VST Synth clipping problems

[jamtheguitarman]

help. im using Spectrasonics Atmosphere and im having trouble.
basicly, when i set the level of it so that it fits well in to the mix, certain bits of the keyboard part start clipping. the problem is, if i reduce the volume on it, it is far to quiet and pretty hard to hear over the other instruments.
should i compress it a little or use a limiter?
ive just never heard of anyone compressing Vst's synths before. Will it create any problems?
Is there a better way?

thanks
jamie

[bennychico11]

you can compress it....
or you can turn down the other instruments. I'd opt for turning it down.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I agree with Benny. Though it's impossible for us to be sure without actually seeing and hearing your trackings, it sounds like you have a mixing level problem in that there's not enough room left in the mix for the keyboard because everything else is summing the mix high.

If the rest of your tracks are pretty well mixed already and you don't want to mess with that mix too much, then drop the trim on all other tracks slightly by an even amount. This will drop the overall volume of the mix without changing the relative mix levels of eact track to each other. How much to drop depends on the number of tracks and their density, but when you're dealing with several tracks you'd be suprised sometimes at how much just dropping each track a half dB or a single dB will clear out plenty of room for the additional track.

As far as compressing the synth: I've not worked with the model you're using, but generally speaking, most synth patches don't have a whole lot of dynamic range to them (unless you've specifically patched for things like leyboard pressure or heavy envelope effects). In such cases, a compressor is not going to do much for you dynamics-wise.

G.

[jamtheguitarman]

it sounds like you have a mixing level problem in that there's not enough room left in the mix for the keyboard because everything else is summing the mix high.

yup, that sounds about right. i have chello,viola,violin,keys, guitar and bass.
how do you suggest i sort this problem? just turning down everything a few db or is it more than just level problems?


the synth patch that im using is actually pretty dynamic.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by jamtheguitarman

how do you suggest i sort this problem? just turning down everything a few db or is it more than just level problems?

Re-read the middle paragraph in my first post.

Who knows what other issues may exist with your mix - there's always more than one fish to fry in any given project . There may also be issues like your keyboard fighting another instrument for space in the spectrum, etc., though - based upon your description - that is a slightly different problem.

Adjust the levels first. Start in small increments, you don't want to drop the overall mix level any further than you need to; that will make you just have to work harder on the mixdown to get that volume back. If you have sonething like 8-10 tracks, try dropping each track one dB for starters. You can always go back and drop them further by small increments if you need to. If you have more like 16 tracks or more, try starting at a half-dB per track. If that doesn't even make a dent, then drop another dB per track and see how that works, and then go down by half dBs from there if needed.

The more tracks you have, the less you should need to drop from each track to bring the overal mix level down enough to make room for the synth.

If after doing all that that you find that it's improved, but some of the synth notes stick their heads up OK but others are still too far under the surface, then maybe you might consider some compression on the synth track to even out the dynamics and bring them all "to the surface".

If you find that you got the levels pretty OK, but the problem then is that the synth is clashing with one of the other instruments, then perhaps you might want to EQ the synth to mke room for both. EQ as you see fit in this case, but if those strings you listed are natural, I would tend to want to EQ the strings as little as possible and reserve most of the EQing for the artificial synth. That just a general rule of thumb, though.

G.

[jamtheguitarman]

thanks for the help, ill give it a shot.