Hey guys I'm trying to be a music producer

[JynErso]

Hello everyone.

As far I can see a lot of experienced ppl plays Quake 2 and maybe I could get some help in this subject.

I love to compose music, like house or progressive and even house. I love the cinematic style also.
I use ableton or Fl Studio (I am more used to) for the mixes.

My problem is:  I master and mix the  tracks each one   with an individual  equalizer in its own channel, but the songs are great when I hear them l with my headphones, and very different when I try them with the speakers, It sounds really different.

Briefly: The mix sounds okay in my headphones and horrible in the speakers.

So I have no clue of how  my final product sounding like.

How can I at least have an approach about the reality of what it sounds like?

This problem really takes away my desire to produce music because I can not monitor the quality of my mixes.

Thanks in advance

[|iR|Focalor]

You have one of two problems. Either you're using PC speakers/monitors with poor frequency response, or you're using headphones with poor frequency response. Headphones are the ideal thing to use while you're composing and tweaking track volume levels because the sound is right ON your ear, and you'll be able to hear everything clearer to determine which track isn't loud enough or which track is too loud. And once you think you've got all the levels managed properly, then it might also be a good idea to play it all back again through speakers/monitors just to see what it'll sound like to anyone else who plays a copy of the work on a stereo system or something.

If you have crappy PC speakers, then maybe you have a better stereo system somewhere else in the house, or maybe even a better stereo system in your car. You can always get a few CD-RW's and burn the songs to a CD-RW and then play the CD on that other system. I did that a couple of times years ago. The speakers I had hooked up to my old music studio PC years ago were not very good and the speakers I had in my truck were much better sounding, so I just burned demos of things to CD-RW's and then popped them into my truck CD player, cranked the volume, and listened to see if I was mixing things properly.

If you need a decent pair of headphones and don't want to spend a whole lot of money, I'd recommend a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M20x. They have a better than average freq response of 15Hz to 20kHz, so they have plenty of bass and all the treble you'd want. Most places have them priced at 50 dollars.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Audio-Technica/ATH-M20x-Closed-Back-Professional-Studio-Monitor-Headphones.gc

Honestly, you "could" pay more for something supposedly better, like the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x's (priced at 150 dollars), but would you get better sound out of them? Eh, it's debatable in my opinion, especially when you consider the price of the two. The ATH-m20x's have a 40mm driver and a freq range of 15Hz to 20kHz, whereas the ATH-m50x's have a 45mm driver and a freq range of 15Hz to 28kHz, so you'll get more ear piercing sizzling treble. And a larger driver means you'll get slightly more volume and possibly the bass will sound a little more robust, but... not really. The freq response specs that all the headphones makers list are what people should be paying the most attention too. The wider the freq response, the better quality sounds you're gonna get from them.

As far as monitors or speakers though... I dunno, I don't use any actual "studio monitors", I just use PC speakers. But you don't have to break the bank for speakers either, nor should anyone feel that it's absolutely necessary to go out and buy some actual studio quality monitors. I don't know if anyone makes them anymore, but if you can find a set of PC speakers that use fabric cones for drivers in them rather than those plastic film neodymium drivers like headphones, those would do the same job that monitors would. As long as it has two satellite speakers and a subwoofer cube, it should be fine.

[random]

Post a clip and I can tell you what your problem is...

[haunted]

Hello random

[random]

Hello random

yo! are you still in NJ? Im coming to premier nightclub in atlantic city in a few weeks... come hang!

[JynErso]

Thanks. I can get cool headphones but the music always sounds perfect using them. For example the bass, kick, snare. When I try the song with speakers they make noise like too much low pitched or something.

Also sometimes with the headphones is difficult to differentiate if one frequency is blocking another, for example if one instrument lowers the volume of another, because you need speakers for that.

With headphones it will sound cool even if I use a "limiter" in the master.

Thanks all
I will upload an example.
And yes. Maybe my speakers are bad. But...

A friend told me: "If you make it sound fine using this crap, it will sound fine anywhere"
Another friend told me: "Not true, you need monitors".

 

[JynErso]

Tried to upload examples as attachments but it looks like is not working.

[JynErso]

The equalization work is the same regardless of the final sound. Because everything depends on the monitoring. If your monitoring is bad then you will waste 5 days of work.
The same amount of time that it would take to do it properly.

Trying with one audio at a time.

[JynErso]

Second example

[JynErso]

another

[JynErso]

One more.
Sorry tried to upload them all together the forum would not let me

[|iR|Focalor]

Listened to it through my expensive and overpriced Turtle Beach XboxOne headphones. Sounds fine on my end.

It "could" just be the speakers you're using. Then again, it could also be the volume settings your speakers are running from that is causing them to become overdriven and noisy. With a lot of PC's, you have the Windows sound mixer settings, and then you also have similar sound settings from whatever program was installed to work with the sound card. And then if you go out and buy some fancy surround sound simulating headphones and mic that plug in through a USB to 1/8" adapter, those usually have their own downloadable sound settings/EQ/enhancer/etc etc program designed to work with those headphones as well. It can be hard to figure out where and why your speakers aren't performing properly, but chances are it's something to do with the output level of those speakers within the Windows sound mixer.

[random]

Tried to upload examples as attachments but it looks like is not working.

use soundcloud... easier and faster than having to dl mp3's.

Thanks. I can get cool headphones but the music always sounds perfect using them. For example the bass, kick, snare. When I try the song with speakers they make noise like too much low pitched or something.

Also sometimes with the headphones is difficult to differentiate if one frequency is blocking another, for example if one instrument lowers the volume of another, because you need speakers for that.

there is a spectrum analyzer inside of fruity loops, use that to see a visual of the frequencies. When an instrument (Bass in this example) lowers the volume of another it is because there is already too much going on within the mix. Clean up unnecessary frequencies by sweeping through them one by one. here is a good reference sheet - http://howtomakeelectronicmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/FM_clubmix_dsktp.jpg -

With headphones it will sound cool even if I use a "limiter" in the master.

try working in low volumes, stay away from working loud unless you are in a properly treated room. Unless you want waves bouncing all over the place. If you use a limiter it should be to prevent any clipping (although with proper headroom you shouldnt really worry about that).

I took a listen to the clips off of my macbook speakers, and i could tell you right away you are boosting the hi's way too much. Like I mentioned, start looking at a spectrum if you are not sure due to poor monitoring, you can never be wrong with math!

to make room for your kick drum, sidechain it with whatever elements you want the kick to cut through in the mix. There are other advanced alternatives but try sidechaining first. Consider using some light parallel compression on it as well.

are you using other songs as reference? or how do u come to the conclusion that the mixes aren't good?

also look up dave pensado on youtube, he has plenty of tutorials on how to fix shit with mixing, I learned a ton off of him.

[JynErso]

Thanks Focalor and Random.

to make room for your kick drum, sidechain it with whatever elements you want the kick to cut through in the mix. There are other advanced alternatives but try sidechaining first. Consider using some light parallel compression on it as well.

I know how to make a sidechain but I dont know how to sidechain in relation to another instrument (It would be like an auto-process?)

are you using other songs as reference? or how do u come to the conclusion that the mixes aren't good?

Yes I listen all kind of professional songs and maybe because they have "radio edit" or something the bass does not make noises in my speakers.

About tutorials, tried a lot but all still depends on monitoring it seems.

[JynErso]

Thank you for that graphic. Its great!