How to master for websites that compress?

A

Arcuo

New member
I'm trying to add my music to soundcloud and youtube, but I'm losing a lot of quality in things like depth, crispness, and and dynamics.


I have exported (from FL Studio) in both mp3 and Wav using 512-point sync and 320kbps bitrate.


That being said, the actual mp3 and wav files sound just fine. I guess the way the websites are compressing my tracks are making them lose quality, so how to people address this?
 
First post here in about 8 years, wasted on telling you there's not a huge amount you can do. The compression algorithms employed by 3rd parties are beyond your control (this is the perennial complaint of music producers and broadcast compression since about 1962). Frankly, if your mixes are good, I would upload them with minimal audio compression because, if your files have seriously noticeable differences, you're probably smashing them already.

I posted about how to use audio compression here many years ago. If you use the forum search with my username and the keyword 'compression', you should be able to locate it easily.
 
hackenslash is probably right, since I'm super new to producing I don't have much of an idea how to mix properly, though it sounds just fine in my DAW. Whenever I upload to a website like soundcloud, I lose tons of depth. My issue must be mixing
 
could be a mix issue could be other things snippets of files uploaded to dropbox and also to soundcloud would give us material to start to offer clear advice/opinions on what is happening

if uploading to soundcloud make sure that you use your wav files not your mp3s as soundcloud will convert them to their base 128kbps mp3 format for streaming - when you allow others to download they still get to access the wav files at whatever sample rate and bit depth you use (I use 44.1kHz./24 for my newer material, after I learnt that things were not what I wanted them to be by uploading mp3s)
 
Well I can't post links until I have a total post count of 5. Made this account recently (obviously) so there's that.

As I said above, the problem is with the compression on the website because the actual files themselves sound as it does in my DAW when exported.
 
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My first post on FP although I've been lurking here for a long time.
Are you sure the core problem is the format compression ? If your original mix is barely decent, then website compression will squeeze the life out of your track. But if your mix is really good to begin with, there's nothing really bad Youtube can do to it. Then again, people on Youtube aren't there to listen to surround 9.2 ultra HD music on 20000$ monitors
 
True, like I said since I'm fairly new to production I'm still learning the basics. My guess is that the mix isn't good enough so the compression is "squeezing the life out of my track."

What are the signs that my mix is bad while working in my DAW?
 
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There could be many signs. It's quite common that, as a beginner, you don't hear them per se, but here's a tip for you : import a professionally mixed track in you DAW, solo it and play it for a while (just be careful to disable any FX plugin on your master track). Then, mute it and immediately play your track. If your mix is bad you will hear quite a gap between your sound and the professional one.

Maybe you could now (5 posts) try to link us to a production of yours ?
 
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Yeah here you go (still learning to produce so just judge the sound quality please haha), I'm gonna go ahead and do your suggestion now, thanks for the tip.

https://soundcloud.com/arcuomusic/zedd-i-want-you-to-know-ft-selena-gomez-arcuo-remix

Well one thing I'm noticing right off the bat is that my mix's volume level fluxates much more (but doesn't exceed about -1db) than a professional track, and doesn't maintain the same relative dynamic as the professional track does
 
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Ok, here are some problems in my opinion: the vocal sample loop in the beginning is way too loud and there's too much presence, your claps and hats get drowned into your melodies, there aren't much mid sounds, your bass iss a bit weak...
You cloud start to think mixwise while you're producing : here, all your melodies are competing in the same frequency rage, so it's obvious that you won't get the result you're after as the frequency spectrum of you track isn't covered in a balanced way. You could try to transport some of your instruments one octave down, especially in the busiest parts where they're all stacked.

And (but it's just personal taste) I would change the kick (for a lower pitched one) : it will allow you to emphasize your lower-mid-range area, which will bring your whole track to another dimension.

Oh, and by the way, musically it isn't that bad at all
 
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Alright thanks for the tips. and yeah I've yet to really learn how to balance instruments as I add them, never really thought much about the instruments competing for range, I'll mix it up a little.

For the bass, I knew as I started listening to the professional mix that it was weak, but whenever I try to tweak its volume and even the sound itself with an EQ it either becomes overpowering or very muddy
 
Arcuo said:
Well one thing I'm noticing right off the bat is that my mix's volume level fluxates much more (but doesn't exceed about -1db) than a professional track, and doesn't maintain the same relative dynamic as the professional track does
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That's another topic, the infamous loudness war. But everything starts with a good mix; you can easily reduce dynamics of a good mix in the "mastering" step without losing too much punch, but to get there you first need the best mix you can do.
Try to lower the volume of your reference track so the average volume doesn't exceed yours that much (otherwise the reference track would sound like it's better even if it isn't).

Arcuo said:
Alright thanks for the tips. and yeah I've yet to really learn how to balance instruments as I add them, never really thought much about the instruments competing for range, I'll mix it up a little.

For the bass, I knew as I started listening to the professional mix that it was weak, but whenever I try to tweak its volume and even the sound itself with an EQ it either becomes overpowering or very muddy
Click to expand...



Instead of wanting to make the bass itself fatter, try to lower the rest of your tracks first, then bass will automatically pop up better
 
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Oh alright, so volume wise I shouldn't worry too much in the original mix so long as everything is balanced?
 
Arcuo said:
Oh alright, so volume wise I shouldn't worry too much in the original mix so long as everything is balanced?
Click to expand...


Definitely. A good mix can do wonders, and no mastering can make a bad one sound like gold. Plus, everything becomes easier and more obvious in the home mastering step when you start with a good source sound first.
 
Alright this is already helping a bunch. Now how can I make the additional percussion pop more easily without simply raising the volume on them? Theres not too much other high frequency going on now that I've lowered an instrument or two but some of the hats are still getting lost
 
That shouldn't be a pain now. You have several options, you could pan your hats, eq them a bit to make the desired frequency cut through the mix (try a wide bell or a high shelf), raise the volume a little bit ; optional : change the hat sample itself, stack another hat on it or add some FX like a VERY quiet reverb just to make it more musical (be careful to not drown your hat in reverb, not above 7% wet or so)
 
Yeah I've been wary of reverb on percussion. All these tips are great, I'll keep messing with the mix for a while and see if all this works.
 
OrseSound said:
Ok, here are some problems in my opinion: the vocal sample loop in the beginning is way too loud and there's too much presence, your claps and hats get drowned into your melodies, there aren't much mid sounds, your bass iss a bit weak...
You cloud start to think mixwise while you're producing : here, all your melodies are competing in the same frequency rage, so it's obvious that you won't get the result you're after as the frequency spectrum of you track isn't covered in a balanced way. You could try to transport some of your instruments one octave down, especially in the busiest parts where they're all stacked.

And (but it's just personal taste) I would change the kick (for a lower pitched one) : it will allow you to emphasize your lower-mid-range area, which will bring your whole track to another dimension.

Oh, and by the way, musically it isn't that bad at all
Click to expand...

wow, i even dont listen to music genre which is used in his song (arcuo one), but god, i didnt know that this forum have people like this, to help (almost) everyone with these detailed tips...sorry for offtopic, but one ask for you OrseSound, about master...is it good to use only the limiter (i use Izotome Maximizer (i think it is called like that) which bring you some presets, and ofc there is 'Treshhold' and 'Level'...is it okay if i use on every my beat level for mastering -0.1? some of my friends use -0.3,-0.5...but i think -0.1db okay becouse i dont have really loud mix (cuz im really amateur) ) what do you say...?
 
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