419 replies to this topic

[MatrixChicken]

Awesome exposure I got from a youtuber with 700k subs.

 

 

Wow, cool! I love how FPS montages always sync up shots with the music.

 

BTW, if you don't mind me asking, do promoters and people like this who use your music usually message you and tell you they used it or do you just have to find out for yourself? lol

[Hinkik]

Wow, cool! I love how FPS montages always sync up shots with the music.

 

BTW, if you don't mind me asking, do promoters and people like this who use your music usually message you and tell you they used it or do you just have to find out for yourself? lol

 

I usually search "hinkik" and put "recent first" to find people who've used my songs.

One hundred followers in a day? Well not bad.

 

Getting promoted by popular channels are quite smart actually. You guys should try sending in your tracks.

Edited by Hinkik, 20 May 2015 - 11:09 AM.

[MatrixChicken]

I usually search "hinkik" and put "recent first" to find people who've used my songs.

One hundred followers in a day? Well not bad.

 

Getting promoted by popular channels are quite smart actually. You guys should try sending in your tracks.

 

Ahhhh, okay. Yeah a couple of random people have used my stuff for various things... Nobody big though. One downside to having such a generic alias is that I'd probably get a bunch of unrelated junk in such searches.

 

And yeah, I'll probably try sending a track to a promo channel if I'm really proud of my next song, lol.

[Chaos]

No one answers back on my tracks. Just tells me I still have a lot of work to do lol.

[Chime]

No one answers back on my tracks. Just tells me I still have a lot of work to do lol.

Ouch

Anyway congrats Hinkick, 100 subs in a day is pretty great stuff. Not to brag but i've experienced some pretty similar stuff. One time I got two subscribers in two days, but you know, no big deal. Not making it a competition or anything *sniff*.

[Hinkik]

No one answers back on my tracks. Just tells me I still have a lot of work to do lol.

 

Who do you send in to? If you send in to channels like Proximity or Airwave then you are bound to not even get even your track listened at. Honestly, I think your songs are great and most are promote worthy but your weakness lies in mixing and mastering. Most promoters has studio monitors and they won't promote anything that doesn't sound close to a profesional mix (which is the critic I often get). My last song had a little bit too harsh highs and Momentum was overall weak.

 

I suggest sending it into channels with max 10,000 subs, that's what I did when I started out. No one accepted them until Agera Promotions did (he had 7k at the time). Then as you get a little better known, other promoters are less afraid of promoting your work

[MatrixChicken]

So, I'm actually really, really proud of this...

 

[Hinkik]

So, I'm actually really, really proud of this...

 

 

Totally awesome.

[Chaos]

Who do you send in to? If you send in to channels like Proximity or Airwave then you are bound to not even get even your track listened at. Honestly, I think your songs are great and most are promote worthy but your weakness lies in mixing and mastering. Most promoters has studio monitors and they won't promote anything that doesn't sound close to a profesional mix (which is the critic I often get). My last song had a little bit too harsh highs and Momentum was overall weak.

 

I suggest sending it into channels with max 10,000 subs, that's what I did when I started out. No one accepted them until Agera Promotions did (he had 7k at the time). Then as you get a little better known, other promoters are less afraid of promoting your work

Once I get some better headphones, I should have an easier time mixing and mastering lol. The ones I have now are actually completely broken now. So I won't be able to release anything until I get a new laptop and new headphones now ;-;

[Hinkik]

Once I get some better headphones, I should have an easier time mixing and mastering lol. The ones I have now are actually completely broken now. So I won't be able to release anything until I get a new laptop and new headphones now ;-;

 

I mainly only mix on these.

 

 

ATH-M50x They are cheap and somewhat flat?

 

I plan on getting these though if I manage to solve my room's acoustic treatments:

Yamaha HS7, very flat and they look nice.

Edited by Hinkik, 23 May 2015 - 02:47 AM.

[Chime]

I mainly only mix on these.

 

 

ATH-M50x They are cheap and somewhat flat?

 

I plan on getting these though if I manage to solve my room's acoustic treatments:

Yamaha HS7, very flat and they look nice.

just gonna throw this in

Not to diss on Hinkik's comment, but doooon't get the ath m50's for mixing. they're great headphones for casual listening etc. but their frequency response ins't neeeearly flat. Like not at all. Someone I know has a pair, and when I came from listening on studio headphones to those they almost blew my brains out. Hecka bass. I mean it's possible to get a good mix on the headphones, but it's very hard. It takes a lot of referencing and stuff and even then there will always be certain frequencies and intricacies that you're going to miss because of the headphones' design.

