Loud & Clean Music: Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] Do you find it almost impossible

[00:04] You might try and push your mixing master

[00:06] to sound like the pro's,

[00:09] Or on the flip side,

[00:13] in a DJ set

[00:17] it's not easy to achieve loud and clean.

[00:20] But it is possible.

[00:23] everything you're going to need to know

[00:26] whether we like it or not.

[00:28] Many modern electronic music

[00:33] what do we actually mean by Loudness

[00:36] and in reality

[00:40] Volume is a scientific measurement

[00:44] where loudness is a bit harder to quantify

[00:48] and based entirely

[00:52] an awesome example

[00:54] These two songs are technically

[00:55] the same volume

[00:59] do they sound equally as loud?

[01:10] Your ears perceive the second song

[01:13] even though they are both hitting

[01:18] is the challenge

[01:22] to other professional mixing masters.

[01:24] Every genre has its typical

[01:29] your song is not close to that level,

[01:32] When played back at an equal volume.

[01:34] This becomes a huge problem

[01:39] in the middle of a DJ set.

[01:40] okay.

[01:41] Well, I don't care about DJing,

[01:45] is a big one.

[01:45] You've probably heard this.

[01:47] Loudness doesn't matter on Spotify

[01:52] of every song. Great.

[01:53] So we don't have to worry

[02:00] about it.

[02:01] Hate to break it to you.

[02:02] Every little thing is not going to be

[02:05] me explain. lOAfS or loudness units.

[02:07] Full scale is the measurement we use

[02:12] You'll usually see it in a form

[02:15] Spotify does take every song

[02:21] This is just an attempt to create a better

[02:25] because every song should technically

[02:29] You're not going to jump from one

[02:33] Let's test that theory.

[02:34] Both of these songs are -14 laughs,

[02:38] so they are the same perceived loudness

[02:42] listen and be the judge.

[02:51] for crying.

[02:55] I love that

[02:58] guy. I

[03:03] Wait a second.

[03:04] I thought if I just make my song

[03:08] as loud as every other song on Spotify.

[03:10] Unfortunately, loudness can't

[03:15] There's more that goes into this

[03:19] is one of those very important factors.

[03:22] Song One is a much more balanced mix.

[03:25] It provides

[03:29] where Song two is not a balanced mix

[03:33] most of its volume to the low end

[03:36] and highs, which is very important

[03:40] although they're both -14 loves

[03:43] in Song

[03:47] In addition,

[03:50] contributing factors to perceive loudness

[03:55] using dynamic tools like compressors,

[03:59] so much shit that goes into this, and

[04:05] The nitty gritty what you can actually be

[04:09] mix and master to achieve

[04:14] In the end. here's my disclaimer.

[04:16] I have to say this everything

[04:20] I'm sure of it

[04:23] plus students

[04:26] used these exact techniques

[04:29] to sign to the biggest labels

[04:32] But please understand they don't have

[04:35] some secret, step by step recipe

[04:39] weren't given some Ableton Rock

[04:44] They know their shit.

[04:45] truly learned the tools and techniques

[04:48] to achieve loudness and clarity

[04:53] This concept is just so important

[04:55] It's why we do one on ones during our boot

[04:59] drop a link in the description in comments

[05:03] level of personalized But regardless,

[05:08] So let's go through the tools

[05:11] so you can use this in your own music.

[05:13] one for.

[05:13] Everyone is going to be using reference

[05:15] to learn what the General Lofts

[05:19] This will be drastically different

[05:23] making bass music, don't be shocked

[05:28] If you're making something

[05:29] you might be seeing minus six,

[05:32] truthfully reaching these levels

[05:35] is only going to be possible

[05:39] So let's revisit balance.

[05:41] But this time we're going to look at it

[05:42] from a sound design and sound selection

[05:46] important thing here is going to be

[05:50] amongst your sounds.

[05:52] if you have similar sounding instruments,

[05:57] also sitting

[06:00] sounds will just mask each

[06:03] value loudness or clarity

[06:07] So instead focus on selecting different

[06:10] sounds, different timbral characteristics

[06:14] spread them across different octaves

[06:18] Have them sit in different parts

[06:21] think, monitor stereo, left versus right

[06:25] by creating these differences

[06:28] to bring value to the mix loudness

[06:33] this concept is not even just limited to

[06:37] to things like your drums. right.

[06:38] Once we have balance in our sound

[06:42] those instruments

[06:46] I've made an entire video on this

[06:48] I've also linked it in the description.

[06:51] highly recommend watching that,

[06:54] and going to pair very well

[06:58] We spoke about mix balance

[07:02] sure the contour of our mix was correct.

[07:04] one of my favorite little cheats

[07:06] to get this right

[07:10] however, I'm not going to use it

[07:14] your poison in terms of which match

[07:18] I'm going to go with the isotope version

[07:22] Before I start,

[07:22] I do like to match the perceived

[07:26] So when I flip back and forth,

[07:29] B can do this in one click,

[07:32] you could just use your ears

[07:35] to match those levels.

[07:36] You want to be able to flip

[07:37] between the two songs and have them sound

[07:41] Next, I'm going to play my reference track

[07:44] the plug.

[07:44] It's going to start to understand

[07:46] in the low mids and highs.

[07:48] it play for a little bit

[07:49] to repeat the same thing

[07:52] What you'll notice is

[07:56] to match the balance of the reference

[07:59] showing me where I might need

[08:03] to reduce some volume

[08:07] It's pretty slick, right? Good.

