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[LiveFromKyoto]

Make PANNING your friend. If you put any part on 0 pan or full pan you want to have a good reason for it. Drums and bass can hang around the centre, you can throw cymbals and pads out wide, and if you want to really throw a sound over your shoulder and to the side then you can put it out of phase. But for the start, it's all about the panning. Use your ears for it, play your song, grab the pan knob for a single part, close your eyes and start panning the part around, you'll notice some places its dead, but some places it leaps out of the speakers. A lot of the pros actually listen to their mix in mono while they pan a sound around. When the sound being panned pops out of mono mix you know it'll pop out of your stereo mixdown.

Yeah, I've got that far - there's actually a good deal of panning going on in my stuff. If you listen to Lost in the rain, the main guitar part is continually panning back and forth. There's a synthesizer bit which spends one section towards the left, one transitioning, one on the right, and so on, generally the opposite of where the guitar part is at. The piano is on the right the whole time. The drums are using an expander module to come out of far L/R and leave the middle open.

I may just need to dial everything back a bit - in terms of volume and reverb - but then getting it to come out at a decent volume in the end becomes the challenge. There's also the continuing problem that a lot of instruments lack a certain amount of character and oomph if they're below a certain threshold.

 

[Fusebox]

You shouldn't have any problems making space for your tracks then. EQ all the bass out of any parts that aren't basslines, EQ all the highs out of the bass parts, compress anything that has a lot of volume changes, pan your parts away from each other and if you still need a slight volume kick at the end throw this on your master channel:

http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-master-limiter.php

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

EQ all the bass out of any parts that aren't basslines, EQ all the highs out of the bass parts

That's really good advice, I'll try that out when I get home tonight. Just shaving the edges off so to speak is probably the best way to narrow things. There's one track I'm doing where the bass and rhythm guitar should fit together perfectly but instead end up tripping over each other, EQing the highs off the bass should fix that.

 

[lil smoke]

Oh, well it was a good thing you asked then!




Make PANNING your friend. If you put any part on 0 pan or full pan you want to have a good reason for it. Drums and bass can hang around the centre, you can throw cymbals and pads out wide, and if you want to really throw a sound over your shoulder and to the side then you can put it out of phase. But for the start, it's all about the panning. Use your ears for it, play your song, grab the pan knob for a single part, close your eyes and start panning the part around, you'll notice some places its dead, but some places it leaps out of the speakers. A lot of the pros actually listen to their mix in mono while they pan a sound around. When the sound being panned pops out of mono mix you know it'll pop out of your stereo mixdown.

edit - Have a listen to the guitar I recorded in this tune, hear how it's waaay out to the right? I put it out of phase with the Phase utility in Ableton, it's a great way to make space for parts:

http://users.tpg.com.au/djfusion//twochords.mp3

This is great advice.

I'd also add, that using reverb can really blur a sound out.

When you use reverb, do not insert it directly into a signal. Send the signal to the a reverb buss, where you can adjust the amount of signal being affected. Now you can have clear sound with just a hint of ambience. The listener will be able to hear the verb better than you (as with all effects, we tend to overdo them). Another thing is to set a predelay on your verb so it doesn't kick in immediately, clouding up your attack transients. Clarity and loudness is percieved by transient information.

The other benefit of reverb busses are the ability to send various tracks to it, saving CPU resources. Sonically, you benefit from using only one (or 2) reverb modules. Too many verbs result in too many diffused frequencies, potential comb filtering, phase cancelling, and bluriness. Every verb has a character. Mixing too many can result in mud. Pay attention to reverb tails, as they can cloud up follwing transient info.

Separation of frequencies between instruments as Fuse is suggesting is by far the best way to achieve separation. Contrast is what makes things stand out. Eliminating redundant frequencies carves space for other sounds to breath, but don't get carried away with removing the lows. If it sounds good, it sounds good. Some people end up removing all low freq info as practice, and they end up with these tinny, lifeless, baseless, digitized sounding tracks.