There are a couple other options for that price range that are a lot better for monitoring. I personally got the Brainwavz HM5's, which are about the same price in most places. You can also get a copy of them, the NVX Xpt 100's for $100 which is a pretty great deal. Also they're a lot more comfortable than the m50's so they're great for long sessions at your computer .

If you're looking for monitor headphones they're often called either just that or "reference headphones. Those are the ones with the flat frequency response you'll need.

When you get studio it's an eye opener. After I got used to them and learned to pick up on detail better, I looked at my old mixes and was just ;_;

Edited by Chime, 23 May 2015 - 12:13 PM.

[Hinkik]

just gonna throw this in

Not to diss on Hinkik's comment, but doooon't get the ath m50's for mixing. they're great headphones for casual listening etc. but their frequency response ins't neeeearly flat. Like not at all. Someone I know has a pair, and when I came from listening on studio headphones to those they almost blew my brains out. Hecka bass. I mean it's possible to get a good mix on the headphones, but it's very hard. It takes a lot of referencing and stuff and even then there will always be certain frequencies and intricacies that you're going to miss because of the headphones' design.

There are a couple other options for that price range that are a lot better for monitoring. I personally got the Brainwavz HM5's, which are about the same price in most places. You can also get a copy of them, the NVX Xpt 100's for $100 which is a pretty great deal. Also they're a lot more comfortable than the m50's so they're great for long sessions at your computer .

If you're looking for monitor headphones they're often called either just that or "reference headphones. Those are the ones with the flat frequency response you'll need.

When you get studio it's an eye opener. After I got used to them and learned to pick up on detail better, I looked at my old mixes and was just ;_;

 

Reference tracks with subpar cans > not using reference tracks with flat cans tl;dr use reference tracks

 

This only applies if you are a newbie though. Tbh most usually mix in too much bass anyways in their mixes so if the cans has more bass that's totally fine.

 

Chaym did you send in to promo channels? You should.

 

 

733 followers now well hori shieet. When I get 1000 I am gonna do a give away. To myself. Lmao.

Edited by Hinkik, 23 May 2015 - 12:41 PM.

[Chaos]

I mainly only mix on these.

 

 

ATH-M50x They are cheap and somewhat flat?

 

I plan on getting these though if I manage to solve my room's acoustic treatments:

Yamaha HS7, very flat and they look nice.

I'm looking into buying headphones after I get my new laptops. As for room acoustics and speakers, I would probably need a better set up first lol. I mostly produce in other areas and I only use my keyboard to brainstorm melodies and chord progressions.

[Chime]

Reference tracks with subpar cans > not using reference tracks with flat cans tl;dr use reference tracks

 

This only applies if you are a newbie though. Tbh most usually mix in too much bass anyways in their mixes so if the cans has more bass that's totally fine.

 

Chaym did you send in to promo channels? You should.

 

 

733 followers now well hori shieet. When I get 1000 I am gonna do a give away. To myself. Lmao.

I was using references on my old mixes. I mean I'm proud that I was able to accomplish them on the headphones I was using, but they were far from professional, and the headphones I were using was using were holding me back. I've actually been thinking the same hing the promo channels have said to you. You need to get a new pair man. That's the next step for better mixes for you. It also should help you hear when you're overcompressing

Also I'm just gonna pretend that you're not calling me Chaym

[Hinkik]

I was using references on my old mixes. I mean I'm proud that I was able to accomplish them on the headphones I was using, but they were far from professional, and the headphones I were using was using were holding me back. I've actually been thinking the same hing the promo channels have said to you. You need to get a new pair man. That's the next step for better mixes for you. It also should help you hear when you're overcompressing

Also I'm just gonna pretend that you're not calling me Chaym

If you knew about the problems of my mixes. THEN TELL ME MAN XDDDD. What is this thread for lmao. I always tell what I see when I listen to your mixes :<

 

The compressing part I can't agree on though. It's more of a style. I love those -1dB RMS distortion low dynamic range sounds. I come from metal and hard rock after all before I came into EDM. Your mixes on the other handbis the opposite of mine tend to just sound weak though, like you are afraid of compressing, dont be that, but it's also because of you not using the whole spectrum . I don't think getting a new pair will do that much for me honestly. Monitors is the next true step. Besides the highs (which is something no one has told me but I found out myself when I cranked the volume really high up in an already treble heavy car audio system) Skystrike has gotten good critics on the mixing part from my promoters and random mails I get from some producers in Soundcloud (I have no idea why but there a lot of producers just sending in praise mails sometimes). My problem lies more in the mastering process tbh. Which shouldn't be a problem once I accept one of those random label offers I get occasionally... (fairly okay labels but I dont like to lock down my tracks I want people to be able to use them without copyright).