[08:09] Now turn that plugin off

[08:10] because we're not going to use Instead,

[08:14] those problem areas

[08:17] example, if the plugin is telling you

[08:19] that you need more volume in the upper

[08:23] Which elements in your mix

[08:26] It's literally what

[08:29] flip back and forth between yours

[08:31] focused on those frequencies and notice

[08:37] are a little quiet

[08:40] Final little tip though with this tool.

[08:42] Try to use more than one reference

[08:45] more the merrier.

[08:46] Here you will get a more accurate

[08:49] if you do it that you can also do

[08:52] by using a spectrum overlay

[08:57] my general balance

[09:01] Moving on.

[09:02] Let's refocus here

[09:07] play a huge role in the perceived

[09:12] We want things to sound dynamic

[09:17] more dynamic a sound or performance

[09:22] So if you're not addressing this

[09:25] your masters, you could be missing out

[09:29] three dynamic tools

[09:30] we're going to talk about are compressors,

[09:34] Compressors can do some very helpful

[09:36] could be used to shape a sound similar

[09:40] where you can shape the front, middle

[09:43] They can also be used to balance out

[09:48] Think of a singer

[09:50] Incredibly dynamic performance

[09:54] Word two word phrase, the phrase,

[09:58] this drum loop is an example.

[09:59] Notice

[10:05] So I have a question for you.

[10:06] If you wanted to hear

[10:07] the quieter parts of this loop,

[10:12] what would you Would

[10:19] Well shit

[10:20] I was able to hear it,

[10:24] So that didn't really work.

[10:25] But what happens

[10:30] It was closer

[10:32] I could do this by just taking this

[10:36] Of course,

[10:36] could also do this by putting a compressor

[10:39] I can set this threshold to only compress

[10:44] now, if I compare these two loops,

[10:54] they're both

[10:57] but the compressed loop

[11:01] If this concept of balancing dynamics is

[11:06] Whether you're on your phone, laptop

[11:11] Next, let's talk about my favorite part

[11:14] And for all my cosmic fan that have taken

[11:18] Clippers and limiters Both of these

[11:22] However, they have their strengths

[11:25] I just want you to be able to use them

[11:28] Clippers are the shit

[11:29] and they could provide insane returns

[11:33] They're really good at removing

[11:38] Let me show you what I mean by that.

[11:39] Imagine we're mastering your song

[11:43] It's final mastered level.

[11:45] What's going to hit the threshold First,

[11:48] notice, because they stand out so far,

[11:52] the rest of the track from getting up

[11:55] Now, imagine you were able to create

[11:59] Notice when I bring everything back up

[12:02] the entire song is getting there

[12:06] Eliminating them

[12:09] Now you might be thinking,

[12:11] song doesn't have those straight peaks,

[12:13] I would have heard them

[12:16] Well, I hate to break it to you.

[12:17] You can't hear this.

[12:19] Neither can I. run a test.

[12:21] Which of these two sounds

[12:33] me guess.

[12:33] You naturally thought

[12:37] the one hitting zero DB is right.

[12:39] Well, you would have been wrong

[12:42] was actually quieter

[12:45] my meter was telling your ears

[12:50] They're better at understanding

[12:53] volume over time.

[12:55] volume is this instantaneous

[12:58] It could be a split second.

[13:00] Your sound hits a certain level,

[13:04] to understand

[13:07] spiking way above everything else,

[13:12] In the end.

[13:13] what if we can clip these earlier

[13:16] Problem solved.

[13:17] Now, how do we figure this out

[13:20] can visualize these peaks on individual

[13:24] using an oscilloscope

[13:28] you can go in with a clipper

[13:32] by having the peaks exceed the threshold.

[13:34] Keep in mind though, Clippers can add

[13:38] pretty quick.

[13:38] and because of this

[13:41] rather than musical instruments,

[13:45] noisy to begin with, distortion

[13:55] we're

[13:57] That distortion

[14:08] I do think it's worth mentioning here

[14:10] There are many genres

[14:12] those peaks and create that distortion

[14:18] Knowing your tools allows you to break

[14:22] you can mess with would be hard

[14:25] if clipping usually sounds better,

[14:29] this can be utilized, especially from a

[14:33] you work into soft clippers,

[14:37] of perceived loudness

[14:40] This distortion is harmonic

[14:44] clipping form.

[14:57] Limiters are another tool

[15:00] including those peak examples we just went

[15:02] limiters are often a bit cleaner sounding.

[15:04] And this usually works

[15:08] on those musical instruments,

[15:10] typically don't produce the distortion

[15:13] Limiters can also be used to balance out

[15:18] Just like we were doing

[15:20] However,

[15:24] usually not going to sound as natural

[15:26] All three of these dynamic tools

[15:27] are typically used

[15:31] limiter or clipper

[15:34] that we slam our song into.

[15:36] This would be your safety net,

[15:39] zero DB also allows us to achieve

[15:43] because we can push beyond

[15:47] For example,

[15:47] I can drive the input gain on this limiter

[15:51] Eventually it will try and cross zero DB,

[15:54] the limiter begins to work and squash

[15:58] I can push it further and further

[16:02] there's usually a small window

[16:07] zero DB threshold and it still sounds

[16:11] This is typically what we do on a master

[16:15] at this rough, mastered level of zero DB

[16:19] to the reference tracks here on Metric B,

[16:23] which shows me all my law's values

[16:27] also like to use this dynamics tab,

[16:31] and squashed my song is relative

[16:35] Okay.

[16:35] Then next up, let's talk about low end

[16:39] this is impacting loudness

[16:43] This one requires us to go a bit deeper.

[16:45] So I made a whole video

[16:48] so I can show you how to compress

[16:51] This is going to be especially useful

[16:54] I think you are, but as a shit ton of low