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Ok so I understand mixing drums and have read the money shot thread.

However....

I just sampled a drum loop from a record, well an mp3.

I've chopped it up and rearranged it so I have my own drum pattern with the sampled drums.

The drums levels sound good as they are from a well produced tune.

So here's my question....

Should I still have my kick around -9 db, I'm guessing yes. But should my snares and hats be lower? Or should they be level as they have already been mixed. I mean obviously I could tweak things here and there.

I imagine everything should be level right? And then I can tweak stuff slighty to fit my bass etc....

Also would you add compression as they probably have been compressed already...

Not wanting to be funny, but you could try using your ears.

I used my ears, it sounds good. I'm just thinking about when I come to export it. Where should my levels be?

If I have it a -9 would it not be -9 db quieter than the original?

justanotherdj wrote:I used my ears, it sounds good. I'm just thinking about when I come to export it. Where should my levels be?

If I have it a -9 would it not be -9 db quieter than the original?

The levels should be whatever your ears tell you they sound nice at
That's what Wub means. There is no magic formula to getting it right. When you mix your tune down is when you can start figuring out roughly what the levels sound good at. If that means it being -9 so some of the other elements sit nicely, so be it. You shouldn't be mixing for volume, you should be mixing for sound and dynamic

It's sounds good whatever level, just obviously sounds quieter when I turn it down.

What I'm really asking is. If I want the drums to sound like they originally did should I even bother turning them down at all? Should I just not keep the sample at it original level?

Sparxy wrote:

justanotherdj wrote:I used my ears, it sounds good. I'm just thinking about when I come to export it. Where should my levels be?

If I have it a -9 would it not be -9 db quieter than the original?

The levels should be whatever your ears tell you they sound nice at
That's what Wub means. There is no magic formula to getting it right. When you mix your tune down is when you can start figuring out roughly what the levels sound good at. If that means it being -9 so some of the other elements sit nicely, so be it. You shouldn't be mixing for volume, you should be mixing for sound and dynamic

Cool thanks

Sorry double post

If you ripped them from an mp3 directly then they are most likely peaking at close to 0db. You have to turn them down or your master channel will clip. The level makes no difference to the sound. If you turn it down, crank your monitors to compensate and mix the other instruments around it. the last thing you should be worried about during mixing is making it loud.

Thanks that's what I needed to know. I thought that was probably the case.

So mastering will bring up the volume once it's mixed right?

What should I do If I want to play my tracks alongside released tracks, before mine get mastered? Just turn up the gain on the dj mixer? Or put a limiter on the master channel untill it's mastered?

justanotherdj wrote:Thanks that's what I needed to know. I thought that was probably the case.

So mastering will bring up the volume once it's mixed right?

What should I do If I want to play my tracks alongside released tracks, before mine get mastered? Just turn up the gain on the dj mixer? Or put a limiter on the master channel untill it's mastered?

Yeah mastering is to bring up the levels. You can read about mastering yourself and do home masters if you like. Or you can pay to have it done professionally. I do my own masters, they will never be as good as the ones i get done by the mastering engineer, no way, but work fine to playing in sets and sending to DJs. For commercial release on my label or if I really like one of my tunes I will send it to the Mastering Engineer.

I use EQ / compression / limiting and Izotope for home mastering. It's about being subtle when applying things on your master, if you think about the way a certain tool effects a track in your tune, it will have that effect x10fold on your master. Like I said, it's rudimentary, but it will sound loud enough and not too shitty, certainly good enough to play out

yep, you can put multiple limiters on the master to get it to a level close to a commercial track. Obviously I'd recommend getting it mastered professionally if you plan on doing anything with it, but a chain of L2s on the mix buss will get you the level you need. The gain knob on the mixer probably won't.

Mersikil wrote:yep, you can put multiple limiters on the master to get it to a level close to a commercial track.

Jesus wept, really? Multiple limiters on the master?

Yes it will allow him to burn a cd with his track to bang in his car and not have to frantically reach for the volume control when Skrillex or somesuch comes on afterwards and blows his head off.

I'm not saying it's correct, but it is a simple solution in that scenario. I personally would not play a track of mine publically on an unfamiliar setup unless someone with better ears/gear than myself (i.e. a ME) had OK'd it.

Thanks for your help.

Yea I was just talking about mixing in my bedroom or at a friends, if I was to ever play it out in a club i'd pay to get it mastered professionally.

justanotherdj wrote:Thanks for your help.

Yea I was just talking about mixing in my bedroom or at a friends, if I was to ever play it out in a club i'd pay to get it mastered professionally.

Not necessarily, you can master it at home and it will sound sick in a club. I play my home masters out all the time, there's nothing wrong with them and they are perfectly loud, they just sound slightly more squashed and less dynamic than a pro with a decent room and high quality hardware. But that's to be expected really.

And to the guy that talked about putting multiple limiters on, that is really not the best way to enhance the volume of your track. Research it properly and get into using EQ, compressors and limiters to bring up the volume of your track. I really like Izotope, it makes it really easy to get the tune sounding loud AND bright. I find it might make your tune sound "Izotopey" but i'm quite happy mastering my tracks using it, and the tools mentioned above to bring out some of the gain in my tunes

One thing I would say is if you are going to start playing your own stuff in clubs, try and test it on the system first so you know what to expect. Ask the club owner / promoter, often they'll be happy to let you and understand. I've dropped my early tunes in clubs, before I knew what I was doing at all really and blown people's faces off with mix issues. I had the benefit of being a resident in a local nightclub, so I was able to get there early or stay late and rinse out all my tunes to check I was happy.

*EDIT* If I recall Izotope Ozone 4 cost me about £120, which isn't bad at all considering the quality of the tools you get. Take a look at the demo if you're interested, they let you use it free for 10 days http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/o ... wnload.asp