stumped - how to keep sounds glued together

[Evil G]

i'm not even sure how to ask this, but i'm having trouble finding a balance between dirty and clean in my tracks.

i've been "back to the drawing board" of late, and have sorted out a number of things. the track i've been working on most recently has better bass, a better groove, and more aggresive, dirty sounds. before doing any eqing, it was really full sounding - great for a rig, but sounded muddy on a smaller system.

now i've used eq on every sound, and they all sound good, individually, but somehow i've lost the glue that held the track together. the fullness and warmth are gone. it sounds loud and clean, but i like it way less. like the magic is gone. i know that's not very technical language, but that's my problem. i perceive this change but can't explain it.

it seems obvious to me that i must be over doing it with the eq, but how to find the balance, that is my question? do you just perfect the sound of your kick and lead synth, and leave the rest to mingle in the background, rather than bringing out everything? do you apply more fx to fill up the space taken away by eq?

any ideas greatly appreciated. it's like i need a kick in the head or something.

thanks

[messyfuture]

it sounds like you have just gone a bit to far and messed the mix up a bit.

i would solo all the tracks and bring each sound back in again and tweak just a little to get them sounding right.

usally when i start a track by making a 4 bar loop i try differnet fx and eq settings with each new sound that i put in so they sound good with each other and dont clash to much, eqing is handy if the sounds are of similar frequency and need to be defined a bit to tell them apart a bit more.

I think what i'm trying to say is dont get too jiggy with one element make them all a little bit jiggy

:roll:

[eyes without a face]

yeah a good thing to do wud be to solo say the kick and then bring each sound back in and tweak until u get that magic back, ul do it bwoy!

this happens alot when working on tracks, one minute u had it, the next u lost it!

bummer but can be fixed, the more u produce the better ur ears are getting at recognising what works and what doesnt ;)

[Evil G]

thanks guys. i'm having another go at remixing it now.

[MangaFish]

maybe if you layered your sounds so you have the crisp samples playing the loudest for that punchy sound, and have the dirty samples playing in the background to add a bit of fill

[DJZeMigL]

don't just use the eq. the panning is just as important.. Use a little verb and then a comp. in the master mix so u get it 2 pump a bit, that generally makes things come together and sounding full... U can also use some atares tube or similar 2 add some harmonic distortion aswell

Before u did the eq u probably had some natural interaction between freq.s comon 2 some sounds in yer mix, now that is gonne so it sound very clear and crisp and that all comp/ hide/ mask/ phase/ etc... between sounds is gonne!

Don't know how much will help but at least if we understand the prob we'll b closer 2 solving it! :)

Z

[Evil G]

don't just use the eq. the panning is just as important.. Use a little verb and then a comp. in the master mix so u get it 2 pump a bit, that generally makes things come together and sounding full... U can also use some atares tube or similar 2 add some harmonic distortion aswell

Before u did the eq u probably had some natural interaction between freq.s comon 2 some sounds in yer mix, now that is gonne so it sound very clear and crisp and that all comp/ hide/ mask/ phase/ etc... between sounds is gonne!

Don't know how much will help but at least if we understand the prob we'll b closer 2 solving it! :)

Z

you might be onto something there. ;)

i'm trying to figure out which sounds are interacting naturally, so i can eq and compress them together, rather than individually, and see if that helps.

cheers

[DJZeMigL]

Sounds like a plan! :)


Keep us posted

Z

[Evil G]

that was it! :)

noise from the high hats was masking distortion on the lead synth and making it sound softer and warmer. when i cut the mids out of the hi hats it made the synth harsher.

[go|plastic]

that was it! :)

noise from the high hats was masking distortion on the lead synth and making it sound softer and warmer. when i cut the mids out of the hi hats it made the synth harsher.

Glad you worked it out!

That was a great idea you came up with, btw.

Going to try it myself 'cause I've been experiencing the same problems as you.

Cheers!

[DJZeMigL]

Nice 1.. I knew we'd get 2 the bottom of this plot! ;)

Z