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Joined: Dec 2012
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I have spent many hours mixing my backing tracks. When I try to make demo recordings for marketing purposes
they do not sound like they do through my pa. Is there anyway to get my recordings to sound more professional.
Please excuse me if this is a stupid question.
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Joined: Dec 2002
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Not a stupid qustion at all. First are you actually mixing via the PA as you suggest?
Answering this quesion will help us understand exactly where you are at. As this would certainly cause your PA to sound good, but when you render to a CD or play on other speakers it would indeed sound very different.
Best to mix through some monitors so you are not hearing all the bias of the PA system and speakers.
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captainjohn,
Welcome aboard, I am betting not only will your question be answered but you will also find there are a very helpful group of people here on the forum.
Later,
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Cap, we need to know what the sound source is. How are you getting that sound into your software? Live recording with room mics, mixing through a mixer....? Is it multi tracked input or one channel?
Once your stuff is actually recorded onto a computer, you can use a wide range of digital plugs into EQ, compress, add reverb, etc.....
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another silly ? obvious question, do you render as wav or MP3 ? Wav is by far the better opition of course
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I am using a bose t1 mixer. I believe you can use more than one track with the bose.\, but have not figured out how. I think the end results need to be mastered to get the professional sound on differnt playback units. I am trying to learn the effects needed to achieve this. I thank you all for your advice. I assume once it was mixed it would be fine. I did not know there was another step.
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Okay, we need to take a few steps back here and get the whole picture.
What do you have right now? A stereo mix of 2 channels, left and right? How were those 2 channels achieved?
A) Did a whole band play a live song through a mixer and it was mixed down to a 2 channel tape recorder?
B) Did various players and singers all do their tracks into a multi track system?
Depending on which of those 2 questions gets the "yes" answer, our answer to you will be different, and here's why.
If you have a "master" recording, master in this case meaning "the foundation tracks" and not to be confused with "mastering", then you have some file or tape with X number of individual, discreet tracks on it. Kick on one, snare on another, hat on another and so forth. In that case, each track can be equalized individually to take out any offensive overdriving, noise... in addition, if that is what you have, if a guitar was out of tune or a harmony was flat, you can also go back and record it again.
If you have a file or tape that was mixed as you played and recorded onto L and R channels, if those initial recordings are not clean, overdriven, dirty with background noise, out of tune at all..... It is what it is and there isn't much you can do about it.
There is an old saying that has been attributed to several old school music producers that says "You can't polish a turd", which essentially means "You can't make a silk purse form a sow's ear", or "garbage in garbage out". Whichever of those you choose, it is true. If your baseline tracks are bad, no amount of tweaking is going to fix them and your time is probably better spent recording them again. Not one person on these forums has done everything in one take, and I would say that the true pros of the bunch never SETTLE for one take. Much to be said for the attitude of "Let me try one more because maybe there is a magic moment I missed."
So, fill us in on what you are trying to make sound good. It is FAR from being as simple as using effects. The main thing is to not get frustrated, to not look for the easy way, and to make sure you learn something from every attempt. If it's as simple as "Okay, when I turn this knob, it sounds like crap, so I shouldn't turn that knob", that is progress.
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Joined: Dec 2012
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I have what I believe are good sounding backing tracks which I have made using Pg's Music Realband. I have mixed midi and realband sounds to compile most of my backing tracks for the most part from midi files. I have used appropriate realtracks and the midi sounds from cakewalk, which I find to sound very much like real instruments. Through my Pa and live they sound full and well mixed. However, I have found a need for demo's to help market. On a low end sound system they loose all there fullness
and the mix changes.
I was simply looking for an explanation and any help anyone might offer.
I now believe that in order to make my existing or new files sound good on different audio systems I will need to master them.
I was simply ignorant of the fact that you had to do more than mix.
Thanks again for all yout input.
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Joined: Feb 2007
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Quote:
...Through my Pa and live they sound full and well mixed. However, I have found a need for demo's to help market. On a low end sound system they loose all there fullness
and the mix changes.
I was simply looking for an explanation and any help anyone might offer.
I now believe that in order to make my existing or new files sound good on different audio systems I will need to master them.
I was simply ignorant of the fact that you had to do more than mix.
OK, the act of getting a mix to sound good on various systems is the job of the mixer. You need to mix it so it "translates" well on other systems (low and high end and in the middle!) BEFORE you worry about mastering.
As I stated in other thread that got lost, between your room and your PA you are being fooled. The good news is that if it sounds good to you there, then you know how to get a good sound. You just need room treatment, best room arrangement and good mixing monitors to hear what is really going on. If you can't afford all that, get some decent headphones and try mixing that way.
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My rule of thumb is that it has to sound as good quiet as it does loud. Loud tends to negate the dynamics and subtleties. When you listen quiet what is it lacking? All we have so far is that it doesn't sound "as good" through your monitors as through your PA. Is it tinny? Is it hollow? Is it washed out and lifeless? Does the bottom resound too much? Can you give us a link to download one of the songs and listen?
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One piece of advice I was given many years ago was to play the mix at a reasonable to low volume in your "studio area" then leave the room,close the door and now listen to it. If it sounds good, ie an even balance, then it probably is. If you can hear one instrument playing too loud then adjust and repeat as necessary.
Hope this helps
Alyn
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Best mixing advice that comes to mind is to take a break from the project for a while.
Not a few hours but weeks, or at least many days. Then trust your first impression after the break.
Sometimes it's easy to keep improving it until it's wrecked, once a song gets 'burned in' to your ears. A fresh listen can work wonders.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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