I try to make music with synths and romplers but everything gets very confused. I try to raise the volume to distinguish sounds but everything gets even more mangled.
What should I do to avoid this?
#1 error with folks new to "mixing" is trying to raise the volume. Step number one is to try to pull sticks down instead of pushing up. Make the mix more clean instead of thicker.
TheJackAttack wrote: #1 error with folks new to "mixing" is trying to raise the volume. Step number one is to try to pull sticks down instead of pushing up. Make the mix more clean instead of thicker.
Codemonkey wrote: YOUR MIX IS EMO:
So cut, don't boost.
ROFLMAO!
It's not emo but it is MONO. I would do something about that. Some panning and definitely lowering some levels, adding some subtle reverb would give it some space.
Listening now, that was just a filler tip until I can come up with something.
Well, I think that with that sample, it starts well, but your 2nd part comes in to be too strong. Eats up the lower synth quickly.
What I like to do is cut the volume of a part by about 6dB (turn the gain down or something) and see if you can still hear it. If you can still hear it clearly, it's too loud and you need to keep some of those 6dB off. If you've lost the part totally, you need to add back more than 6.
It's definitely wise to look into a way to hear speakers which aren't labelled "creative" or "logitech". This way, you can hear a flat mix, so the hyped XX range doesn't obscure your ability to hear the YY range, etc.
Then you can teach your ears to hear particular ranges, and you can say "I should consider cutting from offensive regions, because the mix in quesiton has an undesirable abundance of sound in such regions which is non-beneficial to the clarity of instruments".
Except that in your head, it'll sound less poncy.
You *could* try teaching your ears in a poor monitoring environment, but it'll lie to you. The room is echoey (believe it or not) and that hypes certain frequencies, so they'll affect the way you hear things. If your room is bassy (small with thick-ish walls) then your mixes will end up thin as you over-cut the low end to make it sound clearer.
Welcome to the slippery slope. Grab an interface, and some bass trapping, and don't forget the second mortgage on your way down.
the problem is me, not my gear. I've got some better than "creative" listening gear (handmade reference 3-way speakers by a pro and telefunken amplifier A-50) ok now I already see your comments going against my speakers but they sound good, at least this is what a pro-audio live technician told me while listening to them. it's simply that I don't have the skills. yet. I'll try your suggestions and post another sample. thanks everybody. =)
edit: and YES I don't have a proper room, it's just my sleeping room filled with audio equipment. I have an audiocard (although not very good) which is the Line6 Toneport UX2.
fsx wrote: I have an audiocard (although not very good) which is the Line6 Toneport UX2.
the toneport is fine. i use my toneport gx for almost everything.
i think it's eq'ing and panning, or the lack of it, what causes the problems. and probably your room.
ouzo77 wrote: [quote=fsx]I have an audiocard (although not very good) which is the Line6 Toneport UX2.
the toneport is fine. i use my toneport gx for almost everything.
i think it's eq'ing and panning, or the lack of it, what causes the problems. and probably your room.
honestly I have grown very unsatisfied with the Toneport, its AD/DA sucks big time, the latency sucks as well (and I have a decent PC bought and assembled 7 days ago).
i haven't had any latency issues with it. but i've never used it with a windows pc.
you can't compare the converters to the ones from rme or apogee, but they're decent. i do use an external mic pre, though. the toneport gx has no xlr-inputs.
nevertheless, try to get the best sound possible with what you have, and then upgrade to something better. this way you will appreciate the better converters even more, because if your skills are not good, then even the best hardware won't help you.
ouzo77 wrote: i haven't had any latency issues with it. but i've never used it with a windows pc.
you can't compare the converters to the ones from rme or apogee, but they're decent. i do use an external mic pre, though. the toneport gx has no xlr-inputs.
nevertheless, try to get the best sound possible with what you have, and then upgrade to something better. this way you will appreciate the better converters even more, because if your skills are not good, then even the best hardware won't help you.
thanks. my problem with the AD/DA is that when I connect my Access VIRUS it distorts completely unless I keep the synth volume at 1/4, which sucks.
fsx wrote: thanks. my problem with the AD/DA is that when I connect my Access VIRUS it distorts completely unless I keep the synth volume at 1/4, which sucks.
that's not a problem of the AD/DA's. it's a gain problem. can't you lower the input gain of the line-in's?
if there is no gain knob on the toneport set the input gain inside the gearbox/podfarm software so that you get a healthy but non-clipping level.
ouzo77 wrote: [quote=fsx]thanks. my problem with the AD/DA is that when I connect my Access VIRUS it distorts completely unless I keep the synth volume at 1/4, which sucks.
that's not a problem of the AD/DA's. it's a gain problem. can't you lower the input gain of the line-in's?
if there is no gain knob on the toneport set the input gain inside the gearbox/podfarm software so that you get a healthy but non-clipping level.
thanks, I'll try this later when I'm at home =) btw I'm not using gearbox because I don't like how it sounds, I'm using the toneport as a bare audiocard... hope there's some gain thing somewhere...
fsx wrote: btw I'm not using gearbox because I don't like how it sounds, I'm using the toneport as a bare audiocard... hope there's some gain thing somewhere...
you can bypass all the effects and just use it as a level controller. that way it doesn't affect the sound in any way.
Comments
Can you post an example?
Can you post an example?
hueseph wrote: Can you post an example? +1 I was going to sugg
+1 I was going to suggest using panning to separate sounds because it doesn't seem to me like you are doing that, just a hunch. EQ always helps too.
