Mastering Questions That Still Confuse Me

[SMOR3S]

Audacity

Ya, I don't think car CD players, can play .WAV files ^__^

Lul wut.

Sounds funny right.. For some reason it's not detecting the files on the CD hmm..

Just burn it as an audio CD not data CD... wav files are just a package format for the audio on regular CDs so if burnt/ripped correctly you lose no quality.

Okay ^__^, I haven't used CD's in so long, I forgot I couldn't burn it as data lol..

[SMOR3S]

I think the car speakers were a bad example to test on, cause the sub bass on "DerpBot" is like so over powering, and the claps, sound clicky, and crackly... "Her Final Ending" doesn't sound to bad, but the sub bass is over powering a bit.. Maybe it's cause the car is a Dodge Neon lol w/ stock factory speakers...

They sound okay on my 8323's in my studio, so idk... I'll have to get an old receiver, and try the music on my 8 Ohm Panasonic speakers...

[mthrfnk]

Cars are naturally more subby than normal speakers, but perhaps you should cut the bass a little? If nothing else it'll give you a little more headroom for the rest of the track.

[SMOR3S]

Cars are naturally more subby than normal speakers, but perhaps you should cut the bass a little? If nothing else it'll give you a little more headroom for the rest of the track.

Ya, cause I noticed it over powered the track so much, and made the vocals sound muddy... also my claps are peaking, so I'll turn them down a bit... I haven't EQ'd anything either, do idk if that would make a difference with levels...

[mthrfnk]

Cars are naturally more subby than normal speakers, but perhaps you should cut the bass a little? If nothing else it'll give you a little more headroom for the rest of the track.

Ya, cause I noticed it over powered the track so much, and made the vocals sound muddy... also my claps are peaking, so I'll turn them down a bit... I haven't EQ'd anything either, do idk if that would make a difference with levels...

I'd advise reading a tutorial on EQ'ing. Personally I have an EQ on every channel, sometimes I don't even use them, it's just nice to be able to see the frequencies of the channel - but in general I cut a lot of stuff. On the master I also use Mid/Side EQ.

[alpz]

If you think the sub is overpowering on car speakers, do not by any means play them in a club setting. Your car speakers don't know what sub is compared to a serious system. Car stereos are a good test medium though, as most people listen to music in their cars (just make sure your car doesn't have any weird EQ set up, some stereos have EQ settings built in). Desktop speakers are a good medium, headphones, earbuds, surround sound, test on any and everything you can. If your levels are all over the place, you know you've got work to do. The reason your sub sounds so overbearing in a car is because your headphones aren't as loud and omnipresent and you're turning your sub up too much to correct for that. Listen to other tracks that are comparable and EQ out everything but the sub in them and listen to how loud it is, you'll be surprised.

[SMOR3S]

If you think the sub is overpowering on car speakers, do not by any means play them in a club setting. Your car speakers don't know what sub is compared to a serious system. Car stereos are a good test medium though, as most people listen to music in their cars (just make sure your car doesn't have any weird EQ set up, some stereos have EQ settings built in). Desktop speakers are a good medium, headphones, earbuds, surround sound, test on any and everything you can. If your levels are all over the place, you know you've got work to do. The reason your sub sounds so overbearing in a car is because your headphones aren't as loud and omnipresent and you're turning your sub up too much to correct for that. Listen to other tracks that are comparable and EQ out everything but the sub in them and listen to how loud it is, you'll be surprised.

I cut down the sub by -5db, I'll test them on some stereo speakers.. Thanks :3

The only track I was having issues with was, "DerpBot"... "Her Final Ending" sound great though...

[alpz]

Yeah, it depends on the track. I know I certainly have this problem, the sub on headphones isn't as prominent as other mediums so I tend to turn it up to compensate, and then it's like "wow wtf" on everything else. It seems like a trick of the ear when trying to mix.

[SMOR3S]

Yeah, it depends on the track. I know I certainly have this problem, the sub on headphones isn't as prominent as other mediums so I tend to turn it up to compensate, and then it's like "wow wtf" on everything else. It seems like a trick of the ear when trying to mix.

Ya, bro, like how do I compensate for this, cause during the mix down, that's the whole point, to get the levels sound nice, right?, but taking that track into the real world, it sounds muddy... I had other people listen to it on their KRK 8"s, or or M50's and they say it sounds good, but on normal speakers, or in the car, or w/e, it sounds muddy... I am seriously thinking about paying $100 to have someone do the EQing for me, cause it's driving me mad ^__^

[mthrfnk]

Yeah, it depends on the track. I know I certainly have this problem, the sub on headphones isn't as prominent as other mediums so I tend to turn it up to compensate, and then it's like "wow wtf" on everything else. It seems like a trick of the ear when trying to mix.

