How do you guys/gals eq and master?

[KrisSumara]

Well I was listening to some of the songs in the audio portal and well, diffrent people have there unique sounds when they render there final product. I tend to add so many effects in that my computer just explodes and when I render it dry it sounds plain and bad, and when its in the middle it still sounds messy.

The questions is, is it better to add a lot of effects in, minimal amount of effects or in the middle? and if so, how?

[InGenius]

Let your instruments breathe, I say. I add effects to carve a rough sound into a polished sound, but I always have a goal in mind before starting. As for the final mixdown, alot of that polish you hear is experience at mixing and the ability to balance across the EQ range, which alot of newer producers simply do not have and can't understand until they learn the basics.

[EmperorCharlemagne]

It's a general rule that if you just jam effects in without rhyme or reason, it will sound like shit. Less is more in some case.

As InGenius said, I let my instruments do the talking, and then I add in effects to make it sound slightly different or take out the rough or shitty/fake quality from my samples.

[KrisSumara]

Thats what I tend to do with my work, I get a mental picture of the song and try to build form there. As for the mastering it gets tricky, I always try to add a few reverbs/delay's and such here and there, but I leave it kind of dry because too much will make the sound stand out ever more and just sound bad.

The problem I have is the actual mix, I try to get my kick and loops playing at a good volume with there effects and then when add my chords or something the kick is still kicking and my loop is just gone, i try to volume everything good and in the render the loop is still gone, for example, I render a kick/loop combo and i hear everything I need to hear, I render it with the chords or something I don't hear half of my loop and the kick is still kicking good.

[nathanallenpinard]

Make sure to learn how to mix before mastering. It'll benefit your master in the long run.

[Offgore]

At 11/8/09 04:36 PM, djsumara wrote: Thats what I tend to do with my work, I get a mental picture of the song and try to build form there. As for the mastering it gets tricky, I always try to add a few reverbs/delay's and such here and there, but I leave it kind of dry because too much will make the sound stand out ever more and just sound bad.

Stop getting mastering and mixing mixed up. Mastering is different form mixing.

You are mixing - as in leveling volumes and EQing lows, mids, and highs.

To make EQing easier for me, I try and keep the bass MONO and have the melodic synths/pads STEREO. It helps keeps the mix clean.

[CWN]

At 11/8/09 04:55 PM, nathanallenpinard wrote: Make sure to learn how to mix before mastering. It'll benefit your master in the long run.

...and make sure to learn what mastering actually IS.

[loansindi]

There's more than a page of potentially helpful discussion in this thread

[pr0ded]

you need to figure out a more efficient way

like rendering samples with effects on it,

instead of having all the effects loaded up wasting processing power

so instead of spending 5 hours making samples i'll do it in 5 seconds with renoise

[nathanallenpinard]

At 11/8/09 09:18 PM, pr0ded wrote: you need to figure out a more efficient way

like rendering samples with effects on it,

instead of having all the effects loaded up wasting processing power

so instead of spending 5 hours making samples i'll do it in 5 seconds with renoise

What are you talking about?

[pr0ded]

adding effects to samples

[Chozz]

I run through and play the song many a times. I pick out the best characteristics of the sounds, low mid high, and boost those certain tones. Then I cut off the ranges that aren't really needed or make not that much difference, and Voila!

[Box-Killa]

First make sure all the synths/samples all sound how you want them to, like chorus reverb, phasing, how it sounds, pick what kinda bass you want, what drums you want, until it sounds excellent.

Then after you have done all that, compress, filter and tweak volumes of each instrument until it all sounds nice for you. Dont forget that if you add effects and stuff, it can muck up the volumes and you have to do it again, so do this step last

thats the simple noob version of "Making your song sound good", so yea... it is not mixing/mastering, i dont even know what that is anymore, too much confusion with the terms.

[Box-Killa]

I call this process...

"Soundulation Engineering Orgazmo!"

[amaterasu]

At 11/8/09 04:59 PM, Sealander wrote: To make EQing easier for me, I try and keep the bass MONO and have the melodic synths/pads STEREO. It helps keeps the mix clean.

You know, I was reading the other day and came across some info mixing with stereo and mono sources, and what I read was that to keep your mix as clean as possible, you should avoid using stereo samples and tracks unless absolutely necessary, and use panning during mixing to create a stereo image. It kind of left effects out of the discussion, so I'm assuming that its ok to use effects that create stereo images but they should be used sparingly. I can somewhat attest to this though because I've noticed that the more stereo sources I put in my music, the more difficult it becomes to manage on the mixing board.

[nathanallenpinard]

You know, I was reading the other day and came across some info mixing with stereo and mono sources, and what I read was that to keep your mix as clean as possible, you should avoid using stereo samples and tracks unless absolutely necessary, and use panning during mixing to create a stereo image. It kind of left effects out of the discussion, so I'm assuming that its ok to use effects that create stereo images but they should be used sparingly. I can somewhat attest to this though because I've noticed that the more stereo sources I put in my music, the more difficult it becomes to manage on the mixing board.

Well, actually you want both. Some mono, some stereo. It depends what your doing and what style.

You should never AVOID using stereo samples. But there are certain techniques. Again depends what style.