 

[Broseybrose]

same thing with cutting highs from bass tracks. you cant just blindly do it, because even a bass guitar has useful frequencies all the way up to, lets say 4k. id guess that thats the freq of the 'pluck' of the string.

if you cut everything above, say 1k for a bass guitar, then it will no longer sound like a bass guitar, just a bass tone. what im saying is be careful what freqs you cut because most instruments have useful freqs and harmonics all over the spectrum. You might end up deadening, muffling, flattening, or tinning out your sounds if you cut the wrong freq for the wrong instrument.

long story short, use your ears!

 

[btkadams]

there's too much reading in this thread. could you all please just make a summary of what your huge paragraphs say? please and thank you.

 

[Broseybrose]

nope, this is pro advice and that means you gotta take the time to read it. :lol

 

[lil smoke]

same thing with cutting highs from bass tracks. you cant just blindly do it, because even a bass guitar has useful frequencies all the way up to, lets say 4k. id guess that thats the freq of the 'pluck' of the string.

if you cut everything above, say 1k for a bass guitar, then it will no longer sound like a bass guitar, just a bass tone. what im saying is be careful what freqs you cut because most instruments have useful freqs and harmonics all over the spectrum. You might end up deadening, muffling, flattening, or tinning out your sounds if you cut the wrong freq for the wrong instrument.

long story short, use your ears!

+1 I love "bite" on my bass, so I do very little hi shelving. If anything I'll notch down with a medium Q only where another instrument is in the way. Never blindly cutting the highs... otherwise you won't even hear the bass on cheap speakers. One thing about bass adjustments is also understanding harmonics and fundamental frequencies. There are certain overtones that can be boosted that will make a bass jump right up in your face in a very natural way.

 

[btkadams]

nope, this is pro advice and that means you gotta take the time to read it. :lol

ugh but i can't read.

 

[Garcia]

I'm in guys. I'm loving that mid-June release deadline.

Fits me so well.

Edit: Great advice Smoke. Keep it up with all the pro-tips .

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

nope, this is pro advice and that means you gotta take the time to read it. :lol

You, Smoke and Fuse Box and whoever else, thank you so much. I really mean that. This is really valuable stuff. If you want to proceed past a certain point, I think getting into these things is unavoidable, and is an excellent use of this thread. Even on most producer forums a lot of the advice doesn't get much beyond "use sounds that fit with each other, stop raising the volume so much and dial back on the reverb."

Smoke, especially the thing about setting up a separate bus for reverb. I have no doubt than cramming everything into the same sends is part of my problem too; there's obviously a lot of structural stuff that needs to go into a proper mix. I've also tried your idea of compressing before and after the EQ, I've got some decent results initially.

I think Fabiollo got it right on the last page when he called it black magic.

 

[lil smoke]

Well I would like others to chime in, because all the tracks sounded great, everyone has things they do that work. Lets hear your secrets. I have always asked for more discussion with these threads, and it is not happening yet.

 

[btkadams]

i know absolutely shit all about this stuff so i can't offer much. if anyone actually does have questions about anything ive done in a song feel free to ask and be ready for the simplest answer of your life.

 

[Broseybrose]

You, Smoke and Fuse Box and whoever else, thank you so much. I really mean that. This is really valuable stuff. If you want to proceed past a certain point, I think getting into these things is unavoidable, and is an excellent use of this thread. Even on most producer forums a lot of the advice doesn't get much beyond "use sounds that fit with each other, stop raising the volume so much and dial back on the reverb."

Smoke, especially the thing about setting up a separate bus for reverb. I have no doubt than cramming everything into the same sends is part of my problem too; there's obviously a lot of structural stuff that needs to go into a proper mix. I've also tried your idea of compressing before and after the EQ, I've got some decent results initially.

I think Fabiollo got it right on the last page when he called it black magic.

Im glad Im able to help anyone : )

I wouldnt call it black magic, its just tricks of the trade you pick up along the way - if youve been 'producing' for a while - through trial and error.

I know Monchi-kun made my track sound twice as good when he mastered it... Id like him to come post some of his tips.

