Mixing issues with Dnb

[Umea]

hey folks,

i know im in the dubstepforum but in my opinion producing dubstep is quite similar in producing dnb and im about to ask quite general questions about mixing... yeah i already read a huge amount of tutorials and i know how to use an eq etc. but i think my ears are just not made for mixing tracks... (the earwax removal had already been )

Soundcloud

if you listen to this wip you will notice that there is a copping like bass which is not really present in my opinion. it is but i dont know, its not really fitting in the mix. the last tutorial i read were of "dnbscene" and they descriped a 5 step way to mix down dnb. actually i always think that the sound wich is coming out of my daw (ableton in this case) is never the sound wich is coming out of my speakers after i rendered the track.
i tried to mix (dj like mixing) my wip with "heist - the verdict vip" just for fun and i noticed that the track is much louder and clearer then mine. i know there are tons of tutorials on how to mix a clear sound and i already read this thread called "how to get my tracks superloud like zomboy/skrillex etc." but that does not work for me because i always try NEVER to clip the master, so if i do, my waveform looks like other tracks as well but that is not my aim because ... you know clipping is bad in the master ...

the verdict is just a example, every other professional mixed track is like this, i never released a track wich is satisfying me in case of mixing and i just dont know why :S ( again: i read nearly every mixing tutorial in this forum and tons in the internet but i feel like a noob because it never worked for me oO)

that is a screenshot out of traktor. my mix is not clipping, i dont konw if i like the vol levels but they seem okay .. ( thats why i mean my ears are not made for mixing down(listening music too loud is the worst you can do ... ))

any tips?

[Add9]

Well assuming the amplitude scaling is the same for both tracks, it appears you could actually boost the overall volume of your track quite a bit without clipping it anyway... your peaks are much lower than the comparison track so no wonder it sounds quieter.

Also you're saying you don't want to clip the master but can't you just use a limiter? Almost all professionally released tracks are limited to some degree so if you don't do this you'll never achieve the loudness you want.

I should also add that while it may seem at first that limiting and clipping are the same thing they are actually entirely different processes. Clipping the master is generally looked upon as bad because it chops off the top of peaks that exceed 0 dB, producing significant distortion which is usually unwanted. However limiting is completely different, it involves changing the volume of the track to ensure that it will not exceed 0 dB (or wherever you set the threshold). You can get distortion from a limiter too but the source of this distortion is completely different - it occurs when the release time of the limiter is too short, at which point the amplitude corrections caused by the limiter are on the same scale as that of single wave cycles, which results in distortion. Of course if your limiter attack time is too long then it won't act fast enough to prevent the clipping so it's a balancing act.

All this really means is that you can make your track much louder before encountering distortion when using a limiter than you can with clipping.

Also... don't worry about adhering to rules that other people made up. They can serve as guidelines but in the end, make your decisions based on how the result sounds, rather than on what someone else said.

[mks]

The track on the right is limited to shit.