The Wedge

Sometimes I get caught up in the track and need to take a step back and look at what I'm trying to accomplish here. Ultimately I am writing an album. Not all tracks need a heavy kick, not all tracks need a kick at all. I'm not writing singles. Someone said on here the other day that it's either the bass or the kick, one will be dominant, unless you try to trick it with sidechaining. So right now, for my latest, I choose bass.

Definitely want at least one high quality preamp for vocals, guitars, etc.

And that is the point. It's about translation, which is one hallmark of a good mix. yes you need a balance. I can see having to adjust the bass a little if you're going from rock to house, but you shouldn't have to turn it down to 1 or up to 10. A few clicks up or down is fine.

I never use the sub either. that's why it's disconnected. I have Axiom floor standing speakers. They are pretty good. I should use these more often for reference.

yes, but the car playback pointed out something glaringly wrong with the mix. Oh, well, I remixed it again last night and turned it into a muddy muffled mess. Time to start over.

Because your car has better/fuller bass response than your headphones and earbuds. Therefore, if you think the mix sounds good in your headphones/earbuds, it's going to sound too bass heavy in your car stereo. I suggest you get yourself a good home stereo and check your mixes on that. I've found that if it sounds good on my home stereo it translates well to all other playback devices and speakers and headphones. And I don't understand why so many people consider car stereos as a litmus test for the quality of their mix. I do have a good home stereo. Do you suggest using the sub with it? At time time it's disconnected. I don't consider it a litmus, but since other commercial tracks sound good on it so should mine.

A few observations. 1. The problem was definitely the kick and bass being too loud 2. headphones are more forgiving when it comes to bass because they lack it in the first place 3. My mackies will make a bad mix sound not so bad 4. My car is the acid test for the kick and bass

That's great. he wanted a reference for radio play. But then couldn't someone tune in to his unreleased tracks?

That is a good idea. I spend 3 hours a day commuting to work. It would be nice to get a decent mix that sounds good in it. Right now I have to wear headphones. Just don't understand how it can sound so good with headphones and terribe in the car.

I will keep that in mind. I wouldn't be satisfied with it not sounding decent in my car. Other stuff sounds fine in it so it's not the system.

Tell me about it. I have to put the bass on 2 for it to sound decent. I think my sub is a little too boomy so I will work on that and see what happens. maybe this is more of a mastering issue

I'm working on a house track and it sounds pretty amazing on my Mackie HR824's, Etymotic in ear headphones, and Apple earpods, but when I listen in my car it sounds like garbage. Why? I suspect it's the sub bass. Maybe I need to cut some frequencies? Compression? Volume? I guess it's all of the above.

I am a guitarist, but I write a lot of electronic stuff. When I get a good groove going I always play guitar over it and see what I can layer over it to turn it into something new. This could be chords or leads, doesn't matter. If I find something good I may leave it as guitar or I might transpose the notes to midi to mess with it even more.

Should you have a completely different master for a track that is meant for DJs to play on a club system as opposed to someone playing it in their car or earbuds?

I find it easier to copy the whole region to the new track and then delete the unwanted instruments (midi notes).