Special VST?

[dj2slo]

Is there a vst out there that will just cut these spikes out of my mix, like if I could just cut everything above 0.7. I'm just starting on a new tune and I'm trying to get the drums and bass to work together before I move on to progression and melody, and this snare is being tricky. If I turn it down it looses impact and disappears in the mix kinda, but if I leave it where it's at I have these spikes, but everything sounds great. I just want to cut the spikes out without having to compress or limit anything, cause it will just make the loop sound weak.

[Box Head]

Compression or limiting should not make your drums sound weak if you use it properly. What settings are you using on the compressor and/or limiter?

[dj2slo]

Compression or limiting should not make your drums sound weak if you use it properly. What settings are you using on the compressor and/or limiter?

I've tried compressing [lightly 2:1, -4 threshold]the two together on a bus [bass and drums] and it [in some sort of way] changes the sound of the loop I have going, and I have to start lowering and raising levels again to make everything sound right again. I guess I could just compress the snare, but again it's gonna change the sound a bit... I don't want anything to change except how the snare and other random areas are peaking. I hate limiting.. and I don't really care for alot of compression outside of it's place [My master channel only has a spectrum analyzer in the effects chain]

[Box Head]

Well compression does change the sound yes, how drastic are these changes you're talking about? Can you describe them in any more detail than just "it will change the sound a bit". And light limiting would help reduce those spikes and have very little to practically no effect on the sound if you use a good transparent limiter.

[dj2slo]

Well compression does change the sound yes, how drastic are these changes you're talking about? Can you describe them in any more detail than just "it will change the sound a bit". And light limiting would help reduce those spikes and have very little to practically no effect on the sound if you use a good transparent limiter.

Alright when I compress, it over compresses the drums [which are already fat sounding hits] so I have to lower the levels, so it makes the drums sound over compressed and weak because I have to turn them down. The effect it has on the bass is that pumping that happens [even lightly compressed?] in between drum hits. Here's what it sounds like currently http://www.mediafire.com/?wttd9s95hu2ujnk... Really wanna get this sorted out so I can get on with the rest of the tune haha. Also trying to see if anyone wants to collab , I havent worked on anything in over a year and I'm eager to get some tunes out again.

[Box Head]

Alright when I compress, it over compresses the drums [which are already fat sounding hits] so I have to lower the levels, so it makes the drums sound over compressed and weak because I have to turn them down. The effect it has on the bass is that pumping that happens [even lightly compressed?] in between drum hits. Here's what it sounds like currently http://www.mediafire.com/?wttd9s95hu2ujnk... Really wanna get this sorted out so I can get on with the rest of the tune haha. Also trying to see if anyone wants to collab , I havent worked on anything in over a year and I'm eager to get some tunes out again.

I'm only listening on laptop speakers but it doesn't sound like anything is being to squashed? I put it in Audacity to look at the waveform to double check and nothing seems to be over compressed at all... Are you sure you sent me the compressed version?

[dj2slo]

Oh sorry yeah this is how it sounds uncompressed. I really don't want to change anything from what it is now. It seems like the slightest bit of compression or limiting I throw on throws the whole mix off, and I really like where its at right now.

[Box Head]

Oh sorry yeah this is how it sounds uncompressed. I really don't want to change anything from what it is now. It seems like the slightest bit of compression or limiting I throw on throws the whole mix off, and I really like where its at right now.

What's the point in sending the uncompressed one? That won't help solve anything. It is clearly something your doing wrong, so I suggest you watch/read some tutorials on compression and basic mixing techniques. There is no way compression settings that light would ruin the sound as much as your suggesting unless something has gone seriously wrong somewhere in the chain.

[CaveLvl]

Man no lie snare is sittin pretty. Sounds sweet on krk 5's, that staticky electrical noise sample on the other hand... But thats just me. Nice work though!! Maybe isolate snare sweet spot on EQ , boost a hair than turn level down? Maybe compress a certain bandwidth on snare , those peaks are sharp on your graph but I like a loud snare haha

[dj2slo]

Oh sorry yeah this is how it sounds uncompressed. I really don't want to change anything from what it is now. It seems like the slightest bit of compression or limiting I throw on throws the whole mix off, and I really like where its at right now.

What's the point in sending the uncompressed one? That won't help solve anything. It is clearly something your doing wrong, so I suggest you watch/read some tutorials on compression and basic mixing techniques. There is no way compression settings that light would ruin the sound as much as your suggesting unless something has gone seriously wrong somewhere in the chain.

