Why It Feels Almost Impossible To Make Loud AND Clean Music
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- Опубликовано: 4 июл 2024
- Here's the ULTIMATE guide to producing LOUD + CLEAN music!
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🤔 Does it feel almost impossible to make your own productions loud AND clean?
🤔 Do you try and push your mix and master into a limiter, only to be left with crunchy distortion?
🤔 Or do you try and play your own song in a DJ set only to find its way quieter than the rest?
This video is going to teach you how to achieve the necessary loudness levels for you genre...the RIGHT way!
Loudness matters when you're making electronic dance music. Whether its for the club OR for streaming (Spotify)...loudness is SUPER important.
Zack is going to show you why loudness matters, and more importantly how to use the many tools and techniques that are available in your DAW.
🔥Stuck with your music? Need PERSONALIZED help and development?
🚀Submit your application to work with us: www.cosmicacademy.com/
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⏱️⏱️VIDEO CHAPTERS⏱️⏱️
0:00 Why It Feels Almost Impossible To Make Loud and Clean Music
0:22 Here's Why Your Songs Are Quiet AF
1:41 Loudness on Spotify Matters (SUPER Important)
4:02 Warning...PLZ Don't Mess This Up
5:13 Understanding LUFS for YOUR Genre
5:40 Balancing Sound Selection For Loudness
6:39 The Secret Tool For Mix Balance
9:02 These Dynamic Issues Are Holding You Back
9:30 Compressing For Loudness
11:12 I Love Clippers and Limiters :)
16:36 Low End Loudness
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"Knowing your tools allows you to break the rules" never heard anything truer than this.
Yesssss!!! 👊♥️
this guy does not blink
Not true at all…I blinked once when I was 14.
5mins in and you ain’t lying bro
He keeps an eye on that low-end.
Maybe he used that AI feature which locks your eyes to the camera so you can read from a prompt without making people see you're reading 😂
That makes you take the speaker more seriously. If they blink too much, you're more likely to stop listening. It's weird but true.
Dr Dre had some of the loudest mix/masters on 2001, that to this day can be used as references. The key? minimal elements so that everything has it's place. Less elements means a clearer mix, and you can smash it into a limiter more without noticing mushy build up
It's not that simple. He was using professional studio gear worth god knows how much.
There are many keys. Reducing elements is not an option for all genres.
100% Scott!! Less elements means more room and value from each layer. Modern bass music is such a good example of this. The -2 or -3 dubstep songs are usually just kick, snare, synth. That’s it!
I actually think a lot of people nowadays over-complicate things and should err on the side of minimalism for this reason. Even in "over-produced" genres like dubstep that Cosmic brought up, many of the top producers dedicate time specifically to crafting bass sounds, bass loops, and so on that they then eventually use (or recycle) in a track. So even though a bass pattern might actually be several elements layered together, it functions as one in the mix.
It’s not less elements per say. It’s making each element is the right size so it all fits neatly and doesn’t offend your compression and limiting. It’s getting each group compressed, clipped, and or limited loudly and maintaining the integrity of each of those elements before hitting the mix bus then you’re golden. -3 is still insanely loud though. Especially if you’re trying to get it clear.
If anything having more elements helps you achieve that because you’re trying to fill up all this space in the frequency spectrum, you’re just trying to do it evenly.
My problem 😢
clipper into limiter is the holy grail of loudness.
Sry I’m kinda new to this can you explain please?
@@awaken_098 with peaks that are fast enough, like a few milliseconds, you can use clippers to cut them off without any noticable difference to the sound or distortion to the signal. it gives you room to push your master limiter up a bit more without those small peaks getting distorted and messing up the sound of your master when you try to get loudness out of it.
@@awaken_098 the philosophy is to remove the peaks in a way that is transparent before limiting. with clipping, the loudest peaks of the waveform are chopped off, which if done subtly can remove a few db while preserving the tone (aka being transparent) and retaining the punch. this way when you go to limit, the limiter isn't squahing the mix as much, because it doesn't have to clamp down so hard due to making those peaks quieter with the clipper. I tend to take this further in my own mixes, subtle saturation, clipper, then limiter. 11:37
@@4r1777ahh I think I understand now. Would u put clippers on any other track besides drums? Like vocals or other instruments? And also would you put a clipper on ur master track after you finish mixing?
