Nicholestien Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 seriously... I know quality does matter, but a good piece of music is a good piece of music. I've been into this for about 7 months now, and, everytime I touch an equalizer, or a compressor, I destroy my music. i wish, they didn't exists, i want to throw all equalizers, compressors, multiband parametic blahs into a river and sacrafice them to the gods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tensei Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Well a good piece of music can definitely be conveyed through means of simple General Midi, but it will never reach the potential it has without rendering it to an MP3. The key to understanding those equalizers and compressors is not thinking about them as necessary tools, but rather as effects to improve the quality of the sound, similarly to how you would put reverb on a track to give it a more organic feel. If you say that whenever you touch EQ or a compressor, it destroys your music, maybe you shouldn't use them at all in this context. It really depends on what genre of music you're writing. Generally any acoustic/ orchestral instruments can do with very loose compressing, or even without compression at all ( Since it flattens out the dynamics and makes it sound more mechanical), and usually EQ should be applied only very subtly, if at all. It's not like Mozart, Stravinsky, etc. etc. had access to multiband compressors and the like =D Now generally the hardest section of the EQing and Compressing thingy is the drum sequencing, and the way they blend in with the bass, so yes, you'll need to have a fair understanding of compression and EQ before you can make these two sound effectively without masking each other, but there's enough guides on the internet to point you in the right direction. As a bottom line, I'd say that if your mix seems to sound perfect already, there's no masking, no boomy bass, not too much sizzly treble and no overly loud parts, why compress and EQ at all then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholestien Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 I'm looking to create music like Analoq, Mazedude, and Ben Cousines (Bigshell west bistrol) I also like there animal remix from zelda links awakening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcos Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 I used to have massive problems with eq, compressors etc until I stopped overusing them. Similar to what Tensei-San said, depending on the style or even instrument, you may not need to use any eq at all, perhaps just add a little reverb and that's it. I hardly boost with eq, most of it is cutting. As you keep developing your ear, you will find that some parts will need just a touch of a particular effect. My mixing is ok now, but it has taken me years, I would say don't get disheartened and keep practising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoozer Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 seriously... I know quality does matter, but a good piece of music is a good piece of music. Quality matters because otherwise you get a shit-ton of crap. I've been into this for about 7 months now, and, everytime I touch an equalizer, or a compressor, I destroy my music. i wish, they didn't exists, i want to throw all equalizers, compressors, multiband parametic blahs into a river and sacrafice them to the gods. They're there to help you. If two instruments occupy the same frequency space, you use the equalizer to trim then down a bit and remove the flabs. If you can't help them occupying the same space, you use a compressor to tone 'm down. Cut, not boost. Don't dump a comp on every channel unless it needs one. In a lot of cases, it's polish - but it can't save a crappy mix. The "I'm looking to create music like X" doesn't help. EQ and compressors have settings that depend on the type (clean or smearing), instrument, personal preferences of the producer and a crapton of other factors that mean you can't carbon-copy their settings and be done with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fray Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Two reasons you're probably having trouble: 1. EQ and compression are just plain difficult to master (ok I haven't mastered it, but it's difficult to get to even where I am ). It takes practice, and often help from a more experienced ear when you're stuck. 2. You're probably being bitten by problems in the arrangement itself. It's great to say "only arrangement and musical ideas should matter", but is your arrangement *really* that airtight? Because good arrangement is even harder to master than compression or EQ You won't get a full sound by EQ'ing if your arrangement is lacking in certain registers. You won't get a clean, sparkly sound if you've crammed in too many instruments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholestien Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 are you trying to say, that i suck at arrangement brah? i dont' take to kindly to such tounge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fray Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 are you trying to say, that i suck at arrangement brah? i dont' take to kindly to such tounge. I honestly have no idea But it is a common mistake to try to fix things with processing that should be fixed by changing the arrangement. I've done it myself, and I've seen a lot of other people do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverCoat Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 are you trying to say, that i suck at arrangement brah? i dont' take to kindly to such tounge. When we tell you you suck at something [hint: nobody did!] in the ReMixing or WIP forums we're not telling you because we want you to feel bad, we're telling you so you can improve. Your harsh reaction to Fray's hypothetical criticism is pretty funny though. PROTIP: Nobody takes you seriously when you call someone "brah" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixto Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 PROTIP: Nobody takes you seriously when you call someone "brah" Or when you misspell "tongue." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tensei Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Or when you misspell "tongue." ..Or when you threaten people who are trying to help you =P But anyway, Nicholestien, you SHOULD take a look at the arrangement, if you've tried just about everything in terms of EQing and Compression, and still get a cluttered result, maybe it's just best to scrap one or two tracks. Doesn't the saying go something like "Sometimes less is more"? Of course going crazy with polyphony is fun, when you're in the midi stage, but it's going to bite you back HARD when you get down to mixing, so sometimes you can do nothing else than to scrap some of the redundant melody lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholestien Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 you LIER i said no such thing! you LIER i said no such thing! but, i have such a hard time letting go of those little sound effects i made.... WHY GOD !!! WHYYYY!? When we tell you you suck at something [hint: nobody did!] in the ReMixing or WIP forums we're not telling you because we want you to feel bad, we're telling you so you can improve.Your harsh reaction to Fray's hypothetical criticism is pretty funny though. PROTIP: Nobody takes you seriously when you call someone "brah" exactly why i said brah in the first place. =POr when you misspell "tongue." I did that on purpose! