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Old 05-03-2018, 07:44 PM   #81
jonboper
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Wow, lots of good notes this month.
I don't know if mine will add, but I'll pour em on anyways. Listened with studio monitors while throwing back a few pints...and then a few more. The first notes will definitely be more helpful than the last few and I apologize for that. I struggled with liking the vocals, but some of you did quite well, and I gave extra points for fade-outs because the ending was just begging for it.

ID01: The bass balance is nice, bGuitar line audibly carrying the song along until things get the most busy, then it struggles against the din, but not in a bad way. The initial chime of the shakers is a bit too much, too metallic and shrill, after they drop out it's a relief. Backing vocals are lost, but the lead vocal line sounds pretty great. Needs a fade-out.

ID02: The musicality of the panning, especially with the mandolin-sounding thing to the R, and the backingVox and banjo on the L, super cool. It's a very airy sounding mix, a lot of genteel-sounding instrumentation, and a lowly-mixed, fuzzy bGuitar. Pretty cool overall, but I'm not crazy about the main vox. A little dim with the verb or delay or something, would prefer them dryer. Shaker way too loud by the end. Gets sounding empty when it maybe should cut out.

ID03: The musicality of the panning, especially with the mandolin-sounding thing to the R, and the backingVox and banjo on the L, super cool. It's a very airy sounding mix, a lot of genteel-sounding instrumentation, and a lowly-mixed, fuzzy bGuitar. Pretty cool overall, but I'm not crazy about the main vox. A little dim with the verb or delay or something, would prefer them dryer. Shaker way too loud by the end. Gets sounding empty when it maybe should cut out.

ID04: This is a louder-sounding mix, has more boom on the low-low end and more action up top while beign scooped, but with that i'm loosing some of the definition of all the instrumentation that I know is there from other mixes. Still, not a bad take, and I like the main vocal treatment. Backing vocals are way back, but still kind of there. Gets to sound empty when it maybe should fade out.

ID05: I was so excited to see how short this was. But. Last month's song.

ID06: Low end is punctuated by a hard bDrum bap. But that's not bad, tries to hold together the low end and rhythm, but I feel like the melody of the bGuitar is a little lost in it. The overall mix is pretty good, maybe too much verb or space leaking through, clouding things up, and could use more instrumental definition with panning, not super-spatial. LOVE the fade out.

CONTENDER

Wish the accordian wasn't so loud.

Winner. Best all-around.

ID07: The bGuitar has a nice presence, really audible here. But the vocals have a strange sibilant thing going on that's distracting, I think because of a delay and the naturally spitty quality of the singer's singing style. The little breakdown section has a really nice bounce to it, due to that low end, audible bGuitar and pumping (too loud? almost, or just slightly) bDrum. Needs a fad-out.

ID08: It's a busy song, and this mix doesn't clarify things for me. The overall balance is really pretty good, but the differentiation of parts isn't quite there. But, the bGuitar sits well with the drums, and the stringed things are sitting pretty well. If there wasn't that space on the vocal, muddying up an already muddled performance (not bad per se, just mush-mouthed to the point that spaciness just hurts the situation), I would have enjoyed it much more. Thanks for the fade-out.

ID09: This mix goes at it hard, hard with the bDrum, and hard, unfortunately, with the vocal reverb. All the vox are too wet and muddy, but aside from that, the mix tries to kick it. The drums overall are a little too quiet maybe, but I like the sound of the percussion, well-eqd. Why no fade?

ID10: Really pretty good balance. CONTENDER. God, I hate this song. I'm hearing too many parts in the L speaker, not only the strings, but also the flute-fife-recorder thing. But good interplay of parts. Those shakers, so much metallic bite. Wish the backing Vocs popped a little more. Drums are great.

Thanks for the fade out.

ID11: Bguitar tone a little out-of-control in the verse sections. Main vocal sounds pretty great, considering how much I hate that vocal, really good stuff there, it's stuffed back, unintelligible, but clear. Musicality is pretty good. Bass booms along.

