Mixdown, Dynamics & EQ (and related) Topic

[MRK]

Ya it should but you can make kick a bit wider because imo it sounds good

[Euphorizer]

Kicks are in mono because it is generally accepted that bass sounds best if mixed in mono.

And cutting the 12 - 15khz area out of a kick sounds like a really good way to mess up a kick, if you ask me.

[Neutronic]

I've analyzed a few kicks recently and its seem quite common practice for several signed artists to do a high cut with a 6-12db slope at around 12-15kHz

[MRK]

I've analyzed a few kicks recently and its seem quite common practice for several signed artists to do a high cut with a 6-12db slope at around 12-15kHz

This and I forgot to tell you that frequencies lower than 160 should be in MONO but higher frequencies can be wherever you like. I really like to make it a bit in stereo (A BIT!)

And cutting 12-16 kHz won't mess up your kick but it will improve your mix. Remeber until it sounds good. It is good.

[b-axis]

Wow Thanks for all the tips

[Euphorizer]

I've analyzed a few kicks recently and its seem quite common practice for several signed artists to do a high cut with a 6-12db slope at around 12-15kHz

This and I forgot to tell you that frequencies lower than 160 should be in MONO but higher frequencies can be wherever you like. I really like to make it a bit in stereo (A BIT!)

And cutting 12-16 kHz won't mess up your kick but it will improve your mix. Remeber until it sounds good. It is good.

Just tested it, and you seem to be right. The difference is quite small but it does leave more room for leads, and, most importantly, percussions such as hats or other cymbals.

[equinox]

Hey,

my question is about mastering. What is average gain reduction (or maximum) on limiter in EDM, or particularly in hardstyle? On some other forums I read it is about 3db, but when I use 3db on my track, they still sound quieter then the professional tracks.

[ljk32]

Hey,

my question is about mastering. What is average gain reduction (or maximum) on limiter in EDM, or particularly in hardstyle? On some other forums I read it is about 3db, but when I use 3db on my track, they still sound quieter then the professional tracks.

Not to be rude, but I think you are focusing on mastering long before you should. The reason I say that, is because, your tracks will sound loud if they have a nice mix. As in, a loud master comes from a good mix, and if you're having trouble getting your stuff loud, it's most likely due to the fact that your mixdowns aren't up to scratch. Anyway, the gain reduction is different for every track, don't have set values that you have to follow. Some people can push it really far and still maintain clarity and no distortion. From what I've heard though, it's not a good idea to pass 6dB of reduction, but take this with a grain of salt cause I heard it a while ago and I can't remember properly. Either way, it's just whatever sounds good.

[MRK]

It all depends on compression you made and stuff like that. If you compressed your track a lot by multiband compressor then you can easily volume up your track with limiters like Oxford Inflator. But as it was said the most important thing is good mix. Then you master your track adding some multiband compression, final equing, saturation sometimes, reverb and some widening if needed. But if you know that your track is going to be released somewhere it's better when you'll have empty master channel and the loudest peaks will be at -3 dB, because the mastering engineer won't have any problem with mastering. And I think that mastering is not necessary for tracks which are not released. You can see the difference when you take a free release from e.g. Wildstylez and his release in Digital Age. Then you'll see the difference in tracks with/without mastering

[ljk32]

Then you master your track adding some multiband compression, final equing, saturation sometimes, reverb and some widening if needed.

Why the hell? You might be talking about just a sharp high cut and low cut on the master with eqing(like 19khz and 20hz), so fair enough, but why reverb and widening? That can all be done in the mix, applying widening on the master is generally a bad idea, and why can't you add reverb in the mix?