@@awaken_098 generally you use clippers on drums, or any sound that has a very fast loud transient. I like to consecutive small clippers throughout the mix, which makes it sound more natural than just slapping on 6db clipper on the master. So I might remove 1, 1.5 db from each individual drum channel, (usually the snare and the kick or the only ones that need it. then on the whole drum bus, use a clipper to clip another 1 or 2 db, then at the master stage clip another db off the whole song if the peaks are still very large. If you're song is electronic, you can get away with clipping more db at each stage without any noticeable distortion. Also I should mention using a soft clipper will give the best results if you want to be able to clip with less distortion. Hard clippers distort faster.
For references from spotify, I turn off spotify's normalization feature. I just went to my spotify settings, scrolled down until I saw "Normalize Volume" and I turned it off. Then I used an appplication called "Caster" by Ginger audio to route spotify into Logic Pro, and play any song I want to analyze with a loudness meter and SPAN open. Quite a revelation.
Thanks for the video!
Thanks for the cool trick! Do you know if there is a way of "previewing" your song on Spotify to see how loud it will sound once it's released? I thought it would be as simple as going to Spotify and play my local files (those on my laptop/mobile), find my song and voilà, but l was told Spotify doesn't normalise your local files.
@@ric8248 Loudness Penalty Plugin
@@ric8248There is a tool by YouLean that can help you with that. I don't really know the name of the tool/plugin (idk right now) but you can use it to get your normalized LUFS for all the major streaming services since they all normalize kinda differently
@@ric8248have you found any solutions? Or any tips
Transparently clipping my instruments and synths + balancing the mix changed everything for me… you can push everything into the limiter more and get more out of your mix…. The problem is you will lose dynamics and there is a sweet balance to be had.
Absolutely!! Gotta always be on top of how much and how hard you’re hitting these clippers and limiters!!
yep. this. this is the answer. the dynamic balance is what makes it a professional challenge too. but this is the biggest thing people aren't aware of. how clippers can actually be unnoticeable if you process it right.
@@kenkamonn 100%. I use BSA clipper and boy it’s easy to use with just one main function…. You can reduce that peak volume and then push your signal back up in your mix again… I pretty much use it on everything with visual transients and again on the master buss before my limiter… I’m pushing -4LUFS or -3RMS in drum and bass with little to no audible distortion which is crazy…. Knowing when to use it and on what is the 🔑
Clipper cascade - many bus points with many small clips at each point of summation. Mix at 0 db with clippers enabled to point out production/arrangement issues.
This is the way.
@ARCASIAUK can you point me in the direction of a video that explains it a bit deeper
THIS VIDEO SAVES LIVES
Hahaha much appreciated!! Although I’m worried for anyone’s life that is saved by this…hopefully it’s just their mix and master 😂
This video is a brilliant reflection of the things I've naturally perceived and learned and states them so simply and does so much to give you control with again, such simple tools. Perfect video.
Thank youu!! Glad it was helpful!! 👊♥️
I never try to go past -7.5 or -8 LUFS. It gets too harsh the farther you push it. In my opinion, you get a lot of loudness out of properly ducking the bass under the kick. If those two powerful instruments are hitting together, it's going to limit the loudness you can achieve. I always soft clip the master.
This explaines it SOOOO well
The section about adjusting volume balance to go in the direction of the reference (rather than using match eq) is one of the most important “tips” in this video. So many problems in a mix stem from simple, improper volume balance. Well done on this video!
Thank you!! ❤👊 and I couldn't agree more!! Always worth asking yourself "can i solve this with my fader/volume first?" before reaching for another tool!
this is true no cap, a lot of dubstep lufs goes about -3 lufs even -2 lufs sometimes, well I know because I make dubstep lmao @@TheCosmicAcademy
It’s the upper midrange. That’s the “loudness” between those tracks. Also, obviously, the headroom that’s killed in the second track by the aggressive low end.
Amazing bro thank u very much
THIS!!! THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN NEEDING!!!
Really happy it can help!! 👊♥️
Thank you
Such a helpful video bro!! Thanks Zack ❤
You're welcome!! happy to help!! 👊❤
Your channel is amazing
This short video can help save hundreds of hours. Very well done, thank you 🙏🏼
You’re welcome! Really appreciate you watching and dropping me a line! 👊♥️
Yo!! Great video as well as the low end compression video! Awesome content, I can't wait to check out more of what's on your channel 😎
Appreciate you watching and dropping the comment!! Means a lot! Happy these can help! 👊♥️
New Sub!!!
