Link/screenshot inside, I would appreciate some help! Thanks :)

Shirnak

New member
Hi, I've been trying to figure out why my songs don't feel the same as other popular songs and I think its about the loudness, I tried to find on the forum some way to figure it out but I still can't do it. Thats why I'm making this post showing you my song with NO master and WITH the master. I'd like to know if my problem is in the mixing itself or in the mastering.
Mastered track: SoundCloud - Hear the world’s sounds
Not Mastered track: SoundCloud - Hear the world’s sounds
I tried many things, can't figure it out. For exemple, when I listen to my songs in my headphones, it surely doesn't feel the same as when I listen to that song: YouTube its way clearer, way louder. Do you think if I give my mp3 mix to someone who is good in master he could make my song sound really clean/loud? Oh and by the way there's a screenshot of my fl studio setups. flstudiovie.png
Any tips is appreciated.
-Shirnak
 
I keep comparing my track to others professional tracks and it makes me so sad/mad to see that my track ain't *in your face* as others. I'd really like some help, first of all I'd like to be able to know if it's only my mastering that needs improvement, in other ways... is it normal that my track ain't *in your face* if there is no master on it? I use Maximus to master on fl studio, I use a video I found on youtube to master, in fact, I tried many many many differents maximus videos. Is there something else I could try that is better? Any links/info would be so helpful, thanks guys!
 
It was good that you put your mix on here as well... I hate to say that there are exact rules when creating a song, but if you're trying to compete with the popular market and are trying to create a comparable sound; then there are some steps you should at least be aware of...

When I heard your mix, the first thing that came to me ears was a bit too much high end. When you're in the mixing stage, try your best to cut vs boost your eq... Even your reverbs sound as though they have a lot of high end processing and boosting going on... Imo, all of the boosting in the high end frequency range is whats giving your track an unnatural sound. Id go back through the mix and look at all of the eq boosting you've done; I'd then try to get the desired sound by instead using eq cuts.

The reason this is so important is because the first thing to get louder in an overall track, when making it louder, are the highs. Thats why its important to leave as much head room as possible for the mastering stage... If your track has too many highs in the mix already, then its going to be difficult to tame those highs and balance things in the master.
 
Hey there. Redverb said some true things.
Answering on your question:
is it normal that my track ain't *in your face* if there is no master on it?
Yes it is!

Why? Because nowadays standards far away from that analog and vintage rules. Mastering nowadays it is a heavy (common) processing chain, that can drive your track to beyond recognition. BUT! It should sound clear when you turn off your mastering chain, thats important.

Your problem is mastering. Because 'not-mastered' track sound almost on same loudness and peaks, but more harsh. Also, you can up your RMS using not only limiter, but dynamic compressors (such as C4 from Waves). Check few presets there and try to tweak them.

Overall, nice track.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks to both of you for the kind answers, I just took a screenshot of the exact way I did mix my verse with all the pluggings, the EQ high is at 5.5dB and I always use a soundgoodizer on my verses because if I don't my voice sounds pretty low. I have to admit that I'm not really familiar with alot of terms you guys told me like: eq cuts? Yes it's true that the mastered track sounds almost the same has the not-mastered one... btw I really appreciate your help guys :)
 
I would mainly focus on the mix at this stage of the game. Sift through each track and listen to anything that stands out. Like I said, the main obstacle you're currently facing in your song is the high end...its more than just your vocal processing as well. Elements in your track have harsh high end... Its probably from boosting eq too much.


Boosting VS Cutting EQ

I would say that the majority of mixing, during the mixing stage, should be subtractive eq... Subtractive eq is when you lower the gain on a particular band of an equalizer. Then there is additive eq. Additive eq is when you boost the gain on a particular band of an equalizer.

Here's an example of subtractive eq; Lets say you have a synth in your song that sounds a little muffled in the mix...instead of boosting/adding gain to a particular frequency, to make the sound stand out; instead try cutting/lowering the gain to a particular frequency, to make the sound less muffled. Subtractive eq is FAR more used when mixing a song...thats not to say that additive eq isn't used and useful. Try cleaning up your tracks with subtractive eq as much as possible before moving onto effects processing.


