KVR Audio

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed May 23, 2018 11:45 am

Okay, this is becoming a big problem and very annoying.

Everybody keeps complaining that my hi hats, tambourines, etc. are too loud. The problem is that my upper frequencies are shot. Happens when you get older.

So here's my question. Since I can't "hear" when these things are too loud, how do I go about mixing them? There has to be some way through looking at some kind of meter or something that I can know that at a certain level, they'll be heard by "normal" people.

Please give me the process step by step.

Thank you.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Wed May 23, 2018 12:34 pm

Reference the spectrum of your mixes against pink noise spectrum.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed May 23, 2018 12:52 pm

BertKoor wrote:Reference the spectrum of your mixes against pink noise spectrum.

I have absolutely no idea what you just said.

Nielzie · Post by **Nielzie** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:06 pm

A/B Referencing really helps, especially if you're not pro at this stuff (like me)

https://en.audiofanzine.com/misc-music- ... art-1.html
https://www.audioguy.co/blog/using-a-b- ... -mastering

ere2learn · Post by **ere2learn** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:08 pm

Pink noise mixdown

https://www.sonicacademy.com/courses/tom-demac-volume-1

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:15 pm

wagtunes wrote:
BertKoor wrote:Reference the spectrum of your mixes against pink noise spectrum.
I have absolutely no idea what you just said.

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... -reference

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:16 pm

ere2learn wrote:Pink noise mixdown

https://www.sonicacademy.com/courses/tom-demac-volume-1

Okay, I watched the pink noise mix down technique video.

There is still one MAJOR problem with this.

It STILL requires you to HEAR.

He's moving sliders down until he just can't HEAR the track he's referencing.

I didn't hear ANYTHING for ANY OF IT other than the pink noise.

So how does this help somebody who CAN'T HEAR?

Nielzie · Post by **Nielzie** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:19 pm

Look and compare at some spectrum analyzer/graph?

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:19 pm

wagtunes wrote: I didn't hear ANYTHING for ANY OF IT other than the pink noise.

So how does this help somebody who CAN'T HEAR?

If your hearing is that bad you're never going to be able to mix properly.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:22 pm

thecontrolcentre wrote:
wagtunes wrote: I didn't hear ANYTHING for ANY OF IT other than the pink noise.

So how does this help somebody who CAN'T HEAR?
If your hearing is that bad you're never going to be able to mix properly.

Oh come on. There has got to be some kind of meter or something that you can put on a track that tells you at how many db that sound is coming over at.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:23 pm

And the only thing I have problems with are hi hats, tambourines, etc. Upper frequency instruments.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:25 pm

Here is the track in question. I've already lowered the tambourine (at the 1:50 mark) the 3db that they told me to lower it. But it sounds the same to me. I can't tell if it's still too loud or if it's okay now.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... -version-2

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:32 pm

There are spectrum matching EQs out there which can be used to grab the overall EQ curve of a (ideally well-produced) reference track and apply that to another track. Voxengo CurveEQ is one, there are others.

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/match-mix

and of course spectrum displays are useful, Voxengo do this one

http://www.voxengo.com/product/span/

which can also grab a spectrum for CurveEQ

Nielzie · Post by **Nielzie** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:37 pm

wagtunes wrote:Here is the track in question. I've already lowered the tambourine (at the 1:50 mark) the 3db that they told me to lower it. But it sounds the same to me. I can't tell if it's still too loud or if it's okay now.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... -version-2

It's not just the hihats and tambourines. Like whyterabbyt and myself already said, there are spectrum display plugins and there are ways to compare with other (well received) mixes.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed May 23, 2018 1:57 pm

Nielzie wrote:
wagtunes wrote:Here is the track in question. I've already lowered the tambourine (at the 1:50 mark) the 3db that they told me to lower it. But it sounds the same to me. I can't tell if it's still too loud or if it's okay now.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... -version-2
It's not just the hihats and tambourines. Like whyterabbyt and myself already said, there are spectrum display plugins and there are ways to compare with other (well received) mixes.

Wouldn't I need a reference track that was similar to the track I'm creating? It makes no sense to compare my track to something that doesn't have relatively the same instrument composition. And then, unless I was intimately familiar with that track, how would I even know?

Need Upper Frequencies Help Desperately