Why It Feels Almost Impossible To Make Loud AND Clean Music
Here's the ULTIMATE guide to producing LOUD + CLEAN music!
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🤔 Does it feel almost impossible to make your own productions loud AND clean?
🤔 Do you try and push your mix and master into a limiter, only to be left with crunchy distortion?
🤔 Or do you try and play your own song in a DJ set only to find its way quieter than the rest?
This video is going to teach you how to achieve the necessary loudness levels for you genre...the RIGHT way!
Loudness matters when you're making electronic dance music. Whether its for the club OR for streaming (Spotify)...loudness is SUPER important.
Zack is going to show you why loudness matters, and more importantly how to use the many tools and techniques that are available in your DAW.
🔥Stuck with your music? Need PERSONALIZED help and development?
🚀Submit your application to work with us: www.cosmicacademy.com/
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⏱️⏱️VIDEO CHAPTERS⏱️⏱️
0:00 Why It Feels Almost Impossible To Make Loud and Clean Music
0:22 Here's Why Your Songs Are Quiet AF
1:41 Loudness on Spotify Matters (SUPER Important)
4:02 Warning...PLZ Don't Mess This Up
5:13 Understanding LUFS for YOUR Genre
5:40 Balancing Sound Selection For Loudness
6:39 The Secret Tool For Mix Balance
9:02 These Dynamic Issues Are Holding You Back
9:30 Compressing For Loudness
11:12 I Love Clippers and Limiters :)
16:36 Low End Loudness
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"Knowing your tools allows you to break the rules" never heard anything truer than this.
Yesssss!!! 👊♥️
this guy does not blink
Not true at all…I blinked once when I was 14.
5mins in and you ain’t lying bro
He keeps an eye on that low-end.
Maybe he used that AI feature which locks your eyes to the camera so you can read from a prompt without making people see you're reading 😂
That makes you take the speaker more seriously. If they blink too much, you're more likely to stop listening. It's weird but true.
Dr Dre had some of the loudest mix/masters on 2001, that to this day can be used as references. The key? minimal elements so that everything has it's place. Less elements means a clearer mix, and you can smash it into a limiter more without noticing mushy build up
It's not that simple. He was using professional studio gear worth god knows how much. There are many keys. Reducing elements is not an option for all genres.
100% Scott!! Less elements means more room and value from each layer. Modern bass music is such a good example of this. The -2 or -3 dubstep songs are usually just kick, snare, synth. That’s it!
I actually think a lot of people nowadays over-complicate things and should err on the side of minimalism for this reason. Even in "over-produced" genres like dubstep that Cosmic brought up, many of the top producers dedicate time specifically to crafting bass sounds, bass loops, and so on that they then eventually use (or recycle) in a track. So even though a bass pattern might actually be several elements layered together, it functions as one in the mix.
It’s not less elements per say. It’s making each element is the right size so it all fits neatly and doesn’t offend your compression and limiting. It’s getting each group compressed, clipped, and or limited loudly and maintaining the integrity of each of those elements before hitting the mix bus then you’re golden. -3 is still insanely loud though. Especially if you’re trying to get it clear. If anything having more elements helps you achieve that because you’re trying to fill up all this space in the frequency spectrum, you’re just trying to do it evenly.
My problem 😢
For references from spotify, I turn off spotify's normalization feature. I just went to my spotify settings, scrolled down until I saw "Normalize Volume" and I turned it off. Then I used an appplication called "Caster" by Ginger audio to route spotify into Logic Pro, and play any song I want to analyze with a loudness meter and SPAN open. Quite a revelation. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for the cool trick! Do you know if there is a way of "previewing" your song on Spotify to see how loud it will sound once it's released? I thought it would be as simple as going to Spotify and play my local files (those on my laptop/mobile), find my song and voilà, but l was told Spotify doesn't normalise your local files.
