Trying to find my own sound

[Pecca]

After choosing Instruments/ tweaking instruments / choosing FX + tweaking fx / choosing Filters + tweaking filters / + choosing Eq & tweaking Eq & setting each parameter to every chosen channel: (+ a tiny bit of mastering - all in FL studio)

About 24h on just one groove to try to find the sound of my liking... Gosh this is difficult (yet again a very simple groove)

To my ears this sounds ok "soundwise" but not that satisfied with the sound of the bass. (more mastering perhaps)

I would be happy if ppl that are used to mastering/mixing had a listen & told me about the good/bads.
http://www.pecca.se/audio/my_sound.mp3


Cheers / Pecca

[Mike-K]

Hi Pecca,

I think, you did a great job. Nice stereo field an distribution of the effects.

If you're not happy with the bass, well, here is what I would do (personal preference, of course):

Beef up the lower frequencies a bit to give the bass more "oomph" and meke the subwoofer happy. I would (again, personal preference) and just a tiny bit of reverb to the bass, NOT MUCH - just very little.

If you like that idea, see what it sounds like. Overall, nice groove, though. I would also fatten up the kick drum a bit (not easy to do with MIDI, I know).

Mike

[JonSolo]

Instead of reverb I would add mono chorus to the bass. Maybe as much as 25% in a moving frequency about twice the speed of your time. And I would keep it as MONO as possible. Dead center panned.

Boost the kick in the 300hz range and the bass in the 150hz range.

Jon

[Pecca]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I actually took both of your advice and changed what you suggested.
Boosted the kick & added chorus + a little reverb to the bass.
Sounds better now imo.
I also added a little simple melody.

Getting closer to the sound i like now. Thanks !

Tweaked edition ---> http://www.pecca.se/audio/EDIT_My_Sound.mp3

[Diego]

Oh yeah, very good suggestions, it sounds much better!
I would try to find a more "full" kick sound, because it sounds a little "snappy" and not so rich so in the end it stress listener's ears.

What instruments do you use for these piece?
It sounds very nice!



Regards

[Pecca]

Diego.
I use FL Studio and it´s sounds + Toxic III (expansion synth to FL).
Also i use the "Adventus df" (softplug.com)

I will see if i can tweak the kick to sound more "full" as you describe it.
Thanks for your suggestion.

[Mike-K]

Sounds much better, Pecca. I would dim that kick drum a bit. It's a bit too "much in your face" = too loud, IMHO.

I'm sure it's going to sound great once you are done with it!!!

Mike

[Pecca]

So... Getting grey hairs of this.. lol renamed this project to "GreyMatter"

Well.. Done som modifications to the kick... Cut off the snappy sound and lowered the volume some.

Used so many FX that my cpu was crying, so i had to sample some parts and use them instead of realtime synths / fx.

Mix is a little different now due to this. + i changed the lead instrument (that is a bit loud in this mix) and made a few small changes here and there to the kick / snare / hihat.
Hihat was a bit too loud before imo. Oh and sampled my R3 around 1.33 into it... Just a simple chord - Patch name on R3 - "BPFSweep"

Ah well... new edit http://www.pecca.se/audio/GreyMatter2.mp3

Thanks for the tips

[Stephen]

Much better now, and I liked the other versions.
The kick has a better balance now, and just sounds better.
I like the bass a lot, good attack, and well mixed.
I like it.

[JonSolo]

Yes I like where this one is going, very nice indeed!
Solo

[Diego]

Hi!

I agree now is much better, but I'm sure the kick may be even better.
Of course, I'm sure that my poor iPod earphones don't do their job in the best way, but I think it's important not to stress the listener, or he won't enjoy the listening.


Regards

[higskies]

It sounds better since you took some of the snap off the kick. One trick I learned was adding a touch of high end around 12kHz to the overall mix. Not a lot, just enough to add some extra 'clarity' to the mix. It will open up your high end.

I like what you're doing with this. Kind of a Kraftwerk vibe to it. Keep it up!

[Pecca]

Thanx for those kind words Steven and Jon.
Diego. I actually kept the "tweak" to the kick i made (that you suggested). To me it sounds just right now. Thanks a lot for the tip

higskies.. Good suggestion... I haven´t tried that yet tho (high end).
Glad you like it so far

I sampled my R3 a little more and added a few things into it.
Closer to a completed song now anyway... Bet there´s tons to do still tho
Having thoughts, if or not, to sample some vocoded stuff into this mix.

Latest version i only added some samples to + rearranged some parts..
Not sure yet if i like it or not
Well http://www.pecca.se/audio/GreyMatter3.mp3

[Mike-K]

Sounds really good to me!!!

Nice job!

Mike

[Pecca]

Hi.
I think i´m done mixing... getting fed up with the song. LOL
To this (probably final) version i changed the name of it.
Added som simple vocoded sounds. Made a tiny adjustment to the overall sound with "eq".

http://www.pecca.se/audio/angel.mp3



Thanks to all who helped me on this one

Edit: Eq went wrong on that one. Listened to it on a home stereo & the hats were breaking thru. Also very boring vocodes. Rearranged a little.

Haven´t listened this edit on a home stereo though...
Tell you waht... so utterly bored with hearing this repeatedly, so i wont touch it any more...Atleast for months. But again, thanks for suggestions/listens.

Hopefully the mix sounds somewhat better.

http://www.pecca.se/audio/less_angel.mp3