I didn't realize the distinct volume difference between genres. Thanks!
I NEEDED THIS!!!!
Let’s goooo!! Loudness is never achieved in one step, one plugin, etc. It’s a lot of little things combined. Hope this breakdown can help ♥️👊
really good video, very clear and to the point, very nice job!!
Thank you!!!
Man, what a great video! such accurate explanations, dang
Thank youuu!! Much appreciated 👊♥️
Proper gain staging helps a a lot !!!! For volume , sharing the load on 2-3 limiters will make sure you’re not stressing your signal . I try not to have more that -2 of reduction on each limiter. And stop compressing low end on mix bus
Yesss!!! Some good stuff you added here. Loudness is always a combination of good sound selection, good balance and good decisions!
Newbie to the second part: How does one avoid compressing low end on the mix bus if I'm using a maximizer? Do I bus the lows and the mids+highs separately, and only maximize the mids+highs before they hit the mix bus?
@@Lance_G I've been writing for 15 years and don't know what a mix bus is.
It's nice to just use compression directly on the kick and bass channels individually, and avoid using compressors on the master.
You have more control if you use a maximiser on each sound as required, rather then slapping it over the entire mix.
I've never separated a full mix into bands like low mid high, but IDK maybe it's a genre thing.
@@spiritlevelstudiosSo do you treat kickIn and kickOut recordings as a different instruments?
Get some clippers involved
one of the best explanations of these concepts!
Muchhhhh appreciated! 👊♥️
Looks like i found here how to also fix my night sweats and nightmares. Especialy if i compare my mix to pro mix minutes before bed on my headphones. Not going to lie i wished all the bad things for them producers for killing my passion😅. Thank you sir. Hats down.
Hope this can help!! 👊♥️
i love your content mate
Much appreciated!! Got love for you as well. Means a lot that you watch these and take the time to drop the comment 👊♥️
this is gold
Thank you!!
This is a very good video for pros and beginners! Keep it up
thank youuuu!! appreciate you watching! 👊❤️
Great video with an immense amount of value packed into it! A lot to unpack and practice with - will certainly be implementing this into future tracks. Thanks!
Thanks! Really appreciate you watching and happy it can help! 👊♥️
mannnnnnnnnn your videos are the first videos i see on youtube that make me understand something (i watched a loooooooooooot of videos)
Means a lot! Happy that I’ve been able to help!! ♥️👊
Bravo!!
♥️♥️👊
very helpful video thank you
You’re very welcome! Appreciate you watching!
You have no idea how much this vid has helped me haha. Thanks so much for existing!
I make Deep Minimal DnB - So it's important to note that it will also differ depending on your subgenre.
Dubstep as a whole can reach -3 LUFS, true, but Deep Dubstep is more like -5 to -8 LUFS. Brostep can reach up to -2.
Same for DnB. Neurofunk and modern Jump up can reach up to -3 LUFS. Bristol Tech (DLR, Break, Molecular, Zero T, Submotive, Workforce etc.) tends to reach about -5.3 LUFS. Contrast that to pure Minimal DnB, QZB's tracks are at about -8 LUFS.
Worth taking into account imo.
Great video!
Thanks! 👊♥️
**Tearout dubstep intensifies**
Thank you for the help Johnny Sins! ❤
You unlocked a few things in my brain in just one video. Thank you 🙏
Glad it was helpful!! Appreciate you watching!
As always...we hope this helps!! -Zack & Moose 🫎
♥️♥️🐕
great channel, thanks so much, really helping a lot
you're welcome! happy this can help! 👊
this channel is amazing in so many aspects
Thank youuuuu!! 👊♥️
Thank you for sharing this video. VERY USEFUL.
you're very welcome!! happy it can help 👊
8:42 I do this, I’d add it’s a good idea to use reference tracks that share similar quality’s like similar type of bass, same key ect.
Can absolutelyyyyyyy add that in!! 👊♥️
Thanks a lot for this Information..