 

[pirahna1]

My secrets mostly revolve around FL Studio's awesome-sauce mixer. I'm not sure how my mixes would turn out without it. It's the best mixer I've ever seen.

For this comp I think I'll be producing my song inside FL Studio, arranging it in Live, then pre-mastering back in FL Studio - just to use that mixer. 64 channels, and any channel can be a send, along with 8 FX units per channel - yum.

The most useful advice I've found is to find an EQ you like and get to learn it inside and out. EQ is one of the most useful effects in my mixes. FL's Parametric EQ 2 is great - 7 bands means I can chop out exactly what I need to get each voice to sit in a mix. That, and panning. Use them, but use them wisely!

Oh, and preview your mix on as many systems/sound sources as possible. I have 2 sets of cheap headphones, 2 sets of computer speakers, and 2 shelf systems. Doesn't hurt to check out your mix in your car also. Too bad I don't have proper monitors yet

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

One thing I'd like to know is how you guys are listening to your tracks before bouncing. A lot of things I do sound perfect to me in the sequencer, but then goes to heck once it gets mixed down. I end up going through a lot of trial and error - bounce, adjust, bounce again, doh, the kicks are still causing feedback, adjust again etc. There's gotta be a more efficient way.

 

[lil smoke]

One thing I'd like to know is how you guys are listening to your tracks before bouncing. A lot of things I do sound perfect to me in the sequencer, but then goes to heck once it gets mixed down. I end up going through a lot of trial and error - bounce, adjust, bounce again, doh, the kicks are still causing feedback, adjust again etc. There's gotta be a more efficient way.

Trial and error! I think everyone goes thru that.. all the way up to platinum producers!

But the mix should sound like the sequence, unless you're adding something in the master buss before exporting. The DAW doesn't add or subtract anything from your audio on it's own. (unlike a myth some people do like to keep alive)

 

[Fusebox]

+1 I love "bite" on my bass, so I do very little hi shelving.

Yeah I just wanted to give him the rough rule of thumb to get started but this is usually right too, depending on the bassline. You should never just cut freq's blind, what I usually do is make a huge sharp spike in my EQ and I drag it through the range while all the tracks are playing until the part leaps out of the speakers, then I bring it back down, smooth the Q and cut everything around the spike - the main thing is using your ears. I use a lot of sub-bass sounds that are based on the sine form and they don't need any highs retained, they can be EQ'ed with one spike but some of my acidy basslines and my real guitar basslines need a couple of spikes to bring out their best - and by spike, I mean make a spike to find the most powerful parts of the sound, but once that's done the spikes go back to 0 and the areas around the spikes come down.

Kyoto, that's usually the way I do my mixdown too. I mean I play it back on the monitors a load, then in the headphones and if it sounds good in both I'll render the whole tune to a .wav, but then when I play it back on the home stereo I usually notice some imbalances and stuff so I go back to the mixing board, then once it sound right on the home stereo, the monitors and the headphones I'll load it onto the iPod and listen again with different headphones. Once I've got it sounding as good as it can on multiple sources I'll usually let it out.

 

[kage]

I'd love to contribute, just got Cubase a few months ago and I'm loving it.

 

[Broseybrose]

Yeah I just wanted to give him the rough rule of thumb to get started but this is usually right too, depending on the bassline. You should never just cut freq's blind, what I usually do is make a huge sharp spike in my EQ and I drag it through the range while all the tracks are playing until the part leaps out of the speakers, then I bring it back down, smooth the Q and cut everything around the spike - the main thing is using your ears. I use a lot of sub-bass sounds that are based on the sine form and they don't need any highs retained, they can be EQ'ed with one spike but some of my acidy basslines and my real guitar basslines need a couple of spikes to bring out their best - and by spike, I mean make a spike to find the most powerful parts of the sound, but once that's done the spikes go back to 0 and the areas around the spikes come down.

exactly. its like playing a game called 'guess the frequency". you need to find the freq you want to adjust before doing anything, and the method you described is probably the easiest way to find the freqs that need cutting or boosting.

