I need tips on mixing/mastering my track better!

[T-Flex]

I've made a remix, I need help to mix & master it so that it sounds cleaner, less cluttered, more sexy, and LOUDER! I really need suggestions and tips on how to make this happen. Mixing and mastering has always been a challenge for me.

I made the track in Logic Pro 9, and for the mixing process I just used EQ's and levels (and limiters and compressors here and there but not on everything) to get all the tracks blending well together in the way that I like. Then I bounced it (my Stereo Output volume was down to about -6db so that it would stay out of the red) into a 24bit WAV file and made sure normalize was checked.

Then I opened the 24bit WAV file into Logic again and did the mastering. I used a Linear Phase EQ, Multipressor, Adaptive Limiter, and then a Multimeter (following this tutorial http://www.primeloops.com/pdf/uploaded/ ... tering.pdf). The settings I used are shown in the image below.





I've uploaded two versions of the track: Unmastered & Mastered. Please check both out and give me suggestions on how to do a better job and make the mixing & mastering better.

Unmastered - http://www.mediafire.com/?7tc26xw11uch6ra
Mastered - http://www.mediafire.com/?82zl6bxx7vxx0xw

THANKS!

[paradigm001]

you should put them both on soundcloud to make things easier.

[T-Flex]

I tried but Soundcloud had some copyright issue with the vocals. So you'll just have to bear with me, sorry man.

[paradigm001]

Only thing I can say is the top end of the synth could be eqed more. Everything else sounds mastered fine. The best thing you can do is to experiment with different settings. Your not that far off though. It sounds good.

[Be-1ne]

This should be in the production forum.

Topic moved.

[RandoRando]

I tried but Soundcloud had some copyright issue with the vocals. So you'll just have to bear with me, sorry man.

??? millions of people upload songs with copyrighted vocals, as long as your not trying to sell it it isnt a problem.

[Disco Nutter]

Not really, SoundCloud takes down some remixes/bootlegs.

[RandoRando]

Not really, SoundCloud takes down some remixes/bootlegs.

hmmm, i would only think it would be on more popular pages that have more traffic.

[Disco Nutter]

Well, I think they don't let you upload something that might be copyrighted, but how they label it as such is beyond be, I haven't really looked into it. I don't think it it has much to do with how much traffic you get.

Anyway, on topic, I haven't heard the track, but that 10db 500hz dip looks a bit strange to me.

[T-Flex]

Yeah, the copyright issue frustrates me especially since I've heard many remixes/mashups on SoundCloud that have copyrighted vocals (for example, AFSheen's remix of Katy Perry's E.T. song.) I don't understand how those are legal and allowed to be on SoundCloud but my remix isn't.

I guess I'm just being too hard on myself, but when I compare my track to another professional one, there is a noticeable difference in the quality of the sound. Other songs sound crisper, louder, and cleaner.

[eldoogle]

Wait, is normalizing the right thing to do? I thought that brought up all the levels and wasn't right for mastering. Maybe for a quick master..

[Teknicyde]

Wait, is normalizing the right thing to do? I thought that brought up all the levels and wasn't right for mastering. Maybe for a quick master..

normalizing increases the highest peak in the audio to 0db, and brings everything else up with it. Doesnt change the sound at all, just turns the gain up to 0.

[MikkiFunk]

normalizing increases the highest peak in the audio to 0db, and brings everything else up with it. Doesnt change the sound at all, just turns the gain up to 0.

Err, yes, exactly, whereby completely defeating the point of bouncing out at '-6dB'. You don't want to normalize a track before it is mastered, otherwise it will have no headroom. That is the point of bouncing out at a low level.

Next time you bounce, uncheck the normalize box. That is what PART OF the mastering process will do anyway, bring up the peaks of the audio to 0dB e.g. compression and limiting.

[jrisreal]

normalizing increases the highest peak in the audio to 0db, and brings everything else up with it. Doesnt change the sound at all, just turns the gain up to 0.

Err, yes, exactly, whereby completely defeating the point of bouncing out at '-6dB'. You don't want to normalize a track before it is mastered, otherwise it will have no headroom. That is the point of bouncing out at a low level.

Next time you bounce, uncheck the normalize box. That is what PART OF the mastering process will do anyway, bring up the peaks of the audio to 0dB e.g. compression and limiting.

Isn't the purpose of bouncing at -6 dB to prevent clipping? If so, normalizing does not defeat that purpose...but you are right, the mastering engineer can normalize it for you.

[sunny_b_uk]

mastering engineers and mixing engineers definitely dont use normalizing on a whole song so you shudnt either..
how are u supposed to add things like saturation, eq etc to sweeten up the mix when its hitting at 0db? even stereo imaging can increase the decibels when widening stuff.
thats the main reason it needs to be at -3db to -6db.
leave out the normalising.. some DAWs arent even precise enough to check the peaks on a microscopic level so dont do it.

[MikkiFunk]

mastering engineers and mixing engineers definitely dont use normalizing on a whole song so you shudnt either..
how are u supposed to add things like saturation, eq etc to sweeten up the mix when its hitting at 0db? even stereo imaging can increase the decibels when widening stuff.
thats the main reason it needs to be at -3db to -6db.
leave out the normalising.. some DAWs arent even precise enough to check the peaks on a microscopic level so dont do it.

Thank you!!! I would of explained myself why you SHOULDN'T normalize tracks before you have them mastered but I would simply be repeating myself *bangs head against wall

Isn't the purpose of bouncing at -6 dB to prevent clipping? If so, normalizing does not defeat that purpose...but you are right, the mastering engineer can normalize it for you.

No, the purpose of bouncing at -6dB is to provide the ME with sufficient amounts of headroom to apply EQ, compression, limiting etc, without it clipping. Normalizing the file would leave them with no headroom. No ME would ever normalize a song. Doing so would only push the highest peak to 0dB (and that might be an unwanted peak too), instead of bringing all the peaks to 0dB. That's why. Anyway, no 'well mastered' song will hit 0dB all the way through (that would leave us with NO DYNAMICS whatsoever, and sound shit). Instead you can just apply compression to catch the highest peak, bring it down, and tame the overall level & make it more consistent. The compression and limiting part of the mastering process is essentially normalizing the recording, albeit in a much more thorough and useful way, and with a better result.

[lysergene]

I've just posted a fairly lengthy reply here, outlining what I do for mixing and mastering - more on the mastering side though:


http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.p ... 9&start=20

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