Something New - Something Old

[Stardust Solstice]

https://soundcloud.com/vintage-synth-pads/vintagesynthpadscom-presets


Chill Out/Electronica-Experimental

Finally got a moment to put down another tune.
Not sure the style, kind of a hybrid.

[Ambient Mechanics]

I liked the sound of this, even though it's very much a track of different parts. You certainly right about the style..I don't think I could label it that easy myself, as it's a combination of various styles in there.

Two things struck me listening to this..one if that the high hats sounded a little bright..a bit too much hiss coming off them, but they still work, if that's what you were going for I guess. Personally I would have pulled them back a little, but maybe that's just me.

The other thing is it might have been better if you could have morphed the various parts of this track a little better..as it is, they kinda sound like very different sketches for a project you have yet to settle on. I know..I know..this is in part experimental, but you could tie it all together really well by simply running the various parts into each other..even if it were by playing a few notes of one part over the other. As it is, it kinda takes from the track I feel.

All that said, I loved your choice of instruments on this..they give it an upbeat, yet haunting vibe, which is really cool.

Nice job..though I really would like to hear this if you ever rework it at some stage.

Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

[Stardust Solstice]

Thanks for that very useful feedback.

Its funny how sometimes in the moment our perception and relationship to the track might differ after hearing it later.
This is why it is essential to get feedback.

For example, the breaks did sound a bit segregated to me hearing it later.
That's something that can be easily fixed but at the time seemed ok.

I have noticed recently that the top frequencies are a bit more brittle then before.
The last few mixes sounded fine on my system but after being up-loaded the top seems thinner or something.

I wonder if others experience this.

None the less, thanks for the good feedback!

I liked the sound of this, even though it's very much a track of different parts. You certainly right about the style..I don't think I could label it that easy myself, as it's a combination of various styles in there.

Two things struck me listening to this..one if that the high hats sounded a little bright..a bit too much hiss coming off them, but they still work, if that's what you were going for I guess. Personally I would have pulled them back a little, but maybe that's just me.

The other thing is it might have been better if you could have morphed the various parts of this track a little better..as it is, they kinda sound like very different sketches for a project you have yet to settle on. I know..I know..this is in part experimental, but you could tie it all together really well by simply running the various parts into each other..even if it were by playing a few notes of one part over the other. As it is, it kinda takes from the track I feel.

All that said, I loved your choice of instruments on this..they give it an upbeat, yet haunting vibe, which is really cool.

Nice job..though I really would like to hear this if you ever rework it at some stage.

Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

[Ambient Mechanics]

You're more than welcome. ;)

Regarding the high frequencies thing, you could be right about the uploading bit. I've had issues tracks sounding differently in the past once they were uploaded to SC..and I'm pretty sure it's something they are doing on their end, as others have reposted the same problem. Now I tend to always upload a mix first, to see how it sounds..then tweak it if needs dictate, before uploading it for the last time.

Anyway, congrats again on producing this..really nice feel from it. :D

[Stardust Solstice]

You're more than welcome. ;)

Regarding the high frequencies thing, you could be right about the uploading bit. I've had issues tracks sounding differently in the past once they were uploaded to SC..and I'm pretty sure it's something they are doing on their end, as others have reposted the same problem. Now I tend to always upload a mix first, to see how it sounds..then tweak it if needs dictate, before uploading it for the last time.

Anyway, congrats again on producing this..really nice feel from it. :D

I think I found part of the issue with the degradation of audio on Soundcloud.

It seems to be most noticeable on tracks that are dynamically hot.
This maybe because they "normalize" the audio.

The problem maybe due to thhe fact that the dynamics are processed both on their end and in the studio/mastering process.

I would like to see if others have this same experience.

[seismic1]

I have noticed the same thing. Some tracks which I deliberately mixed/mastered with a very low peak volume seemed to get louder after uploading to SC and then playing back via the stream. I always upload 320Kbps mp3 files. A couple of times I have noticed a breakup on the bass end of things. If the track is set to be downloadable, the mp3 download will not be affected. The problem only affects streaming playback. I can often obtain similar, although not identical effects by converting between 320Kbps and 128Kbps mp3 formats on my computer.

Yeah, the SounCloud codec does generate artefacts, but, considering that it's a one size fits all automated process, it could probably be a lot worse. Most of my stuff is downloadable anyway, so if people want to hear it in a quality closer to that in which it was made, downloading is an option.

[Stardust Solstice]

I have noticed the same thing. Some tracks which I deliberately mixed/mastered with a very low peak volume seemed to get louder after uploading to SC and then playing back via the stream. I always upload 320Kbps mp3 files. A couple of times I have noticed a breakup on the bass end of things. If the track is set to be downloadable, the mp3 download will not be affected. The problem only affects streaming playback. I can often obtain similar, although not identical effects by converting between 320Kbps and 128Kbps mp3 formats on my computer.

Yeah, the SounCloud codec does generate artefacts, but, considering that it's a one size fits all automated process, it could probably be a lot worse. Most of my stuff is downloadable anyway, so if people want to hear it in a quality closer to that in which it was made, downloading is an option.

Ok, I think we are onto something here.

The problem has been most noticeable when I have the top peaks occur below 0dB.
I will turn down the level of the absolute peaks so they don't go above -1.5 or so.

On soundcloud, it looks like they have brought the levels up, producing distortion and artifacts that were not in the mix.

You mentioned you experienced the problem when doing the same thing: "I deliberately mixed/mastered with a very low peak volume...."

It seems this technique creates problems with soundclouds processing.

Dithering does not help the issue.

It seems the solution is to keep soundclouds processing to a minimum by using higher levels peaks..