Mixing Problem: 'Pumping' Sound

[gvdv]

Hi,
I’m having several problems mixing a track in Garageband ’09 (I’m tracking into a Mac Pro with tonnes of hardware and memory).

I put down a track with virtual keyboards, a modified drum loop, and some guitar, bass and vocal tracks.

Problem 1: when I mix the drums to what sounds like a good volume, and then burn the stereo .WAV file to CD, the mix sounds as though it is ‘pumping’.

Specifically, the vocals, and an eighth note ‘chugging’ guitar track (playing only on the bass strings), sound as though they are being rhythmically pushed ‘back’ after each bass drum kick.

Problem 2: if I lower the volume of the drum track to stop the ‘pumping’/compressed sound, the kick drum disappears (as does the ‘pumping’ sound).

Problem 3: the drum track is consistently visually clipping – strangely, I can’t hear the clipping even when I solo the track. And if I lower the track to the level where the clipping light is not lit, I can hardly hear the drum track as a whole.

Other considerations: the only tracks on which I have used a compression effect on are two handclap tracks – so nothing else, including the master track, is compressed. One of the things I did do with the drum track, though, was to boost the bass and midrange EQ to get the kind of sound I want. Maybe the meters can’t handle that and maybe that accounts for the ‘pumping’ sound appearing above a certain volume.

I would be grateful for any thoughts and help with this.

Thanks,

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

gvdv, Does the pumping happen when you play it back in GarageBand, or in another player, or both?

I'm not intimate with GarageBand, but it almost sounds as though there's an automatic gain control or some other kind of slow-release limiter either on the playback or on the 2mix itself. That's why I'm curious as to whether it follows the file to other players.

G.

 

[Dogbreath]

Yeah, I'm not familiar with GB either but it DO sound like a compressor's tweaked too high. I'd start thru the comp section and see if you can see if it's got some default preset or sumpin.
I dunno.

Here.....have a beer.

 

[Myr]

Either that, or you have some normal normalization thing going on on your computers output. Usually on the sound card properties.

 

[RAMI]

Besides what everyone else is suggesting...you need to TURN DOWN your tracks. ALL of them. If your kik drum is "visually clipping", it's too loud. Turn it down. If you can't hear it when you turn it down, turn everything else down. You're mixing way too hot.

 

[gvdv]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the messages and suggestions.

I will try to turn my tracks down, but they're not that high in the first place; I don't think that I'll be able to monitor them properly if I turn most of them down because most are pretty low already.

The only compression that has been added to the project is on two tracks, each of which contains hand claps. I did one mix where I muted (i.e. eliminated these tracks) from the mix, and the problem persisted. (I am not using compression on anything else, but the problem worsens if I do).

The thing that seems to make the difference is turning the drum track down; but that way I don't get the sound I want. A strange part of this is that, when I solo the drums, they aren't distorting, but it must be the drums which are causing the problem for the other tracks because when I mute the drum tracks the problem I described doesn't exist.

I could understand if I could hear the drums distorting in some way, but as I said, when I solo them, they sound O.K..

Another experiment that I'm going to try is to decrease the extra EQ I have given to the kick drum; maybe the distortion comes from the kick and bass combined, and if I move the kick to a different frequency this might eliminate the problem.

I can't hear this pumping sound until the tracks have been 'mastered' (exported to .WAV) so maybe that's part of the problem.

Once again, I'd appreciate any thoughts and will report back when I have tried what everyone is suggesting.

 

[Chibi Nappa]

I will try to turn my tracks down, but they're not that high in the first place; I don't think that I'll be able to monitor them properly if I turn most of them down because most are pretty low already.

The thing that seems to make the difference is turning the drum track down; but that way I don't get the sound I want.

I 100% gaurantee you that everything RAMI said was correct. Turn all of your tracks down an equal amount and the problem will go away.


Turn your monitors up to compensate.



The meters for your master buss should stay between half way and 3/4 of the way from the top. If you're bouncing around -12, all is good.

 

[gvdv]

Hi Chibi Nappa,
Thanks for your reply.

As I said before, and perhaps I wasn't clear enough, it is impossible to turn the tracks down any further. If I do, there would be no volume.

Thanks for your reply,
GVDV.