 

Which leads me to another topic. Why is everyone rushing to do label releases? If you release with like a 10k follower label. You won't get as much promotion as if you just send to like 10 promo channels all over 10k followers like I usually. And tbh, even if many of those 10k followers like your song, no one is really gonna buy it on beatport or anything. Better do free releases and you can handle free releases yourself.

Edited by Hinkik, 24 May 2015 - 01:39 PM.

[Chime]

If you knew about the problems of my mixes. THEN TELL ME MAN XDDDD. What is this thread for lmao. I always tell what I see when I listen to your mixes :<

 

The compressing part I can't agree on though. It's more of a style. I love those -1dB RMS distortion low dynamic range sounds. I come from metal and hard rock after all before I came into EDM. Your mixes on the other handbis the opposite of mine tend to just sound weak though, like you are afraid of compressing, dont be that, but it's also because of you not using the whole spectrum . I don't think getting a new pair will do that much for me honestly. Monitors is the next true step. Besides the highs (which is something no one has told me but I found out myself when I cranked the volume really high up in an already treble heavy car audio system) Skystrike has gotten good critics on the mixing part from my promoters and random mails I get from some producers in Soundcloud (I have no idea why but there a lot of producers just sending in praise mails sometimes). My problem lies more in the mastering process tbh. Which shouldn't be a problem once I accept one of those random label offers I get occasionally... (fairly okay labels but I dont like to lock down my tracks I want people to be able to use them without copyright).

 

Which leads me to another topic. Why is everyone rushing to do label releases? If you release with like a 10k follower label. You won't get as much promotion as if you just send to like 10 promo channels all over 10k followers like I usually. And tbh, even if many of those 10k followers like your song, no one is really gonna buy it on beatport or anything. Better do free releases and you can handle free releases yourself.

 

Sorry, a lot of the time I only hear the song after it's bee released because I spend a few days away from the thread. Also I don't wanna be that guy who gives people advice when they don't want it.  However now that you've asked I'll tear into you every time you post

 

On compression; over compression is without a doubt better than undercompression. under compressed just means that the dynamic range will fluctuate a bit to much. Over compression results in instruments losing their dynamic range which means they lose some of their emotional power so to speak. I don't know that i under compress in a finished song. Most of the stuff I post isn't finished which means I've barely compressed it at all. That's a good thing though, compression is a good thing to do last in a song. if you take a look through https://soundcloud.com/mau5trap you'll see that most of the waveforms dip and peak all over the place. You very rarely see parts of the song looking anywhere close to flat, you can even see the individual kicks peaking in a lot of the songs. It's all about dat dynamic range. if you want you can look up deadmau5 talking about dubstep. he talks a little about this and says that's his major problem with the genre, the fact that every thing is just compressed practically to the point of being brickwalled. i'm paraphrasing here but he basically said it's an insult to sound engineers, and if deadmau5 feels that strongly about it I tend to try to avoid it.

 

Any yeah you don't need to get headphones necessarily, you just need something more flat and detailed. I personally still would get some more detailed headphones when you get the money. Headphones are better for hearing tiny intricacies than speakers are. Even more so if your room isn't treated.

 

Finally, there are only a couple labels i want to get signed to and that's because of the other musicians who have been on and are active parts of that label. Labels are better for connections than promoted channels are since they'll often contact you to do remixes for them or put you in contact with other artists on that label from what I know.

 

 

Anywhoosies, here's a remix i'm working on about some grill. I don't think i'll finish it in time for submission deadline, but oh well. Especially since as I was writing this comment i had a mini panic attack when i realized that the balloon party track I posted a couple days ago is due in like 5 days and i have yet to mix or master it. I think. I need to check that actually. It might be the end of June. i really hope it's end of June...

oh yeah right the track... here you go:

 

[Hinkik]

Sorry, a lot of the time I only hear the song after it's bee released because I spend a few days away from the thread. Also I don't wanna be that guy who gives people advice when they don't want it.  However now that you've asked I'll tear into you every time you post

 

On compression; over compression is without a doubt better than undercompression. under compressed just means that the dynamic range will fluctuate a bit to much. Over compression results in instruments losing their dynamic range which means they lose some of their emotional power so to speak. I don't know that i under compress in a finished song. Most of the stuff I post isn't finished which means I've barely compressed it at all. That's a good thing though, compression is a good thing to do last in a song. if you take a look through https://soundcloud.com/mau5trap you'll see that most of the waveforms dip and peak all over the place. You very rarely see parts of the song looking anywhere close to flat, you can even see the individual kicks peaking in a lot of the songs. It's all about dat dynamic range. if you want you can look up deadmau5 talking about dubstep. he talks a little about this and says that's his major problem with the genre, the fact that every thing is just compressed practically to the point of being brickwalled. i'm paraphrasing here but he basically said it's an insult to sound engineers, and if deadmau5 feels that strongly about it I tend to try to avoid it.

