TAXI.com

I am taking a shot at composing meditation music ...

Is it recommended to also do mastering, to raise overall volume level etc.? Or better to leave it softer?

Normally I master my rock/pop tracks, either with software or by paying an engineer to do it.

In this listing it seems the reference tracks may have been boosted a little at least, but I can't tell if it might've been different than a rock/pop process.

thanks

I am following this conversation because I am wondering the same thing. I submitted a couple of tracks to those listings and I mastered them but didn't add much volume. I wish I had insight to share but look forward to reading what anybody else has to say!

I'm also erring on the side of lower volume, and using the Ozone plugin mastering assistant to level the volume a bit throughout.

Using Youlean meter (post Ozone) the true peak is about -6.5 dB and loudness avg about -14 dB.

I will post one of my tracks after I submit so people can hear the levels.

Slight clarification on average, as shown in Youlean:

Avg dynamics about 14.6 LU

I submitted 2 instrumentals and left the levels low with minimal compression.

Two songs currently on my TAXI artist page, see my signature.

Moon Rise
Soma Time

Hi Carl,

Great minds think alike - I see we submitted tracks with pretty much the same name! I called mine Moonrise, one word. I listened to yours. Very nice! Now I'm wondering if I made mine too loud. Guess I'll find out when I get feedback!

In Joy,
Donnalyn

hi Donnalyn, thanks for the kind words!

ha ha!
they probably get a thousand submissions with the same 3 names over and over! (namaste?)

I was happy with my mixes until I tried the playback from my profile, then they sounded too harsh in spots, esp. Soma Time. Lesson learned, always need to go listen to the mix on a couple of other devices. Also try not to submit at last minute.

I'm sure you're right about common titles - especially for meditation tracks!

Definitely a good idea to listen on different devices. When I allow myself sufficient time (which I didn't yesterday), I like to listen on headphones, laptop speaker, cell phone, and then car speakers. It's interesting how often I've found a difference in the car!

Also a +1 for listen on multiple devices, including the car.

Just in general: if you have the gear/time/budget (whatever) to improve your track before submitting it -
and making it sound like it fits alongside the reference tracks - why wouldn't you do that?
"You only get one chance to make a first impression."
Good luck with your pitching.

yes, normally I always check on the car stereo, which exposes eq and mix issues quickly... but I ran out of time last night. Actually I wrote 3 pieces but held 1 back because mix wasn't ready in time.