@@ric8248 Loudness Penalty Plugin
It’s the upper midrange. That’s the “loudness” between those tracks. Also, obviously, the headroom that’s killed in the second track by the aggressive low end.
Transparently clipping my instruments and synths + balancing the mix changed everything for me… you can push everything into the limiter more and get more out of your mix…. The problem is you will lose dynamics and there is a sweet balance to be had.
Absolutely!! Gotta always be on top of how much and how hard you’re hitting these clippers and limiters!!
yep. this. this is the answer. the dynamic balance is what makes it a professional challenge too. but this is the biggest thing people aren't aware of. how clippers can actually be unnoticeable if you process it right.
@@kenkamonn 100%. I use BSA clipper and boy it’s easy to use with just one main function…. You can reduce that peak volume and then push your signal back up in your mix again… I pretty much use it on everything with visual transients and again on the master buss before my limiter… I’m pushing -4LUFS or -3RMS in drum and bass with little to no audible distortion which is crazy…. Knowing when to use it and on what is the 🔑
Clipper cascade - many bus points with many small clips at each point of summation. Mix at 0 db with clippers enabled to point out production/arrangement issues. This is the way.
@ARCASIAUK can you point me in the direction of a video that explains it a bit deeper
Such a helpful video bro!! Thanks Zack ❤
You're welcome!! happy to help!! 👊❤
THIS VIDEO SAVES LIVES
Hahaha much appreciated!! Although I’m worried for anyone’s life that is saved by this…hopefully it’s just their mix and master 😂
The section about adjusting volume balance to go in the direction of the reference (rather than using match eq) is one of the most important “tips” in this video. So many problems in a mix stem from simple, improper volume balance. Well done on this video!
Thank you!! ❤👊 and I couldn't agree more!! Always worth asking yourself "can i solve this with my fader/volume first?" before reaching for another tool!
this is true no cap, a lot of dubstep lufs goes about -3 lufs even -2 lufs sometimes, well I know because I make dubstep lmao @@TheCosmicAcademy
Yo!! Great video as well as the low end compression video! Awesome content, I can't wait to check out more of what's on your channel 😎
Appreciate you watching and dropping the comment!! Means a lot! Happy these can help! 👊♥️
Thank you
THIS!!! THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN NEEDING!!!
Really happy it can help!! 👊♥️
i love your content mate
Much appreciated!! Got love for you as well. Means a lot that you watch these and take the time to drop the comment 👊♥️
Man, what a great video! such accurate explanations, dang
Thank youuu!! Much appreciated 👊♥️
one of the best explanations of these concepts!
Muchhhhh appreciated! 👊♥️
This short video can help save hundreds of hours. Very well done, thank you 🙏🏼
You’re welcome! Really appreciate you watching and dropping me a line! 👊♥️
I NEEDED THIS!!!!
Let’s goooo!! Loudness is never achieved in one step, one plugin, etc. It’s a lot of little things combined. Hope this breakdown can help ♥️👊
Bravo!!
♥️♥️👊
Great video with an immense amount of value packed into it! A lot to unpack and practice with - will certainly be implementing this into future tracks. Thanks!
Thanks! Really appreciate you watching and happy it can help! 👊♥️
As always...we hope this helps!! -Zack & Moose 🫎
♥️♥️🐕
really good video, very clear and to the point, very nice job!!
Thank you!!!
very helpful video thank you
You’re very welcome! Appreciate you watching!
Thanks a lot for this Information..
You’re very welcome!! Hope it can help you get to those target lufs levels while sounding so fresh and so clean clean 🧽 ♥️👊
@@TheCosmicAcademy ♥
I didn't realize the distinct volume difference between genres. Thanks!
Great video about loudness! Could you make video about getting more streams?
Proper gain staging helps a a lot !!!! For volume , sharing the load on 2-3 limiters will make sure you’re not stressing your signal . I try not to have more that -2 of reduction on each limiter. And stop compressing low end on mix bus
Yesss!!! Some good stuff you added here. Loudness is always a combination of good sound selection, good balance and good decisions!
