over compression? bad resolution?

[Guest Kits]

if my track sounds great at high volumes but as I turn down the volume it loses A LOT of its punch and sounds flatter, 2 dimensional kinds... could this be due to any of the following:

- Over Compression: not over as in distorted or crunchy but just too much to hurt quality... and on this subject - how do you feal about compressing on the master, and if you do this, do you do this in your sequencer or using an external mastering tool?

- Resolution or bitrate: I used Fruity Loops as my sequencer, it runs on 16 bit sample rate and renders to wav at 16 bit... could this be a factor? If you use a system with a higher bit rate does that guarantee better quality than the 16 bit systems?

- Bad Sampling: How crucial is it to quality that the original sampled sound be sampled as closest possible to 0 DB? Do you sample at specific volums for specific sounds or do you sample at closest to 0 DB and level it in your sequencer?

- Bad System: my sound runs through SoundBlasterAudigy(crappy card, dont buy this pretensious shit), to an amp with flat settings and to 2 decent moniters... also, how can you be sure that your system(soundcard through amp to speakers) indeed sounds TRUE?

 

Obviously, all the above can hurt quality but can they lead to the problem I mentioned in the first sentance?

 

and just aother thought - I try to limit my use of eq to as little adding to the eq as possible as opposed to frealy subtracting... is this a wrong approach? can anyone share some basic guidlines to using eq?

 

I'd appreciate anyones thoughts and comments on this...

 

Kits

[Guest Lifeformsznit]

What monitors are you using...?

 

1. Over compression: This is bad and it will ruin your mix. You want to leave that healthy ammount of space in your trax so the sounds dont sound so FLAT and close to everything else. By doing this your leaving your trax with no room to breath.

2. Fruity Loops... That may be your answer right there.

3. The difference between 16 and 24-bit. On a normal stereo system you won't really be able to tell the difference. But if your listening in a Hi-Fi System, you can tell it's much more clear and cleaner. Not overlyl though... I ussually record at 16 bit as well, cause i dont see the point of 24 bit at the time.

4. If your using hardware... Make the shortest signal path as possible. You dont want that extra noise or hum in your samples/wavs.

There are many different tools out there, including plug ins that will maximize your files to 0db. There is no rule about keeping your files at 0db, just stay clean of the noise.

5. Sound Blaster Cards are shitty (sorrY). And the way you know your audio sounds true.. is by having a good sound card... running straight from your outs of your soundcard to good monitors. Dont run it thru anything, and the sound will be untouched, and what you hear... is true.

 

Mainly... I'd work with your compression. Cause over compression is worse than not compressing a final mix at all! On a final mix, if you know how to do it... Just compress the parts that need to be compressed. Bitrate doesn't have anything to do with this, your soundcard isn't too great, but it shouldn't effect this... Fruity loops... Not good. So try working with some other sequencer, see if your songs end up sounding better. Don't forget to take advantage of the stereo feild too. And of course... I'll ask again, what monitors are you using?

[Guest Kits]

wow, thanks, much appreciated

 

my monitors are from a brand called Optimus.... is this a known brand?

[Guest monno]

i will only cover the speakers here as all the other questions seems answered above so here goes. the frequency response of your speakers and the physics of sound are the issue here. as a general rule the louder you play it the more you´ll hear

this has something to do with the way our ears percieve low level information. the human ear is tuned in to the mid frequencies of the sound spectrum thus we hear this better at low volumes compared to the low and high frequencies. thats why it might appear to sound better when you turn up the volume of your speakers. this is not generally a good way to

mix a track because small differences in volume etc. shows better played at low levels on good speakers, mackie for example probably has the best frequency response for speakers in their class and price range making it the ultimate must have for mixing and mastering. cheaper alternatives are at hand but they all sound very different from eachother making it difficult to find a brand whose speakers are truly neutral. i can´t stress this enough as the speakers are the things that actually physically make your sound everything else is just 01010101 they are one of the most important

factors of home studios the ability to monitor in a neutral way so you won´t get any nasty surprises when you listen to your stuff on another system. if you don´t have the money for upgrading you have probably listened to music on your speakers for some time so you know how it´s supposed to sound on your own system, this is extremely handy and something you should give some thought although the optimal solution is active monitors such as mackie etc. this solution as the added advantage that the amps are carefully matched to the speakers giving a much more effective amp/speaker power handling.

best of luck, hope this was of some help to you

[Guest Faction]

As a rule, I would suggest cutting rather than boosting when using EQ. This usually sounds more natural and easier on the ears than bossting, especially with digital EQ. When cutting using a really narrow Q you can get rid of harsh-sounding resonances and smooth the sound out (especially when you're trying to get a distorted sound to fit in the mix). If a sound definitely sounds like its missing something you can boost to fix it, but I would suggest using a wider bandwidth and being careful with how much you boost.

 

Take care out there, you only get one pair of ears. My housemate has tinnitus from loud music - it's not funny.

 

..Faction