Mixing question

Well, in the mix my vocals arent comming out clear enough and these peaks are hindering me from increasing the overall volume. The alternative would be lowering everything but the vocals but its like meh meeeeh.

I had a look with the parametric eq and fiddled around with eq changes at the trouble frequencys. It didnt help, the frequencys that got lowered lowered the whole peak so the image form of the spectrum still looks the same.

I dont know what to do really, this is making me furious and i've spent so much time on the track that i want to finish it and i want everything to be good enough. Think i will just start ending it up now and let the imperfections be there. After all you cant be stuck on 1 track for all of your time, sometimes you just have to let go and move on.
 
Ahhhh right, I see your point now! Yeah try cutting it out with eq some more man, might get somewhere with it if you keep on trying. Alternatively I myself would probably just go for the lower everything else option to be honest
 
I downloaded the vocal mate, not whacked it in my daw but where did you get this from ? The source could have been the problem. Will load up cubase in a bit though
 
Hey.

I used to do the same thing. Trying to keep my mix the louder i could through all te composing process.
It seems to be very wrong. Try to mix at -6 -12 or -20. On span you can set your meter to show different metering styles. I use the K-meter.
You don't need to have things hitting @0dbfs. Build your track quite low and you'll bring things up with a simple mastering tool at the end.

BTW there is no specific DB marker to follow on your kick or snares or whatever element. It's impossible to make that kind of statement really.
 
Thing is if your mixing your song @ -6 instead of 0 db if you dont have proper audio equipment(speakers/headphones) you cant hear every detail of your mix with low volume, which forces you to increase your volume which if your on headphones reaches a point where your ears start hurting. :(

Its like i told Elmaruk on skype, using your ears is good and all but there is only that much that your ears can do, these spectrum analyzers are awesome to help out where your ears cant(but yes im overanalyzing the spectrum analyzers result).

I got a question @ topic, the db level you mix on that is set to use(0 -6 -12 etc), are there specific levels where volume distortion start happening? If so what are those levels.
Thanks
 
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Dude, I did press print screen when I tested the analyser to show the change but it didn't seem to wanna work that time around, sorry...

Anyways, the frequencies you was on about is now dimmed down and pretty level with the rest of the vocal. Here is a short sample:

https://soundcloud.com/crypticz-1%2Fduckstep-wonderwall-vocal-eq%2Fs-8X7co

Sounds alright to me?

If that sounds right then let me know, I am interested if I actually know what you mean! Also if it is right I will tell you how I did it, its very very simple :) No point me sending over the whole thing though because trying it out yourself would help for the future to remember ;D
 
I don't get your point. Mixing @ 0db with low HP volume or mixing @ -6db with higher HP volume is exactly the same. There isn't one which will hurt your ears more.
But mixing at lower volume will leave more headroom for mastering and if you use some hardware emulation plugins you want to feed them a low volume signal.

BTW i think most producers use spectrum analyzers. They are helpfull. But dont overuse them. Check some things on them but trust your ears first.

I personally mix @ -12 now. Distortion will happens when master hits positive levels i guess.
 
Thanks for all the answers, im learning and will adapt my mixing to what you've all written.

Busdriver said:
I don't get your point. Mixing @ 0db with low HP volume or mixing @ -6db with higher HP volume is exactly the same. There isn't one which will hurt your ears more.
But mixing at lower volume will leave more headroom for mastering and if you use some hardware emulation plugins you want to feed them a low volume signal.

BTW i think most producers use spectrum analyzers. They are helpfull. But dont overuse them. Check some things on them but trust your ears first.

I personally mix @ -12 now. Distortion will happens when master hits positive levels i guess.
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Your right -6db and -0db is no volume difference, as long as you have the same volume level on your speakers/headset :not_worth

Parsons19 said:
Dude, I did press print screen when I tested the analyser to show the change but it didn't seem to wanna work that time around, sorry...

Anyways, the frequencies you was on about is now dimmed down and pretty level with the rest of the vocal. Here is a short sample:

http://soundcloud.com/crypticz-1/duckstep-wonderwall-vocal-eq/s-8X7co

Sounds alright to me?

If that sounds right then let me know, I am interested if I actually know what you mean! Also if it is right I will tell you how I did it, its very very simple No point me sending over the whole thing though because trying it out yourself would help for the future to remember ;D
Click to expand...
Ye that's the sound i meant, what did you do to get the result?

Oh and also if you do mixing at -6 db, before you release the complete song when you do mastering what volume level do you bring it up to, -0 db?
 
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duckstep said:
Oh and also if you do mixing at -6 db, before you release the complete song when you do mastering what volume level do you bring it up to, -0 db?
Click to expand...

Yup, if you're doing it yourself, with a little limiting or maximising if you want to squash it a bit and bring up the rms volume.
 
for the vocal mate all I did was use span (it would be doable by ear by dragging the eq around to find the right frequency, but I am lazy ;) ) to find out the frequency that was causing you troubles. Turns out that it was around abouts 3800 :) Next up, this is in Cubase 4's default EQ so some terms & lingo may look and be different in FL but it will all do the same, I took an EQ band, took it 3800 and selected a "peak" setting. I then brought the gain down (so it cuts that frequency as opposed to peaking it) to like -15 or something along those lines? its down to how much you wanna cut away really. Finally I adjusted the Q factor, again something you can choose according to your taste, so that it was a bit more specific on zoning in on the frequencies causing the problemsss. Hopefully that explanation helps!

And for mixing mate, I just mix at low levels then when it is ready to be mastered I bounce it down to the requested peak level. If I am mastering then I do it at -3db and master the audio in a separate project but I when others have mastered for me before I have had to mix down to -6 and I think some proper mastering folk even like it at -12 ! I just create tunes at low levels though as I am primarily a headphone user.

Hopefully I have helped you a bit overall buddy!
 
elmaruk said:
loooooooool

umm, just do a little dip on the eq surely?
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This ^

As soon as i seen his post on the last page showing the spikes, i immediately thought, why not eq it out then compress?

And Cubase is the shiiit!! Love it! The stock programs are pretty beast if i dont say so myself..
 
parsons19 said:
Dude, I did press print screen when I tested the analyser to show the change but it didn't seem to wanna work that time around, sorry...

Anyways, the frequencies you was on about is now dimmed down and pretty level with the rest of the vocal. Here is a short sample:

https://soundcloud.com/crypticz-1%2Fduckstep-wonderwall-vocal-eq%2Fs-8X7co


Sounds alright to me?

If that sounds right then let me know, I am interested if I actually know what you mean! Also if it is right I will tell you how I did it, its very very simple :) No point me sending over the whole thing though because trying it out yourself would help for the future to remember ;D
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me, i would maybe run a de-esser but sounds good.
 
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