Newbie to the second part: How does one avoid compressing low end on the mix bus if I'm using a maximizer? Do I bus the lows and the mids+highs separately, and only maximize the mids+highs before they hit the mix bus?
@@Lance_G I've been writing for 15 years and don't know what a mix bus is. It's nice to just use compression directly on the kick and bass channels individually, and avoid using compressors on the master. You have more control if you use a maximiser on each sound as required, rather then slapping it over the entire mix. I've never separated a full mix into bands like low mid high, but IDK maybe it's a genre thing.
@@spiritlevelstudiosSo do you treat kickIn and kickOut recordings as a different instruments?
Get some clippers involved
this is gold
Thank you!!
This is a very good video for pros and beginners! Keep it up
thank youuuu!! appreciate you watching! 👊❤️
Great video!
Thanks! 👊♥️
hard clipping is great for removing information that we can't really perceive, then following with limiting/gain to push the loudness even higher. i usually like to hard clip juuuust to the point where i can hear a noticeable change, then back off a bit. doing this for multiple elements in a mix, along with proper EQ & panning, can make a yuuuge difference in loudness without losing significant dynamics. soft clipping / saturation on things like drums can push loudness up, while sounding "harmonically" pleasing.
I need to do this
You unlocked a few things in my brain in just one video. Thank you 🙏
Glad it was helpful!! Appreciate you watching!
I never try to go past -7.5 or -8 LUFS. It gets too harsh the farther you push it. In my opinion, you get a lot of loudness out of properly ducking the bass under the kick. If those two powerful instruments are hitting together, it's going to limit the loudness you can achieve. I always soft clip the master.
Good stuff
Thanks!!
Great video! I made a video similar to this and uploaded it last week and I thought my editing was good but you knocked it out the park. Looks like I got more work to do 😅
Thank youuu hahaha just watched your vid after reading this!! Great stuff man, left you a little note over there 👊♥️
This video is awesome
Thanks!! Appreciate you watching and dropping me the line! 👊♥️
Best gif ever imo 1:58 👍. Great video, thank you.
Hahahaha it will never get old 😂 thanks, appreciate you watching! ♥️👊
This one video is the best video, or at least the easiest for me to understand, about mastering.
Happy it could help!! Appreciate you watching and dropping us the line! 👊♥️
8:42 I do this, I’d add it’s a good idea to use reference tracks that share similar quality’s like similar type of bass, same key ect.
Can absolutelyyyyyyy add that in!! 👊♥️
Thank you for the help Johnny Sins! ❤
Excellent video! I also love clippers and limiters, even though they are not nearly as cool as Moose!
Moose actually hates clippers…especially the ones that clip his nails!! 😅
Wasn't expecting to like this, but good strategy on the Metric AB!
Hahaha I appreciate it. I laughed because that’s how I feel myself when reading these titles. The KZhead game to get viewers is brutal, it’s like “how do I package very useful info into a click baity title”. I’m just stuck here playing the game 😂 happy you clicked and happy it could help 👊♥️
Dope
👊♥️
Looks like i found here how to also fix my night sweats and nightmares. Especialy if i compare my mix to pro mix minutes before bed on my headphones. Not going to lie i wished all the bad things for them producers for killing my passion😅. Thank you sir. Hats down.
Hope this can help!! 👊♥️
Hell yea I'm gonna get so loud
Personally i think anything at -3lufs always sounds distorted. Obviously this could be a problem or not depending on the genre, but that’s my opinion
I understand what you mean by that. It’s typically going to be “pushed” to hit -3. Although some genres completely accept and love that sound of things being pushed!! That’s what makes music great. One ears pain is another ears pleasure hahaha
Aside from everything that this video provided, 9:55 was the best explanation of compression that i´ve ever heard. Wish I´d hear this 5 years ago while I was trying to wrap my mind around compression. Anyone who is just starting out, pay attention!