 

[Fusebox]

Lol, 'guess the frequency', so true. I've seen a few charts with basic freq ranges but unless you're mixing flutes and piccolos they aren't much help in an electronic setup:

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Trial and error! I think everyone goes thru that.. all the way up to platinum producers!

But the mix should sound like the sequence, unless you're adding something in the master buss before exporting. The DAW doesn't add or subtract anything from your audio on it's own. (unlike a myth some people do like to keep alive)

A lot of tracks I do get massive feedback, crackle, buzz etc. post-bounce.

For example, this is the track I did for the late, lamented G.A.M.E. 3.1. In the sequencer it sounds like a louder, buzzin'er, bangin'er, more happening version of this:

http://soundcloud.com/livefromkyoto/through-kyoto-kiyamachi-night-nrml

That was exported with the normalize option, which makes things pretty quiet. This version's not so bad if you crank the volume double I guess.

If I just bounce it straight, I get this booming hellscape:

http://soundcloud.com/livefromkyoto/through-kyoto-kiyamachi-night

Obviously I have a lot going on here, in the second version you can see it just looks like a big block on the wave image. But it sounds awesome to me when playing it inside Logic.

I went through the same thing with my 4.0 track - I find the final bounce I did for that a bit harsh, with the synth brass at the end dominating too much. In the sequencer it all fit the way I wanted it to.

 

[Broseybrose]

Lol, 'guess the frequency', so true. I've seen a few charts with basic freq ranges but unless you're mixing flutes and piccolos they aren't much help in an electronic setup:

ive seen lots of charts like that too. theyre incredibly useful when first learning the basics of the frequency spectrum. the problem with this chart here is its very limited to the fundamental frequencies. The harmonics on a kick drum can go all the way up to 5k, which is the sound of the batter hitting the skin.

anyway, if anyone really wants to learn about EQ and doesnt mind reading, try this thread. it taught me quite a lot.

 

[Fusebox]

That's really weird man. I don't know my way around Logic, but you're doing something wrong. Have you got a bunch of tracks bussed together, but not switched off individually or something? It sounds to me like something in there, or everything, is getting rendered a couple of times together.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

That's really weird man. I don't know my way around Logic, but you're doing something wrong. Have you got a bunch of tracks bussed together, but not switched off individually or something?

Pretty much everything except for the FM synth being sidechained to the main beat is being sent straight to the master out. Should I be splitting things off into individual busses first?

 

[Fusebox]

No, no need to, just that grouped tracks can be a way to accidentally have multiple instances of the same track playing.

Just going back to what you said earlier...

"That was exported with the normalize option

If I just bounce it straight, I get this booming hellscape"

I 'export' a whole tune in Ableton when I've mixed it down, which sounds like your first method, but when you say 'bounce it straight' are you bouncing all the parts into the master track or something totally different to exporting? Or are you still exporting but just not using the normalise option?

 

[btkadams]

logic is the scariest thing i've ever seen. i commend anyone who can make a sound with it. garcia's going to teach me as soon as i have time but fuck... i opened that thing up and i pooped a little. not a lot, but a little.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

No, no need to, just that grouped tracks can be a way to accidentally have multiple instances of the same track playing.

Just going back to what you said earlier...

"That was exported with the normalize option

If I just bounce it straight, I get this booming hellscape"

I 'export' a whole tune in Ableton when I've mixed it down, which sounds like your first method, but when you say 'bounce it straight' are you bouncing all the parts into the master track or something totally different to exporting? Or are you still exporting but just not using the normalise option?

It literally has a button you can click titled "bounce". It brings up a menu with a series of options which let you export what you're doing into various file types and encoding rates. There's a checkbox titled 'normalize' which according to the user manual:

When it's selected, Logic calculates the maximum possible volume for the bounce without exceeding 0 dBFS, and writes a resulting audio file with the optimum level for whatever format you are bouncing to.

Basically the two versions of the song I posted were one with that box checked, one without.

 

[Fusebox]

It literally has a button you can click titled "bounce". It brings up a menu with a series of options which let you export what you're doing into various file types and encoding rates. There's a checkbox titled 'normalize' which according to the user manual:



Basically the two versions of the song I posted were one with that box checked, one without.