Why no fade-out?

ID12: Good mix with the vocal out front, the low end mixed pretty well, the instruments panned out. CONTENDER(?). Thie main vocal has a distracting spatial effect that is horrible, highliting the most aggravating aspects of the vox.

Fades, but verrrry slowly.

ID13: Not a bad mix at all. Or have I just been beaten down by the song? I think this is a good one. Thanks for the fade. WINNER? That shaker, pretty bitter.

ID14: Pretty sweet beginning, but the vocal is so fuzzy. Sounds like the vocal has a blanket over it.But the high end has a generally favorable sheen over it. Fades out a plus.
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Old 05-03-2018, 09:35 PM   #82
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Still new and trying to get the hang of how this all works. One of the things I noted about the mix that ended up winning this month was that it seemed louder than the others. Can someone please expand on how exactly to get your mix to -14LUFS using the Youlean loudness meter? The FAQ part of the contest website says: "you need to put your loudness meter after your limiter and adjust the threshold on your limiter until you have a solid -14 LUFS (integrated value)." OK but do you have to listen to the song start to finish and get the integrated value to end up at -14 after listening all the way through? Or look for -14 during the loudest parts? Or...? Thanks in advance for any guidance on this.
Right? I often feel like there are about a billion more things I need to know... I personally have been listening to the song either in whole or during a busy/problem area..(there is another method for setting LUFS with out listening I believe, but for now I want to be in on the process so to speak...) I have been using Youlean and have had an easy time of it. I just completed my second contest.
There are a couple of other things to do in addition to youlean and a limiter. But they are not difficult.

Once or twice I had to go back to the mix to fix an errant peak that I missed, and do another render to start setting LUFS.

So, on that note: have you seen this video? totally worth watching! Kenny is the best at teaching Reaper to us newer users.

I hope this helps!
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Old 05-04-2018, 11:56 AM   #83
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I've been wanting to make a video about lufs for a long time because I see a lot of confusion.
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Old 05-04-2018, 05:01 PM   #84
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I've been wanting to make a video about lufs for a long time because I see a lot of confusion.
Did you look at the vid I linked above? Uses Youlean and shows how to set meters etc...
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Old 05-04-2018, 06:33 PM   #85
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Originally Posted by Not_Here View Post
Right? I often feel like there are about a billion more things I need to know... I personally have been listening to the song either in whole or during a busy/problem area..(there is another method for setting LUFS with out listening I believe, but for now I want to be in on the process so to speak...) I have been using Youlean and have had an easy time of it. I just completed my second contest.
There are a couple of other things to do in addition to youlean and a limiter. But they are not difficult.

Once or twice I had to go back to the mix to fix an errant peak that I missed, and do another render to start setting LUFS.

So, on that note: have you seen this video? totally worth watching! Kenny is the best at teaching Reaper to us newer users.

I hope this helps!
Yup, Kenny is THE best, and his videos are always a goldmine.

I used Tonebooster's EBU tool, because it's just so damn simple to understand.

One area where I might have "cheated" is by leaving in those bells full length with fade ins and outs. EBU calculates the loudness of the whole song on average. So by leaving long, quiet parts in, I could get the meat of it LOUDER!


This being said, Who in the world voted for me? All the critics that came in were very instructive, and put my mix where it belonged: Below the top 3. And yes, my mix was way too sharp and smiley.. I won't touch that exciter again LOL

Oh well,at least I can guarantee that next month's song won't be as irritating
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Old 05-04-2018, 07:41 PM   #86
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Yeah um..... next months song. Ummmm.

Or should I say ummagumma-esque? Do they breathe different kind of air in Japan?


Still trying to figure this one out.
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Old 05-04-2018, 08:25 PM   #87
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Quote:
14

I like dry mixes, but this one is a bit too dry.