Ya, bro, like how do I compensate for this, cause during the mix down, that's the whole point, to get the levels sound nice, right?, but taking that track into the real world, it sounds muddy... I had other people listen to it on their KRK 8"s, or or M50's and they say it sounds good, but on normal speakers, or in the car, or w/e, it sounds muddy... I am seriously thinking about paying $100 to have someone do the EQing for me, cause it's driving me mad ^__^

Use a spectrum analyser to see the real level of the sub. Although obviously getting some monitors or a sub to go with your setup would also help.

[SMOR3S]

Yeah, it depends on the track. I know I certainly have this problem, the sub on headphones isn't as prominent as other mediums so I tend to turn it up to compensate, and then it's like "wow wtf" on everything else. It seems like a trick of the ear when trying to mix.

Ya, bro, like how do I compensate for this, cause during the mix down, that's the whole point, to get the levels sound nice, right?, but taking that track into the real world, it sounds muddy... I had other people listen to it on their KRK 8"s, or or M50's and they say it sounds good, but on normal speakers, or in the car, or w/e, it sounds muddy... I am seriously thinking about paying $100 to have someone do the EQing for me, cause it's driving me mad ^__^

Use a spectrum analyser to see the real level of the sub. Although obviously getting some monitors or a sub to go with your setup would also help.

I have a sub, but it's a home theater sub... I also have like 3 pairs of stereo speakers.. My Sony's have a nice sub speaker in them... I also found someone that would help me with my mix down and mastering, so that's good..

Btw, how are the KRK 5"s for $150 each? I heard the low end is low, to almost nothing, until you get to the 8"... I would like to get a pair of monitors, but not pay anything over $200.. $150 would be good, if I could get 2 for that price...

[goldengrime]

I don't get what's going off in this thread now, are you getting something mastered? Mixed? I was just wondered how much it was costing for either?

[alpz]

Play your mix at different volumes when mixing too, to see if anything gets drowned out or comes forward more than it should. That can give you some idea of if the levels are where they should be.

[jeer]

For christs sake, burn a reference track (a track that you are familiar with, and know how it should sound) along with it, then listen to that first before you listen to your track. It doesn't have to be the same genre or anything. Check yo nuts

[Electric_Head]

^this

Your tracks will generally sound good on your system because you've produced them that way.
At the very least reference your tracks to other tracks and on other systems.

[NinjaEdit]

Audacity

Audacity uses LAME. Actually, a lot of software does.

[skimpi]

Right, can I just ask why you are releasing an EP (of tracks that arent even finished yet) and playing out when you dont even have a clue what you are doing? Shouldnt you like wait until you know a bit about stuff before ploughing full on into them? You dont have to release the first tracks you do, you dont have to take up an offer on a set when you either dont have any gear, or dont really know what you are doing. I mean I'm not you, I dont know how much you know, but you seem to be asking like 10 questions a day, thread after thread, so seem like you dont know that much. Just chill and learn about the stuff, make tracks, then make better ones, practise playing out live until you know your shit down so dont have to ask bare questions before a gig.

[Burgeamon]

For christs sake, burn a reference track (a track that you are familiar with, and know how it should sound) along with it, then listen to that first before you listen to your track. It doesn't have to be the same genre or anything. Check yo nuts

You can also do the same during the mixing stage, I tend to have a track on a channel thats turned off and I'll match the volume of that track to what I'm mixing (to get the volumes the same) then I can just solo that track for comparison. If you wanna get your sub right you could try sticking a low pass filter on your master, stick it at like 150hz and switch between your track and the reference track and compare the balance of the sub and kick to get a good level.

[mthrfnk]

Right, can I just ask why you are releasing an EP (of tracks that arent even finished yet) and playing out when you dont even have a clue what you are doing? Shouldnt you like wait until you know a bit about stuff before ploughing full on into them? You dont have to release the first tracks you do, you dont have to take up an offer on a set when you either dont have any gear, or dont really know what you are doing. I mean I'm not you, I dont know how much you know, but you seem to be asking like 10 questions a day, thread after thread, so seem like you dont know that much. Just chill and learn about the stuff, make tracks, then make better ones, practise playing out live until you know your shit down so dont have to ask bare questions before a gig.

this.

[Phase Down]

Right, can I just ask why you are releasing an EP (of tracks that arent even finished yet) and playing out when you dont even have a clue what you are doing? Shouldnt you like wait until you know a bit about stuff before ploughing full on into them? You dont have to release the first tracks you do, you dont have to take up an offer on a set when you either dont have any gear, or dont really know what you are doing. I mean I'm not you, I dont know how much you know, but you seem to be asking like 10 questions a day, thread after thread, so seem like you dont know that much. Just chill and learn about the stuff, make tracks, then make better ones, practise playing out live until you know your shit down so dont have to ask bare questions before a gig.

this.

this.