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnappleMan Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Music and recorded music are not the same. If you get together with a few people in a band and start playing live, there's a natural quality to the sound that can sound perfectly fine on its own. But with recorded music, you really need to make sure that it's mixed well and everything is coming through well. A good arrangement can very easily be ruined by a bad mix, and conversely, a mediocre arrangement can be saved by a good mix (see SnappleMan's songs on OCremix for an example of the latter). You can write a great arrangement using nothing but pure sine waves, and if it truly is a great arrangement, it'll get accepted. But the chances of you or most any of us writing a great arrangement for sine waves, are slim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholestien Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 phew, when i saw snapple guy reply to my topic i got scared for a second. bahaaha can you make a good song with nothing but square waves? those are my favorites because they sound like ERR from aqua teen hunger force. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnappleMan Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Square waves actually have harmonic values (only odd ones though), so making a song with square waves will be easier than sine waves, which have no harmonics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fray Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Square waves actually have harmonic values (only odd ones though), so making a song with square waves will be easier than sine waves, which have no harmonics. But you could theoretically recreate any mix with sine waves! ... *shoots self to save others the trouble* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymous hippopotamus Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 i think Nicholestien might be my favorite user on this site. evar. not that it matters. i lurk tons and post rarely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerrax Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I believe it was Zircon who once told me "A good mix will not need alot of EQ/compression because it is already well balanced and dynamic". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zylance Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Quality is a "thing" on this site because people want to listen to good sounding music. We don't care how you make the music, how expensive your plugins are are or how talented of a musician you are. Just make good sounding music. Also... just stop posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnappleMan Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Quality is a "thing" on this site because people want to listen to good sounding music. We don't care how you make the music, how expensive your plugins are are or how talented of a musician you are. Just make good sounding music. Also... just stop posting. someone took his SnappleMan pills this morning... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hy Bound Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Its called practice. You're not going to master music in 7 months. Listening to midi-style music is just annoying and most people wont listen to it other than once... OCRemix is about music people enjoy listening to over and over. If it truly is an amazing arrangement, then its worth the shitty quality just so you can listen to an interesting arrangement. Hell, how else do you expect Amon Tobin to get famous... His early stuff was horribly mastered but the arrangement was great and the ideas were interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverCoat Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Has anyone pointed out yet that "quality is such a thing" or should be a "thing" in pretty much any situation? because t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zylance Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 someone took his SnappleMan pills this morning... The more I agree with your posts, the more I assimilate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholestien Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 Quality is a "thing" on this site because people want to listen to good sounding music. We don't care how you make the music, how expensive your plugins are are or how talented of a musician you are. Just make good sounding music. Also... just stop posting. Get out of my topic you little cunt rag, Every new forum I visit has a few of you smart assholes on it that will go over the top if I mispell a word or do something like this. I asked a question, just answer it, you want to say some smart shit then you contact me by aim instead of being a faggot here on the boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Taucer Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Get out of my topic you little cunt rag, Every new forum I visit has a few of you smart assholes on it that will go over the top if I mispell a word or do something like this. I asked a question, just answer it, you want to say some smart shit then you contact me by aim instead of being a faggot here on the boards. Tip # 1 on the remixing and WIP forums: Accept all criticism. Do not lash out at those who criticize your work. So far in this topic, you have demonstrated a complete lack of maturity and ability to listen to others criticism. Criticism is how you get better; when somebody says "you suck," the correct response isn't "fuck you," it's "how can I improve so that I don't suck anymore?" And before you flame me for saying all this, please give it some honest consideration (and also consider the fact that you will be proving my point if you respond by flaming me). Now to answer the original question. There are other sites on which production quality is not such an issue: remix.thasauce, vgmix (if it ever comes back up), and OLRemix. If you want a site that is more willing to accept mixes with low production quality, try going there. I need to leave, but I'll give a more complete response later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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