"finishing" a blend/remix (production related)
dstill808
704 Posts
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
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.
also when in doubt, err on the side of bass
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..)
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...
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.
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.
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.
This is good advice. I do that for almost everything I make.
Words to live by.