I totally reworked this to kill the high end, bring out the low end and add some acoustics. Any feedback would be appreciated. Does it sound like there is too much hard limiting? Does it have enough low end? Does the parallel compression sound too crowding?

 

Why don't you ask anything about the composition?

In my opinion:
99% composition (doing everything by yourself).
0.5% re-mixing (total crap).
0.5% mastering (its value = 0). Everyone can do it with just having a bit engineering view.

Sorry for being so rude but by re-mixing you would never be a musician.

 

Because it's a remix you plum!

Well, as he's a DJ I don't think he's going to loose to much sleep over that dumb comment.
Doing a good remix ain't as easy as you might think, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't know where to start.

You know there's a saying that goes "It's better to say nothing and look stupid, than open your mouth and prove it."

 

You totally reworked this mean? You play all tracks by yourself? or only use the song stems??
The voices are so low and the vinyl sound are so high, don't sound like a good "re-mastering"
my opinion. Thanks.

 

It sounded a little harsh on the high end, but had just been working on a Techno track, and the Rm1x doesn't put out much high end anyway.
I just listened to the original, and your mix has a lot more going on in the higher frequencies, which is why it appears a little harsh.

 

Yeah I find that a little rude, presumptuous & uncalled for.

He asked about how the remix sounded not about the compositional value or whether he would make a master musician.

Also it's just like amazingly egocentric to assume that somebody will never make a musician. Really dumb thing to say imo but there u go. Mixing & mastering a huge aspect that I as a musician find really interesting and wan't to learn. Does that mean because i play I'll never be able to mix & master???

You can learn a hell of a lot by remixing as a musician and also vice versa.

Example a DJ can learn loads about compositional techniques, Intricate Beats/tempos, modal structures through the process of simply remixing a track in a field they are not comfortable with or familiar with.

Don't assume that what works for yourself is gospel and is a must

If a master musician such as Steve Vai considers himself a better engineer/mixer than a musician well that says it all really I guess

As for the mix I agree with The Teknnomage in that pretty high frequencies dominate.
For me personally the bass doesn't quite come thru enough and the kick not quite enough punch but that just to my tastes.
Think it's quite well balanced tho.

Did u remix all the stems or just a track?

Did you parallel compress the Kick or percussion as in NY and introduce other tracks like the Bass etc.

If not give it a try, sit the bass under the kick, EQ and it may help with the dynamics. Maybe a bit of multiband compression and maybe mess with a de-esser and look at the transients.

Analyze with a spectrum also & look for conflicting frequencies.

I have to say tho my knowledge of mixing is pretty limited and others here will be much more able to help in that aspect.

Nice one, thanks for sharing as is interesting at least for me personally coz there a lot this way I would like to learn

 

lol, I guess nobody even bothered to check out any of his other tracks, before making "real musician" accusations. midiots.....



my fav...reminds me of something off of the old skool skint label

 

Last edited: May 2, 2016

Sorry guys!
It was just an opinion. I did not call anyone stupid.

"What" is always important for me than "How". Everyone is free to choose his/her own way but it should be done with awareness and consciousness.

Music world is so diverse but 1 in 100 persons totally knows what he/she is doing. Other ones are just decorations and embellishments. I warned him not to be the second type. That's it.

 

I played the violin and got straight A's, I was also playing piano and did very well, but that's not where my interest is. I like to scratch (or used to like to...ha...I don't have turntables anymore) and produce electronic music, which can really require a lot of skill and know how to accomplish. Electronic music is really in a whole other realm from "instrumental" music, so comparing the two is comparing China to Russia, or to put it more simply, apples to oranges.

Just wondering by chance, have you ever done a remix? Have you ever produced solid electronic music? Because I assume you must have done a lot of that to have such a strong opinion against it? Could you display some of the no talent, no creativity you speak of, because its all mindless and easy to do, correct? I would love to hear your own compositions of electronic music and possibly a remix to prove how easy it is.

Here's a metaphor that you might find interesting. I look at electronic music more like SOUND DESIGN. Kind of like a photographer takes pictures and comparing him to an artist who paints pictures. The painter has a talent in creating something from scratch, where the photographer has a talent taking a picture. It takes a good camera, some knowledge on how to use the camera to it's full potential, and enhancing it in Photoshop.

In electronic music, it's very much the same. You have your guitar that you play, and I have sounds from your guitar that I design. Both are "music" but of a completely different form. Like an apple and orange are both fruits but one comes from a different tree.

I would agree with you that in many ways, learning a musical instrument and perfecting it is a lot of work and takes some major ability, but sound design is a completely different world with a whole other kind of creativity and ability.


Anyways, I wouldn't judge until you've tried it and done it yourself. Like if you play guitar and all you can play are other peoples pieces and you can't come up with any of your own compositions, I wouldn't say you're total crap. For instance, my Father can play classical REALLY WELL, but all I ever heard him play were other peoples compositions! Never could he use his right sided brain and come up with his own material. Does that mean he's talentless? I don't think so. That would be completely ignorant and rude of me to say.

In the end, it's all about having fun for me and it requires a lot of work sometimes as well, believe it or not!

