timaeus222   Members

See if you can get the melody stuck in your head. Maybe then you can start modifying it in your head before you write it out, and when you get something good, write it out.

Hm, well, I'm not home yet, but did you try out a spectral analyzer? That should help you to make things look right. It's important to know that most of the time, stacking waveforms will additively amplify the resultant waveform. Good dynamics is stacking waveforms such that the result after is not so much louder than before. Oh, and you'll need external speakers to hear bass, so trust your headphones, at least if you are questioning the bass.

It sounds a bit better, but I actually don't hear much of a bass yet (it might just be because the track is soft). The entire track is actually a bit soft (it's at about -7dB - -4dB, as compared to the typical -4dB - -1dB) aside from the drums, though the drums should be loudest in terms of amplitude. As far as the intensity I was imagining for the bass, it was kind of like this, but not quite as awesome (because it's your first track for feedback ): The bass in that track is actually a tad louder than the guitar. See if you can make it so the guitar and bass can sound loud even when the amplitude is low. I suggest using a tool like s(M)exoscope to check your waveform as you go. I'd also suggest taking a look online for a good free soft knee compressor/limiter. It'll give you lots more flexibility on pumping tracks to be as loud as possible without overcompression. You just have to make sure things aren't too loud or it'll clutter the song and make it hard to hear some things.

This actually sounds like a straight MIDI remix, and I didn't listen to the source.

It feels hollow and bare without a bass. At least, I don't hear a bass. The entire drum kit is too soft. Drums need to be at about -0.2dB when playing alone. When they stack with other instruments they'll bump up to 0dB. Fix that, and it'll sound much better.

I agree, the beginning sync lead needs more reverb and delay. It feels dry. The synth at 0:36 is really loud compared to the rest of the instruments and it's overpowering everything. Set its volume to 0 and raise it up again until you just hear it loud enough. It's also dry and lacks expression. There's no reverb/delay or any vibrato. The arrangement as a whole is extremely repetitive. Some sparse sections include the gaps in the intro, and the spots 0:35-1:05 and 2:44-2:48 are the most obviously sparse sections. The entire track is actually sparse because I only hear a bass, a lead, a really, really, really quiet arpeggio, and the drums, which are ultimately overpowering everything. That's probably why you think your lead needs to be so loud. It doesn't. It just needs to be heard well enough to sound like it's leading.

The stuff here isn't bad. http://smatni.tripod.com/safwanmatnivstplugins/ Takim has some good middle-eastern percussion, so you'll find a taiko drum in there. Oh, and I checked out vst4free.com. GTG DPC3 is probably really nice.

Yep, it's still a little overcompressed, and the majority of it is because of the kick. I suggest using some sort of spectral analyzer to check what the kick waveform looks like, and adjust the volume to make it just barely reach about -0.2dB, because it'll stack to reach 0dB for the most part. Also, if it's compressing like that, you probably are still using hard knee compression right now. A good soft knee compressor/limiter could be TLs-Pocket Limiter, which is free. Soft knee compression lowers the chance of overcompression, but then you really have to watch what's too loud and what's too soft, because there's a chance it can get so packed that some things are hard to hear, but it isn't actually truly overcompressed. I personally feel like that's a more flexible method. This does sound a lot better, though.

The somewhat bitcrushed synth that comes in right away feels weird. It doesn't seem to have a pleasing tone. To me it feels like the kick is clashing with the bass. Maybe EQ out some of the sub frequencies on the kick (just a bit), and sidechain if you haven't already? Overall, it sounds slightly muddy, but probably fixing that up and doing soft knee compression on the master will be the only thing that is needed to fix this up. I know for sure that you used hard knee compression.

Thanks a lot! EDIT: There we go, now everything's edited and set!

Alright, sweet! I think I'll also address an issue I believe I have with dynamics. I remember how you said when sounds stack, they might additively create a louder waveform, so I'll see if I can fix that up keeping that in mind.

It's actually too quiet. I ripped a short clip of it at a section where it should be at its loudest, and it's actually peaking at about -4dB-ish. You need to get that up to or near 0dB. Another thing is that this mix probably has too much reverb going on in total. The majority of it seems to be in the strings. The rest of it "appears" to be there because of the quietness of the instruments and possibly the dry signal being too low at times.

Well, basically gather new, better sounding ones and replace your old ones. Listen to what kind of sound you actually want and try to determine which sounds better, and choose the better one.

You should try soft knee compression before you finalize it. It'll make a huge difference.

