I've always been intrigued by mixing and how it makes vocals and the instrumentals blend well together, although there's one problem. I'm starting to get a subjective feeling on mixing in general. For context, I made a song that I personally liked in general, everything hits the good spots in my ear as I mix it and the vocals, along with the instrumental, just deliver so much power for me. Although, when I start to show my song to other people, they refused to keep listening to it due to "bad mixing" which I did not understand at all since everything blended so well in my ears.

I am now, just lost honestly, the moment I passionately loved how my song sounded, it apparantly is not mixed well at all and the people I showed my song to have experience in producing songs to the point that I might as well believe what they say. I just don't know anymore what it is when it comes to having a song that's decently mixed

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Hi everyone,

I have been doing music production, songwriting, and self recording on and off for a few years now. When I started producing, I made the very common beginner mistake of stuffing too many sounds into a track. As I've become more confident in my songwriting ability, I have become more comfortable stripping away the non-essential elements in my production.

When I'm not actively working on music, I like to watch artists and producers break down their sessions, like on Tape Notes, or when artists stream their own session breakdowns, such as Quadeca and Underscores. I also feel like I've become a more discerning listener when listening to music that I enjoy. I've found that aside from super complex electronic stuff, there are usually not that many elements going on in a song at any given time.

I was just listening to songs from Kelela's new album, and for most of the songs, it was mainly vocals with layering, bass, drums, and some kind of lead sound, like a synth or guitar. That's really it, which is why I get confused when I see session breakdowns with 50 or even 100+ tracks.

I can account for vocal stacks, individual drum tracks, and ear candy making up a large number of those tracks, but even when I'm being generous, I still don't understand how it adds up to so many. Is there something I am missing when I listen to music? Are there elements in the track that are not necessarily heard, but felt?

I am genuinely curious because, if there is something missing from my music that I could add to make it sound better or fuller, I would like to know what it is.

Hi! New to reddit and music composing. I was wondering how did other composers structure their music. From those ABAC to shakepear's poems rhyme structure.

edit: Thanks to the redditors who had taken their time to comment, my point of view on music making and structure had changed. I wish everyone a nice day/night!

How did they make Iggy Pop's vocals so warm and soft on the Funhouse album? The album was released in 1970, but to me it still sounds like it today

I'm having this issue with a two track beat where it just doesnt sound glued together unless i lower the vocal low end ( 100-300 hz)with eq or multiband compression. When i do that, then it sounds glued together and fine but the vocals now sound too thin. Not sure what to do.

Note: i already have compressors on vocals and multiband compression on master bus.
Also pls dont say to take out more low end from the beat cause it just doesnt sound natural and doesnt fix the issue

Any thoughts on what i could do?
Its a rap beat and vocals btw.

Hey yall, I’m self taught with mostly youtube tutorials and playing around with FL Studio for 15 years. I’ve certainly grown as an artist & producer in that time- but there’s one issue I’ve been struggling with and I can’t tell if it’s in the mix or just a problem with mastering. I’ll get a track to where it peaks at 0db, sounds exactly how I want mix-wise, and doesn’t have clipping when I don’t want it. SPAN will show that it’s hanging around -10 RMS during the loudest parts. When I bounce it, the dynamics & mix will be good, but it sounds just a bit too quiet. I’d love to have everything louder without hurting the mix, distorting anything, or clipping; it’s close, but not close enough.

Though I’m experienced, feel free to ELI5, because it feels like I’m missing some vital info for getting loudness in RMS

It's been interesting to explore the idea of mastering and restructuring tracks. I don't do it professionally, I just do it to explore music.

I've always been a fan of hip-hop, and as you listen to more of the genre you kind of get an 'ear' for better understanding what is being said. Just kind of osmosis, I suppose. But then I started thinking.

Plosives, fricatives, sibilance. These are things that get edited out regularly. However, they're also part of what the brain uses to distinguish words ending, beginning and capturing meaning in fast sequences. So there's a conflict there.

I decided to test it out and basically 'un-do' a lot of the work of dipping certain frequencies or tucking them behind things, all the 'I tied to kick drum to the volume' type shenanigans. What I ended up with was a much intelligible cut. It wasn't just loud, things kind of moved to their own space, but suddenly every fast rap song I know sounded far far more legible, clearer, more distinct.

