Mixdown, Dynamics & EQ (and related) Topic

[Cardioid]

I hate the fact compressors fuck with ur soundquality, even peaks can be eq'ed, try to use as less compressors in your mix, the only thing i use them for is sidechaining and indeed for kicks, to get that punchy sound,
My opinion..

Its not the compressor messing with the sound quality, its the user not knowing how to use a compressor properly!

I've said it a million times before, compressors are essential in all areas of music production & sound engineering. They are not a drag and drop, preset bashing units. Compressors will hold an unstable fader in place during the mix, tighten up drums, synths as well as providing the classic side chain and other compression effects.

This.

And if your compressor fucks up your sound, you've got bad settings. Or just a shitty compressor, which i think isn't the case.

Problem with huge peaks is that it's probably there because it gives the sound its original character. Like resonant screeches for instance. They can have a huge + 10 or +15 dB peak at some points. If you're going to eq that, your screech will sound shit because it had lost its characteristics, so in this case i'll use a compressor or the sonnox Oxford SurPressor which is a frequency dependant compressor.. And when you notice the compressor fucks up your sound, tweak your compressor over, because you've probably squashed the sound too much...

[thomosen]

Hey guys!

I have a question for you, i´ve been producing Hardcore for about a year now, and i would like to know what you put in your arrangement besides your kick, like percussions, basslines etc. I just cant figure out what to put in the track to make it sound full, all i have is the kick and a screech

[Pavilon]

hihat, snare, kick fx,... all these things

[A Freak Of Hardstyle]

hihat, snare, kick fx,... all these things

Possibly some reverb?

[Dj Reaper]

Hope this is not a dumb question but it is bothering me all time. I wonder if somebody could tell me how loud an unmastered commercial/professional/well mixed/whatever track should be able to be without distorting. In other words, how far do you bring your master channel down when producing? It´s not that I want the loudest track but if I´d need to crank up the volume knob on my soundcard to maximum to hear the track I know that the mixdown is probably quite messy/bad. Hope you understand my question.

[Neutronic]

I'm not sure I do. Mixdown to around -3db preferably a bit less to give enough headroom to master as with all other advice there are no set limits or boundaries but -3 to -4 will give you enough space

[Dj Reaper]

Hmm that´s bad. I just checked my new song and the master fader is at around -10dB. It sounds quite clean now but probably I am doing some mistakes, otherwise I could move it up to -3dB. Except for the kick channel the other channels don´t clip tough. And the kick doesn´t sound as if it was clipped digitally, when I lower it´s volume it is just less loud so probably it doesn´t clip a lot. I have no clue what I am doing wrong..

[Stereotypes]

We'll I'm not that good when it comes to mixdown and I have ALOT of problems with it and I'm sorry to say I don't know how I can help you with your problem

But I have a question about how to make the track sound 'full' and professional I know people say: Use Highhats and snare crashes etc. but when you have a raw midintro with screeches etc. how do make it sound right and not so empty because if I only put in a screech with revb etc with the kick It sounds so boring and empty what can I do to make the mix sound full?

[Shrapnel]

@sterotypes making the mix sound full you need to 'fill the gaps' with sweeps crashes and other fx. Then when youre mixing it, make sure to pan them! that always works

[Cardioid]

@sterotypes making the mix sound full you need to 'fill the gaps' with sweeps crashes and other fx. Then when youre mixing it, make sure to pan them! that always works

This.. Plus this: When having one screech, try to clone the channel and put some screeches on lower notes and maybe on a different rhythm. You'll find that the mix is more fat and full.. Also try panning your screeches slighty just so that it modulates from left to right. For instance an automation going from 10 to 20 left, to 10 to 20 right.. It spices up your mix and keeps it interested.