Muchhhhh appreciated!! ♥️👊
i feel that in 5 years of mixing and mastering myself :)
Awesomeee! ♥️👊 the cumulative effect of many good sounds, and many good decisions!
You guys are amazzzziiing, I want to join your school one day ❤
Much appreciated!! Means a lot to us…we look forward to that day 👊♥️
This answered so many questions I couldn’t find answered anywhere else. One question I still have is, do people reduced their tracks to -14 LUFS "before" uploading to streaming services, or let the services normalise it, or is consensus that it doesn’t matter?
wow this video made me actually understand how to use a compressor!
♥️♥️
I love you guys 🥲❤️
We love you! 👊
Thank goodness with Dolby Atmos for Music
Dan Worral won the loudness war. +2.3 LUFS 😉
😂😂😂 he absolutely did! Love his stuff
Fun/funny video he did make! But unfortunately he might have not won, he made a reply on that via a KZhead Short that showed a video made a decade ago reaching 3.5 LUFS if I recall
All about mix balance. A loud mix still sounds loud when it’s quiet
I think for youtube it matters if u upload a track in -8 lufs, it will bring it down to -14 lufs no matter what. In the end it all comes down to a clean mix as it has always been.
12:16 😮 I....I heard them.....I heard the peaks. Ive done it, Im a master!..(ear fatigue sets in)... aaand its gone. 😆 you can hear these subtle things though, over time and experience and with high quality studio monitors
😂😂😂
i heard them, and i wasn't even listening on my best pair of headphones
Great video! It’s quite difficult to read the black on gray thin text on the cards
Thanks!! Hmmm, really? came up clear on my end but I’ll def make a note for next time! 👊♥️
@@TheCosmicAcademy it’s not that it isn’t appearing clearly, it’s that the thin text and contrast ratio between black and gray makes it less accessible for people with lesser vision (I work in graphics). Consider using more contrasting and thicker text. There is something called web accessibility we use to help keep websites legible for vision impaired people that follow these font weight and background contrast guidelines. Thank you!
Zack just don't miss
Thanks brother!! 👊♥️
Haven't even finished the video and it is already one of the best I have watched in regards this subject. Thank you 👏🏻
You’re welcome! Really happy to hear you’re enjoying it! 👊♥️
I personally have never had this issue using clippers but I know people using limiters do
12:40 i dunno what monitoring you have, but my little IKs clearly let me know the first clip's peaks are WAY louder. They were almost ear piercing in comparison to the smashed second one.
even my bluetooth soundcores could help me hear that one a bit
This dude never blinks
You’re just joshing
6:11 why they don't make a 3D EQ that looks like this?
Guys, you are essential
Appreciate you!! Happy these vids can help!! 👊♥️
It’s possible if one designs the track loud all the way from scratch start. It’s impossible taking an expensive dance pop song from the charts trying to remaster it loud as fuck; it won’t work.
How the ef does this channel only have 28 k followers this a 250k and up worthy channel.
Much appreciated!! ♥️👊
1:38 I love loud masters as much as the next guy, but it's not really such a huge issue as you make it out to be, as DJ mixers have a gain knob. As long as you aim to be in the general ballpark (not radically low in volume), you should be good.
From the source : Checking Levels and if the sound is muddy !!!
Great video 🤩🤩🤩
Thank you!! ♥️👊
Because your not using a clipper in your mix, use clippers instead of compressors and you can get clean -3 lufs music. Compressors ruin sound, Michael Jacksons thriller album had no compression in it, all sounds where clipped at pre amps.
If you make oontz oontz oontz loudness matters. But for mist other genres the listener doesn’t want to be beaten over the head by their music
Exoscope!
♥️👊
Finally someone who knows what is he actually talking about
It’s possible to make loud music only in a live setting. Anywhere else, whoever has the volume knob controls the loudness. Full stop. Anyway, loudness is the basest of sonic metrics, and seeking to increase it beyond the natural limits of a given system always comes with nothing but downsides. Sit in the sweet spot and be done with it already.
