Hi, first of all I must thank each and every member who has helped me reviewing the tracks I have shared in this forum.
Then, I must thank Wim for letting me take a shot to remix this wonderful track of his.

The track has been converted at 320 Kbps.

http://s5.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0...RL1D8C36YH78I3U

Just this time I really need help on a especific subject, or maybe clarify a doubt I have.

See, I have done everything I could to make this track sound as 'professional" as possible, like the sounds of Sunquest or Icone himself, but no matter how good I EQ the sounds, or compress them, the track won't sound as good as most of the tracks that are being post to review from the ones like, Tyler C , Sunquest , Icone or Third Section.

Maybe you can point out tips where I can improve, I have read all the tutorials posted here, suggestions made by people in other threads etc.
I wonder if is a matter of having a cheap soundcard, or is that I'm doing something wrong.

I do EQ every instrument, then I EQ in the master channel and compress, then I wok in my Wavelab, do some EQing to remove resonance, I use Stereo Expander at +35 or so, then I add a 10%wet/90%dry reverb or less and finally I use the VST Dynamics to limit the song at -1 Db.

That gives the result of the sound you are listening right now. I'm still not convinced the sound is as good as it should be, or maybe I'm wrong?

Please help me out here! I'm in a point where I don't know what to do, I wanna have that sound that most people have here and I don't.

Thanks.




Edit: Link to Dance Industries for the ones who couldn't download the 320 quality version.

HERE

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Der Mystik's Music

Hey mate,

Just listened to the track on good headphones. I am not sure what kind of speakers you use or headphones you use but there is a lot of work to be done on the mastering mate.

The soundcard doesn't have anything to do with the endresult of your track. It is probably a combination of a) not having the right equipment to use for the mastering b) not having good headphones and or studio monitors

But to give you a few small pointer:

- The bass is far to heavy. It pounds in the headphones and is so loud that it pushes away the kick and the melodic parts of the track. Result is that the track sounds muddy and distorted. The bass is supposed to be a nice layer underneath the track not the main ingredient

- There is a lot to do in the mixing of the various channels you use. All the other sounds besides the bass sound miles away. Lower the volume of the bass and focus on the melodic parts more, they have to stand out.

- I never use a reverb over the master channel. I only use reverbs for specific instruments. When I would put reverb over the master channel the track could easily become to echo'ie That is my personal taste though. I bet there are many people who think differently.

Anyways those are a few pointers. Mastering and mixing is the most difficult part there is I.M.O and also a matter of personal taste. I like tracks to be very clear and with a nice treble edge to it. But others will like more bass oriented mastered tracks.

You might want to ask someone to master the tracks for you after you have done some nice mixing of the track.

Keep up the work! Hope this is a bit helpful.

Cheers,

Nomen Nescio

Alright, thanks for the pointers, definately this will help to pay more attention.

Thanks for your valuable help.

I'm listening to the music I make with dynamic stereo headphones, I bought them 3 years ago for 49.99 dollars, don't know if is good enough.

So, Lower the volume of the bass, remove the reverb on the master channel.

As for asking someone to master the tracks, man, if I had 1000 dollars or more to master a track, I would, but that is something I can not afford at the moment.

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Der Mystik's Music

Gotta agree on most points with the comments above. Mainly the overall mastering is what bothers me most. Other than that, there's some nice structure and transitions. I'm also a fan of clear crisp tracks with a nice high-end to them, though that's also just taste.

Bye
Wim

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Ok guys, this is the version without editing it at Wavelab, to tell you the truth, sounds lot better uneditted, but I think I'll just EQ at around 6000 Hz and cut maybe 2 DB to get rid of that stupid noise in the break.

Anyways, please tell me how it sounds there, by the way, I got new headphones , Sennheiser 280 Pro, pretty good indeed.




*http://s35.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1RE6JKQSAZD8L3LGURROLQDKXQ

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Der Mystik's Music

I don't know if it's the old or the new version, but here's some comments on it:

The first thing what got my attention is the bass which has quite some power indeed. The kick hardly comes through. It's not that bad to have a hell of a bass but this doesn't leave any room for the kick. Try to listen to them together and get them sound right, you should hear them both well, they shouldn't interfere with each other. A notch filter on the bass where the kick punches might help..

Second thing is the percs, they're as if playing in the next room. Be careful with reverb, it's ok to use just a tad on the percs, but they need still be clear and crisp. No reverb on the full mix cause you don't want the low end of kick and bass reverbed all the time. There's too much reverb in your mix.. I'd say remove it all and you'll have a clearer sound already.

The synths and pads use too much room in this mix as well.. the bass is pushed away (high end) and the percs are less noticable because of them. Every sound needs his place in the spectrum and you need to boost (watch out for clipping) and cut until it sits right.

Compression can help but that's a very delicate job especially in the mastering phase. You can compress the kick and bass in a way, for clarity as well as for power. I'd suggest leave the mastering for later, you don't really need that now, big chance you make things even worse. What you can do is just a tad low end boost and high end boost for liveness and you can normalize and limit the mix for just higher volume. Real good mastering is very delicate and should be done by a technician, not by a musician. With perfect equalizing in the mix the mastering is less needed.

Stereo enhancing afterwards is a dangerous thing I think cause it just tears the left and right apart.. or so... I played with that applying on the whole mix but you'd better keep it together more.

The lead saw synth has a bit too much detune I think, sounds off key sometimes. High string pad has a tad too much high end, hurting a bit. Same as the snare roll.

Throwing quite some thing at ya now.. I hope it's of any use..

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Thanks you Jay M, yeah this was the "final" mix made at Fruity Loops without mastering, now I know where to begin.
Thanks for your help all of you guys.

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Der Mystik's Music