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"finishing" a blend/remix (production related)

dstill808dstill808 704 Posts
edited April 2007 in Strut Central
Like a lot of Microwave dudes, I've been doing a ton of my own custom remixes lately. Tracking and arranging the INST in ProTools, then laying the acapella, then bouncing to disk, and normalizing it in SoundForge.This works fine, though I do sometimes notice on a big system that the final product isn't always"integrated" that well, something sounds a bit off.Is this purely a mixing issue (ie adjusting relative volumes before bouncing)? Obviously if these mixes are just for my own use, it's not going to be worth my while to master them, but I would like to go for the best sound quality.You guys have any reasonable techniques for tracks that aren't necessarily getting an official release?

  Comments

  • FunkyFlatulentFunkyFlatulent 1,106 Posts
    this is a good topic, but i have no answer. I do know what you mean.

    also.. does anyone have a good rule of thumb for how loud the pella should be compared to the instrumental? Something besides doing it by ear.

    I usually just watch where mids are hitting on the master, and go slightly louder with the pella, but that's not to scientific.
  • catchdubscatchdubs 492 Posts
    i've found that listening to the mixdown on different speaker setups (computer, boombox, car, etc) and adjusting off the results has been real helpful. lots of trial and error.

    also when in doubt, err on the side of bass
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    start from the best source product you can find. not saying you do but a lot of mufuckaz making blends from 128kbps mp3s and that shit is decoded and reencoded several times in the process
  • UnherdUnherd 1,880 Posts


    also.. does anyone have a good rule of thumb for how loud the pella should be compared to the instrumental?

    I usually listen to the snare, it should just barely top the vocals in hip hop, its easy to loose perspective listening to the entire beat, if its right against the snare and the beat is mixed decently, this should be close. Some of this depends on how dynamic the beat is (load hook, very minimal verse, etc..)
  • prof_rockwellprof_rockwell 2,867 Posts
    I would also suggest listening to the overall dynamics of the instrumental - maybe even take a cue from the original vocals on how to mix down the acapella.

    Sometimes I've heard blends/mashups/remixes where the beat has a lot of reverb and the acapella is all dry so they don't 'match'. Don't be afraid to use effects...
  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    I just got the T-RackS plug-in for protools, and my blends are sounding soooo much more monsterous than before. A good set of flat response montiors is a must too.
  • bubor0ckbubor0ck 141 Posts
    I just got the T-RackS plug-in for protools, and my blends are sounding soooo much more monsterous than before. A good set of flat response montiors is a must too.

    You can really slam stuff in T-Racks but be careful! I was doing this for a while and noticed it reallly colors the sound almost to the point of being fatiguing, especially on the mid-high/highs.

    I now stick to the completely butter chain of broadband eq> waves c1> waves linear multiband>liiight limiting.
  • KaushikKaushik 320 Posts
    T-RackS plug-in

    Essential.

    I also do my own remixes and my mix approach depends on the source material... I line up all the original stems (vocals, keys, guitar etc.) and listen to them in isolation and then in different combinations to figure out relative levels. Often i need to run the source audio through compressors and eq's to give them the boost and edge needed to stand out in a busy mix. Then I bring in my own parts (drums, bass, keys etc.) and adjust their levels based on what i've already set up for the source audio, looking for balance.

    finally like others have said i do my own mastering and audio test in the studio, car and headphones (sometimes a crappy boombox). main problem is usually too much bass or harsh highs and mids... also i like to compare the unmastered and mastered wav's to make sure the mastered version doesn't sound too squashed.
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,473 Posts
    I just got the T-RackS plug-in for protools, and my blends are sounding soooo much more monsterous than before. A good set of flat response montiors is a must too.

    I just got the Waves suite, including the L2 limiter. My friend suggested I pull up some old sessions, put the L2 on the master fader, load the "hi-res CD master" preset, and set the master fader so that the L2 is just flicking on the limiting on the peaks of the music so I can check out what a difference it makes. And man, does it make a difference. It took some frustratingly weak-sounding tracks and made them bump a lot harder.
  • bass_feverbass_fever 974 Posts
    Another thing to keep in mind is EQ, the accaplla could be clashing with the frequencies in the beat, thus "phasing" some frequencies out. You might mess around with a parametric or paragraphic EQ plug-in (which ever you prefer)and sweep the human voice's frequencie range (85-255hz, up to about 1khz on some soprano performances, cutting these frequencies out of the beat should make the 2 blend easier.
  • dayday 9,611 Posts
    i've found that listening to the mixdown on different speaker setups (computer, boombox, car, etc) and adjusting off the results has been real helpful. lots of trial and error.


    This is good advice. I do that for almost everything I make.
  • dstill808dstill808 704 Posts
    I saw a discussion w/ Keith Shocklee and other dudes from the It Takes a Nation of Millions production/engineering team, and they were talking about how the bomb squad used to to a mixdown from listening to the track through the closed studio doors.

    also when in doubt, err on the side of bass
    Words to live by.
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