Opinions?

[noba]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place!

So i've been looking at how to improve my songs a lot, since i'm not really happy with the level i'm at now.

Can people listen to this and give me some advice on what i can improve, and how to improve it?
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/ ... 1488995487

[ac220]

Hmmm... Honestly? I've done worse, so it's probably not my place to give advice, but here it is anyway.

You're good at making melodies, basslines, etc. but the piece sounds like you didn't do any mixing or FX at all and didn't even think about it.

The bassline clips horribly , all the time, and so does almost everything else at some point, the sound is kind of thin and tinny, especially before whatever it is that you use from 0:40 on kicks in, And then it so dominates the song that those chiptune-ish synths and so-so drums just are lost.

Basically you have a solid foundation and structure of a song, but you still need to put up the roof and put glass into windows and do all those little things that make a brick box into a home. So, tweaking the mixer /EDIT: and the EQ,/ adding maybe some more reverb, and experimenting with different synths/samples can make it sound much, much better.

[noba]

but the piece sounds like you didn't do any mixing or FX at all and didn't even think about it.

i do mix my songs, but most of the time when a song is labeled preview, it doesn't have fx mixing, because i don't see the point that early in.
If i add a new instrument, it's back to remixing the instruments to get it right.

The bassline clips horribly , all the time, and so does almost everything else at some point, the sound is kind of thin and tinny, especially before whatever it is that you use from 0:40 on kicks in, And then it so dominates the song that those chiptune-ish synths and so-so drums just are lost.

I do have a bit of a problem with clipping, but i haven't been able to find out how to fix it.. youtube doesn't really help, neither does google.
do you have any advice for me for this? i'd REALLY appreciate it

I can NEVER find out how i'm supposed to make my drums loud and quite distinguishable by the rest of the track, same with a lot of the instruments, but drums are a big problem.

I'm guessing this is what i need to sort out, my sound levels. I know the basics of this but it can obviously be improved, so as i said earlier, any advice or tips on this?


I gotta say though, thanks for being so honest, you're a big help!


PS: help with the tinny-ness would be nice aswell, but i'd assume that's just down to effects (a list of some to mess with would be nice, thanks )

[ac220]

Well, since you watched youtube on the subject, you probably know as much as I do.

One thing though, EQ may be as important as levels both with clipping and with general blending of the mix.

Often while an instrument is OK overall, there are certain frequencies that clip or interfere with the mix, so with looking at the instrument in spectrum analyser and/or a nice graphic EQ (like ones from Reaplugs*) you can fix it more elegantly than by just dropping levels.

As for tinny sound... It's again a spectrum thing more than anything else. Basically, you need some low frequenceis, but the right kind from the right instruments, or it would be just muddy instead of tinny.

And probably that's one aspect where reasonably nice headphones help: If you monitor through a pair of dollar-store earbuds, or your average computer speakers, everything would sound tinny, no matter what you do, so you risk majorly over-solving the problem. I don't mean you need expensive headphones, just something that isn't abovementioned dollar store specials or overpriced rubbish they sell as "gaming headsets."

There are people over here who are far more knowledgeable about mixing than I ever was, hope they will comment.

*Nice thing about Reaplugs that it's one of a few VSTs that is officially tested and developed on WINE as well as actual Windows, so if you're on Linux, they're probably the best bet, but there are plenty of other great free EQs out there.

[noba]

Nice, thanks, and for a start i looked something up that told me to set my mix volume pretty low, and that's helped with sorting out the beat, but i'd imagine it's not a great solution.

I'll mess around with eq and stuff, but it's a bit hard for me to tell what's tinny and what's not O_o

I use 20£ headphones, they're sony ones, and pretty decent

Oh also! i still don't understand clipping much, what does it actually sound like?


edit 1: i'm kind of a newb to music theory n stuff, while i know the basics, there's still stuff i don't know

edit 2: I've just realised, i mess around with the TAP eq gain knobs, but not the frequency knobs.
Well, i guess i have a whole new realm of stuff to look at

[ac220]

Lowering the volume is actually a good idea, most people instinctively add more volume than you actually need (too quiet can be problematic too, but most people don't do that.) Remember, you're producing, not listening,

Headphones, I actually use inexpensive Sony DJ-style headphones for everything myself (although they're kind of worn now and I'm looking for a replacement/upgrade.) They're very good for the price, You will get some "hype" at those prices even with supposedly professional phones, but that in a way is a lesser problem, and Sony didn't go overboard with it .

