Dub Echoes and Melodica (Remastered)

[spacef]

Remastered @ -10/-9 dB LUFS.... sounds much better...
I hope it ok to post more in the future.

https://youtu.be/TnrmImrQq2A

[spacef]

how many people actually use scope to make music

I wonder because it has been a while since the music thread has only inputs by me and a couple of others....

[nebelfuerst]

Well, I make music, but it's just for private purpose, no business.
My mastering skills still have room to improve. The perfect mastering quality of your remastered song is still beyond my skills

[astroman]

in fact, the „remaster“ is really well balanced.
(nice graphics, too)
Not to forget it’s a creative way to address a more current generation with your personal style.
(considering myself an old fart with Lee Scratch Perry, the Congos, U-Roy, etc as favorites

Regarding music... I suffer the get stuck in tools syndrome
I love the sound, but fail to create context.
Scope is still THE essential piece of the setup, but most effects now are outboard + some native reverbs by Warp69 and processing tricks by RedMuze and Zynaptiq.

[spacef]

Thanks for the replies.

----
about 'commercial music". In fact it is more a challenge of mixing and mastering and try to get pro results as a hobby
I released on distrokid / spotify and stuff mainly to be "shazamable".... but I recently abandonned any hope of going "commercial" and make a dime with music. First, I have never been into genres that sells a lot.

I do have several certifications in Music Marketing, ads and all that... Very professional skills (3 certifications, bachelors, masters and what not) . But I would not sell my skills to musicians and live on their false hopes like many people do. I think I am too old to pretend and make them beleive... it can work for some people though, the youngs still have the energy and faith to do what it takes to be famous. I did open a tiktok account though (more reactions/engagement than older social networks, in reggae at least, so it must be even more interesting in other genres).

if you count of paid promotions, it is huge budgets (and when you begin to pay for ads, the algorythm puts you in the "this guys can pay" section and you can abandon all hopes of virality. I decided to do stuff my own way and not wait for anything in return. it is more sound like this. I have friends who are DJs and 2 hardcore fans (yey) they record the youtube videos and play the recording in their sound system. nothing bought... no problem... I don't tour or play live... that's also something important in a career perspective. I have never imagined myself "'on the road" I prefer the cosy studio projects...

The best is to be on someone's playlist, or on many playlists (youtube and spotify), the algorythms like that.

So - unless you want to have a career and are young and sexy - or tour with a band or djs - it is better to do music if you like the challenge of finishing a track and improving your mixing skills, post them on social networks, and see what happens, but don't expect much so you avoid the disapointment and enjoy the "likes" more. You never know though: some people suddenly get noticed decades after the release. It is not necessarily the best recordings or playing skills. Making music can also be simply a personal therapy/need/hobby. no problem.

I post stuff mainly because once it is on the net, it cannot be lost in a PC disk crash (that's exactly why I release stuff now, as I lost a few stuff over time due to disk crashes... what is still there is what was posted on the net).

Last year, I made 7 euros due to radio broadcast if stuff I made in the 90's on atari/ensoniq sampler/4 track tape machines... not great stuff... lost in diskette crashes (sold the gear)... I have no idea where those guys in europe and north africa got hold of the tracks that I don't even have myself... I remember giving a tape to a few friends though... may through myspace at some point, i don't know...

---- ---- ---- --- ----
Now the funnier part

The mastering process is not that difficult.

The first step is to mix without a mastering chain, and get a sound closest as possible to "a mastered sound". This only means " I hear my track the way I want".

This may be a skill acquired years after years, and requires to know the speakers well (ie, what you hear at home is similar to what you hear anywhere, and my speakers are crap: passive Alesis Monitor One MK II on a yamaha hifi amp ).

TIPS
-- At some point, it is good to mix in mono.
--- You could also use an eq on the master and cut everything below 300 Hz and above 3000 Hz: this gives an idea of how will sound on phones and cheap radios. you do not need simulator plugins to do that. Doing the balance like that is helpful when you have doubts.

Note that going back to stereo or to full frequency range is generally a shock. it sounds awful. your ears have been used to the bad quality and your brain needs to refocus. ust take an hour off and come back later.

Bass based music, 50 Hz, fat basees etc : It may require to begin/re-start with the bass, and re-mix everything accordingly. this can be difficult and require that you know your speakers well. listen to other stuff first (tracks you like, "references" as people call them)


At some point, I put the mastering chain (pic attached) .
I push the maximizer and begin to adjust the mix again so it sound the best I can.

Everything before Ozone is used very sparingly.

The first clipper is used as a "trimmer" (lower the volume before the mastering chain) to check peaks and lower some sounds that are unecessarily loud.

The second clipper is used very sparingly (a couple of pixels on sound that are really above the rest).

The UAD Fairchild limiter was bought on Black Friday for cheap (not sure it is worth it at full price), it gives a vintage sound, but also a lot of noise if you push it too much. On a couple of tracks, I need to add a noise gate after that plugin. I use fast speed (2 or 3) and remove 1dB maximum, not more.

Again, a clipper used very sparingly.

Then Ozone 11 uses only 1/ Stabilizer (on "cut mode" ie like a kind of multiband compressor), 2/ Imager and 3/Maximizer on IRC 4 Modern -1dB true peak (it is not necessary to take true peaks into consideration though).

Then I check everything on the free YouLean Loudness Meter

I often have to also add a clipper on the drums (bus with all drums) or a compressor, and use sidechain on the bass, to it is lower when there is a kick. The bass is really the most difficult to control. I sould really get an electric bass, I have the impression that synths distort easily...

The best is to do your best, then wait a couple of weeks and come back to hear immediately what is wrong.
What is difficult for me is to hear all the distorition and clipping while mixing (I often need to render to realize how it realy sounds).
After a while you don't know what you are doing anymore. Just save a wait a few days before coming back. that's the best thing to do.

I hope it helps

NB: that's just my own way to do stuff, and pro engineers use more stuff (like multiband limiters, precise equalizations etc) and work on frequencies much more than I do because they need to sound mainstream and shiny and get to -8/-7dB LUFS even if that's horrible and they know it... it makes them miserable but that's what the clients want...

[nebelfuerst]

A songwriting friend (country songs) pays some "promotors", which spread songs accross streaming platforms, and put them on playlists.
Although he wrote some songs, his earnings in total are below 100 Euros.

Your sentence "unless you want to have a career and are young and sexy" describes three of my problems . I think, it's normal, that producers/sound engineers are unlikely to be young and sexy, as it takes some time to get a strategy how to produce good results.


For mastering, I learned, that I jump to quickly from mix to master. Your rule "I hear my track the way I want" is a bit dangerous for me, as I love to feed everything through optimaster, DNA-EQ and stereo-enhancer. Especially for commercial songs from the 80s,90s, this brings up a "wow" to my ears.

[Gordon Gekko]

Mehdi, your stuff is bitching.