Hi everyone, I released my first album a few days ago and hope a few of you might find it enjoyable. It's a modern orchestral/classical album with a few different styles in it - fantasy (I've been told it sounds like Alexandre Desplat - who scored the last 2 Harry Potter films - which was a lovely compliment), epic, atmospheric, piano, action/film score, and peaceful/tranquil.

Hope you like it!

https://simonturner.bandcamp.com/releases

 

That sounds really nice congratulations

 

All tracks are nice well done. what a move from heavy metal to this though!
cheers

 

The composition is really good.
Mixwise I'd prefer a bit more modern approach, but this is a matter of taste and I've the impression you did that on purpose and a less phasey sound (which was probably not on purpose ).

 

Haha thank you. I am still doing metal but I hadn't access to a guitar in a long time so I did this to learn something new. I'm hopefully going to write some metal this year.

 

It's a bit of yes and no for the first part. I didn't use reference tracks because I couldn't think of appropriate ones and also because I don't want to sound exactly like something else either.

Where did you hear phasing because I've missed it if it's there.

 

If you like to compare (not only phase corrected )

 

finally something relaxxing!

what did you do to it your mix is louder and punchier. I thought you were joking because it is so different from the first track.
I bet you used Soothe 2

 

Thanks for the compliment.

No Soothe, it's for noobs.

In the order of appearance: phase correction, saturation (M/S), Acustica Audio EQs (M/S), dynamic EQ (M/S), transient designer, analog emu and AA compressors, limiter. Basic mastering stuff.

 

Last edited: Jan 13, 2021

Yeah it all certainly makes a difference to the clarity in the beginning and the end, although I'm not too keen on how thin it makes the three solitary hits during the middle section.

I don't know how you ever learned to know that's what you need to do because I (would) have no clue. I wouldn't call it 'basic' that's for sure! I thought M/S EQing was just an audio snob thing that didn't really make a difference. Do you work with audio professionally?

 

You mean at ~ 1:45? Well, you can't fix everything with mastering, additionally this is just static, no automation used which would make a bit of a difference.

I started trying mastering a lot of years ago just for myself and had no clue what I was doing at the beginning. It's a skill that needs to be learned like every other skill too, like playing an instrument. And you need just as long for it. But I have a pretty good general ability to find flaws and this is for sure helpful for mastering.

Yeah, I could've put basic in ' ', that's right.

Well, for mixing M/S processing isn't that important but for mastering it's quite useful.

I used to work professionally years ago as a producer, mainly but not only in the EDM and Pop genre. But business is hard and artists and art are not as important as I thought and wanted to be. So I decided to leave, but still improve my skills.

 

Oh of course. I assumed that was probably why - I imagine a transient designer would work best directly on the percussion tracks than the master bus for example - but I'm still amazed you got so much more out of what I thought was a well-produced track.

Well, I'm now convinced I need to learn more so thank you/curse you for that, haha. Is there some sort of workflow you could recommend (e.g. step 1 - do X, step 2 - do Y etc) and what I should be listening for?

 

You mean mix-wise? What is really helpful is to use Voxengo Correlometer and SPAN, both are free.
This way you can check the phase and the overall frequency distribution.
In your mix I mainly fixed these two, added a bit compression for sound and depth and a limiter to catch some peaks.

And yes, a transient designer is better to be used on the precussions than on the master, but I had no separate access to the percussions.

 

Mix-wise or mastering-wise . Like, I have no idea why you decided to use the tools you did. How did you listen to the track and think "X needs some saturation/Y needs a dynamic EQ etc."? I also don't really understand how you used a limiter on it because I'd already made it as loud as it would go without clipping.

I try not to use compressors for orchestral music in order to preserve the dynamic range.

 

My tools for mixing and mastering can differ a lot. Some of them I don't use for mixing at all, some of them not for mastering at all.

One word, experience. Three words, know your tools.
I meanwhile know pretty well how my favourite EQs, compressors and saturators sound and after listening to the track and having a look at my analyzing tools I decide which tools exactly I try first. I often use two or three similar tools to compare their sounds and effect on the song. I often even change their order e. g. where to put a saturator best, or the order of EQs.
Sometimes my first attempt works, sometimes I need to try a different approach and learn something new. Both is gratifying.
Of course I've always to adjust all parameters by ear. Means, I can't tell straight away that I need a bell EQ at 43Hz with a Q of1,8 and +3,6dB.

While sitting.
Seriously, I just heard the basic phase and frequency issues. This is also a matter of experience. For the precise details I refer to my analyzing tools.

?

I hope you're not talking about the value of the Tischmeyer/Maat tools because this DR value is a matter of arrangement and this is a matter of composition.
Let's say a track has a long first part with very low velocities and a dramatic second part where all instruments play ff. This will result in a pretty high DR.
But if it doesn't have such a second part, the DR will be much lower. Would you change the arrangement/composition because of that number???

Additionally I use compressors mainly for sound, not for loudness, especially for mastering. The two I used for your track added less than 2dB gain reduction for the most part of the song.

 

so you spend about 5000 euros to do it?!!

 

I haven't listened to all the tracks yet but I can say that there is something in the first track that reminds me of a part of Fauré's requiem, it is very pleasant.

 

Not a biggie, I charge this for a normal workday.

 

damn I didnt know you were such a beast on the mix

 

Knowing your tools comes first. The advent of the DAW in conjunction with the flow of free and cracked plugin has has made it all too tempting to install 30 emulations of API, 50 emulations of the same Neve, 100 emulations of SSL consoles, which have led to more time being spent searching/downloading and plain simply hoarding than actually learning what the best use for the API 500 series, Neve 1073 or SSL 4000 and their respective know how. The "experience" comes after you have gain that knowledge. With that said, there are some who prefer to gain experience without any knowledge or what is commonly known as trial and error.

You are up to a good start. Accepting constructive criticism positively is part of the learning process. Also there is a question that we all must ask ourselves but we don't because we might not like the answer. The question is: Am I good at this? or Am I potentially good at this? Having an honest assessment of what we are realistically capable of doing, saves us lots of wasted time and frustrations. Not everyone was born to master a guitar or to become a producer or engineer. Some of us are brilliant at one but not the other. Some excel at all of them. Seeking out assistance when you know you are passed your limits may make the difference between a mediocre track and a good one.