for a pro mixdown/master.

  2. #2
    Tech Guru pilmat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Montreal
    Posts
    963

    Default

    I too am quite interested in this.

    The first full song I did in Reason sounded weak and bland compared to other tracks in the mix (no pot shots at my track! LOL). I added a mastering suite and tweaked the settings and BLAM, my track sits great in the mix.

    Now if I want to send this off to proffesional mastering, do I do it before or after the Reason mastering suite?

    The same can be said (weak and bland) for a few drum loops I made in Kontakt, but I put that down to my drum tuning as I tend to like dry drums (wet rings better in the mix, but is too much as I'm building a loop).

    Phil.
    MBP 10.6; Itch 2.2; Novation Twitch; TP 2.x; MF Classic; Ultrasone DJ1 Pro
    Apogee Duet 2; Reason; Ableton 8; 49SL MkII; Maschine Mikro; Launchpad

  3. #3
    Dr. Bento BentoSan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    6,383

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by munizj View Post
    obviously, i don't want to master it myself but i'm a college student and kinda broke atm. just thought i'd mess around with it for a while until i can send it off (probably to tarekith lol) for a pro mixdown/master.
    Opinions on this are mixed, personally id master it myself - but then again i know a thing or two about the process (though FAR from enough to become a mastering engineer).

    Look at some online mastering tutorials and start to learn how to do this yourself, you will gain a more respect for mastering engineers(i am NOT saying you don't have respect for, but the more you learn about mastering the more respect you gain for them i find) and learn some stuff about how you should present your track to an mastering engineer along the way which is always a bonus.

    I am sure you will get lots of different peoples opinions on this though, but there is no right and wrong answer.

    However... you should be able to during the mixdown stage get things sounding pretty good so they atleast offer some competition against mastered tracks - if the difference is chalk and cheese you need to go back to the mixdown stage and refine things.

    A good trick is to have a highpass filter on all your channels and cut out as much bass out of your non bass elements of your track which will to give you more headroom so you can apply more gain to your track. Even with the bass elements of your track you should apply some high-pass filtering to knock out the low frequencies that don't need to be there. Where you set your high pass filters will depend on the content, this takes a bit of time to learn and gain an ear for where the highpass filter should sit on all the channels, but with practice and some research into the genre your producing in you will get there. On your master channel cut out everything below 30hz, that will also help give you some more headroom

  4. #4
    Tech Guru BestLegsinHD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Houston TX
    Posts
    581

    Default

    thanks bento as always, very helpful =D. should i use the ableton filter or something 'better'

  5. #5
    Tech Mentor
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Brighton UK
    Posts
    472

    Default

    if you want to send it for mastering, you shouldnt put any mastering plugin on the master channel. you want to send the guy mastering it with headroom, he will make it bring it up to the right volume.

  6. #6
    Tech Guru pilmat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Montreal
    Posts
    963

    Default

    Thanks Alex
    MBP 10.6; Itch 2.2; Novation Twitch; TP 2.x; MF Classic; Ultrasone DJ1 Pro
    Apogee Duet 2; Reason; Ableton 8; 49SL MkII; Maschine Mikro; Launchpad

  7. #7
    Tech Mentor
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Edmonton, AB
    Posts
    395
    Co-founder, Promoter and DJ for Easy Love, an independent promotions company for dance events in Edmonton, AB.

    Check out our blog for more information - www.easylovedance.com.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •