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#281 Chime

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Posted 25 May 2015 - 05:07 PM

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.

I do bus compress as well, but everything should be done in moderation. Not everything has to be compressed. Compression is just like any other effect, you use it as needed.So if you think your vocals, synths, drums, etc could use the sound of a compressor on them you throw it on there (as i did with the piano in the remix). Also if you see that the track is really jumping around with a ton of peaks, you throw one on there. The second one is what created widespread uses of compressors, since it meant you could have more instruments, at louder volume levels in your mix without clipping. But it still doesn't mean that you compressing everything. You definitely don't compress things simply because they could sound more compressed. That's like turning the chorus up on an instrument simply because i could sound more chorus-y. The point of the effect is to slightly enhance the instrument, and allow you to shape it to fit how you imagined it, not to over shadow to the instrument, so that all you can think about is the compressor, and not the instrument. Compression is a tool, nothing more.

 

I don't take his word as law but I d hold it in high esteem. Higher than any other current musician. I know there's a popular sentiment that he likes to be controversial for controversy sake, bu if you follow him closely, and really look at the stuff he does, you can see that he's just honest. Not only is he honest he's passionate and knowledgeable. And he's the easiest musician to prove that with. No one else has streamed hundreds of hours of them working to be looked at any time.

Anyway the controversy definitely doesn't come from PR. People say that any publicity is good publicity, and that may be true (very, very debatable) but I don't think you can really argue that good publicity is better publicity. Thus why pretty much every pop musician's PR tries their best to keep their client's image spotless (unless it's already been dragged through the mud). Also deadmau5 has made it pretty clear that his PR does what he tells them as much as him doing what they tell him, and he's pretty much backed it up. He knows that he gets in a lot of drama, and sometimes jumps to conclusions, getting him in trouble, but he's open about it, and talks about it a lot. Anyway deadmau5 doesn't care about fame pretty much at all. If he wanted to be famous, and if he took the standard, proven PR route, he could easily be as famous as pretty much any of the most famous pop musicians, but he purposely chooses not to be.

Those are the reasons I respect his opinion so much. He's experienced, passionate, more than willing to share that knowledge and passion, and more honest than any other musician in the business right now. I don't know what more you could ask for.

 

Knife Party kind of blow my mind. I have no idea how they manage to get such loud mixes without dicing their instruments to crap. No overcompression as well. I would love to get lessons from them on mixing and mastering. Or whoever mixes and masters their stuff since i'm not sure they do it themselves.

 

 

Now the mix

 

Are you sure with the piano? I know it sounds a little weird and muddy right away, but that's because i started the track off in mono. When the vocals split into stereo the piano goes full stereo as well, and it sounds a lot better. Also I can't change any of its parameters. It's a completely sample based vst.

 

I'm trying to figure out what to do with that vocal thingy. It came with the pack. i may end u just using the first bar or whatever since that's in key or just replacing it with something similar of my own design and cutting it out. or maybe just cutting it out and replacing it with some other completely different filler. Maybe some kind of lead, i'm hoping to add one later on so it's not just chords an bass.

 

Right now it's just a single synth and i haven't fully mixed it yet. i'll probably add a complimentary to it that will help for when it's not cut off.

 

I don't really think of the track as seperate from the vocals I guess. They just kind of blended naturally and that's what i'm going for. not really that one over powers or is more important than another, but that they just kind of compliment each other nicel Where you can switch your attention between them and you still get the same feeling and sound-ish thingy from them. It was kind of subconcious, but i think the song is mirroring deadmau5's remix of stay ( ) a lot. I guess cause the vocals are kind of similar in sound, and then i started doing the piano chords thing when I started writing for them and yeah it just kind of happened. I don't really care if people would listen to the radio mix more. That's their own bad. I make my music for me so if I feel that a single bar needs to be repeated 70 times before i's played out, or that thng should last 35 minutes, then as far as i'm concerned, that's the objective truth about the song. Only I know how the song is supposed to sound so only I can know if it's correct. if people want to fool themselves into thinking that a shorter version where half the experience is cut out then that's on them. Actually I would be kind of glad if these things would drive people away from my music. i don't really want a followers who are pressuring me to make my songs shorter or harder or faster or whatever. I only want fans who want me to make my stuff more artistic and to try new things.

tl;dr: I'm fine with the arrangement. I don't really care if people want it shorter or more drop/synth focused. They can make their own remix :P

 

Gah i just cam e up with and idea for theremix and it'll blend with other completely different stuff i'm making and why didn't I think of this beforegaaaaaahhhh ARPS, MAN, ARPS!!!!!!!

 

uh anyway, yeah like i said before i don't just hate mainstream stuff because people I admire hate it. I just see eye to eye with them. I hate mainstream stuff because it is too homogenous imo. Why would i want to be that director no one cares about or will remember in the future because i spent my whole life making crappy romcoms a three year old can write? I wanna write original stuff. Stuff that pushes my own limits. that i can look at and be proud of. I wanna write stuff that i can say s totally and completely 100% my own. I want to be at the level where I'm pushing the game forward not trailing behind everyone else and eating their crumbs. I'd much rather be able to sit down and be able to paint an original at the level of van gough than to have to be that gy that goes to an arts and crafts store and buys one of those paintings where it gives you numbers and you put the corresponding colour in the spots where the numbers are. Right now most of the peopple in mainstream are doing the second, and i don't want to be a part of that. i don't see anything special about it personally.

 

 

You should check out Wolf Beats (the label i'm sending that electro track from a while back to)! They believe the same things, so all their releases are under creative commons! :) One of the big reasons I want to release with them and probably will continue to do so (assuming i get in).



#282 Hinkik

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Posted 26 May 2015 - 05:55 AM

Nothing wrong with mainstream. What's wrong is when a certain trend limits producers too much into the same thing over and over again (big room maybe?). There are complex songs with complex harmonies that are mainstream. Strobe definitely is classified as mainstream (40 millions plays on spotify), at least some years ago. I still hear it very often on the radio and on LANs I go to.

 

Limits are what's wrong. Your mindset is good in one way but I also think it limits you since you are almost afraid of doing something mainstream. You are almost doing what you were afraid of doing from the start, doing mainstream stuff that limits your works. Why have that in mind all the time of hating something when you could simply just ignore stuff that you don't like to listen to or create and just only create stuff that you like without being afraid of breaking your own rules which you have set up without knowing it yourself.


Edited by Hinkik, 26 May 2015 - 05:58 AM.

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#283 Chime

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Posted 26 May 2015 - 03:08 PM

Nothing wrong with mainstream. What's wrong is when a certain trend limits producers too much into the same thing over and over again (big room maybe?). There are complex songs with complex harmonies that are mainstream. Strobe definitely is classified as mainstream (40 millions plays on spotify), at least some years ago. I still hear it very often on the radio and on LANs I go to.

 

Limits are what's wrong. Your mindset is good in one way but I also think it limits you since you are almost afraid of doing something mainstream. You are almost doing what you were afraid of doing from the start, doing mainstream stuff that limits your works. Why have that in mind all the time of hating something when you could simply just ignore stuff that you don't like to listen to or create and just only create stuff that you like without being afraid of breaking your own rules which you have set up without knowing it yourself.

Yeah like I said, there's nothing wrong with mainstream, it's just that mainstream and the crapiness I mentioned tend to go hand in hand because label s have orchestrated it to be so.

 

I'm not scared of mainstream at all. I mentioned it in passing a while back, but i've done a lot of "mainstream" stuff. Not in terms of popularity obviously, but in terms of build and composition. I have about 300 projects and i'd guess at least 250 of them are mainstream stuff. It just doesn't present much of a challenge for me any more. Not to mention I was actually strating to find it really boring (not just the product, but the process). I much prefer doing unique stuff. I especially like being able to play to write. Really enjoy that. I do have my hangups on rules that I've just randomly made up for reasons I couldn't say, but I know what they all are, and the mainstream thing isn't one of them.

Basically my hatred of mainstream comes from my view of the arts in general which is something I've been thinking about pretty much daily since I was like 10. I've come to the inclusion that while I don't think all art has to be life changing and otally unique and incredible in every way, I still wouldn't want to be the guy who has only ever made mediocre art that just follows and copies other people's genius (or lack thereof). 



#284 MatrixChicken

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Posted 26 May 2015 - 08:55 PM

Stupid generic future bass thing :P

 


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#285 Chaos

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Posted 26 May 2015 - 09:22 PM

Stupid generic future bass thing :P

 

I don't even understand what defines future bass as such lol so I don't know what is classified as generic :P



#286 MatrixChicken

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Posted 27 May 2015 - 09:46 PM

Splatoon's credits music totally sounds like a thinner Volant song.

 

 

If I could emulate his style I'd totally do a remix like that.


So have any of you guys tried doing other timings than 4/4? That future bass thing I'm working on is in 7/4...


Edited by MatrixChicken, 27 May 2015 - 07:04 AM.

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#287 Chaos

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Posted 28 May 2015 - 01:25 PM


So have any of you guys tried doing other timings than 4/4? That future bass thing I'm working on is in 7/4...

Every time I try, it ends up sounding horrible lol. I'll probably stay with progressive house until I have a solid grasp on it.



#288 Chime

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 03:23 AM

Splatoon's credits music totally sounds like a thinner Volant song.

 

 

If I could emulate his style I'd totally do a remix like that.


So have any of you guys tried doing other timings than 4/4? That future bass thing I'm working on is in 7/4...

I would've probably tried something different by now if changing time signature in FL wasn't such a massive pain in the butt :/



#289 MatrixChicken

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 03:39 AM

I would've probably tried something different by now if changing time signature in FL wasn't such a massive pain in the butt :/

 

Oh it can't be that bad... I think it's actually worse in FL 12 though, lol.


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#290 Chime

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 05:33 AM

Oh it can't be that bad... I think it's actually worse in FL 12 though, lol.

Don't you have to completely change the layout of FL to do it?



#291 Hinkik

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Posted 30 May 2015 - 10:28 PM

Some guy made a piano cover of Skystrike haha.

 


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#292 MatrixChicken

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Posted 31 May 2015 - 07:41 PM

Some guy made a piano cover of Skystrike haha.

 

 

That wasn't half bad! This one dude did a bass guitar "cover" of my song Ethereal... Didn't go as well IMO lol

 


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#293 Hinkik

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Posted 04 June 2015 - 02:33 PM

1000 stronk

 

22c96a853983f6a07b49b1bfd06b758b.png

 

Goin' to Japan to study the next two months so don't expect anything new for a while unless I can get to produce there.


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#294 MatrixChicken

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Posted 04 June 2015 - 03:31 PM

1000 stronk

 

22c96a853983f6a07b49b1bfd06b758b.png

 

Goin' to Japan to study the next two months so don't expect anything new for a while unless I can get to produce there.

 

Awesome!

 

And awwww... Hope you don't get rusty! :P


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#295 Chime

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Posted 04 June 2015 - 06:17 PM

1000 stronk

 

22c96a853983f6a07b49b1bfd06b758b.png

 

Goin' to Japan to study the next two months so don't expect anything new for a while unless I can get to produce there.

Ugh, I'm jealous as heck :(



#296 Chaos

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Posted 04 June 2015 - 06:37 PM

1000 stronk

 

22c96a853983f6a07b49b1bfd06b758b.png

 

Goin' to Japan to study the next two months so don't expect anything new for a while unless I can get to produce there.

That's so cool. Here's to the next 1000! And go buy me all of the anime things ever while you are in Japan :P



#297 MatrixChicken

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Posted 10 June 2015 - 11:05 AM

Well... Here's an attempt at a Porter-style feelsy wall of sound... I'm actually pretty happy with it.

 


So what do you guys think of this now?

 


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#298 Chime

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Posted 11 June 2015 - 01:29 AM

Well... Here's an attempt at a Porter-style feelsy wall of sound... I'm actually pretty happy with it.

 


So what do you guys think of this now?

 

Really good stuff, although the part that's in the first one sounds more porter like since he doesn't usually use portamento on his leads, but he does love that bell-like sound for them. So if if you're going for exact porter I would switch that up, but it sounds fine if you're not going for that. The same kind of goes for the kick, although I would have to mess around with it in FL and stuff to tell you what's really "wrong" with it and I'm super busy this week, so I can't, sorry :(



#299 MatrixChicken

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Posted 11 June 2015 - 07:02 AM

Really good stuff, although the part that's in the first one sounds more porter like since he doesn't usually use portamento on his leads, but he does love that bell-like sound for them. So if if you're going for exact porter I would switch that up, but it sounds fine if you're not going for that. The same kind of goes for the kick, although I would have to mess around with it in FL and stuff to tell you what's really "wrong" with it and I'm super busy this week, so I can't, sorry :(

 

Yeah I guess I was going for a kind of crossover between Porter and an epic chiptune producer named Kubbi.

 

Well really, I was going for something original at first, heh...


Edited by MatrixChicken, 11 June 2015 - 07:02 AM.

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#300 Chime

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Posted 26 June 2015 - 04:35 PM

Gonna change my alias soon. This one is not only crappy, but really hard to make a logo for. I already have a name in mind, but i won't reveal until the logo and everything are done :3

After that planning on finally putting some music out (didn't want to under this bad name with no logo.







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