Like A Candle

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ashway
  • Start date Start date
I think it is way too loud, compressed and quite distorted sounding. At first I thought it was just the way the synth was set, but it carried through with the vocals as well.

A quick check of the sound levels show an integrated LUFS of -6.2dB and a range of only 3.5LU and a true peak of 1.8dBTP. That's WAY too loud for a streaming service. Try dialing back the volume a lot so that peaks are a couple of dB below 0, and use a loudness analyzer to get it to around -14dBLUFS. You can use the Orban Loudness Meter to find out where your levels are. Its free.
 
Thank you very much. I will definitly try that plugin. Its a bit strange though because when listening to popular tracks on youtube like weeknd feat daft punk - starboy.. it seems pretty loud. But the soundcloud mastering plugin lowers my track volume substantionally.

PS I actually downloaded starboy and imported it into protools to reference.. but I guess my track might have been louder.. but not much or I would have noticed.
 
Ashway said:
PS I actually downloaded starboy and imported it into protools to reference.. but I guess my track might have been louder.. but not much or I would have noticed.
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You will find that it is better to go for clarity and punch (loudness perception), You just have to settle with the best you can get. Over compressed and distorted is not at all the way you want to go. You are actually going to get the opposite result.
 
PDP said:
You will find that it is better to go for clarity and punch (loudness perception), You just have to settle with the best you can get. Over compressed and distorted is not at all the way you want to go. You are actually going to get the opposite result.
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Thanks for chiming in. Mastering, dynamics, volume and compressors sure aint my thing :S I guess I will just lower all the tracks going in to the master... then be carefull with the compressor on the master fader.
 
You're closer but still way too loud. The vocals have cleaned up some.
Here are the stats on this version. Your average loudness is still under 10. You still have peaks over 0dB. I think you could easily drop it 3 or 4dB more.
Have your run this mix through a compressor already? It seems to be fairly flat with little dynamic range. Its impossible to tell if this is due to SoundCloud or your original mix.

Candle Orban.webp
 
i have the ozone 7 on my masterfader. Theres a couple of compressors doing almost nothing.. but the volume is louder than without.. i also have eq and other processes.. no mastering on soundcloud since that costs money.. if i did use it soundcloud would lower the volume a lot.. which is probably a good thing but it seemed expencive to pay a couple of hundred dollars a month for some A.I mastering plugin..

anyway there is not much dynamic range in the song with or without plugins on the master fader.. not really sure how i could fix that
 
The Youlean (lufs) loudness meter is also a Very good one and free also. I'm sure you'll get the dynamics worked out. As for the song , I thought it was Fantastic! Excellent job on the vocals. They may could be brought up a little when you get some headroom without them getting pushed back down. Enjoyed the listen ... mark
 
Thats awsome that you enjoyed the track. Thank you. I will do my best to get the volume right and better dynamic.
 
Ashway , I've found it better to export the best mix I can come up with , averaging no louder than -6 db including the peaks to a folder on my desktop. Then I import the mix into a project I have set up for mastering. That's when Ozone comes into play. The very last thing in my chain is Lufs metering checking for spikes and overs caused by Ozone. The basic versions will sometimes let real quick spikes thru at times. If it's just a couple of quick ones I'll just use "G clip" on them without having to remix. -14 lufs is the target and plenty loud. If its' louder other streaming sites will turn it down anyway. Good luck .. ms
 
mark skinner said:
Ashway , I've found it better to export the best mix I can come up with , averaging no louder than -6 db including the peaks to a folder on my desktop. Then I import the mix into a project I have set up for mastering. That's when Ozone comes into play. The very last thing in my chain is Lufs metering checking for spikes and overs caused by Ozone. The basic versions will sometimes let real quick spikes thru at times. If it's just a couple of quick ones I'll just use "G clip" on them without having to remix. -14 lufs is the target and plenty loud. If its' louder other streaming sites will turn it down anyway. Good luck .. ms
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Got to google G Clip =) I may try your procedure.. importing the mix before ozone etc.

Anyway, here's my last Like A Candle3 by Peter D Jakobsen | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
There's really nothing wrong with putting Ozone on your master bus , if you can see "All" your levels before it hits Ozone. Like sending Everything to a common bus routed to your master bus.
 
