Help: Mixdown/Mastering Ableton 7

blunt-dmo · Post by **blunt-dmo** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:20 pm

Good afternoon peeps.
Im new here as you can probably tell by my post count and registration date.
I have had a quick search about and read differing topics in this forum including the "bible" but cannot find anything too solid about it

ive been producing for quite a while, mainly hiphop using Reason 3/4 for the loops /layout, Acid 5 for the vocal laydown and mixdown then sound forge for tweeks.
thing is its relatively easy to get a tight sound from reason to acid as the levels just seemed to be "right"

Im into dubstep and created a track using Ableton live 7 due to the amount of power it gives with vst's and built in plugins/effects
however I find myself struggling on the mixdown having alot of bass.

i cant afford great monitors atm but iv not been this irritated before lol

if it helps i have got soundforge 8 and Waves mecury.

basically what im asking is: Does anyone know of any good/solid guides and techniques for mixdown and mastering using Ableton7/soundforge with the plugins i got?

sorry if this is asked too much and is a bit of a n00b question
Peace
Blunt

Disco Nutter · Post by **Disco Nutter** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:24 pm

Are you asking about techniques using your soft or are you asking how to get rid of that excessive bass?

Render different versions and listen to them on a lot of systems and pick the one that translates best on most of them for a beginning

whineo · Post by **whineo** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:29 pm

Mixdowns have a lot of bass

have you high passed all the elements that do not have bass to them?

If you have... then logic would suggest you try maby lowering the level of the bass (if you are talking about the bass part and not low frequencies in general)

if it sounds too quiet then compression will squeeze more volume out of it without pushing the levels any higher

monitors help

eq correctly, cover the spectral range with high quality sounds and start off by using compression to control peaking sounds. .. practice

blunt-dmo · Post by **blunt-dmo** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:30 pm

Johnny Beat wrote:Are you asking about techniques using your soft or are you asking how to get rid of that excessive bass?

Render different versions and listen to them on a lot of systems and pick the one that translates best on most of them for a beginning

thats for the rapid responce fella

well both tbh

maily techniques as i only started using ableton when i created this track
its not a bad track, nothing overly complicated.
i do test the mix downs but but no matter what i cant get it right (tested in car, mp3 player with headphones, pc headphones, my floorstanders with a CA a4 amp)
tbh i dont know much on how to eq in ableton nor do i know how to master or get near a finished product. i like learning so wanted to get some good direction.
i always end up with my shizzle getting too quiet after mix down with too much bass but then if i lower the volume of the bass's use then you cant here them that well and kills the vibe of the track

dilemas

EDIT:
thanks whineo

djake · Post by **djake** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:51 pm

the ableton EQ is not the best tbh....its good for general EQing but there are better and some that offer more options for more precise EQing

whineo · Post by **whineo** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:12 pm

djake wrote:the ableton EQ is not the best tbh....its good for general EQing but there are better and some that offer more options for more precise EQing

you know what, i used to think that - but im using it more and more for making those precise resonance cuts
to be fair the native plugs on Live are really underrated.
reverb needs a makeover tho

macc · Post by **macc** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:20 pm

Turn down your bass. Your monitors are bass-light, hence you feel the need to turn it up more in the mix. Don't

Listen to lots of music of the appropriate style and get a feel for how your speakers and room respond down there. Lots of listening and lots of practice is the only way.

It does beg the question though - if you can afford Waves mercury, why not buy some better speakers?

blunt-dmo · Post by **blunt-dmo** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:05 pm

Macc wrote:Turn down your bass. Your monitors are bass-light, hence you feel the need to turn it up more in the mix. Don't

Listen to lots of music of the appropriate style and get a feel for how your speakers and room respond down there. Lots of listening and lots of practice is the only way.