Not sure I like the bass sound. The drums sound nice and punchy, but there’s no definition in the other instruments.. no real lead.. It’s like” drums, vocals, bass…….. and the rest of the instruments all mashed together..” selective EQ on a track basis to separate the instruments and more drastic panning would have been a good idea.
It was pretty dry because I got tired of messing with the stock reverbs. But thanks to this month's submissions I now have a nice little library of impulses I can use the next time around

Also yeah you're exactly right about the other instruments. I fell into the beginner's trap of trying to make all the instruments audible at about the same level and as a result ended up making the whole soundscape boring and poorly defined. I'll do better next time!
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Old 05-04-2018, 09:51 PM   #88
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It was pretty dry because I got tired of messing with the stock reverbs. But thanks to this month's submissions I now have a nice little library of impulses I can use the next time around

Also yeah you're exactly right about the other instruments. I fell into the beginner's trap of trying to make all the instruments audible at about the same level and as a result ended up making the whole soundscape boring and poorly defined. I'll do better next time!
When I'm stuck using an impulse reverb (read: When I can't use my go-to reverb plug)

I use the free Bricasti impulses bank. That impulse collection is everything you will ever need, never thought you would need, and won't ever need, all in a neatly organized and easy to understand package.

I highly recommend.
http://www.samplicity.com/bricasti-m...lse-responses/

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Yeah um..... next months song. Ummmm.

Or should I say ummagumma-esque? Do they breathe different kind of air in Japan?


Still trying to figure this one out.
LOL what can I say to defend myself? That beautiful women.... inspire me?
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Old 05-04-2018, 10:16 PM   #89
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Nice. Thanks for the IR link!
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Old 05-04-2018, 10:58 PM   #90
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Originally Posted by g4greg View Post
When I'm stuck using an impulse reverb (read: When I can't use my go-to reverb plug)

I use the free Bricasti impulses bank. That impulse collection is everything you will ever need, never thought you would need, and won't ever need, all in a neatly organized and easy to understand package.

I highly recommend.
http://www.samplicity.com/bricasti-m...lse-responses/



LOL what can I say to defend myself? That beautiful women.... inspire me?
Which of the Impulse formats is the one I would want for my Reaper plugins? is it the same as my sample rate of 24bit 48K ? This is yet another bit of the billion new things I'm learning so bare with my basic questions..

You have no need to defend yourself good sir. A beautiful woman as a muse is absolutely agreeable.
It's more about my A.D.D. and being able to sit still for the song. Glad it's of the shorter variety!
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Old 05-04-2018, 11:06 PM   #91
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Which of the Impulse formats is the one I would want for my Reaper plugins? is it the same as my sample rate of 24bit 48K ? This is yet another bit of the billion new things I'm learning so bare with my basic questions..

You have no need to defend yourself good sir. A beautiful woman as a muse is absolutely agreeable.
It's more about my A.D.D. and being able to sit still for the song. Glad it's of the shorter variety!
the regular 32 bits, 44.1 folder is fine for most computers.. Unless you have a really old machine... Or if you aren't working with REAPER.. But we all are, so there's no problem there

32bits floating is precisely what reaper uses under the hood.
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Old 05-05-2018, 01:15 AM   #92
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Thanks for the info! this is a pretty spankin new machine too, so no probs with that. Now that I've gone Reaper I can't imagine going back to some TOOLS or Loopy stuff. NO sir... Ain't gonna happen..

Reaper is here to stay. \m/ ôç0 \m/
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Old 05-05-2018, 01:53 AM   #93
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Thanks for the info! this is a pretty spankin new machine too, so no probs with that. Now that I've gone Reaper I can't imagine going back to some TOOLS or Loopy stuff. NO sir... Ain't gonna happen..

Reaper is here to stay. \m/ ôç0 \m/

Yeah, I don't know if this has been fixed, but some other... um.. "tools made for pros" (allegedly) still don't run on 32 bits float, which in turn creates heaps of problems with other plugins and stuff.

So, if you would be using some other "Tools", you would need the 24 bits package.

OK, that's enough fanboyism for one post, so I'll stop.

But I DO love my lil' reaper
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Old 05-05-2018, 12:33 PM   #94
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