Hey, I'm a sort of a music composer (not a pro or anything, I'm kinda bad at it, that's why I'm asking for help), and I've got this terrible problem - I can't seem to make my music sound "big". Sorry if that seems vague, but I can't seem to put it into words. Take, for example, these samples: http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/audio/laswell3%2Fbeat%2031.wav http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/audio/laswell2%2Fbeat%2037.wav And this song, from Half-Life 2 (it may not be legal for me to use it, but here it is anyway :\ ) http://destron5.googlepages.com/HL1_song15.mp3 I don't get it! All of my music and songs sound high-frequency and just "thin". Any help would be great.

Quote: I don't get it!
All of my music and songs sound high-frequency and just "thin".
Any help would be great.

Well, you pretty much targeted your problem right there. Your two samples are a bit too heavy on the high-frequency which makes it sound "thin". Try EQ-ing it to make the bass louder, and a little less on the treble and maybe the mids. See how that works.

Oh, and just curious: what did you use to make those beats?

I'll try the EQ; see what I can get.

Maybe you misunderstood. Those samples do sound "big"; they're not mine. I can't get my stuff to sound like that.

What you need to do is get a frequency analyzer (many DAW programs come with one) and watch the meters while playing your song. Take notice of where the peaks are. For example are all of them high, mid or low range?

Having too much high range makes things sound thin. Sharrky was right- EQ your music and add warmth to the sound by making the lower ranges more present. But don't over do it! That would give you a muddy, unclear sound.

EQing is truly an art, and you have to take time to really learn how best to modify sounds. I'm still learning things everyday, and suspect I will for a long time.

It also might be your samples themselves. Post some of your music and let the community take a listen and get back to you. It could a production problem, or a musical arrangement-composition problem. It is kinda hard to help if we can't hear what the problem is though.

Thanks,

Oh, and for the record, I feel like those samples do sound a bit thin.

Quote: Original post by destron
I'll try the EQ; see what I can get.

Maybe you misunderstood. Those samples do sound "big"; they're not mine. I can't get my stuff to sound like that.

Ah, well I still agree with Nathan in that those samples did sound too "thin" for my taste, and I misunderstood and thought those were your samples. And posting your own music so we can hear what they sound like would help in remedying your problem. :)

Well, they defenitely sound bigger than what i've got... I guess that's a bad sign :
Anyway, I'll work on some stuff and maybe post it so you can hear what I mean.

(Pardon me for copy and pasting a post I made over at Music4Games.)

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Voxengo!

Actually, they make kick ass plug-ins. Plenty of them for free.

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It's a real-time spectral analyzer. Pop it on a track and you can see what frequencies each instrument is using most prevalently and catch abnormal freq spikes. Or slap it on a master bus and you can monitor the output of your entire mix. Quick and easy way to see what is missing or what you have too much of. I find this invaluable when you have to work with headphones for too long or if your mixing environment is less than suitable (most bedrooms aren't suited for mixing, BTW). By showing you the real frequencies being produced by your music, you can also carve frequencies cleaner for those who like to compartmentalize tracks by their frequency ranges.

As far as "big" you could also be dealing with spatial issues. At least when it comes to mastering you'll be dealing with plenty of that by adjusting phase. That's a whole topic right in itself.

Tony

Thanks a lot, I think that's going to help.

Quote: Quick and easy way to see what is missing or what you have too much of. I find this invaluable when you have to work with headphones for too long or if your mixing environment is less than suitable (most bedrooms aren't suited for mixing, BTW). By showing you the real frequencies being produced by your music, you can also carve frequencies cleaner for those who like to compartmentalize tracks by their frequency ranges.

Well, you just described my mixing environment right there. Good thing you recommended that plug-in...

So, let me get this straight (apologies for music noobishness on my account),
The analyzer shows me what frequencies are being hit and at what volume; so when I find out all that, then what? I know I should be doing something with EQ; but should just make the lower frequencies louder or what?

Quote: Original post by destron
Thanks a lot, I think that's going to help.

Quote: Quick and easy way to see what is missing or what you have too much of. I find this invaluable when you have to work with headphones for too long or if your mixing environment is less than suitable (most bedrooms aren't suited for mixing, BTW). By showing you the real frequencies being produced by your music, you can also carve frequencies cleaner for those who like to compartmentalize tracks by their frequency ranges.

Well, you just described my mixing environment right there. Good thing you recommended that plug-in...

So, let me get this straight (apologies for music noobishness on my account),
The analyzer shows me what frequencies are being hit and at what volume; so when I find out all that, then what? I know I should be doing something with EQ; but should just make the lower frequencies louder or what?

Use it to see which frequencies you have too much of and which ones you need more of. If you have too much of a certain frequency (let's say 5k) then use your EQ to lower that frequency. And if you need to boost a certain frequency (such as 100), then up the volume on it a little bit. But remember to not over compensate, which would just make it sound worse. That's a good program there, Tony, thanks for posting.