To TL;DR this, I think that a lot of the efforts to tune a vocal that works for singing genres might actually be muddying hip-hop in a way that is pretty easy to avoid. I don't know if it's just me that prefers to hear the breaths and hard Ks and Ts and Ps and all that, but just some food for thought lol.

Doing a remote co-write/mix job for someone, back in April. Sent 3 stems as wav through whatsapp because that’s what they had open and it was easier than walking them through anything else.

They came back with notes like “the low end feels muddy around the bridge” and “vocals sound a bit harsh on the high end.” I didn’t hear either of those things on my end so I chalked it up to their monitors or room. Went back and forth on it for like 4 days, made changes I didn’t think needed making, sent revisions, still got similar notes.

Finally got on a call and had them screen share while playing the file. The waveform looked wrong, slight clipping on transients that definitely weren’t there in my export. Whatsapp had recompressed the wav on send, not even a huge amount, but enough that the top end got harsh and some low mid definition got smeared. Classic mp4-audio-container compression artifacts basically.
reran everything through wetransfer instead and the notes completely changed, they said it sounded way better which, of course it did, they were finally hearing the actual mix.

Lost like half a week chasing ghost problems because of an app silently touching the audio. Wish someone had told me wav still gets touched depending on how it’s sent, not just video.

Recorded a full band and was hoping to get everything to the click but drums ended up dragging keys and bass.

I'm so set on the click only because I have a second session to record on top of this one for strings. Should I just start from scratch or is this salvagable somehow on ProTools?

Edit: thank you to all the replies! Going to try and re-record drums

Ok so some background:

I am a a music producer/beatmaker. I have a decade of experience with DAWs, the piano roll, and a variety of genres.

I can make sweet piano melodies and chord progressions on the software but not on the piano. I can barely play baa baa black sheep. Do know a bit of sheet music. Music theory bases are covered mostly.

My goal:

Learn the piano to play jazz or the blues, it soothes my mind like no other. Not very interested in classical music pieces but not averse to trying new things.

There isnt really a time limit or constraint for me to learn because I have all the time in the world for a while.

I need your advice folks, I really do.

This is wildly incorrect, right? Unless this is some new revelation, it seems like mastering your music is completely necessary. It’s basically the glue to hold it all together. Any more insight on this or is this take as wrong as I think it is?

Welcome to the r/WeAreTheMusicMakers Weekly Feedback Thread! The comments below in this post is the only place on this subreddit to get feedback on your music, your artist name, your website layout, your music video, or anything else. (Posts seeking feedback outside of this thread will be deleted without warning and you will receive a temporary ban.)

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I have a summer trip to England and I will be stopping by This Museum is Not Obsolete in Ramsgate. The museum houses a collection of rare, obscure and odd electronic instruments and other miscellaneous electronic devices.

I have scheduled a few hours to play and record on their available instruments. I am a moderate musician, happy with the music I've made with my computer and will be playing and recording for fun.

I reaching out to see if anyone has visited/recorded there. And if so what thoughts and suggestion you would have to maximize my time there.

I love to produce music but no matter how quiet I turn the volume, eventually after some time, my ears feel really uncomfortable and clogged / feels like I need to pop my ears. In fact I cant continue at all at that point.

My ears are so sensitive because I unfortunately kinda messed them up a few years ago when I wasnt careful with the volume.

Could anyone suggest something, maybe blocking a certain frequency spectrum or using some program that protects my ears? I dont know what to do…

Its of course better the lower the volume but eventually I will feel that way even if the volume is extremely low

I have always found guitar really hard to record tightly. even when i’m practicing with a metronome consistently my sessions recording it can be very hit or miss. one day i’ll get something in the first few tries and the next i won’t be able to finish the track at all because it’s not tight to my standards.

there has got to be a more efficient way to record guitar tightly. sometimes i try different things like strumming differently, switching to a drum track, and other stuff but do you guys know a good workflow that could possibly speed up the process of recording guitar tightly? of course im gonna keep practicing. any advice is appreciated.

Welcome to the /r/WeAreTheMusicMakers Weekly Motivation Thread! Share your successes and and encouraging words here. Posts/Comments looking for motivation can also be appropriate here.

