What I end up hearing.

[Motivfs]

I couldn't really find a good title so for some part, disregard it.

Anyways, basically, I'm still a relatively new producer (No past skills in any musical instrument other than Kicks/Snares/Cymbals, and sit at about 6 months of progress since I first started learning.

So I'm wondering then basically is that is this something my ear needs to be trained to do, or is it natural that even when I mix/master, after hearing my song over 100-200 times while making it, that it just doesn't have that "flare" anymore?

Even when I changed a few things, like drop a reverb/delay on vocals and EQ them, or pan the pads to mix with the bass, at first I recognize the difference, but then, it just begins to sound...back to normal, dull I guess? Is this a natural occurrence after hearing your song so many times, or should it still sound relatively clean and crisp (which after much tweaking, I don't know why my song wouldn't), I'm on the edge of finishing it, maybe an hour or two away of mixing/mastering and listening to it a few more times, but still feel it lacks whereas before it felt fresh.

Thanks

~Mots.

[LunchBagMusic]

Yeah, that's pretty normal.

If you worried you're not hearing the song as how it should be heard, show it to a friend or post a WIP thread here. You'll soon hear from other people what you need to do.

[Stars In Autumn]

It's mostly going to come down to experience. You'll start to learn what to listen for when mixing and how to do so. There are many books to help understand more on how to mix. I would recommend The Mixing Engineer's Handbook by Bobby Owsinski.

When going for your final mix, you typically bring everything down and slowly bring things back up so you're individually balancing the whole thing. This should help avoid you from missing audible elements that you're too use to hearing. Also, it's important to step away and come back later to listen to the mix. Also, try to listen to it on more than one kind of speaker/headphones. Different stereo systems will bring out elements that other systems might obscure.

[Motivfs]

Thanks for the replies, I'll definitely post a WIP here tonight then, get a good idea of where I stand.

Glad it's normal, I want this song to be as clean and crisp as possible, so I'm taking as long as I need to with it to make sure that's the case, I was just afraid I fell into a point where it might have gotten mixed/mastered too much, and I ruined the feel & made it dull.

And yeah, I heard about different stereo systems being key for mastering, I only have two real forms of stereos, one being a cheap but somewhat clean speaker system, and the other being my studio headphones which are definitely alot more better in quality. Maybe I should upgrade sometime soon? haha. As for stepping away and coming back, I do do that most of the time, and it does have that clean feel again (for the start atleast)

I figure most people work with more than one project at once (3-4 at a time on avg?) to keep this from happening? because if so that is what I've also considering doing as "Stepping away".

[Navron]

I fell into a bad routine of trying to EQ and mix certain elements in a song before I was done with the composition itself, ultimately spending a lot of wasted time on something I'd redo at the mixing stage anyway, and ultimately making me sick of the song by the time I was finished.

So, to avoid making the same mistakes:
- Compose your entire song first.
- Take a break, and give it a fresh listen.
- Mix it to the best of your ability.
- Post a WIP, take another break, and give it a few listens on other sound systems (car, iPod, etc.)
- Take notes on what others say to fix up, in addition to what you hear you want to fix up from your other listens.
- Mix the song even better.
- Listen to it on various sound systems to ensure it's what you want.
- Post the completed song.

[Motivfs]

Thank you for such valuable information, from your list, things I do/did and don't do/didn't...

When it comes to composing the song first, I didn't unfortunately, I EQ some basic stuff, high ends low ends etc. and I did panning and leveling the volumes all beforehand.

I do take alot of breaks considering I am determined to get this song done to the best of my abilities and also I want to go out of my comfort zone on this one by trying and adding/experimenting with effects to see what works.

I ABSOLUTELY take notes on all the information I get, because of course, information has no end in it's value.

And listening to it on various sound systems seems like something I'll have to do tomorrow (it's a little late here haha) but I will do it for sure since it's continuously being suggested.

[Lavender_Harmony]

A tip Alex S gave me a while back. When you get to the mixing stage and fatigue has set in, transpose the entire song into a different key, most DAWs have this function, but spend some time changing the key of everything, it shouldn't take too long. It really works, too.

[Motivfs]

A tip Alex S gave me a while back. When you get to the mixing stage and fatigue has set in, transpose the entire song into a different key, most DAWs have this function, but spend some time changing the key of everything, it shouldn't take too long. It really works, too.

What do you mean exactly? Like go from a D# Major scale to an E, etc.? (Stupid question now that I think of it, pretty obvious)

Is there a function in FL 10 to do this since you said it's possible in most DAWS? I mean, I don't mind doing it on my own either.

EDIT: I'm honestly loving the help, you guys are the best.

[Navron]

A tip Alex S gave me a while back. When you get to the mixing stage and fatigue has set in, transpose the entire song into a different key, most DAWs have this function, but spend some time changing the key of everything, it shouldn't take too long. It really works, too.

What do you mean exactly? Like go from a D# Major scale to an E, etc.? (Stupid question now that I think of it, pretty obvious)

Is there a function in FL 10 to do this since you said it's possible in most DAWS? I mean, I don't mind doing it on my own either.

EDIT: I'm honestly loving the help, you guys are the best.

As long as you're composing with MIDI, most DAWs have a transpose function where you can highlight your MIDI tracks and transpose them by +/- 12 semitones.

If I get sick of hearing a song, I'll sometimes transpose it up by 2-3 semitones, which lets you hear the song in a new way. Once you're finished and you transpose it back, it's like hearing the song for the first time again.

Most keyboards support a transpose function as well, so you can match your keyboard up to the same level as your song, allowing you to utilize the same keys and scales on your keyboard.

[Motivfs]

As long as you're composing with MIDI, most DAWs have a transpose function where you can highlight your MIDI tracks and transpose them by +/- 12 semitones.

If I get sick of hearing a song, I'll sometimes transpose it up by 2-3 semitones, which lets you hear the song in a new way. Once you're finished and you transpose it back, it's like hearing the song for the first time again.

Most keyboards support a transpose function as well, so you can match your keyboard up to the same level as your song, allowing you to utilize the same keys and scales on your keyboard.[/quote]

I do have a MIDI keyboard, I've really yet to use it enough thus far (because i'm so use to the regular keyboard I use/piano roll) But maybe I should get on it and start using it alot more.

[Acsii]

What I do when I make music is when I'm first making the song I use headphone pair A, but when it comes to mastering I use headphone pair B. This may sond weird but it works somehow anyway good luck with your song