I need help with Mix Translation.

My Mixes sound fine on my Studio Monitors, on headphones, on earbuds, in cars, home stereo's, etc.

Where they don't sound fine is on my Macbook Pro's built in speaker.

You can't hear all the various track instruments on the MBP, but you can clearly hear them on other playback systems.

When I listen to Commercial CD's, Commercial MP3's, YouTube Videos of the major releases, etc., I can hear all the instruments clearly.

So here are my questions:

1) Is this a MIx thing, and if so, what do I need to do differently on the instrument tracks?

2) Is this a Mastering thing, and will the "problem" be fixed once the Songs are Mastered?

Thanks,

Jerry

Have you tested the frequency response of your laptop speakers? How much are they different than your earbud frequency response?

Use Logic's test oscillator and do a low end frequency sweep. You laptop may not be reproducing the low's and mid lows like all the other devices you have tried.

If that's the case, then you may want to add some harmonic distortion to some of the tracks …

I use Apple EarPods, and while I haven't tested the frequency response of the MBP's speakers, I'm guessing they don't have as good a frequency response as the EarPods.

I do need to mention that it's not the bass that's not cutting through, it's that the overall Mix is different on the MBP speakers.

Things like the guitar can be clearly heard everywhere else, but not on the MBP.

I'll check the YouTube link now.

Thanks!

Did you try your macbook speakers with other mixes? So you get a reference? Maybe its not your mix - may be the speakers.

Also, try a limited mix as well. (since most of music you would likely use as a reference is limited)

Good mastering can sometimes do some balancing in the spectrum to make the mix more translatable... but the less you leave for mastering to *fix*, the better your mix will end up.

I looked at my initial Post, and I wasn't specific enough when I said:

When I listen to Commercial CD's, Commercial MP3's, YouTube Videos of the major releases, etc., I can hear all the instruments clearly.

I meant to say:

When I listen to Commercial CD's, Commercial MP3's, YouTube Videos of the major releases, etc., on my MacBook Pro, I can hear all the instruments clearly.

You may want to add some harmonic distortion to some of the tracks …

Which LPX stock plugin would you recommend?

If not, which 3rd party plugin would you recommend?

http://www.voxengo.com/product/tubeamp/

freebie

Softube has a freebie as well but you need to register. (also good)

Logic:

there's tape saturation built in tape-delay, you can use it with bypassing delay

There's also exciter. and i think that's it. logic doesn't have that much going on in the "saturation" department.

paid if you want to get fancy:

iZotope Trash2

FabFilter Saturn

u-he Satin (tape saturation)

However you never specified what you're mixing out. Might be your room or your speakers have a hole where some of the critical info is.

I'll check those plugins out, thanks!

It's the Electric Guitar that is buried too much, which is hard to believe with all the mid-range info an electric guitar going through and Axe FX has

Plus, if there was a hole in that frequency in the room, wouldn't the guitar be mixed too loud?

Monitor wise, I'm using JBL LSR305's, and I'm sitting about 38" from them, so the room won't have that much effect, not to mention that I'm crosschecking the Mix on my HD-600's.

i guess the computer speaker is mono. and the other sets are stereo..

so it could easily be a simple phase issue.

if things are tracked or mixed in stereo, and bussed down to mono, things that are out of phase will cancel and disappear in the mix.

do a simple test with a phase correlation meter, on the mix buss.

waves IN PHASE is a plug designed to sort out phase issues if you think you need a specialist tool.

hope this helps Buddha

Hi Budda

Will the plugin have the opposite effect on the Mix/Song played back on other systems (now they'll sound wrong)?

no. when a track is mixed, and everything is in phase, it will play back correctly on stereo systems, and also on mono systems.

this is called mono compatibility, and is a switch on big old analogue desks to check that the engineer got it right. it just sums the stereo image to mono.

then there is out of phase content , which is hard panned left and right, when summed to mono those 2 tracks will cancel out.

if tracks are 180 degrees out of phase they will cancel out completely.

its easy to fix in the mix by identifying the out of phase tracks and flipping the phase button on the channel.

generally as engineers when we track professionally, when multiple mikes are coming in from a source (say drums ) we often flip the phase button on the channels and listen with our ears.

if the bottom end disappears on the flipping of the phase button then flip it back to the original position.

if the bottom end is stronger when flipping the phase button, leave it there. more bottom means its in phase.

i once mixed a track and the stereo backing vocals ran through a stereo group. the tape OP had not zeroed the desk correctly and the phase button was still engaged on one of the 2 channels being use for the backing vocal group.

sounded fine until i hit the mono switch, at which time they almost disappeared. flipped the phase switch and its all good again.

often these problems are caused by wiring polarity reversal on leads used in the analogue patching.

hope this info is helpful to you. Buddha

Heck yeah it helped, thanks!!!!!

It's hard enough for me trying to be a great Songwriter, Musician, Arranger and Engineer, much less trying to be a Mastering Engineer

PS

VERY impressive gear, especially those 4435's!

At 225 lbs. a piece, do they hurt your back when you try moving them?

new macbooks have Stereo speakers, not mono.

However they are close together...

If you did some delay doubling bullshit on guitar, then that might be the issue yes (as bigbuddha23) pointed out.

since you have AxeFX i doubt its dual-mic shennanigans.

I didn't even think about phasing issues... Dang. good call Bigbuddha!

Anyway, for these issues, I suggest Voxengo PHA-979. I also suggest not copying/doubling tracks as its often suggested if you don't know exactly what you're doing, because any corellated stuff gets mushed up, especially if you mess with different EQs for double tracks.