 

Any yeah you don't need to get headphones necessarily, you just need something more flat and detailed. I personally still would get some more detailed headphones when you get the money. Headphones are better for hearing tiny intricacies than speakers are. Even more so if your room isn't treated.

 

Finally, there are only a couple labels i want to get signed to and that's because of the other musicians who have been on and are active parts of that label. Labels are better for connections than promoted channels are since they'll often contact you to do remixes for them or put you in contact with other artists on that label from what I know.

 

 

Anywhoosies, here's a remix i'm working on about some grill. I don't think i'll finish it in time for submission deadline, but oh well. Especially since as I was writing this comment i had a mini panic attack when i realized that the balloon party track I posted a couple days ago is due in like 5 days and i have yet to mix or master it. I think. I need to check that actually. It might be the end of June. i really hope it's end of June...

oh yeah right the track... here you go:

 

 

Compression is needed on individual channels if you want to achieve a tight mix. My drum busses are compressed. My synths are compressed. My synths buss is compressed. My bass buss is compressed. Well I pratically compress everything that has too much movement in it. Of course, I use high attack times and like 2:1 with somewhat high thresholds but it's needed imo. Since I started doing buss compression, my mixes has been so much cleaner after mastering due to me brickwalling a mix which is very dynamic vs brickwalling a mix that is already quite okayish in loudness.

 

I don't think you should take Deadmau5's words as laws. The only law you should've is "if it sounds good, then it sounds good" imo. Deadmau5 sure is real talented at mixing but it's actually something his PR has told him to bash around like that. He overreacts by other words.

 

What do you think about Knife Party? They got super loud mixes while still sounding dynamic. I checked Knife Party - Give it up in Ozone and their RMS was always around -1dB in the drop which is insane. I never go over -3dB RMS which is already quite high.

 

 

 

About your mix. That piano needs work cause it sounds cheap. Increase the attack of it so that it bites through more. The piano could use a boost in the +2kHz cause it's muffled and muddy. I would actually change the VST of the piano though. It sounds more like a VST problem than a processing issue.

 

I like the percussion in the breakdown a lot.

 

Also your i dont know what to call it (some kind of voice sampled? at 1:07), is complete off scale in certain parts. The drums needs some compression with an attack at around 10-20 ms.

 

The chord synth at 3:30 could get some better sound design (it sounds fine when the cut off is on but not when it's off). This is subjective though.

 

Even though I know you don't agree, I think the arrangement is too much like a background track right now. If this would be released then the (Radio Edit) would have higher amount of plays than the (Original Mix) I am sure of. Just like Strobe.

 

Overall a unique track as expected from you. Nice. But please don't let Deadmau5 or the recent trends of hating on the mainstream limit you into having the mindset "It has to be unique" and "I cannot use mainstream ways of processing and arrangements".

 

 

 

Labels still won't cut it for me unless they can guarantee that I can let people use my tracks however they want without copyright issues.

Edited by Hinkik, 25 May 2015 - 12:21 AM.

[MatrixChicken]

Augh. Of course, I would start making a song right before going camping. Leaving my computer unattended can make it very unstable...

 

Anyways, here's the last export of that Madeon thing I did.

 

 

Do any of you know whether or not it would work for me to send you the .flp, you re-save it, and me open it up again? :333

 

Anyways, I'll have a plethora of old projects to redo when I eventually buy FL Studio...

Edited by MatrixChicken, 25 May 2015 - 09:36 AM.

[Hinkik]

Augh. Of course, I would start making a song right before going camping. Leaving my computer unattended can make it very unstable...

 

Anyways, here's the last export of that Madeon thing I did.

 

 

Do any of you know whether or not it would work for me to send you the .flp, you re-save it, and me open it up again? :333

 

Anyways, I'll have a plethora of old projects to redo when I eventually buy FL Studio...

 

Just "borrow" FL and buy it when you are ready for it...

[MatrixChicken]

Just "borrow" FL and buy it when you are ready for it...

 

Eheheheheh... I've considered it...