advice on production and enginerring

[Lazyknife]

Hi,

This song: http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/2936564 was returned. The screener had several reasons. I agree with him/her, but I don't know where to begin or what exactly to do about it. I'm interested in advice on the production and the engineering.

What can I do to improve my skills? Besides listening to your advice.

So could you please listen to this one and give me your advice?

Thanks,
Martijn

[Kolstad]

I can't give you advice, only offer my opinion for you to decipher.

I think this was a catchy uptempo piece, with a cool reggae groove. The lead synth sounded like it would blend better with the mix, if you lowered the volume maybe 3-5 db. And of course you could throw a mastering plug-in over the mix to achieve better depth and overall sound quality, but other than that, I'd say try again with another listing.

Anyway, getting better is about writing, playing and producing every day, and learn from a blend of experience and inputs. So keep rockin'!

[Lazyknife]

Thank you, songcabinet!

What kind of mastering plugin do you mean? Things like Izotope Ozone? Are there other plugs I can use? I'll also search myself.

Thanks!

[Burt Crow]

Martijn

It is a little hard to know what to say without knowing the specific criticism or the listing you were going for? A few general things of the top of my head:
Without a vocalist in a contemporary arrangement such as this one, even the musically illiterate will be listening more critically and will pick up on the slightest ‘production’ issues; so you need to be very clean and defined.

Your main instrument (the organ) should be centered like a vocalist, we still need to ‘nail our ears’ to something and the Leslie effect is distracting from this. If you like it then bus-out the track to reverb/effect channel and ‘spin’ the reverb sound not the main instrument – personally I’d keep it clean and centre and play around with other elements in the stereo field.

I would say in general that you have a lack of compression and issues with placement of individual instruments. There is also a need for greater ‘compression’ on individual tracks, bus and overall, but I’m very big on compression.

The thing is to start listening, keep recording, mixing and experimenting – there is a ‘zone’ of better and best, but there is also a wide range of ‘mix’ that is about taste as well. Rather then deal on a mix by mix basis it is better to get some overall understanding of good mixes and what makes them.
Some books that I think are useful

The Art of Mixing: A Visual Guide to Recording, Engineering and Production
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Mixing-Reco ... 000&sr=1-1
Great for considering the 3D nature of your mix

Guerilla Home Recording: How to Get Great Sound from Any Studio - (No Matter How Weird or Cheap Your Gear Is)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guerilla-Home-R ... 047&sr=1-2
Great for getting the most out of your studio

The Mixing Engineer's Handbook
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mixing-Engineer ... 097&sr=1-1
Good amount of technical information but applicable to home studios. There is also an equivalent volume for recording. The 'Through the glass' series is also great for anecdotal advice from professional and famous mixers and engineers.

http://www.soundonsound.com/

Great magazine, but also great site were most articles are listed in full 3 months after publication in magazine. Searchable database of 10 years of articles; most helpful section here is “Mix Rescue” as various states of mix are posted as each level of technology/process is applied so you can start to hear the result as various parameters are applied.

I like to compress into the mix through bus/section compression the master of this and mixing hero of mine is Michael Brauer his website is another treasure trove of resources

http://mbrauer.com/

HTH

Burt

[Lazyknife]

Thank you Burt!

That's a lot of info that seems very usefull. I'll check it out!

The listing:

REGGAE INSTRUMENTALS a la Bob Marley and the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, etc., needed by a West Coast-based Music Library whose clients include Xbox, Microsoft, Visa, Clorox, Adidas, and more. They're looking for an authentic sound with the right feel and vibe for the style. Instrumental presentation must be competitive in the style! They offer a standard non-exclusive, 50/50 deal and they don't acquire your song's copyright. Songs must be broadcast quality (great sounding home recordings are OK). You must control the publishing and master rights to your songs - no samples that require clearance, please. Please submit one to three instrumentals online or per CD. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than Thursday, October 7, 2010. TAXI #S101007RE

The critique:

I think you are on the right track, but, for a listing like this the playing, arrangement and production, as well as the recording quality needs to be on a higher level. I hope this was helpful. Best of luck!

Not up to broadcast quality.
Arrangement, production and playing need work.

Thankx

[Burt Crow]

I think the minute they say for advertising forget al la originals and think a la originals with heavy contemporary beat loops and hi/lo pass filtering.
Check out the sound on sound Mix Rescues I think there have been a few Reggae mixes n the last few years that I’m sure will give you specific and general ideas. Will try to listen again with critic in mind

[mazz]

I will add a note of caution here regarding mastering plug ins. I heard a very good song at the road rally in one of the panels that suffered from over compression on the master bus. Every time the vocal came in, the rest of the mix ducked down behind it. It was clearly audible to me and Panos, who was sitting next to me at the time.

When using "mastering" plugins, be very careful to set the values on the compressor so that loud transients or the loudest thing in your mix doesn't pull the rest of the mix down. This is usually the attack setting but could be influenced by other settings such as release.

It takes years to really get this stuff down, just like it takes years to master an instrument or master songwriting or composing. There's really no shortcuts but there is no shortage of information that will shorten the learning curve (although it won't make it any less steep!!) compared to trial and error, which is mostly the way I learned in the beginning. Like it or not, the studio is now your instrument as well!!

You will get it if you are open to learning it and are not afraid to maybe sound not so good for a while as you improve.

Good luck!

Mazz

[Lazyknife]

@Burt: Do you mean telephone sounding, with hi/lo pass??

@mazz: I think I've heard this on a cd. I think it's John Mayer's Battle studies. I will find out which song it is, so you can hear if it is what you meant. Thanks for the solution to the problem, or at least a direction. I know it's always different.

Thanx!

[Burt Crow]

II could be 'telephone effect, but the use of moving filters in general to create that distancing effect.

I like to use compressors for character and the trick is to use very small ratios that accumulate over the various stages of the mix for great points and resources on compression wars try this site

http://www.pleasurizemusic.com/

They have a great 'dynamic range' meter plug-in for Mac & PC and recommended ranges for different music genres

[mhazani]

Hey Martijn,

I agree with all the sound advice that's already been given, and would like to add my two cents:

Rather than addressing particular mixing issues (drums too low in the mix, sorely needed snare compression, etc.), here's something which I learned a while back and has helped me tremendously:

I'd HIGHLY recommend working with a reference track. Just think of a song which has a similar aural quality, drag it into your DAW, and when you mix, use the levels and mix of the reference as a guideline for your own. Unlike lyrics and melodies, a production in itself is not considered intellectual property (unless it's some really unique and obvious ear candy, in which case watch it...), so you don't have to worry about sounding too much "alike" anything else. It's a fantastic method, because it really boosts your learning curve; rather than going from the book back to your mix and figuring things out by guesswork, you actually teach your ears to tune into that commercial sound you're going for. It's like the difference between learning to ride a bike from a book, and learning by watching your older brother actually doing it.

(Having said that, of course it's crucial to actually know what you can do; so I wouldn't recommend it as a substitute to textbooks, just as a handy, wonderful extra tool. Remember to match up the levels of your mix and the ref. track, since it's probably mastered and thus is naturally louder!


Hope this helps, and good luck,

Michael

PS - personally, I refrain from mastering my stuff altogether, because no matter how hard I work on training my ears, I know I don't have the room or monitors to do a proper job. I have Ozone, but I hardly ever touch it. You can outsource your mastering to someone who'll do a quality job for a relatively dirt-cheap level - check out http://www.venturestudiosny.com/ for a good example.