Dark Bells by Calvin Cardioid
I assume if you visit my blog, you're at least somewhat interested in making your own tracks. How much of a role does loudness play in your process? In other words, if you weren't concerned about loudness at all, how different would you be working in terms of EQ, compression, and brickwall limiting? Unfortunately, I find myself just as caught up about loudness as before. Sometimes, it feels as though simply being loud enough will validate any and all creative / composing decisions no matter how bad they are. On the other hand, a piece that's not loud enough always seems to be missing something no matter how creative its melodies & arrangements. I suppose the smart thing to do would be to bring a complete finished album to a mastering engineer and let them worry about loudness. But I can't possibly take every track out to someone else, so I end up agonizing about the volume of these mini-tracks as I constantly compare audio files in iTunes.
same feelings here: everything is fine in my workflow until i get to the point where i start worrying about loudness ... and it will go downhill from there (sounding louder usually comes with an increased mushiness, so i'll end up eqing again, then compressing/limiting some more, and so on)
ReplyDeleteAgreed, a good change of pace is to practice mixing or just mastering someone elses work and perhaps having another friend to their own master of yours.. Fresh ears sometimes is the key.
ReplyDeleteCheers