Use the same principals with effects processing...try not to over boost the high end signal of reverb or delays, etc...the sound becomes unnatural. If you feel like the sound of your mix is muddy in any way, try to cut frequencies before booting frequencies. For example, you just said that the high end eq on one of your tracks is at +5.5db? Thats A LOT!! Without even seeing your setup, I can already tell thats going to be an issue. If you have to bring the highs that far up, that ultimately means that there is still a lot of muddiness in the lower registers of your tracks. If you would use subtractive eq to get rid of the muddiness in your tracks, you wouldn't have to boost the high end and make the overall mix sound so harsh. This principal will also allow you far more headroom in your mix for the mastering stage.


...Try to not rely on fixing problems at the mastering stage if you don't have to...clean up your song in the mixing stage and use the mastering stage to ultimately enhance your mix. If you're having to try to hard to get a decent master, its best to go back to the mix and fix it from there...

Question...what track is the +5.5db on, is the the master track?
 
versemixexample.png I just noticed that I totally forgot to post the screenshot, I feel stupid xD

Edit: this screenshot is my verses (thats the track with +5.5dB), and just to be sure we understand each other, I didn't made the beat so I can't really fix anything in it, I'm just mixing my vocals on the beat.
 
Last edited:
Hmmm... Well that definitely changes a lot.

For one, was the track you're doing your performance to pre mastered?

Secondly, is there any other processing going on to your vocal performance other than the eq shown in the picture?
 
I think the beat was pre-mastered yes. And as you can see on the picture there is a Compressor/EQ/Soundgoodizer/limiter/delay/reverb. We can see everything I did to the vocal performance on the picture.
 
Pictures tell 2% of the story in this case... What you have to remember is that all daws look different, and people use different daws. I myself use ableton and pro tools... I can't really assume anything about that picture, nor could I tell if certain effects were on auxiliaries being sent or the main vocal itself... Details, and a lot of details are always important in the audio world since presents aren't realistic.

Anyone who says they can tell how to adjust your track from looking at the pictures are unfortunately lying... Let's take it step by step?

Right of the bat, if you have the reverb on your actual vocal track, I'd take it off the vocal track and put it on a send instead. Reverbs and delays should be sent from an auxiliary to a lead vocal track. There is more flexibility this way... I'm not sure what a soundgoodizer is, it must be a proprietary plugin for FL. Just like the delay and reverb, I'd put it on its own send.

Next, bypass the eq, compressor, and limiter... Listen to thr vocal dry. Listen to what you think it needs eq wise. Turn the eq back on and try to make subtractive eq changes to your eq. Now turn the compressor back on and adjust it to the new changes. After that do the same with the limiter.
 
Also you could send me the raw vocal track and the music track, and I could mix it for you and detail what I do step by step... That way you could see what to do and replicate the process. Just a thought.
 
Redverb explained quite well.
Also, you must admit that your processing chain has its priority. What does that mean? It means that its order has its impact. Right now you have: Compressor/EQ/Reverb/Delay/Soundgoodizer/limiter, thats your chain. And if you change that to EQ/Compressor/Soundgoodizer/Reverb/Delay/limiter you will have other sound. Because compressor will impact on EQ-ed sound and Soundgoodizer on Eq+comp sound, then reverb will unite them all and so on. So, just 1 change in order will change your sound, remember that.

2nd, if you mastered your master-bus, it will impact on already pre-mastered beats, which will lead us to distort/crash/clips. Because it will be like twice mastered for beats. So, there are 2 options: master your song separately and then mix with beats - OR - make a group for all your mix except beats and master that group. But usually mastering group has quite other colours compare to mastering master-bus.

I think Redverb will help you with that :)
 
How to know if a beat has been mastered, for exemple if I download a beat from youtube, in my mind they are probably mastered if they put it on youtube that would make sense. So what you are saying is that I should take off the beat, master my vocals, make a WAVE of that, reopen fl studio, put both WAVE of my vocals/beat and make a wave of that for the final song. :) Sounds like a good plan.
 
Xandie said some very important things!! So many people learning how to mix overlook the fact that your processing chain will COMPLETELY change by changing the order of the plugin chain...this is a VERY good point!

After downloading the two stems I noticed two things right away...

1. The stereo instrumental is on edge of distortion.

2. Your lead vocal isn't dry... you have processing on you "raw" vocal.

You should do your best to make it a habit to always cut your vocals without any sort of processing being printed to them...vocals should not have printed effects on them.

As far as the stereo instrumental goes...do you possibly have a version with a little more headroom?
 
Back
Top