Okay, I'm sure I've addressed lots of issues now! Everything should be much clearer (the bell lead is the most evident), more powerful and wide, now soft knee compressed, and more awesome. There are some new drum samples, too (like the TR-808 snare at 2:11) and smoother transitions between dynamics. I tried something completely new: purposefully duplicating a note so that there are 6-8 notes in the piano roll layered in the same spot. I did that to "create" a new, louder cymbal sound (i.e. at 1:35) from one of the softer RR samples from EWQL. I'm hearing something I didn't hear before, on my own mix no less, at 0:11-0:12 (the weooohhh). xD Also noticing that the kick might need to be louder at 1:11 - 1:41 and 3:07 - 3:15, and the piano reverb might need to be adjusted. Ready for mod review! https://www.box.com/s/pa8az3lhy0mhegj6kf2z - V5 https://www.box.com/s/y52h5refxuc8381z1vxs - V4 https://www.box.com/s/nwc9c2a97t1mksy96edm - V3 https://www.box.com/s/51902283176a34f60bbe - V2/V1 - Source Mirror 1 - Source Mirror 2

Did you know... my math professor wrote "use your p and geometric series mad skillz!" on the board when he wrote down strategies to test for series convergence. xD

Well, I just assumed Kanthos wanted a degree. But of course, most if not all people who get an online degree are far less credible than people who get a real degree.

I've tried both extensively now, and I'm wondering what situations people here use each for. I personally use hard knee on drums and percussion, and soft knee on the master. Just recently discovered that soft knee seems to work way better at handling supposed overloads when I switched from Fruity Limiter to TLs-Pocket Limiter on a packed DnB track (still have been using TLs for a long time though; just haven't seen a drastic improvement until now).

Resonant saw wave run through a cross modulation filter with overdrive, with an LFO on the cutoff, and a large amount of glide at opportune times.

Not much I can say other than upgrade the samples. That'll change balances up, so I'll stop there for now.

Hm, that makes sense. I also think it's because of the words in some of the songs. Sometimes the words are catchier than the melody itself. ...Or, the melody is so repetitive that it gets stuck in a person's head, and since words are more easily memorized with notes to them, when the notes get stuck, the words get stuck, and it becomes *tada* catchy.

Well, you don't have any problems with things being too quiet. Drums are mixed well in general. The only thing I would look into is the timbre of certain instruments, the repetitiveness of the current arrangement, and the mechanical playing on the piano. Here's what I have: 0:23.620 - 1:06.257 --- The piano plays the exact same four notes repeatedly for 42 seconds. That's quite a long time, about 16% of the piece. Definitely fix that. Change it up a little, maybe a new arpeggio every four instances? Or maybe link those with more happening after every other arpeggio instance? Overall, in the entire piece, the piano could use some more personalization on the writing. It seems to play nearly the same arpeggio. Instead of putting slight variations on the arpeggio, try adding your own notes to that part of the source tune that work well with it. 0:39.927 - The open hi hat could sound even better with a little less in the mids. Not too much less, but it should feel more airy, not acoustic, in this type of a soundscape. Kind of like the ride at 0:39.119. As the open hi hat was completely exposed there, definitely watch the tone of it. 1:04.474 - Same with the cymbal. It's nice, but it could also be better. Maybe more like the instance at 2:16.291? That might just be a lower velocity round robin, but that sounds better, to me. Personally, the bass (fretless?) tone could be crafted a little bit more. It could benefit from slightly less bass and a little more in the low mids... just a little bit. A good amount of the timbral character of a (let's say fretless) bass comes from the low mids, and the presence comes from the bass, at least from my experience with basses. Since you use it throughout the entire song, you might want to take a look at it. And the last thing is to have an ending. You really just ended the drums and left it there. See if you can create an ending!

Be open to starting from the basics, choosing a DAW that you like, and learning some sound design if you have to so you can get the type of sound you want. Maybe a really good way to make music is to know how it's made, fundamentally. It sounds like what you said, but it really isn't. What I just said is actually defined as "learning how to create a timbre of sound using various methods of sound synthesis", or figuring out "What makes that sound sound like that?" or "Why is that instrument so cool-sounding?".

Nope, because in FL's playlist window, you can use the brush tool to right-click-drag and mass delete. Well, good, but actually the statement was meant for the general public. xD True. That's why I just listen to a track in the morning and take notes on notepad on what sticks out to me, then when I check it out sometime after school it usually becomes clear what mistake I made. But yeah, GENRES! Yeah, let's.

Well, probably because the delete key would require left-clicking/drag-selecting at least once first to select an object, or right clicking, and THEN clicking again to actually delete something. It saves one click/step for anything you want to mass-delete. Tempo changes are with automation clips on the tempo (yep, you can do that). Key signature can be changed with the tuning slider at the upper left, next to the logo (in cents). You can mass increase and decrease velocities by doing Ctrl+A and Shift+Mouse Wheel. It's not smooth, but it can be "smoothened" to be more accurate by enlarging the piano roll. See, I take the rather unique approach of trying a whole bunch of keyboard shortcuts and taking note on what does what, and mapping it all in my head to organize it to remember later. Get a MIDI keyboard (I got one I'm happy with for $80), or FL's quantize can quantize specific notes when you highlight specific notes, to be completely pedantic. YEAH! ------ So... OP intent? Genres. I kind of mix genres sometimes, but I tend to do ambient, electronica, big beat, electronic, rock, or something completely new. If I were to say what I specialize in, I'd say ambient.