0.5% mastering (its value = 0). Everyone can do it with just having a bit engineering view.
Saying anyone can master and engineer and that it basically requires no skill is a pretty ignorant thing to say. No offense, but not just anyone can properly master! LOL....Otherwise everyone would be doing it and making some good coin! There's education out there that takes months to learn the craft of mastering!

But ya, if you played Led Zep's "stairway to heaven" would I be in the right mind to say, "You're total crap"? What if you played Stairway to heaven with a harp and combined your own conga drums as a drumline? Would that still mean you're talentless and crap?

Anyways...two different worlds my friend.

YOU: Musical Instruments
ME: Sound design

Is one easier than the other? Well, I know your answer to that, but don't knock it unless you try it!

If you care to hear some of my scratching you can check it out here:

 

Last edited: May 3, 2016

It's a remix done by me with the supplied stems from Beatport for the remix contest. I had to master it over again because my original master didn't have the desired lows. Just wanted a overall comment of how the mastering sounded. Thanks.

 

Hey there,

It was a complete remix of the original. (for a remix contest on beatport) I was supplied stems and I used just the guitar and vocals and produced the rest from my own imagination. It was fun to make, and in my opinion, that's what music is all about! Having fun! Not being a Nazi and condemning people for having fun! heheeh.

I added a lot of bass with the parallel compression and cut a lot of high end out already. I'm pretty pleased with it. I'll probably make some slight changes and go onto the next track! I'm starting to get sick of hearing this track over and over! haha!

Thanks for your input!

I suppose all of this work on the remix was pointless though because it takes 0 talent and takes no creativity or knowledge to do, so I might as well just pack my bags up and learn how to be a real musician!



"You don't know shit, sunny! You need to learn how to be a real musician!"

 

I used a couple samples though Subgenre, so that makes me a no good, talentless nobody! Oh god forbid, I used a sample and reworked it! That's taboo!

 

By composition I did not mean playing any instrument at all. I am an electronic hobbyist like you. I meant working with Midi. It's harder than playing around with sounds. The originality of your music is being specified by Midi.

So called sound designing will not increase your musical knowledge at all but just your engineering talent.

Musician ≠ Engineer

Re-mixing by adding smartly the musical elements is not a bad idea, but adding some drums,FX, ... is just waste of time you know. Sorry again.

 

I work a lot with midi in my original tracks. Over half or more is midi based, so I don't know what you're talking about exactly.Would you say the same thing about Kontakt? which is a sampler with real live sounds that you can play like any midi based VST? Because technically you are playing around with "sounds" or what I translate from you saying "sounds" is "samples", correct? SO if you were to play piano, bass, or an organ from Kontakt, I suppose you're just playing around with sounds because these are just samples from instruments that other people played, correct?

Or, if you used each transient of a drum loop *kick, snare, cymbal, HH* and converted each to midi, and played your own completely different rhythm, that would just be playing around with sounds as well, right?

So all of this would not improve my musical knowledge? Playing around with sounds is what music is all about!

 

No, I never use real instruments in my tracks! Just synth based except for the drums or some simple sounds.


What do you mean by "midi based"? All of the electronic musics are based on it but there are 3 ways of using midi.
1- From packs
2- Designing your own ones with less effort and almost randomly.
3- Designing your own ones but knowingly using knowledge.

If you're the 3rd one, good luck with you. Because it's the way a real composer does.





DJs are just normal guys with some mixing capabilities. If you goal is to be one of them, the door is already open for you.

but

if you want to be a real musician, you should first 1-find the appropriate door, then 2-the key, then 3-try to open-up.

 

Also, if you listen to the track "Cello Mellow J" that I supplied up above you will hear a sample of a cello from my friend. After that you will hear a completely different melody which sounds like a violin! That all derived from that cello sample! It was cut and sliced, upped a few octaves and played on my midi keyboard! But I guess because I used someone else's cello sound, that doesn't count! I'm not a musician, correct?

 

I find that way of producing really one dimensional and boring personally. I think combining real sounds and electronic sounds is a broader and a more engaging way of making music.

I'm not really a DJ anymore, I just produce. DJing and Mixing is rather boring. I make a few mixes on Ableton Live for fun but besides that, djing has been a lost interest for me. I would like to incorporate scratching again into my tracks, since I find that much more creative, but I would need to fork out lots of money again for decks and a mixer and I don't really want to do that! Maybe I'll just find someone with the equipment and play it! That would be much cheaper! If anyone's interested in hearing a "DJ" mix I did check it out:

 

Last edited: May 7, 2016

Is this your music by chance?

 

lol, he said midi from packs. lol. seriously?!?!

That is NEVER an option!

 

Last edited: May 3, 2016

wow , hes so black and white, open or closed.
ME=Piano lessons as a kid, guitar and bass in rock and thrash bands in my teens, djing breakbeats in my 20's, recording and production in my 30's, mixing and mastering in my 40's.
Am I a musician, a dj, or an engineer? Now Im really confused to which one I have to choose.
Aw fukit, Ill just be a prodigy. Better off this way

 

Last edited: May 3, 2016