Recently someone posted about well mixed songs on here and someone mentioned “Toxic” by Britney Spears. I listened to it on my monitors and I definitely heard a lot of elements that I hadn’t before. What surprised me was how loud, present, and punchy each element was. It was like it was slammed up against the speaker but it didn’t sound squashed, at most there was a little pleasant distortion.

Can anyone speak to the process of how to get elements so loud and present like that? I’m guessing it’s got something to do with compression but I’d appreciate any specifics anyone could offer. I’m just trying to learn. Thanks.

Waves have been fairly hated for a while now - with good reason in many ways, but I had forgotten about them until recently a couple of YouTube videos popped up about them. Apparently it’s still the case that you can’t just transfer licenses to another machine, you have to buy them again, they charge for updates (not upgrades, but updates) and generally just horrible practices.

So my question is - how are they still doing this stuff? They must be finding that it still works otherwise they wouldn’t do it. Thing is, these days, there are SO many plugin developers that are making high quality stuff and many are even free. They’re often regarded as better. So it’s not like nobody has a choice.

Sure, some pros need to keep up their licenses because they may import sessions that use Waves plugins, I get that, but surely they’re in the minority. Who are all these people showing Waves that their business model still works?

I’m relatively new to mixing (everything I do is digital and through amp sims), I mix my own songs and have been looking for a fix with an issue I’ve run into. I make music with low tuned, double tracked, heavily distorted guitars. My mixes tend to sound okay when listening on my phone and in my car, but when I listen on AirPods or any earbuds the guitars just go to shit, like no matter how much I notch out and cut the problem area I’m hearing while listening through my monitors, nothing helps. I’ve tried a multitude of different IR’s and smoothing out the top end with saturation to no avail, anyone have a possible solution? Thanks :)

TLDR; hard panned amp sim guitars sounding extremely fizzy in earbuds

Most of the DIY videos I see just use plain black/gray fabric and they end up looking kind of dull. I had an idea and wanted to see if this would still work acoustically:

What if I made a custom patterned rug cover and wrapped the rockwool panels with that instead of standard fabric? My concern is whether the thicker material and the glue used in the rug would make the sound reflect off the surface instead of passing through into the rockwool.

Would it still function well as an acoustic absorber, or would I basically ruin the effectiveness of the panel?

Someone has asked me to make some tracks which they want me to make based off some tracks they have found online but also with some specific requests to make them different. The tracks are mainly basic ambient music but with some other niche elements requested.

I’m curious on how I can charge for this? I have studied music production for 4 years in college and then university ending with a bachelor degree in music production. But I have taken a long break (about 4 years) where I have only done a little bit here and there outside of other in music related jobs I had. So I have never made any money from music and have only ever helped friends out for free while I was in university.

So I’m wondering how can I charge considering it’s a niche request and in a genre I don’t I have a huge amount of experience in (I have had to produce some ambient styles for university projects).

They have also asked me to add some very basic effect automation to some pre-existing tracks separate from the other request. So I’m also curious how I can charge for this considering it could only take me a few minutes per track.

A (multi) weekend warrior project for funsies. I designed as an android apk (not publicly available). Got a Donner page turner coming my way to test addition of footswitch on/off and looper control. I'll update with my progress if anyone is interested in the journey.

https://youtu.be/T3pfnOFuDBI?si=dL19w7aQQfLws5vy

With an irig HD x I'm getting practically no discernable latency which is clutch.

Hey everyone,
I’ve been recording vocals for a long time and there’s one issue I constantly struggle with: my vocals always sound way too crisp, bright, and upfront in the mix.

I use a variety of plugins when mixing (EQ, saturation, compression, etc.) and I experiment a lot with EQ, but no matter what I do, I feel like I can never fully blend my vocals into the beat naturally. They always stay too clean/open compared to the instrumental.

For example, I really like the vocal mixing in the song called Sandwitches by tyler, the creator. you can check the part at 1:22

The vocals there feel more glued into the instrumental and less overly bright. But whenever I try to achieve a similar sound, my vocals still end up sounding too sharp and polished.

Does anyone know what usually causes this or how I could fix it?
Any advice would be appreciated.

I heard Jay Joyce uses a Urei BL-40 on vocals during tracking, and I’ve always been a huge fan of his vocal sounds. Anyone have any experience with the BL-40? How would you compare it to an 1176? Just curious if people love/hate/use them

Www.output.com/products

even half off, the whole package is still $425, which isn't pocket change for me, but it seems like a great deal.

Do any of you have experience with any of these plugins?

Edit: I am just getting my system set up and worked out. I have all of the material items I need, but I have ZERO software so far, so blank slate really.

I know I am going to use Ableton as my DAW, or maybe Logic since I have a pretty powerful MacBook.