It does beg the question though - if you can afford Waves mercury, why not buy some better speakers?

you shouldnt ask that question lol.

i have a friend in the business

the speakers are not bad, just not designed for monitoring and the amp ive had for years
the Amp is a Cambridge audio a4 and these are the speakers but in black
http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct ... MB-S70-BLK

the sound is a little loose on them and my room is not great for accoustics.

i listen to alot of music

im just not used to ableton and dont know how to work it well hense wanting the tips

djake · Post by **djake** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:19 pm

Whineo wrote:
djake wrote:the ableton EQ is not the best tbh....its good for general EQing but there are better and some that offer more options for more precise EQing
you know what, i used to think that - but im using it more and more for making those precise resonance cuts
to be fair the native plugs on Live are really underrated.
reverb needs a makeover tho

yes i wasnt saying its total shit

i just dnt fink its to handy during the mixdown process.

the native plugins are great....there gunna be even better in 8!!!!

kidlogic · Post by **kidlogic** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:24 pm

Ive been using ableton for a while now, for everything - production, recording, sequencing, mixdown, "mastering"...

I was having the same problem with them sounding a lil bassy and a lil flat. The solution Ive come up with, which seems to be getting decent results, is to mix the tune down as well as possible and render it with no additional processing on the master out. Then I load the rendered file back into a new session of Live, run it through Ozone3 and tweek it until it sounds as good as I can get it. Substitute Ozone3 for whatever mastering type plugs you have.

blunt-dmo · Post by **blunt-dmo** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 9:41 pm

thanks for the help, im gonna try a few things out

Turn down your bass. Your monitors are bass-light, hence you feel the need to turn it up more in the mix. Don

just done a few tests, its the headphones that are pants

peace
Blunt

puppykicker · Post by **puppykicker** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:51 pm

kidlogic wrote:Ive been using ableton for a while now, for everything - production, recording, sequencing, mixdown, "mastering"...

I was having the same problem with them sounding a lil bassy and a lil flat. The solution Ive come up with, which seems to be getting decent results, is to mix the tune down as well as possible and render it with no additional processing on the master out. Then I load the rendered file back into a new session of Live, run it through Ozone3 and tweek it until it sounds as good as I can get it. Substitute Ozone3 for whatever mastering type plugs you have.

Does that really make a difference? Why not just mix it down as good as possible and then throw ozone on your master channel?

macc · Post by **macc** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:38 am

Even that tiny bit of pseudo-objectivity can make a big difference

puppykicker · Post by **puppykicker** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:22 pm

well then... I guess all I can say is thanks for the tip... i just tried that w/ one of my tracks and it's sounds WAY more full and crispy. It doesn't make sense to me to render out the track and then bring it back to put mastering on it... but the ears don't lie... it's def. sounds way better so... thanks!

PK

pistolpete · Post by **pistolpete** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:56 am

I dont have any monitors yet in my studio which im currently building as we speak but i use Redline Monitor which is a listening, mixing, and mastering tool. It replaces the extreme stereo separation that is characteristic for headphones with the detailed stereo image of near-field monitor speakers.
Then i normally place in the master
SpectraQ - Overall EQ for mastering <great>

then i use a simple freeware plugin for mastering/limiting by KJAERHUS Audio which is what Laidback luke use's and works a treat.

but if your getting too much bass in your tracks you can just drop in ableton 3 Band EQ always works for me or you could even think about droppin down your DB when you DBL click on your track or sample etc..

enjoy

jobbanaught · Post by **jobbanaught** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:58 am

Consider the advice on mixdown levels given in this thread:

http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t ... t=sub+bass

Has improved my mixdowns a lot. If you have the levels right before any mastering processors (i.e.compressors and limiters), your sound will be punchy by itself and you only need very little extra on the master.

zitanb · Post by **zitanb** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:26 am

Really useful thread guys - many thanx.

stappard · Post by **stappard** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:47 am

blunt-dmo wrote:
Johnny Beat wrote: i always end up with my shizzle getting too quiet after mix down with too much bass but then if i lower the volume of the bass's use then you cant here them that well and kills the vibe of the track

EDIT:
thanks whineo

this bit sounds a lot like youve got all your levels too high and the bass is squashing the other sounds.. Read the mixing and mastering thread at the top of page, apply the advice you find there and see if theres an improvement

Help: Mixdown/Mastering Ableton 7

Help: Mixdown/Mastering Ableton 7

Re: Help: Mixdown/Mastering Ableton 7

Re:

Who is online