Hey guys i have a question, im trying to make a dance song sound full everywhere, and at first i played and it seemed kind of emply, so i copying a couple of things like the bass, strings and synth, made 2 extra chaneels and now have 3 channels playing the same thing left center adn right, am i allowed to do this??
Spreading everything Left center and right
- Thread starter RobbieD
- Start date
aaronmcoleman
The truth is out there!
you're allowed to do whatever you want.
but what you did didn't do anything except increase the volume. if you have the same thing left and right it's gonna end up sounding like its centered, then adding the one that's already centered, you just boosted the volume a ton on those tracks that's all. the stereo spread is exactly the same as it was.
but what you did didn't do anything except increase the volume. if you have the same thing left and right it's gonna end up sounding like its centered, then adding the one that's already centered, you just boosted the volume a ton on those tracks that's all. the stereo spread is exactly the same as it was.
ok well im retarted, LOL, but i see all these professionals on youtube with a million tracks for wat sounds like very simple songs, like look at this David Guetta making in the studio - Little Bad Girl ft. Taio Cruz,Without You Ludacris,Akon - YouTube, at 2:55 he has like so many things and he looks like hes layering the same tracks no? what is he doing??
jimmys69
MOODerator
Dood, there is no recipe for perfect mix. Yeah, there is probably multiple tracks there. Who the hell knows what was used. That is what we strive to find. What works for any given situation/song, will not work for others. Worrying about what someone else did, for any particular song, just says that you have not yet experimented to find out for yourself what works in a particular song. If you must ask, then you need to spend more time learning by doing. There is no secret sauce bro. Sorry
R
RAMI
Guest
Man, I wish a post like this can be a sticky in big bold letters. Maybe one day we can actually put the whole "copy and paste" thing to rest.
IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN MAKE A TRACK LOUDER.
Massive Master
www.massivemastering.com
Copying is doing nothing but increasing volume (and it's really, really "bad form" although technically not "illegal").
And lordy knows, you want the bass track in the center (period). That said -- Putting a bass L/C/R (which is senseless anyway, as there is no L/C/R) equally (one panned left, one right, one center) is doing nothing different than adding volume to the bass. Line those up incorrectly and expect chaos in the low end.
Illegal? No.
Bad form and opening up to a whole assortment of problems? Yes.
R
RAMI
Guest
Man, I wish a post like this can be a sticky in big bold letters. Maybe one day we can actually put the whole "copy and paste" thing to rest.
IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN MAKE A TRACK LOUDER.
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
Not unless you want the full force of the government, the judiciary and the armed forces to land on you like a fat dog without a parachute.
ollie99
New member
I would guess that he has copied the same tracks but put different effects on each one and changed them slightly.
Track Rat
Just Your Average Sized Member
The interesting effect this produces is called "comb filtering". Again. a VERY, VERY bad idea.
Multibomber
New member
Super noob here... why is comb filtering such a horrible idea?
Steenamaroo
...
It's subtractive eq that you didn't bargain for, and won't be able to predict.
You'll end up with parts of the frequency spectrum pretty much missing.
You'll end up with parts of the frequency spectrum pretty much missing.
aaronmcoleman
The truth is out there!
Yeah it's unpredictable. If you want a chorusy sound it can work, but for most everything it's terrible. Plus if you want chorus, you probably want to add it in a way you can control. so if you get the basics and do it right, you can always add effects later...it doesn't work the other way.
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
There's nothing wrong with comb filtering if that's the sound you want. But if you copy, move, pan a track and it ever gets played in mono the sound of the track will change drastically.
Multibomber
New member
Thank you guys very much for the explanation! Now I really REALLY like hard panning guitars where guitar left and right arent necessarily playing the same thing, but sometimes they are. I dont actually copy/paste the guitar parts, but I do use the exact same guitar/POD setup. Will I run into comb filtering problems this way?
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
There will be comb filtering but it won't be constant so it shouldn't be noticeable. It's when you start with essentially the same wave form and copy it then add changes to one that you get fixed-state comb filtering that it's audible.
Comb filtering isn't a bad thing by itself. The main problem with copy/alter/pan is that the sound of the tracks will change, perhaps drastically, if someone listens to it in mono. In fact, if you copy/invert/pan a track it could disappear entirely in mono (and appear in the surround speakers on a 5.1 system). If you just copy/alter then pan both tracks the same they will not be changed by lack of stereo separation. If you want to copy/alter/pan at least check things in mono before committing to it.
no offense here, jimm,y but i think what he is asking is the same question I ALWAYS ask when I listen to music: how did the engineer do that?
This is a WONDERFUL question for him to ask and if we are experienced and have a moment, we should be enthusiastic to answer him becuz no one will ever learn diddly-shit by simply trying to do it themselves: they have to LEARN from others first B-4 they can do themselves.
Some learn better sitting down and tinkering by themselves. I fall into this category and even I will read a few pages of the manual when I come up clueless on something.
To the OP, I have not watched the vids you provided links for, I will try to take a listen when I get back home here but ur question is a WONDERFUL question. It should be answered becuz the WHY of what the engineer did is equally as important as the HOW. While Jimmy is correct that there is no standard, blue print formula, understanding how hit producers make their mixes flow is an integral step in learning how to properly mix. The biggest lesson you'll learn is how these folks use creative solutions to enhace their music and solve problems they run into while mixing. Maybe the vocals are thin. Maybe the bass got washed out. They got a bag of tricks to throw at every obstacle that may arise. You should assemble a bag of tricks as well and learn to use them accordingly and intuitively.
I feel the exact opposite of Jimmy, that learning how they did it is VERY key to becoming a better mixer or engineer.