I'm not doing anything wrong dude, I'm just trying to figure out a different way of taking care of my peaks besides compressing or limiting the drums and bass, because I don't like the way it treats the mix. It's too aggressive sounding and and this is a minimal sounding tune... Anyways I was just looking for a magic vst that doesn't exist, blah blah blah I'll just compress the snare alone and deal with the sound change. Thanks for the help I guess? [although I don't really think you know enough to help me in the first place, despite your condescending response to my question]

[dj2slo]

Man no lie snare is sittin pretty. Sounds sweet on krk 5's, that staticky electrical noise sample on the other hand... But thats just me. Nice work though!! Maybe isolate snare sweet spot on EQ , boost a hair than turn level down? Maybe compress a certain bandwidth on snare , those peaks are sharp on your graph but I like a loud snare haha

Thanks man it sounds great on my monitors too, but yeah that snare is a tricky one haha. I think I'll just have to compress it to get the results I'm looking for.

[erratech]

What about just using it on the snare or drumbuss by itself. If limiting isnt giving you the desired result you could try a transient shaper (im on holidays so cant check the name of free ones but there are some) or use a softclipper such as GVST GClip to clip the transient. Hope that helps

[dj2slo]

What about just using it on the snare or drumbuss by itself. If limiting isnt giving you the desired result you could try a transient shaper (im on holidays so cant check the name of free ones but there are some) or use a softclipper such as GVST GClip to clip the transient. Hope that helps

Hmm, a transient shaper might be the one. I'll give that a try and see if it helps out any. Tomorrow when I can work on it again I'll try a couple of things. Maybe just limiting or compressing the snare alone will work without changing the sound in any way. I didn't have any of these peaks before I made the notes for the sub bass extend past the snare to the next kick [sounds better that way]. If all else fails I'm thinking I'll just automate the volume of the sub bass to duck a little when it gets to the snare.

[erratech]

Also have you tried cutting the bottom off the snare, might have lots of low freqs that you cant hear which are interfering with the mix?

[Cornbreadddd]

@dj2slo if the tune your speaking of is the one in your signature, it actually sounds great through my ears. Although I'm new to producing (just finished my 1st tune, check the Finshed Tunes thread if you'd like to hear it and give me some pointers because I really need them, its around 8 minutes long though, on the melodic/soulful tip.)

But I'm really feeling that tune man, sounds great. Nice job.

[Volatile Psycle]

A combination of some subtle soft-clipping/saturation and fast limiting directly on the snare could help.

or rather than use broadband compression, use a multi-band comp/limiter as you should be able to pin point the peaky transient and control it better without changing to the carcture(sp) of the whole snare.

[dj2slo]

Also have you tried cutting the bottom off the snare, might have lots of low freqs that you cant hear which are interfering with the mix?

I have it high passed @ 200hz so you would think it wouldn't interfere with the sub, but its still fighting with it in the mix haha. At this point I'm thinking I'll just have to automate the level on my sub channel to make room for the snare when it gets to the middle of the measure.

@dj2slo if the tune your speaking of is the one in your signature, it actually sounds great through my ears. Although I'm new to producing (just finished my 1st tune, check the Finshed Tunes thread if you'd like to hear it and give me some pointers because I really need them, its around 8 minutes long though, on the melodic/soulful tip.)

But I'm really feeling that tune man, sounds great. Nice job.

Hey man thanks alot, that's actually pretty old, made it in early 2010. Pretty much the last thing I made before I took a break. The tune I'm talking about isn't even done yet, it's just drums and bass at the moment, but I'm trying to get the two to work together nicely before I move on further along into it. I'll look for your tune and give it a listen, biggups on the first one done!

[dj2slo]

A combination of some subtle soft-clipping/saturation and fast limiting directly on the snare could help.

or rather than use broadband compression, use a multi-band comp/limiter as you should be able to pin point the peaky transient and control it better without changing to the chacture(sp) of the whole snare.

I was actually considering saturating the snare a bit to take some of the edge off, but I wouldn't be able to do enough to fix the problem while maintaining the snappy feel of the hit. I went in cubase and adjusted the attack by splitting the track right before the snare hit in each measure and using that fade in feature. It got rid of a lot of the peaks but when the snare hits it's still clashing with something [the tail of the bassline] further along and causing it to peak towards the end of the hit.

[RandoRando]

wouldnt cutting everything above .7 also mess with the sound of the snare? thats probably where the snappyness is coming from.

[Volatile Psycle]

A combination of some subtle soft-clipping/saturation and fast limiting directly on the snare could help.

or rather than use broadband compression, use a multi-band comp/limiter as you should be able to pin point the peaky transient and control it better without changing to the chacture(sp) of the whole snare.

I was actually considering saturating the snare a bit to take some of the edge off, but I wouldn't be able to do enough to fix the problem while maintaining the snappy feel of the hit. I went in cubase and adjusted the attack by splitting the track right before the snare hit in each measure and using that fade in feature. It got rid of a lot of the peaks but when the snare hits it's still clashing with something [the tail of the bassline] further along and causing it to peak towards the end of the hit.

i only gave that advice based your original post, haven't listened to the clip yet as I'm at work.
All seems a bit strange though.