I'd forget about normalising it. Put this on your master:

http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-master-limiter.php

Wind it up till your track punches and then bounce it without normalising.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

logic is the scariest thing i've ever seen. i commend anyone who can make a sound with it. garcia's going to teach me as soon as i have time but fuck... i opened that thing up and i pooped a little. not a lot, but a little.

Yeah, it's definitely paralyzing at first. It came with no less than eight different manuals a couple of which are tomes. It took 3 hours to install. The box it ships in is like the size of one you'd get a pair of boots in, and it comes on multiple dvds and takes up 40 GB on my hard drive. It took me 2-3 months before I could really do anything with it. And I'm still climbing the mountain. But I'm glad I got into it, I'm learning tons and you can produce some amazing results....I just need to learn how to boil them down into mp3 form. I think it'll be another 18 months before I'm really competent with it. There are whole areas of it I haven't even touched yet.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

I'd forget about normalising it. Put this on your master:

http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-master-limiter.php

Wind it up till your track punches and then bounce it without normalising.

Cool, I'l, see if I can use it. And it never really occurred to me to put stuff on the master, I've been leaving it alone and using adaptive limiters on individual instrument channel strips.

 

[Fusebox]

I love some light compression at the master, I use the attack/release to get the comp pumping in time with the track. That and the classic limiter plug to boost the overall mix.

 

[vpance]

Mix with a spectral analyzer on the master buss if you can. I like to use Izotope Ozone with the analyzer set to Infinite. That way the sounds stay at their visual peaks and you can easily identify what space it occupies over an infinite amount of time. Play a guitar sample and you'll see it spike and valley at a bunch of points over the spectrum. You can't boost/cut what doesn't exist so seeing where the sound exists in the spectrum just confirms what your ears may tell you.

 

[Broseybrose]

Mix with a spectral analyzer on the master buss if you can. I like to use Izotope Ozone with the analyzer set to Infinite. That way the sounds stay at their visual peaks and you can easily identify what space it occupies over an infinite amount of time. Play a guitar sample and you'll see it spike and valley at a bunch of points over the spectrum. You can't boost/cut what doesn't exist so seeing where the sound exists in the spectrum just confirms what your ears may tell you.

now THATS pro... :lol

fusebox, thanks for linking to those VSTs... i use Audacity which is pretty bare-bones, which is why i like it. But I havent been able to find any really decent plug-ins. Already downloaded them and cant wait to try them out.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Hrm...this is weird. Compressing the master is having the effect of hyperactivating the sidechaining, even though I turned it off for the master compressor. Suddenly the knee becomes a cliff. The limiter is really making everything pump too, like the attenuation is fighting back too far the other way.

 

[monchi-kun]

checking in...add me to the list. i'll take on mastering duties again if everyone's ok with it

 

[whiterabbit]

I'd like to be on the album if it's not too late/full.

 

[monchi-kun]

I'd like to be on the album if it's not too late/full.

no such thing as full for G.A.M.E. although we had more people on the list for 4.0 that never contributed...flakers!!! :lol

 

[btkadams]

I'd like to be on the album if it's not too late/full.

this is our territory. be on your way.

Spoiler

of course there's room! we're kicking garcia out soon anyways, since he keeps signing off msn in the middle of our conversations.

 

[lil smoke]

Hrm...this is weird. Compressing the master is having the effect of hyperactivating the sidechaining, even though I turned it off for the master compressor. Suddenly the knee becomes a cliff. The limiter is really making everything pump too, like the attenuation is fighting back too far the other way.

It sounds like you are having some kind of technical problem somewhere, going back to your G.4 submit and all the crackle and popping. Usually indicates a poor soundcard or driver, or something going on with your levels.

