I wonder if anyone has any tips on how to get the compression right throughout the mix. If I am mixing tracks with different levels of compression, then my mix ends up sounding funny, like one track is much more louder or has more emphasis on the high peaks then the next track.

Now I know i can run the entire mix through a compressor to 'even' it out, but its not perfect. How do you dj's do it? Do you have to individually compress each track on its own and use trial and error until they all have that similar sound??

I have applied mp3gain to all my tracls before mixing so its not volume, its definitely a compression problem..

look up mp3 gain.

quote:

Originally posted by Geshun:
look up mp3 gain.

Seems you've already done this.

For MP3Gain, I'd recommend 95.0 for your setting.

As for compression, why don't you try not using compression at all and see what it sounds like?

To compress is not necessarily a good thing to do.

Gaz

see the thing is I don't use compression.. apart from mp3gain. I dont master anything. But the tracks I get from different labels/online shops are mastered at different levels and that makes noticeable difference in sound.

For example, if I play Santiago Nino - Clairvoyant, it is so compressed, then mixing it to anything else makes the next track sound much 'emptier' if you know what i mean?

Like anything from anjunabeats always sound louder (more compression) than from armin recordings... even after i apply mp3gain

here's my 2 cents...

first thing, mp3gain is not a compressor, it changes the 'overall volume' of the entire track. It does not work actively while the track is playing, which is what a compressor does.

When you say 'anything from anjunabeats always sound louder than from armin recordings... even after i apply mp3gain', do you mean when you play track 1 in MM it's a certain level, and as track 2 plays, the overall volume is different, or the bass/treble/mids different in volume? I have to assume the trax in question are in fact mp3s, and not another format.

If you do put the trax thru mp3gain, with the same target volume, there will be a slight variance in volume, but somewhere along the lines of 1.5 - 2db, not too noticiable.

I do have a master limiter I use for the overall mix, but it typically boosts/limits by 1.5db. You may want to try one to smooth out the transitions, but something else is up if you are hearing a big jump

hi phreaq.. when I play the two tracks one after the other, the overall volume is the same (the dB level is showing the same), but one track would seem louder. From what i understand compression is applied to tracks to control the loudest peaks of the tracks, by keeping those peaks down the whole track sounds louder but reduces the dynamic range.

for a trance song the "break" has been so compressed that it's actually as loud as the rest of the track.. on MM the whole thing looks like a square waveform with no peaks and troughs.

hmmm, I know what you mean about the break in a trance song, but lets look at just the one song for moment.

Playing the song on it's own, does the break seem really loud? if it does mp3gain did not do this. Mp3gain will raise the overall track volume a consistant amount for the whole track. It will not increase a specific area like the break, more than another area.

Are you use a global compressor? It sounds like you are, and it sounds like you need to adjust it's settings.

quote:

Originally posted by Mayala:
for a trance song the "break" has been so compressed that it's actually as loud as the rest of the track.. on MM the whole thing looks like a square waveform with no peaks and troughs.

Seems to me that the volume has been raised far too much, I would think you will definitely be getting some clipping going on.

Do you know if it was going this before the track was mp3 gained?

Well, the only thing I've done to the tracks is apply mp3gain. Because the individual tracks have been compressed differently by the producers, if I want to make my mix to sound consistent, is there a master compressor I can use to 'normalise' the compression?

Hi,

Try removing the MP3Gain and using the track again. Does it still look way too loud?

Then this is how the file came.

What source did the tracks come from? CD? Download?

Gaz

Sounds like the original file was clipping when he got it. Been there myself.

Jimi J

I just drag the compression plugin over the entire mix for great results. I never use mp3gain. I mostly mix using a mixer and can make adjustments on levels as needed.