Juke Maluke - Open Up Your Eyes

tewky1

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Oct 16, 2012
Hi Guys

I have been away and followed some tution stuff to try and get some actual production values, and learning some techniques, which at present I might not fully understand but the ears can hear them. Trying to build up some sort of work flow and basic concepts to apply to each part I build.

SPent a bit of time trying to EQ this and balance parts as best I could.

The track is so so at best, and not really my type of music I really like, but its all a means to an end.

I would be interested in hearing any technical feedback on how parts worked, gelled together, any galring EQ'ing issues etc etc.. Just trying to learn a bit. No in depth analysis need, but any areas you think I could go and research myself some more would be much appreciated.

Here it is

 
bass is alright man, would bring that snare up a lot more so it sits in rhythm with the kick and bring up the hats/perc up as well so they sit just below your drums
 
Cool thanks, now I listen the snare is really tucked away. I spent a lot of time trying to get that Kick to punch through. WIll go back and look at balnced the perc up a bit.

Cheers bud!
 
I like the bassline fading in at about :48, though it's kind of faint. The first drop was good. The second voice coming in at 1:28 seems kind of bland next to the bass, maybe you could FX it up a bit or something. Just a thought, anyway. Nice back in at 2:04. I like the high bell accents. I like the drum breakdown at 2:47. Good second drop. Nice at 3:54, though I'm wondering if a(n other) sample or something could be brought in for the repetitive parts. 4:35 is a nice breakdown. I agree with the snare comment, but I think the mix is otherwise very good.
 
You should go back and work on Kick and Snare a bit more.

First of all: did you pan the Kick and Snare? Something just sounds weird and it seems as if the Kick is panned slightly to the left.

If you had to work hard on the Kick to make it cut through, I suggest that instead of boosting frequencies on it (my guess is that you did that), you should rather remove those frequencies on the other instruments in the mix or use sidechaining. Another option would be to simply use a different sample if you can't get that one to work in your mix.

Same goes for the Snare. It's way too quiet in the mix right now. And that might be a volume issue but it's most likely a frequency issue as well.

So my advice would be to remove all the effects/processing that you have currently on your kick snare. Listen to the raw samples and decide wether they sound already close to what you would like them to sound. If that's not the case, then try to find different samples. If you can't find any then start looking at the other elements in the mix.

You always want the Kick and Snare to cut through. Listen to the Kick and your Basslines only and start cutting frequencies on the Basstrack(s). Usually you'd want the Kick to be prominent in the 60-80 Hz area. If you have a frequency analyser, you can look where the Kick sample is currently peaking. The easiest way is to look for the frequency range in which you want the instruments to be the most promient and cut these frequencies on the other instruments, with which they might be interfering and try to avoid boosting frequencies too much.
 
You should go back and work on Kick and Snare a bit more.

First of all: did you pan the Kick and Snare? Something just sounds weird and it seems as if the Kick is panned slightly to the left.

If you had to work hard on the Kick to make it cut through, I suggest that instead of boosting frequencies on it (my guess is that you did that), you should rather remove those frequencies on the other instruments in the mix or use sidechaining. Another option would be to simply use a different sample if you can't get that one to work in your mix.

Same goes for the Snare. It's way too quiet in the mix right now. And that might be a volume issue but it's most likely a frequency issue as well.

So my advice would be to remove all the effects/processing that you have currently on your kick snare. Listen to the raw samples and decide wether they sound already close to what you would like them to sound. If that's not the case, then try to find different samples. If you can't find any then start looking at the other elements in the mix.

You always want the Kick and Snare to cut through. Listen to the Kick and your Basslines only and start cutting frequencies on the Basstrack(s). Usually you'd want the Kick to be prominent in the 60-80 Hz area. If you have a frequency analyser, you can look where the Kick sample is currently peaking. The easiest way is to look for the frequency range in which you want the instruments to be the most promient and cut these frequencies on the other instruments, with which they might be interfering and try to avoid boosting frequencies too much.

No Panning and no boosting on the Kick. I worked on it, by side chaining the bass, and a few other elements. Also by tweaking the compression on the Kick so it was punching through a bit more. If anything I think I might have done something udesirable in that process.

I am only a beginner, but pretty much I had gathered you got your Sub in the Freq's you mentioned, and that you Kick should be coming through around the 100-150, which is where it is. I left a nice space from 100-200 so the kick could come through. The snare hits bang on at 250, and it is just a balancing issue I think, just needs to be more promiment in the mix, theres still loads of head room left in all my tracks before I did the master channel tweaks to get the mix up.

Will try and give a bref idea of how the frequencies are sitting, please let me know if it make sense or not, like I say just trying to pick this stuff up.

Kick - Cut from 100hz, then added a compressor, then went and added another filter to cut again from 100hz. Thought process was to keep the low end info out of the sub Bass area.
Snare - Filtered at 200hz, to get rid of any low end on it, then some EQ with a 6db boost around 250and I made a cut around 8.8khz, that was just from listening I made that tweak.
Breaks - All low end removed around 500hz, as I wanted them to sound crisp and high endy on the drum loop.

Bass - Split into Sub and Mid Bass, Sub is low passed at 100hz, and the Mid Bass high passed at 230, but I have added a EQ dipping out at 250, and a couple of other points where I was getting harsh freq's coming through.

Anything there I can look at and work on?

Thanks for the feedback, much much appreciated.
 
Hi,

maybe the original samples you are using are the problem.

However, every mix is different of course but I usually have my kicks peaking in the 60-80 Hz area and the sub below that. You could try a remix where you slightly boost the 60-80 Hz area of your kick and cut these frequencies to the same amount on your subbass. Additionally you could also use sidechain compression, so the bass ducks whenever the kick hits. Usually it's also useful to cut the kick in the 500 Hz area. Also don't forget a low-pass on the kick. Cut the unnecessary frequencies wherever you can. ;)

The Snare peaking at 200-250 Hz is pretty standard. So you're good with that, but what do you mean by "filtered at 200 Hz"? Do you mean a simple low-cut? That would be good but you shouldn't be too radical about it. By that I mean that it should rather be a curve and not a radical cut, i.e. a hi-pass. I also recommend sidechain compression, so everything ducks when your snare hits. By doing that, you can turn the Snare down in your mix and limit the whole mix a bit louder. ;)

So, maybe you want to do it like that:
Mix the drums to your likings, then slowly fade in the other instruments, starting with the subbass, then the mid bass etc.
If you have to turn anything extremely loud in order to make it audible or if you notice that (for example) your kick gets overpowered by one of your bass tracks, stop and check the frequencies. Play around with your EQ until the problem is solved, then go on and do the same with the other tracks.

I hope that helps. :)
 
Lovely mate, will go back and start some sort of re-editing.

I will admit I sort of went through a course in like 2 days, and some more time needs to be spent on tweaking it.

Thanks for tips, will have agood look through.

Cheers
 
As for this kick and bass duo I proceed as it follows.

First I eq both with this technique -> http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1211 . That makes a little more room for each element.
Then I add a subtle sidechain compression on the bass. You can play with the settings of the compression in order to have the sound you like, but when it comes to compression, try to stay really subtle, over-compressing just kills the dynamics and flow of the sounds.
That, plus picking the right samples/sounds, that means not picking a kick that you know it will clash with your bass etc..

I'm not saying I'm pro, actually im kinda beginner to production aswell, started like 6-7months ago, but so far these tips have really improved my drums/bass sounds.
 
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