My first post here . How are you all doing? Just thought id like to share my first trance song with you guys and get some feedback. Hope you all like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRAw4Zugu5s

Edit: uploaded a newer vid with a soundcloud link.

Last edited by solitonbeam on Aug-07-2010 at 22:14

Just left some comment for you on youtube.

Nice track, very old school sound but good energy. Mix down needs work though.

And welcome by the way.

Cheers
Nem

___________________
https://www.mixcloud.com/Calvin_Karass/

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 Just left some comment for you on youtube. Nice track, very old school sound but good energy. Mix down needs work though. And welcome by the way. Cheers Nem

Thanks for the feedback mate. This may seem like a stupid question as I am pretty new to FL Studio, but can you explain what you mean by a mix down?

quote:

Originally posted by solitonbeam Thanks for the feedback mate. This may seem like a stupid question as I am pretty new to FL Studio, but can you explain what you mean by a mix down?

Hey no worries,

What I mean by mixdown is basically the way the sound of the track is balanced. What EQ cuts you have done, your use of compression etc. Even down to the levels of each sound.

For example, your lead and pads are a bit too full on in the track and you need to tame them some.

I would recommend you check the section in the production studio that talks about mixing (Not DJ mixing) a track.

Cheers
Nem

___________________
https://www.mixcloud.com/Calvin_Karass/

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 Hey no worries, What I mean by mixdown is basically the way the sound of the track is balanced. What EQ cuts you have done, your use of compression etc. Even down to the levels of each sound. For example, your lead and pads are a bit too full on in the track and you need to tame them some. I would recommend you check the section in the production studio that talks about mixing (Not DJ mixing) a track. Cheers Nem

Cool. Thanks for the tip. Yeah, there were some volume balancing issues that were fixed after the youtube video was put up, but im pretty sure theres more I need to fix.

Liked this tune. Nice work m8. Were some trouble spots to my ears at 1:48 and around 3:57'ish where you start filtering. Mainly just a little high-freq. spike, even at 75% on my phones it hurt a little.

Sound around 5:35 sounds clipped. Or your master track may be clipping...Either way, I hear high-med distortion.

Other than that, nice tune

quote:

Originally posted by theterran Liked this tune. Nice work m8. Were some trouble spots to my ears at 1:48 and around 3:57'ish where you start filtering. Mainly just a little high-freq. spike, even at 75% on my phones it hurt a little. Sound around 5:35 sounds clipped. Or your master track may be clipping...Either way, I hear high-med distortion. Other than that, nice tune

At 1:48, are you talking about the vocal or the kick? Im guessing its the vocals which is probably because of the filter im using haha. Same with the one at 3:57. Guess I should probably change it. Though you're gonna have to explain whats going on at 5:35, as im not too familiar with clipping.

quote:

Originally posted by solitonbeam At 1:48, are you talking about the vocal or the kick? Im guessing its the vocals which is probably because of the filter im using haha. Same with the one at 3:57. Guess I should probably change it. Though you're gonna have to explain whats going on at 5:35, as im not too familiar with clipping.

For clipping, simply open up your mixer and take off any limiters and whatnot if you have them on the master. Sometimes the limiter will clip off enough to distort. Your mix should sit at 0 db tops. Any more with any sort of limiting/compression and it will start to clip/distort. You *can* push it... but it ends up trashing your sound...Also make sure your EQ's are mainly subtracting sound rather than adding it. (You can do some adding here and there, typically under +3 db though)

Some people like mixing at +2 to +4 db, but I feel that the sound quality goes down. I'm not a real fan of the loudness war.

Might also be youtube mucking up the sound as well. *shrug*

Thing is though, well mixed media will sound fine on youtube or soundcloud. Listen to some of Armin's tracks on youtube and they sound fantastic. (Although they're "mastered")

Yeah, that was the main problem I was having; getting it at a good volume. Its too low at some parts and too high on others. I wish I had some better headphones cause I think my terrible ones are killing me on this . Thanks for the help

quote:

Originally posted by solitonbeam Yeah, that was the main problem I was having; getting it at a good volume. Its too low at some parts and too high on others. I wish I had some better headphones cause I think my terrible ones are killing me on this . Thanks for the help

Np. Also, what are you trying to get up to volume? If it's the entire track, you may try a multi-band compressor + EQ on the master channel and fiddle with it. (Assuming that your mix doesn't pass 0 db)

If it's an individual sound that you want louder...I find that the best way to achieve it, is to make everything else quieter .

If you're using FL, you can use maximus to act as your 3-band compressor, maximizer, limiter and EQ all at the same time. (I try not to use limiters, but some sounds need soft clipping)

Hope that helped and gl with the track

quote:

Originally posted by theterran Np. Also, what are you trying to get up to volume? If it's the entire track, you may try a multi-band compressor + EQ on the master channel and fiddle with it. (Assuming that your mix doesn't pass 0 db) If it's an individual sound that you want louder...I find that the best way to achieve it, is to make everything else quieter . If you're using FL, you can use maximus to act as your 3-band compressor, maximizer, limiter and EQ all at the same time. (I try not to use limiters, but some sounds need soft clipping) Hope that helped and gl with the track

So basically, I shouldnt have the song pass 0 db? Seems I still have some work ahead of me .

quote:

Originally posted by solitonbeam So basically, I shouldnt have the song pass 0 db? Seems I still have some work ahead of me .

I would seek out sites that offer mixing advice. Here's a good one that only took a few seconds to google. Your mixes will benefit greatly from them if you can apply it correctly.

(None of your individual channels should even pass 0 db)

Smart use of a compressor can also bring a sound up in volume without clipping it. Hope this helps as well

http://www.tweakheadz.com/perfect_mix.html