"Hype" is essentially the manufacturers, knowing that cheap stuff tends to sound naturally tinny, going aggressively in the other direction with more upscale products and adding "ULTRA-SUPER-DUPER STRONG BASS" (with proud claims on the package they did, hence the name) and more high frequency response, sacrificing the middle. This is indeed a nicer sound, and if done in moderation, doesn't actually interfere much, but that's not what theoretically perfect monitoring phones would do.

[noba]

https://vimeo.com/208342119/
here, i can't tell if there's still clipping or not.
It's kinda clear on my phone, but that may just be because of the settings i have?
It's really hard to tell here. Some parts do have clipping, and my headphones are alright.

[ac220]

Mystery solved. Freeboy. Clipping is basically unwanted (and often transient) square waves generated when somewhere along the signal path something tries to process a sound it actually can't and replacing it with a flat line. But all Freeboy plays is square waves, and will naturally produce stuff that would sound like some weird persistent clipping everywhere.

I know next to nothing about chiptune synths, so no advice on what to do here, beyond replacing either the Freeboy (if you don't want the track to sound llike a GameBoy chiptune) or everything else with Freeboy (if you do.) ADD: Bit Invader, maybe? It still has that "80s videogame" character, if that's what you want, but it should sound more smoothly.

As for stuff that isn't Freeboy, well, the lead clips persistently and noticeably, and that waveform indicator spends way too much time in the red for a lead synth. it's a bit difficult to tell with the rest from a screencast, but judging purely by waveform colours there are a couple other places you may want to check on other instruments.

You said you reduced the volume, but from the cast it's difficult to tell where exactly, which may actually matter. You didn't show the mixer, and instrument volume knobs aren't all that reduced.

[noba]

Mystery solved. Freeboy. Clipping is basically unwanted (and often transient) square waves generated when somewhere along the signal path something tries to process a sound it actually can't and replacing it with a flat line. But all Freeboy plays is square waves, and will naturally produce stuff that would sound like some weird persistent clipping everywhere.

I know next to nothing about chiptune synths, so no advice on what to do here, beyond replacing either the Freeboy (if you don't want the track to sound llike a GameBoy chiptune) or everything else with Freeboy (if you do.) ADD: Bit Invader, maybe? It still has that "80s videogame" character, if that's what you want, but it should sound more smoothly.

As for stuff that isn't Freeboy, well, the lead clips persistently and noticeably, and that waveform indicator spends way too much time in the red for a lead synth. it's a bit difficult to tell with the rest from a screencast, but judging purely by waveform colours there are a couple other places you may want to check on other instruments.

You said you reduced the volume, but from the cast it's difficult to tell where exactly, which may actually matter. You didn't show the mixer, and instrument volume knobs aren't all that reduced.

right, i'll send a screenshot of everything if you want... or...

i COULD send you the file, if you're fine with actually downloading it from me

[noba]

http://imgur.com/JgJr4Xf --- Synth windows
http://imgur.com/2oZBh50 --- Fx mixer -- (Note: 2 synths are set to the same fx channel, it was too late to fix it, but i think i've found a right amount of volume between the 2 synths)
http://imgur.com/W96NgW6 --- Song editor, major differences in volume now on both fx channel and song editor
http://imgur.com/imx4sPK --- Beat/Bassline editor, noticeable differences on this now too.

I think all the clipping is gone, but i'm not too sure
I set my volume to 100%, and adjusted the levels accordingly to that, and the waveform indicator now no longer goes into red at all!
I think it's alright now, unless, like i said, you want to look at the file


Update: bit invader is a bit hard to hear, although i can just change the levels of the individual notes for that