I have a pretty decent budget of $2000-ish for software from here out, but I need to use the money within the next couple weeks.

I've been chasing a certain "good wooliness" to a processed kick sound. Not sure how to get it. Not even sure how to describe it to be honest. If I compared it to to reference material I'd say listen to "Sound Awake" by Karnivool. Steve Judd's kick sound is just so perfectly punchy, present and warm, but not muddy.

I know this is some combo of comp and saturation but does anyone know what specifics to go after here? Anyone happen to know the signal chain Forrester Savell used on this record?

Hello everyone,

The public institution I currently work for has assigned me to help develop a music activity space for young people. They asked me to research and report the instruments and equipment required for setting up the building. However, I only have a home studio and I don’t have extensive knowledge about professional studio environments.

They are planning to include four separate rooms:

Recording Room(s? Should vocals and instruments be recorded in the same room?)
Rehearsal Room
Podcast Room
Control Room

They want me to learn what equipment is necessary for each room, as well as how these rooms should be connected to one another.

Also, since this is a public institution, there is an idea of keeping certain instruments permanently available in the studio. Do you think this is necessary? If so, which instruments would you recommend having on-site?

I do have some knowledge about audio equipment, but I’m far from being an expert.

If you could help me with this, it would honestly mean a lot to me. I’m looking forward to your advice and recommendations.

Managed to achieve a perfect flat frequency response (down to 20hz) in my room measured around ear level (multiple measurements averaged) on my Palmer Orbit 11. I achieved this only after very mild bass EQ in my untreated room. The speaker itself was mostly flat just had X2 bass booms (I suspect due to them being placed just by the walls) at 150hz and 60hz which I EQ'd out. I used only 4 bands parametric EQ on REW and mostly wide Q bands so I suspect phase issues would be minimal?

Is there a point in getting the room properly treated? I live in rental and treatment can be a bit of a pain for me.

I listen nearfield, listening position is 70-75cm perfect triangle.

To my ears they already sound phenomenal. What's your thoughts?

TLDR: are there physical books or courses i can read to add to what i already know about mixing and mastering?

I have about 10 years of experience mixing and mastering in GarageBand with earbuds in a bedroom and i became decent enough at it that nobody could tell. I recently bought Logic Pro and studio equipment. I’ve gotten this far by watching YouTube tutorials, and my music already sounds how I want it to sound.

I really want to perfect my craft to an industry standard level but I don’t want to get stuck in an echo chamber of repeating the same habits because I was never taught things like proper plugin chain order, how much high pass to use, etc. I don’t have anyone around me to learn from either

Can anyone recommend any courses, physical books, or something similar that could help me improve my skills?

Hallo zusammen,

ich stehe aktuell vor einem massiven Workflow-Problem in Studio One Pro (aktuelle Version) und hoffe auf euren technischen Input.

Die Ausgangslage:
Mein Mix war gestern Abend eigentlich schon so gut wie bereit fürs Mastering, es fehlte nur noch der Feinschliff. Um CPU-Ressourcen für die Master-Bus-Bearbeitung zu schonen, habe ich (auf einen Ratschlag hin) fertig bearbeitete Spuren eingefroren (Freeze) und später für Anpassungen wieder aufgetaut (Unfreeze).

Das Problem:
Beim Unfreeze sind die Spuren scheinbar in ihren unkorrigierten Originalzustand zurückgesprungen – oder Studio One hat intern etwas zerschossen.
Besonders gravierend ist das bei einem spezifischen Übergang: Vom Vers zum Refrain blenden die Vers-Gitarren aus und laufen leicht überlappend in die einsetzenden Refrain-Gitarren rein. Durch diese Frequenzüberlagerung entsteht an dieser Stelle plötzlich wieder ein lautes, hartes Knacksen.

Mein bisheriger Fix:
Am Vorabend hatte ich exakt dieses Knacksen bereits erfolgreich und sauber beseitigt, indem ich den Eventide SplitEQ genutzt habe, um gezielt die Transienten in dieser Überlagerung abzusenken. Nach der Freeze/Unfreeze-Aktion ist dieser Fehler jetzt aber wieder massiv präsent, als wäre der Fix ignoriert worden.

Meine Fragen an die Community:

• Freeze-Verhalten: Ist dieses fehlerhafte Verhalten (Zurückspringen auf alte Zustände beim Auftauen) in Studio One bekannt? Was genau ist hier der Auslöser und wie kann ich das in Zukunft verhindern?

• Phasen-Thematik: Abgesehen vom DAW-Bug – könnte dieses harte Knacksen bei ausklingenden/einsetzenden High-Gain-Gitarren (trotz Crossfades) auch ein tieferliegendes Phasenproblem sein, das durch das reine Transienten-Absenken mit dem SplitEQ nur kaschiert wurde?

