I’m hoping for advice on processing recorded hardware jams for upload to YouTube and soundcloud.
I record stereo pairs from DT, DN & Eurorack into Ableton and add compression on the Master, and normally the DT track also.
But I’ve noticed that my sound is much quieter and often less punchy than other amateur videos on YouTube where they’re just recording a stereo pair from a hardware box such as an Elektron. I think the main issue is volume?
Can anyone help with methods / advice on how to get it sounding up to scratch in terms of loudness and punch? I will admit that I’m not all that experienced with Ableton and use it just to record jams really.
Just for reference my latest video is here, if you skip to 1:30, the arrangement is ‘full’ there:
Do you record sum into a DAW? I usually monitor my EQ in the DAW before recording a stereo sum and adjust my mixer a bit to match an EQ line that I’ve recorded from tracks similar to mine. If the thud section and slap section match, go with it. I usually add moderate compression, try to widen the stereo a bit (this helps keep mud to a minimum when crushing), and then usually limit.
I love this multistage limiter for just generally testing how transients will react to limiting. Presets 3 and 5 just work for me.
I’m also not an authority on this - just my strategies.
Yes I record stereo sum into Ableton. Forgive my ignorance but do you mean you play a track you like the sound of in a DAW and try to match the EQ line?
I have lots of musical ideas but I’m getting stuck at this part (the DAW bit) and feel I need to learn this to improve.
This is something I struggle with too. It could be that your master just isn’t loud enough. I find that even if I’m peaking at 0db it still doesn’t seem loud enough compared to other products on the internet. My amateurish solution is to slap a limiter on, set it to a “loudness” preset and make sure it sounds fine and not clipping…maybe even turn up the output gain. Maybe even turn up the master fader afterward idk.
For what it’s worth your track sounds pretty good. Really enjoyed listening to it earlier
Been going through a similar thing recently. I have an OT, DT and 0 Coast. Just been going L-R out of the DT. Same with the OT, though I should start using the Cue for more outputs. 0 Coast goes on L-R also, via some stereo effects pedals. All that to say, the more you can separate before recording into your DAW, the better, to get improved mixes.
I use Logic, but it’s a similar philosophy I guess.
Once everything is in the DAW, I put a few things into the master bus…
Good stereo EQ- I mostly just high pass between 25-32 HZ. Getting rid of the ultra low stuff that you can’t hear anyway frees up some headroom
Stereo Spreader- only on high frequencies
Multiband Compressor- sorta like EQ and compression put together. Really helps
Limiter- helps pull the peaks down into the body of the track.
I’m by no means an expert. I’ve done a ton of rock records, but always hire a mastering guy. Electronic music is my hobby, so I’m trying to learn a few tricks to get my stuff sounding better on SoundCloud/YouTube, etc.
Looking forward to some tips in this thread! Did this earlier today
A Match EQ allows you to record/save the EQ line of any track. Find some that match the balance of your tracks. Like I said, try to match the kick and main percussion elements. I only use Match EQs as a visual element.
Proper headroom also helps. Record at around -6db or lower if you use around 96kHz. This gives you room to EQ.
If i understand you correctly you have tracks to mix. An important thing I find - create buses for all your sound groups (these buses will help overall level plus could also have eq etc), then bus all buses to a master bus. This should get you a master level that should require less limiting. Remember to set your limiter against the loudest part.
I think the main goal is to get a balanced mix, so there are no overtaking frequencies that suck the energy. After that you can push the loudness. But avoid to much compression.
I also record the single outputs from the hardware into ableton.
In every chain is a tuner (to check the correct pitch), then a VU-Meter (to check the loudness [ableton just shows the peaks, but loudness is more a over time Effect]).
Before recording i check all the chains if something is too loud (VU is going into red), so you have enough headroom and have a overall max volume.
After recording you can use the “pink noise mixing trick” (use headphones) to make sure everything sits in position.
To get a more powerful sound you can also use side chain compression (bass and kick) to avoid overlapping of frequencies.
Also a low cut filter can make sounds more precise and give space for other elements.
After that you can go to compressor and limiter and raise the overall volume.
Go for a spectrum analyser and see how your sound look. Load tracks you want to archive (from mixing style) in your daw and check their spectrum and compare to yours.
When you export your final track load it your DAW and see if you compressed to much or generate clipping.
I’m writing on a mobile so posting links is a little tricky for me but search for the terms and you will get more into this stuff
To get the best results i recommend recording each Instruments in its own track in Live. In this way you have more control over the sum Output from Live. So do multitrack recording vs stereo sum recording.
Now this is a very exhaustive topic but let’s see…
I’d wager that the stuff you compare yours to is brickwall limited heavily in order to reach the loudness level you have probs reaching. So first step is getting aquainted with brickwall limiters. There’s one in ableton too, but its not the best one for the job out there, assuming you want buckets of loudness without nasty artefacts. Not saying it cannot be used to get you there, just might be a bit more difficult than with a 3rd party brickwall limiter.
In addition to brickwall limiting, there are certain techniques and strategies that will help reaching louder levels. If you google up “mixing for loudness” you will find tons of tips and info on the subject.
Here’s a list of popular brickwall limiters:
FWIW my goto is the Oxford limiter
I strongly advise against overdoing brickwall limiting however! That used to be a very prevalent thing around 1990-2000s, popular music was squashed almost to the point of insanity, twas called “the age of loudness wars”… thank gods the levels are quieting down a bit again thanks to new standards and systems like LUFS etc
If your recording is louder than -14 LUFS (IIRC) YouTube will turn it down. Soundcloud doesn’t do this btw.
I checked the stats (right-click > “Stats for nerds”) and it says it’s turning your video down to 82% volume and that the audio is 1.8dB too loud. Not that much, actually, but you might get a better overall sound by using a bit more compression/limiting and keeping the overall loudness to -14 LUFS.
If you can track the kick separately and sidechain your mix to it (if you’re not already doing that?) you will also most likely gain a bit of perceived loudness.
The thing is that a level change to 82% is about the same as a level change of -1.9dB.
So more compression won’t help anything.
I think that maybe OP needs to check his mixes on a more fundamental level, like is there too much (sub)bass in there that he doesn’t hear due to monitoring problems, stuff like that.
Simple Answer to your question: They throw Ozone on the Sum and let it do its magic
And before they do, they crank up the Volume of the Recording so that Ozone has something to work on. A simple raise of Volume until the Peaks hit the “Limit”. Done! No need for fancy (and boring) audio engineering stuff
Snipecatcher mentioned what I was thinking. I hear many mixes with entirely too much bass and too much bass will sap the energy out of your compressor/limiter, lowering your perceived mix volume. Want more volume? Run a HPF or shelving EQ to rid your mix of the musically unneeded frequencies. Cut at 20Hz and 20kHz at minimum. I’d probably look at being more aggressive with the low end, maybe cut at 60 or 100Hz for kick drums for example.
I avoid hard limiters whenever possible but that’s a taste thing. Over the years I’ve heard way too many recordings ruined by hard limiting. It’s a shame really.
I just watched the video and I think overcompression and the aforementioned statements on bass are probably what are preventing you from getting what you’re after. I may be able to offer better feedback, @Munro, if you send me a raw wave without limiting or mix compression.
more compression/limiting would reduce peak level (depending on the attack), but increase loudness when something is played back at the same peak level.
If I understand it correctly, then to get Youtube to reduce less you would need to have more dynamic range, not less.
that might be a different case though!
I just mean that if youtube is saying it’s too loud in LUFS terms and is turning it down, you can’t get it louder by compressing it more - it’s already got too little dynamic range from youtube’s point of view.