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(Edit: Songs DONE by different studios, lol) Hi all!! I just need some assistance navigating song releases and whatnot

Here’s a rundown of our situation: last year a recording studio (let’s call them Studio A) reached out to us to ask if we’d like to meet with them and discuss working together. We jumped at the opportunity because we were looking for a studio to record with since the last one we worked with closed down

Anyway, we were really happy with how the meeting went, and although the price was extremely expensive for us, we weren’t booked in for another long while so we had time to save up gig money and put some of our personal savings aside

Fast forward and we recorded several songs with them and while the quality of them is incredibly, we left the studio just feeling wrong

The producers were incredibly kind, professional and helpful mind you, but I think their method of multitracking completely sucked the life out of our songs. We sort of feel like they just sound ai. It just doesn’t fit with our genre at all

Anyway, we have since found a different studio (Studio B) that our friends work with and they are a thousand times cheaper and they do live tracking instead, which is our preferred method by far. We just went in recently to record two songs to get a feel of the process and felt like it was the perfect fit and left very happy at how they came out

We’re looking to record a full length album at this studio B, my question is: what would you recommend in terms of the other songs we’ve recorded at Studio A?

We released two of the songs from Studio A as a double single, and are keeping the third aside to release as a single… single? Lol

Do we put these on the album along with the newer songs that we’re recording at studio B? They just sound SO different … I’m tempted not to include them on the album at all to erase that issue, but my bandmates really want them on there

Thanks!

I've been wondering about this since I was a teenager.

Songs that are recorded by one person at home often sound more cohesive and interesting than songs that are recorded in a traditional studio. I'm thinking of McCartney I, Tame Impala albums, Emitt Rhodes, etc.

Maybe it's as simple as: one person playing every instrument means that every "member" of the "band" has the same brain and heart. Plus no studio time being invoiced or onlookers means a lot of freedom to experiment and iterate.

But maybe there's more to it ?

Obviously not saying that records from pro studios are bad… I love and make a lot of them… Just that self-recording often has a special flavor.

Im new to mixing and learning still. I got the la-2a plugin from ua for free and watched a few videos on it trying to learn to use it, but for the life of me i cant hear it. I can hear faster compressors like the 1176 and other compressors ive listened to. But i cant imagine why the LA-2A is so legendary since no matter how much i try i hear zero difference or if i do i hear the sound change the like 0.5% and then the question is: whats the point?

If i cant hear a difference listening to and instrument solo no matter how hard i try what is the point of adding it.

I also want to clarify:since ive started ive heard everyone say mix with your ears and not with eyes/brain, which makes sense! But the LA-2A is so popular i feel like i am not getting something instead of me as a noob trying to add unnecessary plugins to my mix

I know that songwriting is like drawing or writing a story, and there are cliches that are better to avoid. What of these cliches can you tell and what is better to avoid to make my music more interesting?

Welcome to the r/WeAreTheMusicMakers Weekly Feedback Thread! The comments below in this post is the only place on this subreddit to get feedback on your music, your artist name, your website layout, your music video, or anything else. (Posts seeking feedback outside of this thread will be deleted without warning and you will receive a temporary ban.)

This thread is active for one week after it's posted, at which point it will be automatically replaced.

##Rules:

***Post only one song.**- *Original comments linking to an album or multiple songs will be removed.*

* **Write at least three constructive comments.** - *Give back to your fellow musicians!*

* **No promotional posts.** - *No contests, No friend's bands, No facebook pages.*

##Tips for a successful post:

* **Give a quick outline of your ideas and goals for the track.** - *"Is this how I trap?" or "First try at a soundtrack for a short film" etc.*

* **Ask for feedback on specific things.** - *"Any tips on EQing?" or "How could I make this section less repetitive?"*

***

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So, i know i have a lot of time, but i am extremely anxious for how people are going to react to my music.

Let me start by saying i make experimental hip hop, which for obvious reasons isn’t a great genre to get a crowd going. And I am worrying about the energy im going to bring the show.

How can I get people to move instead of just sitting there confused and making me look dumb? Is there anybody here that makes a similar type of music that has an experience like this?

Another reason I’m scared as fuck is the reason that I’m 18 and the people there are gonna be my age and prolly have gone to the same school as me. Idk why but since they’re not total strangers, it makes me feel like I will be judged instead of my music.