Amazing content. Exactly what the intermediate producer needs to take it to the next level. Bravo!
Muchhh appreciated!!! Means a lot 👊♥️
What is that smooth song starting at 6:56 ?
Tbh I don’t know the exact name, it comes from a stock music site I use. The songs on there are insane though right?! Some awesome people producing these!
you swearing makes it feel more authentic, good ass video
At this point if you told me jumping off a bridge would make my music sound better, i wouldnt question you for a second 😂
😂😂😂😂
Seriously man, every tip you give is straight facts. You've helped me improve my sound quite a bit, the way you explain stuff is easy for me to keep in my head.
Noisia, Mefjus, Camo&Krooked are like: what is almost impossible? 😂
if its techno, it's all limiters an clipping
Sound selection during production
…is everythinggggg!!!! 100%!!
Simple. Use saturation
Friendly Vin Diesel explains audio
Now go watch the FF movies to get angry Zack driving cars!!! 😂
Vin Diesel’s master tips
I cant believe im doing this on mobile...and its really "taugh"
Плюс ещё один комментарий в поддержку канала.
Thank youuuu!! 👊♥️
@@TheCosmicAcademy Thank YOU bro!
Song #2 may sound "louder" but Song #1 sounds better(IMO)
Thanks moose 🐕
Moose gives you a 👊 hahaha
I just turn up the volume.
I did the opposite and made a muddy and bad sounding mix at -14 lufs.
amazing video id give you all my money if i were a billionaire
About the EQ match with reference tracks: If I understand correctly you're proposing to take a reference track eq profile to sculp your track and make eq decisions based on what your track is lacking when compared to the other track? That doesn't sound right for me. I think that reference tracks shouldnt be used to copy how they sound like, because all songs have different arrangement, different production... Considering that the reference tracks we use were produced, mixed & mastered by professional engineers, Im 100% sure they didnt eq it based on the eq profile of another track, they took decisions based on what they judged as the right treatment for that particular song. I think that using EQ match (as a normal procedure) can make people care more how the spectogram of their song looks like compared to another, rather than how it sounds...
I agree with you 100% in regards to mixing. But what you said here isn’t really fair. You’re taking one sentence in a 17min video and making it seem like that’s the entire point trying to be made. You’re also trying to bend that one sentence into saying “this is how you should mix your track”. If you’ve watched more videos on the channel, I think you’d know that’s absolutely NOT my approach. Appreciate the comment, agree with what you said…just not a fan of how it’s framed ♥️👊
@@TheCosmicAcademy yes, I did this comment as a reaction and as an opinion of that particular part of the video. Wasn't my intention to be unfair or to invalidate the whole video. I've actually seen other videos from you and have taken valuable things out of them. So I appreciate what you do. Here I was just sharing my opinion about that particular part of the video.
@soulofwaves all good 👊♥️ I appreciate you being part of the fam here and even taking the time to comment and chat it up!!
WHY -3 db you want it loader turn up the volume easy
lol my recent song is hitting 13 LUFS so idk about -3 being impossible
้Please set your video to have subtitles. CC 😊 from Thai people, thank you very much.
Added!! Should be fixed 👊♥️
❤❤🎉 thank you so much😊
Focusrite FAST ; ) Pro ; Loud , FAST
♥️👊
why not let users choose how loud they want to hear our music, they control the final volume knob after all… all you need to think about is the quality of your music, and if its any good it will be played loud…
I couldn’t agree more with what you’re saying… make great, well produced music and you’ll have nothing to worry about! it will be loud. That’s 100% spot on…and this video was me trying to explain those specific things you can to do make great, well balanced music. Or at least it’s what I tried to do! Hahaha
the second song seems louder because it's objectively at a higher average volume, not because of subjective perception.