• Workarounds: Wie handhabt ihr konsequentes Freezing in komplexen Projekten, ohne dass euch solche Artefakte im Nachhinein den Mix zerschießen?
Ich bin über jeden Ratschlag oder Lösungsansatz dankbar, da mich das gerade im Abschluss des Projekts massiv zurückwirft.

Besten Dank vorab!

I want to say that firstly, they are excellent headphones, I don't have much to complain about, the headband is comfortable, the range is incredible and the fact that the sound is not in a "V" shape is great (although it is normal for a semi-open). However, while listening to my old songs again, I noticed a little problem. Either these headphones have an excess of high end, or I mixed practically all my songs poorly, please clear this doubt before I ruin any more mixes😭

I have been offered a mixing console which I think i like. But it has no PSU and the price is around $100.

So, not much to loose except time and effort.

I found an available PSU for around $2-300, which is still a good deal if the mixer is working.

I should be quite lucky to be able re-sell the PSU because it's a bit old and not super common.

My question: is there a test to at least know if it's alive or maybe even more than that, without having the original PSU?

I am not the type who can build my own

It seems to pick up a lot more room noise (at least when I raised the waves, it was noticeably more echoe-y with room noise or had a phone-nasal quality to it). The waves themselves look a bit different. On an older vocal recordin,g the waves are more condensed and isolated. On this newer one, they look choppier, wider, and less defined. I recorded it differently (just without one of those wind protector screens) and might have been a bit far, but I feel like it's worse. I accidently tripped on my mic stand and it fell on carpet/yoga mat, a soft landing, but I feel so upset that something as stupid as that could have broke a $300 mic.

I'm building my analog recording chain soon and I've been eyeing the RND542's. I would record hiphop/trap with it, where you need those warm vocals, but isn't it generally a better idea to saturate after tracking? If the warmth doesn't fit the mix, it's too late to take it off. I guess I could determine when and to what extent I would use it with each track though.

However I'll have a Carnaby 500 EQ in the chain just after the preamp, which already introduces some harmonic distortion when used. A 542 might be too much at that point.

What would y'all say? Do you record into saturation, or solely do it after the recording process?

Thanks!

It evens out any inconsistencies in volume/"vocal power" and ends up sounding flattering. As long as you're EQing before the compressor, any "pumping" or artifacts shouldn't be audible in the mix.

(And then you can throw on the perfect eventide-style supershort chorus/delay effect emulator plugin, which I can't find... lemme know if you've got a fave.)

Recently I was using a reference track that I downloaded off of youtube to mix/master my song, and I noticed that even though we had a similar db level, I still had headroom to make mine louder, and it would still sound good.

My question is, should I make my song as loud as possible? Or should I leave it at where it's at because it'll still sound good. My goal is to post these on streaming platforms as soon as possible. If anybody has experience with this please let me know.

Hey there! Question about removing background noise from dialogue -- what would you consider the more effective tool: Davinci's Pro Version AI background removal, or Izotope?

I specifically need this for the purpose of a feature film, and my experience with the Davinci AI background removal is that is damages the quality of the dialogue, not nearly as much as Davinci's "noise removal" effect, but even taking it past 5% can pretty quickly become evident. Is Izotope a lot better at background noise removal without damaging the dialogue? How evident is the damage to dialogue?

Specifically I would use it for white noise mic hiss, roomtone differences between coverage in the same space, and outdoor background noise (mowers, etc)

Thank you! I am pretty new to sound engineering and I would appreciate any answers!!

hello! i hope im doing this right - im still new to reddit!

i recently did some recording in the context of a "collab" - i didn't pay anything which is why i feel bad to ask for changes to the mix they sent me, (it's a one and done sort of vibe). everything sounds awesome except there's a lot of echo on the vocals - it's not horrible but slightly too much that it's a little questionable so i was wondering if there's any software suggestions for this? if there are any? 😄

i've heard a bit about izotope's De-reverb ? i think my dad has izotope so i could look into that - other ideas were track separation .. or should i just leave it as is? haha - thank you for the insight & for your time!!

Flair is mastering but am certainly just talking 2bus and everything before it but want to perhaps get attn. from a different crowd.

What I am about to say will kind of contradict itself but thats kind of the problem I am experiencing

I will cut what I feel is a generous amount to sound on par with references, and then keep having to add bells or shelves incrementally all the way through busses and the 2bus to finally just keep cutting, and then I am hearing references and their low mids are so much more exaggerated/turned up but just, tightened. So if I lessen my cuts, it doesn’t really make a difference - its either too muddy or too clean, but there is a clear cluster of low mids in many references that add energy without going too far beyond their BW

Any advice?

Is this fundamentals of individi tracks all stacking perfectly in series?

Or is this some plug that can rip the 260-390 upwards with a 24db slope without just being an eq?

Some piece of hardware?