#1 error with folks new to "mixing" is trying to raise the volu
#1 error with folks new to "mixing" is trying to raise the volume. Step number one is to try to pull sticks down instead of pushing up. Make the mix more clean instead of thicker.
TheJackAttack wrote: #1 error with folks new to "mixing" is try
Words of advise!
8-)
hueseph wrote: Can you post an example? here you can download a
here you can download a little sample if you want: (creative commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA) Link removed
I listened. Someone already suggested this: pan the sounds acro
I listened.
Someone already suggested this: pan the sounds across the stereo field.
Also, you need to EQ the sounds. The balance is off. There is no "life" in your mix in the low mids and lows, especially.
YOUR MIX IS EMO: So cut, don't boost.
YOUR MIX IS EMO:
So cut, don't boost.
Codemonkey wrote: YOUR MIX IS EMO: So cut, don't boost. ROFLMAO
ROFLMAO!
It's not emo but it is MONO. I would do something about that. Some panning and definitely lowering some levels, adding some subtle reverb would give it some space.
Listening now, that was just a filler tip until I can come up wi
Listening now, that was just a filler tip until I can come up with something.
Well, I think that with that sample, it starts well, but your 2nd part comes in to be too strong. Eats up the lower synth quickly.
What I like to do is cut the volume of a part by about 6dB (turn the gain down or something) and see if you can still hear it. If you can still hear it clearly, it's too loud and you need to keep some of those 6dB off. If you've lost the part totally, you need to add back more than 6.
YMMV
Get a room. Your room isn't helping. It is most likely a bedroom
Get a room. Your room isn't helping. It is most likely a bedroom or a bathroom or the front porch.
Getting separation and actually hearing it require a good monitoring setup, and you do not have it yet.
And get me a beer...
True dat. It's definitely wise to look into a way to hear speak
True dat.
It's definitely wise to look into a way to hear speakers which aren't labelled "creative" or "logitech". This way, you can hear a flat mix, so the hyped XX range doesn't obscure your ability to hear the YY range, etc.
Then you can teach your ears to hear particular ranges, and you can say "I should consider cutting from offensive regions, because the mix in quesiton has an undesirable abundance of sound in such regions which is non-beneficial to the clarity of instruments".
Except that in your head, it'll sound less poncy.
You *could* try teaching your ears in a poor monitoring environment, but it'll lie to you. The room is echoey (believe it or not) and that hypes certain frequencies, so they'll affect the way you hear things. If your room is bassy (small with thick-ish walls) then your mixes will end up thin as you over-cut the low end to make it sound clearer.
Welcome to the slippery slope. Grab an interface, and some bass trapping, and don't forget the second mortgage on your way down.
the problem is me, not my gear. I've got some better than "creat
the problem is me, not my gear. I've got some better than "creative" listening gear (handmade reference 3-way speakers by a pro and telefunken amplifier A-50) ok now I already see your comments going against my speakers but they sound good, at least this is what a pro-audio live technician told me while listening to them. it's simply that I don't have the skills. yet. I'll try your suggestions and post another sample. thanks everybody. =)
edit: and YES I don't have a proper room, it's just my sleeping room filled with audio equipment. I have an audiocard (although not very good) which is the Line6 Toneport UX2.
fsx wrote: I have an audiocard (although not very good) which is
the toneport is fine. i use my toneport gx for almost everything.
i think it's eq'ing and panning, or the lack of it, what causes the problems. and probably your room.
ouzo77 wrote: [quote=fsx]I have an audiocard (although not very
the toneport is fine. i use my toneport gx for almost everything.
i think it's eq'ing and panning, or the lack of it, what causes the problems. and probably your room.
honestly I have grown very unsatisfied with the Toneport, its AD/DA sucks big time, the latency sucks as well (and I have a decent PC bought and assembled 7 days ago).
i haven't had any latency issues with it. but i've never used it
i haven't had any latency issues with it. but i've never used it with a windows pc.
you can't compare the converters to the ones from rme or apogee, but they're decent. i do use an external mic pre, though. the toneport gx has no xlr-inputs.
nevertheless, try to get the best sound possible with what you have, and then upgrade to something better. this way you will appreciate the better converters even more, because if your skills are not good, then even the best hardware won't help you.
ouzo77 wrote: i haven't had any latency issues with it. but i've
thanks. my problem with the AD/DA is that when I connect my Access VIRUS it distorts completely unless I keep the synth volume at 1/4, which sucks.
fsx wrote: thanks. my problem with the AD/DA is that when I conn
that's not a problem of the AD/DA's. it's a gain problem. can't you lower the input gain of the line-in's?
if there is no gain knob on the toneport set the input gain inside the gearbox/podfarm software so that you get a healthy but non-clipping level.
ouzo77 wrote: [quote=fsx]thanks. my problem with the AD/DA is th
that's not a problem of the AD/DA's. it's a gain problem. can't you lower the input gain of the line-in's?
if there is no gain knob on the toneport set the input gain inside the gearbox/podfarm software so that you get a healthy but non-clipping level.
thanks, I'll try this later when I'm at home =) btw I'm not using gearbox because I don't like how it sounds, I'm using the toneport as a bare audiocard... hope there's some gain thing somewhere...
fsx wrote: btw I'm not using gearbox because I don't like how it
you can bypass all the effects and just use it as a level controller. that way it doesn't affect the sound in any way.
" hope there's some gain thing somewhere... ;)
" hope there's some gain thing somewhere...
;)