Can you post the file in MP3 format? Its hard to tell whether you are mixing it too high or if Spotify is modifying the file. I'm still getting integrated loudness levels of -10dB which most services will lower or compress. Try lowering the Master Volume by about 3 or 4dB.

You might render it to 320kbs. What I pull down from Spotify is 128k, so that could also be an issue when trying to judging it.
 
Again, the file is just rendered too high. Soundcloud actually dropped the max peaks by about 1dB. Lower the master volume at least 3 or 4 dB when you render your master.
Look at the meters from the MP3 in Reaper. +.3 and +.4dB reconstructed peaks. Look at the wave form. It's just banging against the ceiling the whole time.

Candle 3 MP3.webp
 
I put the LUFS meter on my Reaper output but its reading the Channel not the Master Buss output, so maybe if the channel isnt turned down the Master Buss with the slamming comps limiters and loudness plugins might not be showing up on the meter.
Just a guess,,,,

I thought the song sounded ok, and Ive heard a lot worse even as is, and my red leds werent blinking....and it seems many recordings do that these days, as if 0db wasnt enough, now its "blinking red led loud"

I played some commercial stuff and the first version was hanging in -6 to 0db pretty well, there might be some distortion but I dont think this 1st recording was a huge red flag.

the choice of synths and loops and sounds is unpredictable if its intended or not....but the needs on my VU looked ok, really?
maybe its just me but I thought it sounded pretty good as is.
 
CC, I looked at the final mix in Orban, and did the stereo mix in Reaper with SWS Loudness. The LUFS readings were almost identical. Then I split the stereo track into two monos to compare the channels. That's what is in the screen cap above. All faders are set at 0, so I didn't boost or drop anything.

Maybe I'm hearing something different, but it seems the whole song has a distorted "haze", including the drums and the vocals in the chorus. I listened on two different systems, and it was apparent to me on both. That just makes a good song unlistenable for me.

It may be that the original instruments have that distortion on them. That's possible with synths depending on the waveform built. But the vocals should NOT have that type of sound unless that's what the singer wants and purposely made them that way.

The OP asked it it was mastered too loud. Certainly it will get squashed by any of the streaming services, but it may not just be an issue with mastering. If the original tracks were recorded loud and have distortion, then that's going to carry through the whole process. By that point, the damage is done, so no amount of volume decrease will change the overall sound.

Perhaps someone else has some ideas.
 
TalismanRich said:
CC, I looked at the final mix in Orban, and did the stereo mix in Reaper with SWS Loudness. The LUFS readings were almost identical. Then I split the stereo track into two monos to compare the channels. That's what is in the screen cap above. All faders are set at 0, so I didn't boost or drop anything.

Maybe I'm hearing something different, but it seems the whole song has a distorted "haze", including the drums and the vocals in the chorus. I listened on two different systems, and it was apparent to me on both. That just makes a good song unlistenable for me.

It may be that the original instruments have that distortion on them. That's possible with synths depending on the waveform built. But the vocals should NOT have that type of sound unless that's what the singer wants and purposely made them that way.

The OP asked it it was mastered too loud. Certainly it will get squashed by any of the streaming services, but it may not just be an issue with mastering. If the original tracks were recorded loud and have distortion, then that's going to carry through the whole process. By that point, the damage is done, so no amount of volume decrease will change the overall sound.

Perhaps someone else has some ideas.
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Just to clarify, all instruments and singing is by myself. No clipping in recording, I keep it on the green side, but I use a lot of distortion. The Korg MS 10 makes a distorted sound, and I actually run some plugins, like pads and keys, guitar and sometimes even vocals through my ms 10 just to get a certain sound which also distorts it. And often I use a distortion on the vocals after the Reverb, very subtle though. Perhaps Ive overdone some of the distortion on this one. I will try to fix that. And anyway thank you very much for looking into the mix. :) From what I can understand the main problem is distortion and loudness.

And thanks to everyone else for making your comments on the mix.
 
Ok, that makes sense. I just couldn't figure out why it sounded that way.

I can understand using a distorted vocal in some instances, like on King Crimson's 21st Century Schizoid Man. This was a different kind of distortion, and to me, it just wasn't pleasant to hear.
 
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