Original Message                 Date: 13-Apr-05  @  11:30 AM   -   anyone got good eq ears?

monkeybasket2001

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Hi all,

after spending inordinate amounts of time trying to balance my mixes ive come to the conclusion i have a mointoring problem, i have very little room to move things about (although im moving house so that will change)- what im finding is that im mixing and balancing stuff, getting a good approximation but when i try the tune out on say my headphones it sounds unbalanced.....badly...was wondering if anyone with particularly good eq ears could tell me what they think is wrong with say a couple of short examples, that way when i go about setting my new space up i can make sure im not doing anything that would just compound the issue

any takers?

greg

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Message 11/35                 Date: 15-Apr-05  @  03:59 AM   -   RE: anyone got good eq ears?

psylichon

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Yeah the problem with mixing out of the box, though it can certainly sound better, is just that it's so dang expensive. All those classic albums that you refer to were mixed through a ton of outboard gear, likely, and the fact is that good outboard isn't cheap. I can't even begin to recommend a parametric EQ that I would want to use that would cost less than $300.

Plugins offer greater quality for the buck, generally, and offer you unlimited instances (given the enough CPU horsepower). I would say $1000 will get you a decent enough computer for 32+ tracks, a quality 2x2 audio interface, cheap multitracking DAW software (Tracktion?), and a smattering of quality plugins that will get you much further than a similar investment in outboard. And as Milan said, when you're working with sequencers and MIDI, sync is a non-issue.

I applaud your efforts to "keep it real" on the analog tip, but fact is that it's really a big investment if you want it to sound as good as you're expecting it to. Software is certainly a change of workflow, but it's the most economical way to remain competitive today, sonically, imho.

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Message 12/35                 Date: 15-Apr-05  @  08:49 AM   -   RE: anyone got good eq ears?

monkeybasket2001

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cool stuff, its not that im anal and have to keep it outside of the pc its just with the cash already spent another grand on a decent pc is just soul destroying...

what i do at the mo when need to eq a track is use the ART or my filter but it oftens means sampling back into the pc and then putting back in the mpc- not a problem really, i know my pc will not handle any multitracking at the mo as it practically falls over using something like the two plugs in a row-

a compromise is needed if you think the balance is ok ill stop stressing about that and focus on getting the mid and top end right- are they any other sonic critsicms you have? im at a stage where my sonics are letting down my flow of ideas as i keep hearing tunes and think damn how are they getting that depth and detail and then spend the rest of the time trying to at least approximate the sound


greg

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Message 13/35                 Date: 15-Apr-05  @  09:04 AM   -   RE: anyone got good eq ears?

monkeybasket2001

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you guys who are signed or working for a label- say i had a stormer of a tune but it sounded like that would that would they wanna remix it or simply think 'sod it'

greg

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Message 14/35                 Date: 15-Apr-05  @  06:37 PM   -   RE: anyone got good eq ears?

S1GNALRUNNERS - BLU

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hey

well, i cant listen to clips just now, but were signed to a good few different labels ranging from the type who require a dead on mix for critique, to the more helpful ones who will ask for a touch up/slihght restructure if they think it has potential.- so all is not lost! Id say getting attention in the first plafce means having a good mix so they take notice, rather than them listening to a fucked sub bass growling over the bottom ened for 30 secs and switching off

Unless you are in a nice treated studio with hrs or gen etc i wouldnt bother going away from the m1s / headphones. if you know anyone who works at a nightclub witha big sound system then get your tracks down there before opening time and hear how they sound ( even better in a packed club if your confident enough , bodys soaking up any shite to give you a good idea )

hats the best tip i can givce, it might break you at first, but in the end it will ultimatelly make your mixing better, A big system will absolutely tear your mix to shreds potentially so be warned  

Send me a 256 of the track/clip to my SR address and ill have a peek for you, or give it a shove thru a big soundsystemn at the weekend and let you know where your going wrong m8

Alan

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Message 15/35                 Date: 18-Apr-05  @  08:59 AM   -   RE: anyone got good eq ears?

monkeybasket2001

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thanks for the knowledge- yes it helps defeinitly- i would aim to send a well balanced mix in but probably not one that could compete with big studio affairs...im basically hoping i can get my mixing right so if and when it is mastered it still sounds fine and doesn't cause the engineer to reverese-mix it as it were.....


that would be simply awesome thanks!! im being real dumb though what is a 256? is it an mp3 file format?

thanks again!

greg

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Message 16/35                 Date: 19-Apr-05  @  01:15 PM     Edit: 19-Apr-05  |  01:15 PM   -   RE: anyone got good eq ears?

S1GNALRUNNERS - BLU

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hey man, no sweat,

yeah soz 256 kps mp3  

alan

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Message 17/35                 Date: 19-Apr-05  @  01:18 PM   -   RE: anyone got good eq ears?

monkeybasket2001

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cool, i actually have a track here now that has been balanced for club play so will encode that and send it on- cheers!!!

greg

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Message 18/35                 Date: 25-Apr-05  @  03:03 AM   -   RE: anyone got good eq ears?

S1GNALRUNNERS - BLU

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hey man,

been trying to bounce that reply back to you, but i cant seem to get it going? its saying the email address is not found or something!

anyway, not being ignorant- ive been trying to reply  

alan

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Message 19/35                 Date: 25-Apr-05  @  12:41 PM   -   RE: anyone got good eq ears?

k

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just to say... i saw another thread about 'playing on club systems' on another forum, and there is one thing about playing tracks thru big club systems. You probably end up making tracks less cluttered (or i find that anyways)... cos it's so loud, busy mixes can tend to get a bit muddled, simpler stuff comes over stronger on a PA, especialy very subtle things dont work so well unless mixed 101% perfectly, and even then, over-cluttering of a track still can be muddy. Also reverb tends to be cut down a bit, or at least i find it works better with less or at least be careful of how reverbs sound on club-playback, and lots of little very subtle things all happening at once which works on cans or monitors when played not so loud and in a quiet studio might not work loud thru a PA... just overall simpler mixes seem to work better as you start to mix for loud PA playback until you get more used to it

Hope that's useful mebbe

___________________________________

I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws.... I call it... Big Jaws!!!

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Message 20/35                 Date: 25-Apr-05  @  01:11 PM   -   RE: anyone got good eq ears?

monkeybasket2001

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definitely cheers k,

thankfully the track im refering to is minimal yet i have been back and found verb a little too high if i imagined it club-loud, sounded good to me but i though when load that revereb will be a bit too much!! also trying to stay away from panning any main element beyond two 9oclcock so the stereo spread doesn't loose things

no worries alan ive actually changed that track now and taken the riff out and replaced it- did what you said on the BD (i think) i can send you a copy tomorrow if ok?

funny thing is when i listen to cd-ready tracks on my monitors is a big lack of bass (yet sounds balanced) yet i know the same club in trackk will have loads- its def hard to get that balance when you cant really hear tha bass end...

cheers

greg

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