[Zero123Music]

4 Buses

Master [Linked to surround and reverb - contains the sonitus EQ effect]

Surround [lets me slightly move the sounds to the right or left for a more unique sound]

Reverb [Contains the cakewalk reverb effect]

and an extra Piano or drum Bus [is linked to the master track- so I can add low pass and stuff to just that instrument/plugin]

Pan all instruments to their rightful place in the orchestra by googling, "orchestra seating" in images.

add seperate plugin reverb and delay if necessary to each instrument.
change all volumes individually

I try to make every velocity different, so I only change ones that are significant like a Double bass or the main melody violins and ALWAYS percussion.

anyways, that's how i do it most the time^^

[mooseymaniac]

Training your ear takes a while. After listening to your own song dozens of times over in the creation process you become comepletly muddled as to what it sounds like. You have to learn what you want dominant and what you want in the background of your song and then adjust sound levels, effects, and even melodies accordingly.

[Syntrus]

At 11/8/09 04:35 PM, EmperorCharlemagne wrote: It's a general rule that if you just jam effects in without rhyme or reason, it will sound like shit. Less is more in some case.

As InGenius said, I let my instruments do the talking, and then I add in effects to make it sound slightly different or take out the rough or shitty/fake quality from my samples.

Not so much today but I used to rape my synths with effects it got good listens but distorted sound quality.

[SessileNomad]

so instead of spending 5 hours making samples i'll do it in 5 seconds with renoise

What are you talking about?

agreed, wtf are you talking about?

[Firebalt]

I just crank everything up to 11 and see what sticks! :D

joking!

... But seriously

[Calamaistr]

i just make music, who cares about mastering.

[amaterasu]

At 11/9/09 08:09 PM, Calamaistr wrote: i just make music, who cares about mastering.

Ah finally, it's not a mixing/mastering thread without one of these comments from you.

[Box-Killa]

I cant master in fl anyway, it lags too much

[amaterasu]

At 11/9/09 10:23 PM, Box-Killa wrote: I cant master in fl anyway, it lags too much

Have you tried rendering your mixdown into a .wav file and then opened that in a new project? Methinks your trying to master with your cpu crunching out all the tasty soundy bits.

[nathanallenpinard]

At 11/9/09 08:09 PM, Calamaistr wrote: i just make music, who cares about mastering.

The Audio Portal forums are for discussion the production of audio, not just music.

[amaterasu]

At 11/9/09 11:27 PM, nathanallenpinard wrote:

At 11/9/09 08:09 PM, Calamaistr wrote: i just make music, who cares about mastering.

The Audio Portal forums are for discussion the production of audio, not just music.

Sometimes when I listen to his stuff and wish he actually would grow out of the 16 bit phase and give us some epic compositions. It could happen.

[amaterasu]

At 11/9/09 11:41 PM, amaterasu wrote:

At 11/9/09 11:27 PM, nathanallenpinard wrote:

At 11/9/09 08:09 PM, Calamaistr wrote: i just make music, who cares about mastering.

The Audio Portal forums are for discussion the production of audio, not just music.

Sometimes when I listen to his stuff and wish he actually would grow out of the 16 bit phase and give us some epic compositions. It could happen.

And calamaistr, I say that mainly with good intentions. I know you started a remix thingie one day on this forum, but I really think you should be taking the time to learn how to re envision your music yourself. Your compositions are neat in their current form, but I'm thinking if you could get just as talented in sound design as you are with writing music, that stuff might end up on my ipod.

[Box-Killa]

I need better speakers if i wanted to master properlly

it sounds totally different in my headphones to my sterio

also my sterio has a stupid sound preset which eq's the sound a bit

also it sounds different when I plug my headphones into my pc and when I plug them into my sterio.

[Calamaistr]

At 11/9/09 11:50 PM, amaterasu wrote:

At 11/9/09 11:41 PM, amaterasu wrote:

At 11/9/09 11:27 PM, nathanallenpinard wrote:

At 11/9/09 08:09 PM, Calamaistr wrote: i just make music, who cares about mastering.

The Audio Portal forums are for discussion the production of audio, not just music.

Sometimes when I listen to his stuff and wish he actually would grow out of the 16 bit phase and give us some epic compositions. It could happen.

And calamaistr, I say that mainly with good intentions. I know you started a remix thingie one day on this forum, but I really think you should be taking the time to learn how to re envision your music yourself. Your compositions are neat in their current form, but I'm thinking if you could get just as talented in sound design as you are with writing music, that stuff might end up on my ipod.

Mate i 'can' make full fledged symphonies, ive done so for years just on reduced quality (since i made it all on console) a few of those are actually uploaded such as' Dor mirage for instance and i have yet to reconvert some of my other old works to my pc.
You need to understand that i dont give a damn about sound -quality, i only care about composition.

So i could even make music on a woodblock and would still upload it without the slightest thought that it were incomplete. If people here on ng judge it as a 'non full' work thats their problem.

Oh and did you hear 'Summer redux/cursed curse it, H C D M ft. land of castle and windmill acres? those are not very bit style.

You make it sound like im in a lower 'stage than some kind of norm when you say 'grow out of'.
As if i still need to learn to make something else than bit music, its not like im a beginning musician ive been making music for almost 16 years now (me being 26) and i 'chose' to make ~bit music because i love minimalism and contrapunt and ~bit music allows you to 'focus' the listener on that a whole lot better than having a cluster of instruments making a harmony instead.