You need to provide some info as to what your normal channel settings are. What is your soundcard? Where are your channels peaking? Where is your master buss peaking? What is the RMS on the master buss? How many decibels of gain reduction are you getting after compression? What sample rate and bitrate are you using? How many channels of audio? Do you have CPU issues while working? What are your export settings? Do you ever change sample rates while working or before bouncing? Answer all these and come back

If you are compressing the master buss, and get a sidechainy, pumping sound... that is the effect of too much compression, and also poorly set release. If you have too much bass, the compressor is going to react to that bass by attenuating the level over the entire mix. It will attenuate until the compressor releases. Now if your release is too long, not only will you affect the bass, you will also affect anything that comes after that bass up until the point where the release takes effect, and the level goes back up. Throw in makeup gain, and you are turning this pumping effect up. Remember that makeup gain is not a function of compression. The idea that compression makes quiet parts loud is a misconception. Makeup gain compensates for lost level. It is only a means to bring the level back up after attenuation. The wrong envelope shape on a master compressor can ruin everything, so it is best to be subtle and look for only 2-3 db gain reduction at this stage. The master buss compression is not use for level, it is only used for shaping. As Fuse siggests, try a limiter, or better yet, leave the levelling to the Mastering stage. There is nothing wrong with turning the monitor volume up during mixing. Many suggest that digital sounds better actually when mixed well below the celing, leaving as far up to -18db of headroom.

One trick is to start the mix with the compressor already set on the master buss and leave it there, forget about it. This way, you mix into the compressor, reaping the benefit of the enveloping, peak balancing and punch, without ruining the mix after the fact. To learn how to set this up, load any song you like into the DAW, and play with the compressor settings (mainly att/rel and thres) until the shaping vibes with the beat of the song. The settings will be different for every song. That subtle vibe and punch is what mixbuss compression is for.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

It sounds like you are having some kind of technical problem somewhere, going back to your G.4 submit and all the crackle and popping. Usually indicates a poor soundcard or driver, or something going on with your levels.

Actually, going back to my G1 submission. Remember how murky and quiet that was? Didn't sound that way inside Garageband. But then, if it's a problem with the drivers, why would it only show up on the bounce?

The other weird thing was that with my G4 .wav bounce, if I played it in Quicktime Player it sounded just like it did inside Logic, but if I opened it in Soundtrack Pro like I think Monchi was using, that's when the crackle showed up.

You need to provide some info as to what your normal channel settings are. What is your soundcard?

No dedicated sound card. It's the internal audio off a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo in my MacBook Pro. 667 MHz bus, 3GB of RAM.

Where are your channels peaking?

There are a lot of them!

Where is your master buss peaking?

At about +3.1 Db

What is the RMS on the master buss?

I'm not going to lie, I don't even know what that is.

How many decibels of gain reduction are you getting after compression?

Right now I've got it at a 2.9:1 ratio, that seems to sound the best. To be honest though, I'm happy with the mix in the DAW even without compression. It come out messed up either way though.

What sample rate and bitrate are you using?

Generally, 24-bit / 44100

How many channels of audio?

18 going into 2 outputs.

Do you have CPU issues while working?

Occasionally I'll get a CPU overload message, but it's generally been fine since I upgraded to 3 GB of RAM.

What are your export settings?

For these examples I'm just bouncing straight to MP3, so standard rates apply.

Do you ever change sample rates while working or before bouncing?

Nope. Default bounce to .wav is 24 bit / 44100

 

[lil smoke]

Actually, going back to my G1 submission. Remember how murky and quiet that was? Didn't sound that way inside Garageband. But then, if it's a problem with the drivers, why would it only show up on the bounce?

No idea. Do you bounce realtime or offline? Some DAW have 32 bit float which provide infinite headroom, however outside of the DAW 0db is 0db and clipping is clipping, as are intersample peaks. So they may show up outside of a 32 bit environment, but I'm not too sure.

The other weird thing was that with my G4 .wav bounce, if I played it in Quicktime Player it sounded just like it did inside Logic, but if I opened it in Soundtrack Pro like I think Monchi was using, that's when the crackle showed up.

But Monchi was upsampling or downsampling... he was doing some conversion right?

No dedicated sound card. It's the internal audio off a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo in my MacBook Pro. 667 MHz bus, 3GB of RAM.

