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Full Sounding Mixes

I've been listening to a lot of essential mixes lately and theirs something that has been bugging me for quite some time.

How do they get their mixes to sound so full and energetic? I'm not talking about mixing skill, track selection, or anything like that. I mean the sound itself.

I know it's probably the recording but i was wondering if you guys maybe know about some inside trick that i don't.

compressors.

quote:

Originally posted by montana compressors.

Yep.

Most of the songs are highly compressed even before they get played, and radio stations add an additional level of compression, especially pop and dance stations since people tend to listen to those in noisy environments.

I understand. I was just wondering if their was some special DJ trick that made your mixes sound fuller. It seems like it's just the radio doing that.

Thanks guys!

Compress your mix afterwards if you're demoing it.

quote:

Originally posted by iammesol Compress your mix afterwards if you're demoing it.

read my mind

please dont, essential mixes sounds fucking bad, just turn up the volume instead. and if its not loud enough your stereo is fucking shit, someone fooled you when buying that shit. get a new one and dont help the industri ruin all future music, its only getting worse and worse for each cd i get this fucking compression shit. watch your ears.

quote:

Originally posted by palm please dont, essential mixes sounds fucking bad, just turn up the volume instead. and if its not loud enough your stereo is fucking shit, someone fooled you when buying that shit. get a new one and dont help the industri ruin all future music, its only getting worse and worse for each cd i get this fucking compression shit. watch your ears.

Very, very true. Compressing will not polish a turd anyway.

Don't worry I don't plan on throwing some random compressor over the top of my mix. I'm thinking of checking out Izotope Ozone.

Fuck.

Seems like everyone is addicted to the sound of hyper-compressed music. It's absurd.

quote:

Originally posted by coroknight Don't worry....

too late. mistake already out and ASOT + EM is to blame.

to my ears there is often more than just compression going on. everything that goes out of radio one probably has several processes applied to it, including m/s conversion before things like vitalisers and enhancers are applied, then they are re-coded to stereo.

and it's not just compression - it's really expensive, good quality compression and peak limiting.

for practical, home use, you can use a maximiser like waves L1-3 to gain maximum level accross the mix, but be careful with this, as you can easily overdo it.

finally a lot of mixes have a light reverb over them to help them blend a little better.

hope this helps - and bear in mind I could be wrong

Remember that one large reason EMs sound crap is because it is broadcast in a very low quality. I love the compression because it sounds live, as opposed to a flat set of tracks that are made expecting compression during the gig.

I don't want my mixes to sound like crap but I envied the energy that all those radio mixes seem to have.

u'll grow out of it.

quote:

Originally posted by iammesol Remember that one large reason EMs sound crap is because it is broadcast in a very low quality.

nope. you might download or listen over the internet in low quality, but the proper broadcasting is very high quality from the bbc.

Will compressing help with my vinyl rips? My vinyl rips seem very flat and don't capture as much of the low's or hi's that the record itself has.

If so, Audacity has a compression utility in it. Would I just want to use the default settings for compression? Or is there any settings any of you would recommend?

EDIT: Nevermind, I just used the Equalizer instead on one of my vinyl rips and that seems to have helped it a great deal.

I love the sound of old Essential Mixes. I don't know if it's the compression but they always manage to sound really chunky and full even though the sound quality is low. You get thick, dubby bass and yet the top end is nice and audible too. It gives it a very nice texture and, like the OP says, a lot of energy.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I love the sound of old Essential Mixes. I don't know if it's the compression but they always manage to sound really chunky and full even though the sound quality is low. You get thick, dubby bass and yet the top end is nice and audible too. It gives it a very nice texture and, like the OP says, a lot of energy.

i agree, has this changed since most essential mixes these days are digitally recorded?

quote:

Originally posted by Tangil i agree, has this changed since most essential mixes these days are digitally recorded?

I don't think so. Take a quick listen to sasha's most recent EM.

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