Re: [linux-audio-user] Re: Homemade music

On Fri, Jan 20, 2006 at 12:03:47PM +0100, Carlo Capocasa wrote:
> Hi, thanks for sharing, it's beautiful! There's a lot of skill and love
> there, and I just got my new sub-woofer, and the bass is great... In
> fact, my neighbour just made me turn it off while I was writing this
> mail :)

I was afraid I had overdone the bass in volume a little, especially in
the middle part with the mallet-instrument melody. Perhaps I *did*
overdo the bass. ;-)

The mixing technique I use can tend to exagerrate the bass. It's a
method I have developed for myself that seems to work fairly well,
although it is very simplistic in theory. At normal listening volumes,
it is easy to hear detail and distinquish all parts, and it can be very
difficult and confusing (for me) to set appropriate levels and balance
for the various tracks or sequential parts of tracks.

So, I start by turning the volume of my auditioning equipment down until
I can barely hear the piece and begin to listen. At that low volume, it
is very easy to hear what should be turned up a little, or down a little
in volume in order that all parts of the piece be able to be heard, with
nothing lost in the mix and nothing drowning out other parts of the mix.

This low-volume mixing is good for getting a general balance (I'm just a
beginning amateur with this mixing stuff, so perhaps this technique is
just a way to compensate for my bad ears), but at low volume the bass is
disproportionately lower in volume than other higher-frequency sound,
so when one turns the bass up loud enough to hear well in the
low-auditioning-volume mix, it can later seem too loud at normal
listening volumes.

So, after doing the very low volume mixing to bring all the levels into
reasonable balance, I listen to the song again at
normal-to-slightly-loud levels in order to turn down the volume of the
bass elements, and lower them back into the mix instead of allowing them
to override the rest of the sound too much.

As I said, my beginner's method of mixing is *very* simplistic. ;-)

> If you want a little feedback there's some rhythmic glitches in
> the beginning, like the pulse of the rhythm is slightly different than
> the pulse of the organs...

I'll listen very carefully to the beginning, and perhaps slow the file
down while listening to it to try to hear and correct what you mention
and syncronize the track better. Thank you.

> Also, I didn't like the blue notes in the
> melody very much because it broke the warm coozy friendliness of it.

Which part of which melody? Can you tell me at about which time(s) in
the music the "blue" notes you mention occur? I may rewrite that
section.

>
> But, just my opinion, I don't claim any expertise at anything except
> maybe watching television or reading comic strips.

Hey, you're an expert at knowing what sounds good to you and what
doesn't, right? ;-) I thank you very much for your comments and
suggestions.

Steve D

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