You’re very welcome!! Hope it can help you get to those target lufs levels while sounding so fresh and so clean clean 🧽 ♥️👊
@@TheCosmicAcademy ♥
I dont use references unless client request to sound like a specific artist. Other than that, I let every song speak to me in their own way. It improves creativity bc you're not limited to some random songs lol
This one video is the best video, or at least the easiest for me to understand, about mastering.
Happy it could help!! Appreciate you watching and dropping us the line! 👊♥️
I need to do this
Good stuff
Thanks!!
I taught myself many decades ago and it seems I have been doing it correctly, mostly :) Great point about Spotifys limiting, subbed
Great video about loudness!
Could you make video about getting more streams?
This video is awesome
Thanks!! Appreciate you watching and dropping me the line! 👊♥️
Great video! I made a video similar to this and uploaded it last week and I thought my editing was good but you knocked it out the park. Looks like I got more work to do 😅
Thank youuu hahaha just watched your vid after reading this!! Great stuff man, left you a little note over there 👊♥️
Saturators for the win! Adding harmonics balances the fundamental to the rest of the spectrum, without changing the sound in an unpleasent way. Also it becomes more easy to not f'up eq-ing ( :D ). Transformers, tubes, tape emulations - you name it. Hard hitting drums without ice picky / harsh high mids, almost silky, airy top end ... that's what saturation does :) That Ozone 4-band exciter or fabFilter's Saturn come in very handy, even to just check which bus could benefit from what type of saturation and then apply some individually.
i feel that in 5 years of mixing and mastering myself :)
Awesomeee! ♥️👊 the cumulative effect of many good sounds, and many good decisions!
Aside from everything that this video provided, 9:55 was the best explanation of compression that i´ve ever heard. Wish I´d hear this 5 years ago while I was trying to wrap my mind around compression. Anyone who is just starting out, pay attention!
Muchhhhh appreciated!! ♥️👊
Best gif ever imo 1:58 👍. Great video, thank you.
Hahahaha it will never get old 😂 thanks, appreciate you watching! ♥️👊
Excellent video! I also love clippers and limiters, even though they are not nearly as cool as Moose!
Moose actually hates clippers…especially the ones that clip his nails!! 😅
Ahh the good ol Loudness War. Louder isn't always better and can destroy dynamics. But that's where we're at these days, you gotta be louder than everyone else just to be heard. It's like kids screaming on a playground.
Wasn't expecting to like this, but good strategy on the Metric AB!
Hahaha I appreciate it. I laughed because that’s how I feel myself when reading these titles. The RUclips game to get viewers is brutal, it’s like “how do I package very useful info into a click baity title”. I’m just stuck here playing the game 😂 happy you clicked and happy it could help 👊♥️
Still today songs go around -5 lufs
Artist like illenium, odesza , Etc .... Porter Robinson..... The Pop Artists etc etc....
Their engineers still go towards -5lufs
damn, such a good video. every producer should watch this
thank youuuuuu!! much appreciated on my end! 👊
12:40 i dunno what monitoring you have, but my little IKs clearly let me know the first clip's peaks are WAY louder. They were almost ear piercing in comparison to the smashed second one.
even my bluetooth soundcores could help me hear that one a bit
wow this video made me actually understand how to use a compressor!
♥️♥️
Personally i think anything at -3lufs always sounds distorted. Obviously this could be a problem or not depending on the genre, but that’s my opinion
I understand what you mean by that. It’s typically going to be “pushed” to hit -3. Although some genres completely accept and love that sound of things being pushed!! That’s what makes music great. One ears pain is another ears pleasure hahaha
I love you guys 🥲❤️
We love you! 👊
You guys are amazzzziiing, I want to join your school one day ❤
Much appreciated!! Means a lot to us…we look forward to that day 👊♥️
Tip; Your music doesn't need to be clean, it just needs to be 'clean enough'. Just with sidechaining everything, good eq habits and smart panning you can get a professional enough sounding song. Distortion is often something that actually contributes to the power of a song as long as everything has its spot. Don't be afraid of a little distortion. Have often reached -2 LUFS using this method
Thank goodness with Dolby Atmos for Music
This dude never blinks
You’re just joshing
Dope
👊♥️
Guys, you are essential
Appreciate you!! Happy these vids can help!! 👊♥️
I never use reference track for EQ, sound mixing etc... because the reference is already has the final mastering.
