Mixing and Mastering Issue

[Zerbexian]

Hey guys, I have a problem with a song I'm working on, I haven't noticed it so much until now, but the song doesn't sound very clear, and I know it has something to do with mixing or mastering.

The problem is that it doesn't sound very clear (as mentioned), and the synths / wobbles sounds kind of "bassy" (that's without me having a sub bass added yet)

I will link the song in this thread, so people can listen and hopefully help, I have turned down the volume on the drop part, because I have another problem aswell.

The second problem is that when I add synths and wobbles to my drop, the beat becomes kind of lost. I have sidechained the channels, and I have used a limiter, I can still hear the beat good enough, but if I don't turn down the volume drastically, it takes away the punchiness of the Snare, and I like a punchy heavy snare.

Here's the song, I hope someone can help ^^

Soundcloud

Zerbexian

[mthrfnk]

Hey guys, I have a problem with a song I'm working on, I haven't noticed it so much until now, but the song doesn't sound very clear, and I know it has something to do with mixing or mastering.

The problem is that it doesn't sound very clear (as mentioned), and the synths / wobbles sounds kind of "bassy" (that's without me having a sub bass added yet)

I will link the song in this thread, so people can listen and hopefully help, I have turned down the volume on the drop part, because I have another problem aswell.

The second problem is that when I add synths and wobbles to my drop, the beat becomes kind of lost. I have sidechained the channels, and I have used a limiter, I can still hear the beat good enough, but if I don't turn down the volume drastically, it takes away the punchiness of the Snare, and I like a punchy heavy snare.

Here's the song, I hope someone can help ^^

Soundcloud

Zerbexian

One main thing to consider is EQ'ing. Make a note of the main frequencies of your kick and snare - now notch out these frequencies on your bass and synths, but not so agressively that you lose impact.

If you're sidechaining, perhaps consider twekaing your settings (attack/release/threshold etc) to be slightly more aggressive.

Another tip I follow is mix as you make - mix all your components roughly as you progress (and don't neglect stereo imaging), it makes the final mixdown a lot easier.

Finally one thing I have been messing with lately (although I'm not sure it's a "correct" technique) is routing my main synths to a bus and my main drums to a bus, mixing them so the individual busses sound good, and then routing both these to a final bus where I've been applying some plugins (FerricTDS and Density mkii) to "glue" the busses and then a multiband compressor (literally using a "General" preset lightl) to top everything off. Obviously this is then routed to the master, where I have some generic mastering going on in the form of iZotope which enhances the EQ and dynamics of the final track.

As I say - I came up with this myself through playing around, it could be right or it could technically be a horrendous technique to use but I've found with certain things it can really level out your stuff.

[Zerbexian]

I have EQ'ed the Snare up some Hz, to make it sound a bit sharper or more punchy or what i should call it, and I also set the attack and release down to minimum with a compressor, I sidechained the snare and kicks to the main basslines and i used a limiter so it wont peek.

I have tried lots of different things, and I didn't quite understand everything you wrote >.< I'm using FL studio and I've been making music for 7 months, any easier way to explain? :>

[mthrfnk]

I have EQ'ed the Snare up some Hz, to make it sound a bit sharper or more punchy or what i should call it, and I also set the attack and release down to minimum with a compressor, I sidechained the snare and kicks to the main basslines and i used a limiter so it wont peek.

I have tried lots of different things, and I didn't quite understand everything you wrote >.< I'm using FL studio and I've been making music for 7 months, any easier way to explain? :>

Okay I use FL too that should make things easier to explain (I've only been producing properly for like 6 months too btw, but I've been messing with FL for close to a year).

EQ'ing the drums is good - but EQ your synths too. For example your snare hits at 200Hz and your kick hits at 100HZ. Now use the parametric EQ on your synths/basses and experiment with putting little dips at these frequencies (like in this picture http://www.image-line.com/support/FLHel ... EQ2_80.jpg at band number 2 and number 7)

You mentioned using a limiter and comp for sidechaining, I personally use just FL Limiter (I think this explains basically what I do http://flskins.com/tutorials/2-ways-sidechain-fl-studio). If you have FL Limiter on your master channel btw, take it off.

Now as for explaining the routing stuff:
This is from a track I'm working on

I've routed all the drums to another channel I've called "Drum Bus", to to this select your Kick or Snare channel then select the little arrow on the bus channel and unselect it on the master (like I've circled), you could leave the master one selected if you wanted to mix the Dry/Wet effects of the drum bus but I don't since it got a bit messy.

