New song slightly remixed. Would appreciate feedback.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deylight
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Everyone thanks for the additional remarks! So helpful! DM60, definitely it's my responsibility to get to where I want to go ... but this one got away from my personal barometer. It has a lot of stuff I enjoy and that I enjoyed making, but overall I don't really understand its heart. I think some here would say it doesn't have one! So to get a mix that is "okay to people who take music seriously" is a great goal for me on this one now. And I think I'm edging towards that, so thanks again to all.

Rob, sorry for the volume. Moving forward I will put a warning in front of my posted songs. As I said my reference track is Houdini, and that is a little louder. I think Houdini's also engineered with such smoothness and precision that it's not jarring. Also it starts with an automated EQ section from low to high, so unlike mine it doesn't smack you in the face up top. But if you listen to pop iTunes m4as of 2020 and onward tracks, they are around this level. There is PR on the web about streamers limiting songs to -14 LUFS, but that really isn't a thing. Mastering to -9 to -6 is necessary to stay similar to recent pop tracks even on a streamer. That said, I realize most people aren't chasing that with the rabid mania that I am :) Plus Houdini is arranged better than my song.

TripleM, thanks for the 2nd listen, great notes. I have to make a little more space for her, and I will bring up some of her highs as well.

Papanate, I don't attach positive or negative to "inorganic" or "artificial", but I'm guessing those are objections? The electropop genre depends partly on the emotive quality of the singer, and to your notes, I think in this case I didn't get much emotion. Almost every line is a double entendre, but she didn't sing with an awareness of that, which is my fault. I don't think I can redo the vocals. I have a 30 year old Sound Effects library with a cool factory machine noise, and I messed with that and reversed it and chopped it up and put it in the bridge. For me, that's fun and it's fun to listen to. But it's also ... an old factory sound. Highly inorganic.

When ready I will post my final of this, with a volume warning attached. Again all, I am grateful for the time and attention. This help is exactly why I joined this forum, and I really appreciate it.
 
Well - I just tried to find a screamer on spotify and failed - nothing I have found is crazily high like -9 to -6 LUFS. That is just ridiculously loud. I've just compared Houdini on Spotify with others my teenage grandson has in his playlist - Houdini is not mega loud.

I just fired up the houdini track and in the room - just pressing play at spotify's maximum it is 9dB quieter than what happens when I play your track in this topic. Usually things are volume sensible. This is on my dB meter I use for live performances. I think something has gone wrong with your system. Maybe one of your comparison track audio paths is reducing it somewhere. Is it possible you have measured the Houdini track wrongly, so you are now mastering way too high. Honestly - it never happens on other people's clips - yours is just VERY loud!
 
Rob, thanks for going above and beyond, I really appreciate the double checking. that is golden of you. I will dig deeper in to my levels!

When I play my posted song through Chrome, and listen to Houdini on Spotify through Chrome, with max Spotify compared with max mp3 volume, 40% overall computer volume, no user normalization set on Spotify, I'm not looking at levels I'm just listening in my meh headphones, Houdini sounds a little louder. Mine also sounds like it's playing underwater but that's a different set of issues ... But maybe if I had a level meter on my system it would rate my LUFS louder, even though I am perceiving Houdini as louder.

For sure I will check out how I'm processing the reference track in my DAW.
 
I like the vocal, and how it propels/gets propelled by the bass and the busy percussion. Kind of a West Indian vibe. Good use of delays and effects.
Catchy tune for sure. Mix could maybe use a little air otherwise no issues here. Nice job
 
BH thanks for listening, much appreciated. I had to step away for a bit, but I'm definitely going to bring back some air.

Re the Houdini levels, I brought the iTunes m4a I paid $1.29 for into a Logic track with no effects, left that track's volume at 0db, and put a Loudness meter on the track. Soloing the track, playing it through, the LUFS Index (average loudness) crescendos up to -10.7 LUFS at the opening, and over the whole song increases to -7.7 LUFS by the finale. It seems to spend a lot of the middle at around -8.5 LUFS. To your point Rob, my Pay for Your Pleasure LUFS is like -5, so as you say: extremely, possibly even excessively loud. I'm bringing it down a little.
 
Remember, LUFS is a new thing, it reveals things that previously we didnt know. My music is boring, traditional and generally quiet. No idea what that is on a LUFS scale. All I know is that despite some maybe occasionally peaking at -6dB down from max, the rest stays much lower, but when Spotify puts my tracks in with similar others, mine sounds the same loudness. Oddly, my stuff often gets mixed in with an occasional track from a US rapper who has the same name, and he told me mine would sometimes pop up with his, but the volume change was not mega crazy, his are just louder, but not hugely so. If a track leaps out as ‘wrong’, levels wise, you over cooked it. I strongly suggest you check your tracks this way. If you find yours similar, ignore all our advice. If yours are too energetic and crazy levels wise, turn the burner down.
 
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