I would only use reference track for using mastering.
Hell yea I'm gonna get so loud
Zack just don't miss
Thanks brother!! 👊♥️
I personally have never had this issue using clippers but I know people using limiters do
Finally someone who knows what is he actually talking about
you forgot inter sample peaks causing dsp overshoot issues. Might be handy to use that in the argumentation for or against lufs measurements.
This answered so many questions I couldn’t find answered anywhere else. One question I still have is, do people reduced their tracks to -14 LUFS "before" uploading to streaming services, or let the services normalise it, or is consensus that it doesn’t matter?
What's your thoughts on hard limitng?
12:16 😮 I....I heard them.....I heard the peaks. Ive done it, Im a master!..(ear fatigue sets in)... aaand its gone. 😆 you can hear these subtle things though, over time and experience and with high quality studio monitors
😂😂😂
i heard them, and i wasn't even listening on my best pair of headphones
That explains the metal trick with 2 tracks of a guitar; 1 on each speaker with some difference in how the amp chain is set up. I found out about this from Glenn Fricker
There's some nice tricks in this video
It’s possible if one designs the track loud all the way from scratch start. It’s impossible taking an expensive dance pop song from the charts trying to remaster it loud as fuck; it won’t work.
Haven't even finished the video and it is already one of the best I have watched in regards this subject. Thank you 👏🏻
You’re welcome! Really happy to hear you’re enjoying it! 👊♥️
Proper equalization, a very well-thought-out arrangement, and a certain amount of compression - if really needed, will provide a clean sound. In my opinion, a mix that is too loud kills the dynamics, giving in return a higher perceived volume, and by doing so, you lose the sense of space that captures the attention and imagination of the listeners. Best regards 😉
you swearing makes it feel more authentic, good ass video
6:11 why they don't make a 3D EQ that looks like this?
All about mix balance. A loud mix still sounds loud when it’s quiet
For you a few decibels of clipping in the limiter are? Because I see some people hating -6 in pro l , other people say this is too much, and hit -3. I produce House and Deep House tracks. And really thank you for the content!
you're welcome! each mix really is different...however the harder you hit the limiter...the more squashing + potential distortion! I justttttt put a video out today about that hahaha how low end is affected when squashing the final limiter. Check it out and you can find your sweet spot!
@@TheCosmicAcademy thank you :)
Bro this exaplain it for me perfectly but if u can make a vid about mixing mastering balance volume dynamic and others i will thank you forever in many cases my lufs are -12 and that its just quiet after rendering with limiter on master peaks raised higher but sometimes i see arists,rapers have a full peak like full black line in rendering guess that makes diff because its like low and high freq as u talking about
How the ef does this channel only have 28 k followers this a 250k and up worthy channel.
Much appreciated!! ♥️👊
Friendly Vin Diesel explains audio
Now go watch the FF movies to get angry Zack driving cars!!! 😂
Hi! I don't understand what do you mean when using 1:1 on L2, you say that there will not be any change in the output level. When off, i get almost + 2 rms more. When on, the master sounds quiter. Do you use 1:1 just to check, to listen during settings the volumes (in this case kick + snare), and then you turn it off? Or you keep the 1:1 on always during the whole mastering process?
Exoscope!
♥️👊
Great video! It’s quite difficult to read the black on gray thin text on the cards
Thanks!! Hmmm, really? came up clear on my end but I’ll def make a note for next time! 👊♥️
@@TheCosmicAcademy it’s not that it isn’t appearing clearly, it’s that the thin text and contrast ratio between black and gray makes it less accessible for people with lesser vision (I work in graphics). Consider using more contrasting and thicker text. There is something called web accessibility we use to help keep websites legible for vision impaired people that follow these font weight and background contrast guidelines. Thank you!
1:38 I love loud masters as much as the next guy, but it's not really such a huge issue as you make it out to be, as DJ mixers have a gain knob. As long as you aim to be in the general ballpark (not radically low in volume), you should be good.
I cant believe im doing this on mobile...and its really "taugh"
I think for youtube it matters if u upload a track in -8 lufs, it will bring it down to -14 lufs no matter what. In the end it all comes down to a clean mix as it has always been.
Your song will still be perceived as “louder” vs someone who uploads the track at -14 lufs already vs your -8.