Synthwave track, looking for feedback

[romboh]

Hey JCJR, thanks for your feedback. What do you mean by "auto-level" amounts of compression? When I usually master a track I always use reference songs (mainstream songs mostly) and then I adjust the volume and dynamics according to what I hear. I didn't even use too much compression this time, only a bit to catch peaks. If you want I can send you the unmastered version.

Hi romboh. Sometimes I'm overly verbose and I don't claim expertise. Ignore what is boring or inapplicable.

"Auto-level" might not be entirely idiosyncratic terminology but perhaps a bit obscure. Especially in old "table top" battery-powered cassette recorders, some of the old "high-end" pocket stereo tape recorders, and probably to this day in devices intended for dictatation, were "auto level record circuits" often abbreviated ALC. Also not uncommon in various video cam audio record circuits, and it is probably built-in or an option in at least some cellphone video recording or dictaphone type applications.

It just makes sure a loud signal gets recorded regardless the audio source level. Often ALC compression has a pretty long release so that distortion isn't outrageous, but the corollary is that when level "suddenly falls" there is an audible pumping effect, where the audio level falls for a bit before gradually "swooshing back up as loud as it can go" which is one of the flavors of compressor pumping. Sometimes the ALC would have fast attack so that quick increase in level would not distort until the compressor catches up. Other times the ALC attack would be a little slower so that sudden volume increases would momentarily distort until the compressor catches up. Both of which are again, other "flavors of pumping".

The effect of recording a music mix into ALC, maybe we have a rock ballad with the quiet intro of ac guitar and vocal, then the mid-level verses come in, finally ending with the heroic blown-out ending stanzas. Maybe sometimes tailing out with another quiet heart-rending outtro. OK, after the ALC, every part of the song is as loud as it will go. The first ac guitar chord is as loud as the following ac guitar + vocal, and the final orchestral blowout with stacked backing vocals, heroic drums and 99 distorted guitars, is exactly as loud as that first lonely ac guitar chord.

An effect which can be nearly as extreme is the fancy back-end processing applied right before the transmitter on blow-torch crass commercial radio stations. The fancy processors can be tuned and the main "legal requirement" is to avoid breaking the law by overmodulating the transmitter. But many powerful stations think there is an advantage to being the loudest station on the dial, so the processors are tuned up to auto-level amounts. No matter what you play, it comes out loud as snot from beginning to end.

You can drive any "decent" compressor or limiter hard enough to achieve "auto-level" results, and thats why I called your compression effect by that name-- It sounds like recording a "normal dynamic song" into an ALC circuit.

But it is not all cut-and-dried good or bad. Some people like it thataway. And sometimes it is useful. For instance listening to music in an automobile, auto-leveled music stays above the road noise more reliable without hurting yer ears on the loud parts of the music. Or maybe if a person works in a cubicle and is only allowed to leave the radio or streaming device at a whisper to avoid annoying neighbors, then the auto-leveled music stays audible thruout at that whisper.

And some genres of music "expect" extreme pumping and breathing, and if it is not obnoxiously pumping and breathing (and distorted as well) maybe the fans of such genre will not like the music.

I was just mentioning that it isn't something you HAVE to do unless you actually like it thataway.

Some prescriptions I read for mixing-- Highpass, EQ and Compress every track, then side-chain mix, then squash the carp out of the final mix to make it as loud possible. Well, maybe so. Or maybe pre-emptively fixing a lot of things that were not necessarily broke.

I'm a retired geezer who doesn't manage time very well. If your mix's individual tracks haven't been compressed a bunch, and you want me to fool with it, I could try a quick thumb-fingered mastering job on it if you want. If all your individual tracks were squashed before it got to the final mix, then the mix is probably purt well squashed regardless what is done at the master step.

Wow, that was really informative, thanks for taking the time to write all this stuff. Regarding the mastering part: the only instrument that's really compressed is the drums, on the others I only used sidechain compression so the dry mix in terms of dynamics is pretty much the same as the mastered one. I can send you a PM with a dropbox link of the unmastered version if you want to mess around with it. Thanks again JCJR, really appreciated.

[romboh]

My Feedback

Music - 7
Instruments - 9
Performance - 9
Mix - 9

Overall - 8.5

Comments: Big sound here. Okay, nice chord patterns. Waiting for melody. Kind of a hint of one around 1:20 but buried in background so hard to make out. Track seems to be all in the mid range. Finally around 2:15 or so something breaks through. But not for long and we're back to the chord patterns. Don't get me wrong. The synths sound great and it's got a real cool synth wave sound to it. And I know it's easy to just go "Wow man, that is flat out awesome, great job!" because of the glitz. But I like a little meat on the bone to go with the fries and coleslaw and chocolate cake. In short, it just left me cold musically. Maybe I'm too old and jaded to be impressed by slick production alone (and it was slick all right) but that's all this was for me. Musically, it's a 7 at best and that's being overly generous. All you needed was a defining melody over the fancy chords and this would have been excellent.

Naturally, this is just my opinion. I recognize all that was great about the production and rated accordingly. But I can't help being sad at all the missed potential on this one. It was one big cliche without the hamburger to go with it.

I didn't expect a 9 on Mix , thanks. Your comments just made me realize something though. Lately I'm recording songs just to have an occasion to focus on the producing and mixing part. By doing that I put less effort on the musical part which is not a good thing. Thanks for your feedback wagtunes. You guys are being really helpful.