I would bet that THIS is your issue right here. You can pick up a better external USB2.0 interface very cheap these days. No one should be working off the internal soundcard. Your music deserves better. Everything will perform and sound much much better to you immediately. Shit I could give you my old one.

Where are your channels peaking?

There are a lot of them!

I mean what do the meters read? Is anything over 0?

Where is your master buss peaking?

At about +3.1 Db

. If you're sure about this, get that way below 0. NEVER go above zero. This is major.

What is the RMS on the master buss?

I'm not going to lie, I don't even know what that is.

My bad. RMS is root mean square, which is the way average level is calculated. You might be able to change an option to have your meters display level this way. It is helpful for knowing what ballpark you're in compared to other music. The average stays fixed, so you can pop in any track and see if it matches. You cannot rely on it totally because again, bass frequencies will fool you, but you will at least know that if your track sounds quiet to another track, but the RMS is the same... you may surmise that you have a bass problem

How many decibels of gain reduction are you getting after compression?

Right now I've got it at a 2.9:1 ratio, that seems to sound the best. To be honest though, I'm happy with the mix in the DAW even without compression. It come out messed up either way though.

2:1 is good for ratio, but does not specify GR. To view gain reduction, you look for the final meter, and see how many dbs are going down after compression. It is an important number, because it has the most apparent effect on your sound after compression.

Do you have CPU issues while working?

Occasionally I'll get a CPU overload message, but it's generally been fine since I upgraded to 3 GB of RAM.

Possibly that soundcard.

*When bouncing to MP3, it is good to leave some headroom. MP3 conversion does not like anything near -0.10dbfs. Spikes and things of that matter can happen during conversion is the source is too hot.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

I would bet that THIS is your issue right here. You can pick up a better external USB2.0 interface very cheap these days. No one should be working off the internal soundcard. Your music deserves better. Everything will perform and sound much much better to you immediately. Shit I could give you my old one.

I'm pretty much just using internal Logic instruments at this point, does it matter? If so, what kind of card would you recommend?

 

[Dark Octave]

No dedicated sound card.

Problem solved.

I was going to ask you if you had an audio interface when I read your problems earlier, but I didn't want to insult you.

Get one ASAP. I'd stay away from the Sound Blaster types. Anything you can buy from stores like Best Buy will still give you issues with clicking and popping.

I personally use an M-Audio Delta 44. It comes with a break out box with four ins and four outs. But that was years ago, so I'm sure you can find something way better for the price, today.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Problem solved.

I was going to ask you if you had an audio interface when I read your problems earlier, but I didn't want to insult you.

:lol It's okay. Honestly, I didn't think I needed one since like I said, things sound fine, it's just when I export the files they get murky.

 

[Fusebox]

Kyoto, no sound-card will cause all kinds of problems in a production rig, you really need to think about getting one. If you're like me and don't need a crazy amount of inputs I highly recommend my sound-card:

http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=audiokontrol1&L=1

It's the bomb, and it's well-priced.

 

[Dark Octave]

Kyoto, no sound-card will cause all kinds of problems in a production rig, you really need to think about getting one. If you're like me and don't need a crazy amount of inputs I highly recommend my sound-card:

http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=audiokontrol1&L=1

It's the bomb, and it's well-priced.

I like how soundcards come bundled in little things like this.

I had a friend who's soundcard was also his keyboard controller. That was tight.

And yes Kyoto, a soundcard/audio interface is important especially for recording your tracks from your sequencer.

 

[pixelated]

in

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Kyoto, no sound-card will cause all kinds of problems in a production rig, you really need to think about getting one. If you're like me and don't need a crazy amount of inputs I highly recommend my sound-card:

It's the bomb, and it's well-priced.

Okay, that thing's sexy, and it does like 3 things that I need (I have no headphone amp for my AKGs, either). How are the NI sound libraries? I've never messed with them.

 

[monchi-kun]

LFK, I suggest looking for a Firewire Audio Interface...so some strange reason i get latency issues with USB ones.

I have a PreSonus Firebox and it's not too shabby