Root - Road To Ruin

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Root
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Root - Road To Ruin

Post by Root »

So, here is a new attempt, to implement what i've learned here. Especially that much quoted 100-500hz area makes me wonder. Mostly every element in my track has portions in there. That main melody is nearly completely in this area, so i'm really asking myself how not to get this too stressed and dense without eleminating my main elements, compared to what's going on around 1000-5000hz?! Is it done okay here or am i on the wrong path? DL available^^ :)

https://soundcloud.com/rootpromo/08-004-try-1/s-njONM
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Lost to the Void
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Re: Root - Road To Ruin

Post by Lost to the Void »

Right, downloaded and run through the gear.

Hmm, the mix has a number of issues.

Firstly the subs, they are dipping away sharply from 45hz leaving no weight to the mix.
The mid range sounds seem to be over EQ`d, with no real weight to anything in the true mid range.

I suspect you are probably getting confused over EQ processes.

SOmething I say a lot in this forum, in terms of EQ is this.

The best EQ is no EQ.
EQ starts by sound choice.
The right sound for the right place.
Look at your music like an orchestra or a band.
The bass guitar takes up the bass region, the guitars take up the mid range, leads the upper mids.
In an orchestra, the chello takes up different space to the violin.
The sounds naturally fit together.
It`s no different with techno, as you build a tune, always look at the space you are occupying, when you decide to add another sound ask yourself "is there room for this sound?".
Picking sounds that fit together means you need to do less harsh EQ work to get your mix to work, and this leads to a more natural sounding mix.

So if your mix has loads of sounds that have fundamentals in the hi bass region 100-500hz, then you have picked the wrong sounds.

With your tune, I can`t really find a focus in the mid range, and seeing as our ears are tuned for mid range emphasis (as this is where the human voice resides), it makes your tune feel rather directionless.
From the get go there is a nice ringing synth, with it`s fundamental at 555hz. More space given to this sound would be fine.
You then have the sawtooth sound that comes in later that has no weight at all, sounding really overly scooped out in the lows, and also with virtually no width (your whole mix is almost entirely mono, which doesn`t help), so the mids never really have anything solid directing them.

There is a nice laid back, austere feeling to the track, but without weight it`s too much.

I made a few mix adjustments to give you an idea of a fuller sound, but there wasn`t a whole lot I could do with the mids.

https://we.tl/h0anakacsQ
Mastering Engineer @ Black Monolith Studio
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Root
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Re: Root - Road To Ruin

Post by Root »

Man, thanks for lending your ears! I guess you nailed it.. i haven't opened the project for some time now. So i did right now and woah, there was really a lot of eqing going on xD ..don't know how this could happen. Your adjustments showed me the direction and yep, my first version has nearly no focus. So i tried to adjust things myself.
Opened up the lowcut for the sub a bit, gave the main mid synth more mids back, copied the saw-lead in the middle and transposed it an octave to reduce the fight with the main mid synth. Hope this works better now:

https://soundcloud.com/rootpromo/worked_less-eq


What you guys think?
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Re: Root - Road To Ruin

Post by ricardoperazzo »

I'm not as technical writing as Lost in the Void but I do agree with him.
I listened to both versions, and I still think it needs a bit more of weight in it, as it seems theres a lot of space to fulfill .
Also maybe a bit more of dynamic as theres not much going on.
Keep up the good work!


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