One thing that helped me alot to improve my sound was to look how the lows, mids and highs are balanced in the tracks of "pros"... and the "frequency scheme" often looks the same!

Beginners often emphasize the mids too much... try to use EQs to balance your sound!
Try to work with good samples and use compressors with smart settings - i think, the biggest mistake of beginners is that they use exaggerated settings - too much often destroys the sound!

Cheers,
S-Tune

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quote:

Originally posted by Krispy Kreme I try many ways and still am missing that juice and magic. The pro sound have something that some of us dont have. I think I have some ideas on what may help. Im gonna try everyway possible because I am losing sleep over this. I will report back to you guys if i find out the key.

I think you try to find out how to be an artist. This can't be learned. On the other hand, your sound can be "pro" for a noob, so all is relative.

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quote:

Originally posted by RickyM I was referring to derivative , but would still be good to hear a sample from you as well. And derivative, you don't have to post a sample up because you need advice, you could post it up because I'd like to hear it! Surely one of the best parts of making music is allowing others to hear it...

You are right but I make no excuses for why I haven't done so. Why? There are none and I ain't fooling myself about it. You shouldn't either.

Feel free to ignore me but I guarantee you will just buy 1000s of pounds worth of gear and have nothing to show for it if you don't know what you are doing. Feel free to fool yourself about that fact forever too. Its your loss.

quote:

Originally posted by Derivative Feel free to ignore me but I guarantee you will just buy 1000s of pounds worth of gear and have nothing to show for it if you don't know what you are doing. Feel free to fool yourself about that fact forever too. Its your loss.

Are you directing this at me, or at the forum in general?

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Eh, at anyone who thinks going out and spending 30 grand on analogue and outboard gear is a step towards getting a 'professional' sound.

This, my friend is called 'wishful thinking.'

quote:

Originally posted by Derivative Eh, at anyone who thinks going out and spending 30 grand on analogue and outboard gear is a step towards getting a 'professional' sound. This, my friend is called 'wishful thinking.'

Couldn't agree more. At the end of the day it all comes down to good engineering and being able to hear what the track needs. I have been recording and mixing a lot of non electronic music over the last couple of years. I would say that having a range of good preamps is a lot more critical in those genres than in trance, but even there it's possible to do great mixes with limited gear.

Working with other engineers, I've seen some ridiculous things being done at the mixing stage and done some weird stuff myself, but sometimes it works to think outside the box. The last time someone had me scratching my head was when a friend of mine rerecorded the guitar tracks with a microphone in front of the speakers, compressed the shit out of them, ran them through some reverb, applied some drastic low cut and gently added them with the original guitars! Thing is, that it really worked and added some sparkle that definitely was missing.

To be able to hear what's missing or what is unnecessary and then know what to do about it only comes with experience. For every mix I do, I'm able to work that little bit faster and make things sound a lot better. It's funny listening to mixes done just six months ago that have elements that just make me cringe In these convolution crazy days, approximating that analog sound with convolutions of channel strips and gear is very possible and with Altiverb or another convolution reverb you have access to loads of high end reverb units and real rooms.

Finally, while mastering can definitely help a mix get that final polish it is by no means a mix saviour. The last rock track I did was mastered by a guy in London that has mastered Kylie Minogue, The Killers, Squarepusher and other big names, so I can only assume that he knows his shit. While the track definitely improved sound wise, the difference is quite subtle. At that stage it's all about balancing frequencies and sort out overall dynamics to get it as loud as other commercial releases. If the kick sounds shit there's very often not much if anything at all you can do about it in mastering. Oh well, sorry for rambling, just thought I'd share my view on the matter.

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the 5 years was just a hint that you won't get a pro sound in a few weeks/months/years..

but the pro sound really lies in the mixing. (especially volume balancing and eqing) you can get a very decent sound even with poor sounding synths. it's just about the right mix to get it tight!

im sure youd get the pro sound by buying pro gear

You can also run like an Olympic sprinter if you wear the right shoes, and become a brilliant physicist solely by having access to the best lab equipment.

Right?

quote:

Originally posted by thecYrus the 5 years was just a hint that you won't get a pro sound in a few weeks/months/years.. but the pro sound really lies in the mixing. (especially volume balancing and eqing) you can get a very decent sound even with poor sounding synths. it's just about the right mix to get it tight!

This is pretty much the right answer,mixing itselve is a difficult thing to master and loads of people are having trouble with this,however the more experience you gain when it comes to balancing volume,eq,compression,sounddesign etc.(and all this will come in time if you're persistent enough) the better your mixes will become and the more "pro" you will sound.I suggest you get a pair of decent monitor speakers (if you don't have them allready) and in time you will learn how to sound more "pro".

the pro gear obviously with some knowledge of what you are doing but assuming you know what you are doing,pro gear will help.

just go into any studio or ask any artist who has had success and ask them what gear they use. you may not sound like them but at least it will be close.

Yup good monitors are especially important to improve your mixing skills..My production & mixes improved a lot once i moved on from KRK Rokits to Dynaudio BM6A's..

As for how to get the pro sound well that comes with time but some good practices are:

Making sure you high pass all the sounds in your projects..You won't have good bass until you get rid of all the bass in your other sounds & similarly your synths won't sound sharp & clear if there's too much low end in them..

Group together and compress/eq your percussion, hats, synths etc..This often helps everything sit together much better..