I've done the same thing for my synths too. So now I have just two main channels - drums and synths, and each of these are mixed well (like I mute everything but the drums and mix only the drums and then mute everything but the synths and mix them). I also have some light compression on these channels and an instance of Density Mkii.

I then route these channels (using the same method as above) to a another channel where I apply the plugins FerricTDS and Density mkii, both are free - go download them and try out the bus glue presets to start you off. Finally I place another instance of Multiband Compressor on the channel but only have it lightly compressing. This all goes to the master channel, where I usually use PSPWarmer and iOzone iZotope to "master" my tracks.

I hope this is a little clearer, and as I said before I kind of just made this up, it might not be "technically correct" , one main reason I do this is that you can effectively mix the main elements of your track using only 2 faders, providing everything is already pre-mixed.

[Zerbexian]

Ok, I have checked out some of this stuff now, and it's a lot more helpful when I see u are using FL studio aswell. But something I don't understand with The Parametic EQ 2 is which of these numbers modulates the Hz of the channel you chose? I'm certain it has something to do with HPF and LPF, but I have no experience in that area, and know nothing about it. Also, when I added the sidechain limiter to my synths, my snare got distorted.

I also added the EQ on the synths / basslines, and I didn't get it to sound very well :/ Thanks for your help though, Keep it coming if you have more information :>

[Dy-nasty]

When you add a limiter it often will distort if you use it too harshly. In other words if you push it too much rather than making the sound "louder" it will make the sound louder but more distorted as well. When using a limiter if there is a on/off switch use it to compare before and after while constantly adjusting its controls. Ideally you want the loudest signal with the least amount of distortion. Sometimes it can be the limited too. If you have more than one limiter try a different one. Which lmiter are you using? Also, normally I would not add a limiter to synths alone unless its a fat wobble. If you add a limiter to too many synths then (to my understanding) and I figured out this the hard way, you will kill your headroom.
Basically for your limiter question just mess with the threshold. Adjust it up and down find. find an area where it sounds nice with no distortion. Then compare signals by turning the limiter off. Then judge if it is better or worse.

[mthrfnk]

Ok, I have checked out some of this stuff now, and it's a lot more helpful when I see u are using FL studio aswell. But something I don't understand with The Parametic EQ 2 is which of these numbers modulates the Hz of the channel you chose?

The top set of dials on the right modulates the frequency, the bottom set modulates the bandwidth i.e. the width of the band, if you're removing frequencies you want this to be small.

Also, when I added the sidechain limiter to my synths, my snare got distorted.

Sidechaning your synths shouldn't affect your snare unless you've overally compressed it or EQ'd it too much, in which case the sidechaining will allow you to hear the snare more and consequently hear the distortion more.

[mthrfnk]

Basically for your limiter question just mess with the threshold. Adjust it up and down find. find an area where it sounds nice with no distortion. Then compare signals by turning the limiter off. Then judge if it is better or worse.

I agree but if he's using the FL Limiter solely for sidechaining it shouldn't be introducing distortion if he's doing it right - it should only be ducking the sound. OP, I'd suggest reading through the limiting tutorial I posted above just to double check you've got FL Limiter set up right.

[Zerbexian]

I was just using the fruity limiter, I got it working pretty well now, still kind of unclear "bassy" basslines, and something wierd happened.
When I have the limiter chained to my snare (the snare will have its own channel for now), the first snare of the 8 bars is distorted, and not the second one, even though I turn the chain all the way down ..

[mthrfnk]

I was just using the fruity limiter, I got it working pretty well now, still kind of unclear "bassy" basslines, and something wierd happened.

Try adding and EQ to the basslines and removing some frequencies from 500Hz to 3500Hz whilst the sound is playing to see if you can remove any that sound muddy. Also are you layering with a sub?

When I have the limiter chained to my snare (the snare will have its own channel for now), the first snare of the 8 bars is distorted, and not the second one, even though I turn the chain all the way down ..

Are you using 2 FL Limiters - one for the kick sidechain and one for the snare? Also what effects do you have on the snare?

[Zerbexian]

I use 1 limiter for kick and 1 for snare yes, on the snare I have a fruity reverb and parametic EQ 2

[Zerbexian]

How do I remove frequencies? I'm not very familiar with the Parametic EQ.

I don't even know the difference between the numbered "buttons" -.- besides the Hz though, but as far as I remember, the Hz doesn't change if you drag them up or down, just sideways, and then they overlap and stuff, I have no idea about that plugin, really....

[Zerbexian]

bump