How to get that that loud sound with dance music

[carl_t]

Hi all

I have been producing house and dance music for a while, howevee, my tracks dont seem to be as loud and in your face as commercial tracks,
I would like to know what they do to get them to sound so loud and pumpy.

With me soon as I put the bass and other instruments and sounds in the mix, the whole track soudns muddy and looses its kick,

what do I need to be doing with my mixing and sounds to achieve this,

can anyone give me some typical compression settings for the
Kick, bassline, electric piano, strings, and vocals ?

also what should I be using on the master?

hope you can help

cheers

Carl

[Red Mastering]

use search function,
this topic was covered dozen of times;
also you actually asking for a mix tips and this is mastering forum;
don't worry about mastering if you are not happy with your mixes,
the reasons of loud sounds in commercial releases are not going just from 1 stage of audio production, it's partially arrangement then mix and master, and it's not easy to get it just mastering or mixing

[huejahfink]

Good source sounds, good arrangement, good mix.
Generally speaking, pick one element to act as a lead focus for the tune.....
particularly important on your key low end element. You can't have the boomiest kick in the world with the boomiest bassline in the world - not without it getting mushy and unfocussed anyway. Choose one, and let nothing else stand in it's way.

Don't let loudness dictate your decisions. Loudness will come later... any decent club/rave system has amplification and headroom in bucketloads. You can turn up a lower level track on a DJ mixer - but there is no knob on a DJ mixer you can twist that makes your track mix and arrangement any better.

[BlackBackDrop]

Go and get a hair cut, the answer is there....

[botulus]

hi
its mostly in the mix as others has said. a common thing is to have the bass/kick too loud so only they trigger the limiter and nothing else and/or track is too busy

[tomasrangel]

Originally Posted by carl_t

Hi all

I have been producing house and dance music for a while, howevee, my tracks dont seem to be as loud and in your face as commercial tracks,
I would like to know what they do to get them to sound so loud and pumpy.

With me soon as I put the bass and other instruments and sounds in the mix, the whole track soudns muddy and looses its kick,

what do I need to be doing with my mixing and sounds to achieve this,

can anyone give me some typical compression settings for the
Kick, bassline, electric piano, strings, and vocals ?

also what should I be using on the master?

hope you can help

cheers

Carl

Congruent mixing + high quality mastering

[Joelistics]

High quality source sounds, simple arrangements, accurate monitoring and ears attached to your head.. That's all you should need to make it loud.. Now learn how to make your music sound good

[Red Mastering]

Originally Posted by Joelistics

.. Now learn how to make your music sound good

I second this opinion,
ppl focus too much nowadays on the things which does not really matters when you are artist...
it's all about music, production/mixing/mastering - great sound is always and it will be on the second place
can you imagine great sounding bad music ?
what about bad sounding great music ? (i still love bob dylan's albums, even considering some of them sound bad
of course it's important, but if you MAKE music, focus on MUSIC,
technical aspects - leave it to other guys, as with audio engineering truth is you need many years to learn,
you can't just catch it in few weeks/months,
even if you are genius

good luck

[tstu102]

Originally Posted by Red Mastering

I second this opinion,
ppl focus too much nowadays on the things which does not really matters when you are artist...
it's all about music, production/mixing/mastering - great sound is always and it will be on the second place
can you imagine great sounding bad music ?
what about bad sounding great music ? (i still love bob dylan's albums, even considering some of them sound bad
of course it's important, but if you MAKE music, focus on MUSIC,
technical aspects - leave it to other guys, as with audio engineering truth is you need many years to learn,
you can't just catch it in few weeks/months,
even if you are genius

good luck

I have to jump in here. I agree with almost EVERYTHING you said, but

a.) everything you just stated pertains to an ideal world that 99.9% of us don't live in.

I am a musician and producer. I put records out on labels, but because of budget issues, as with 95% of the other artists in my genre, have no choice but to compose, produce and MIX my own tracks.

I wish, for the love of god, I did not have to mix my own records. I KNOW they would sound better if someone else mixed them. But unfortunately, I do have to learn, which is the main reason I'm on this forum all the time.

and

b.) Dance music is intended for the club, to make people dance. It is functional music. A great dance track that sounds like shit just ISN'T a great dance track because the music relies so heavily on aesthetics. Especially on the more techy side of things where tracks have little melodic content, they tend to rely almost exclusively on sound choice.

[diogo_c]

Originally Posted by tstu102

b.) Dance music is intended for the club, to make people dance. It is functional music. A great dance track that sounds like shit just ISN'T a great dance track because the music relies so heavily on aesthetics. Especially on the more techy side of things where tracks have little melodic content, they tend to rely almost exclusively on sound choice.

Couldn't agree more.

[StringBean]

Choose either the bass or kick to dominate. Side-chain! Simple is better. Low-cut everything but the bass and kick. Find bright percussion sounds. Learn how your sounds occupy the frequency spectrum. Practice, practice, practice!

[Red Mastering]

I got proposition for you,
instead of us guessing what could/should be done - why don't you post audio file,
it will help to nail what you doing wrong,

all the best

[squirreltrench]

To get the music as loud as possible, first you have to go up to it and punch it in the face, over and over and over until its nose is not only a bloody mess, but has been squashed flat and lying in the street in a heap. Then yell at the music to get its s*** together, just for good measure. Scream at the top of your lungs that you're tired of its weak act, you can't stand how soft and wussie it is. Then you pick the music up off the ground, and voila, it's louder.

[CJ Mastering]

can anyone give me some typical compression settings for the
Kick, bass line, electric piano, strings, and vocals ?

also what should I be using on the master?

Start with compressor settings at zero and then adjust to taste. Nothing is really typical when it comes to compressor settings as its all relative to the signal your compressing and the surrounding tracks around it.

To answer your 2nd part, Maybe some EQ, Compression and limiting. That always works...

[Joelistics]

Originally Posted by squirreltrench

To get the music as loud as possible, first you have to go up to it and punch it in the face, over and over and over until its nose is not only a bloody mess, but has been squashed flat and lying in the street in a heap. Then yell at the music to get its s*** together, just for good measure. Scream at the top of your lungs that you're tired of its weak act, you can't stand how soft and wussie it is. Then you pick the music up off the ground, and voila, it's louder.

Not even close. If you treat your music nicely during production and arranging you won't have to use more than a little final push to get it to go loud

[feelKlang]

Originally Posted by huejahfink

Good source sounds, good arrangement, good mix.
Generally speaking, pick one element to act as a lead focus for the tune.....
particularly important on your key low end element. You can't have the boomiest kick in the world with the boomiest bassline in the world - not without it getting mushy and unfocussed anyway. Choose one, and let nothing else stand in it's way.

Don't let loudness dictate your decisions. Loudness will come later... any decent club/rave system has amplification and headroom in bucketloads. You can turn up a lower level track on a DJ mixer - but there is no knob on a DJ mixer you can twist that makes your track mix and arrangement any better.

right !