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The track sounds different without speakers


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Guys, I have a problem, my track sounds good with speakers, I made it using them, but when I listened it from the laptop's speakers and then from headphones it sounded a bit different and unpleasant, like the notes are too high. What is the reason for that?And what should I do in future not to get fooled by sound?
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Mixing is a compromise, as you have no control over the listeners system or environment.

 

If it sounds good on one set of speakers, but bad on others, then your mix needs work. Make sure you are listening on a decent speaker and room environment, because if this is compromised, you won't be making good judgements (ie, if your room has awful bass resonances, then you will reduce the bass, resulting in a bass-light mix for everyone else).

 

This is really a skill and judgement thing - most people will at least listen to their mixes on a few systems - a small set of speakers, in their car etc to get a feel for how their mixes translate and what extra work needs to be done.

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@ DJ Sensus

 

Anything is going to sound thin on laptop speakers. They have zero bass! But if you're getting thin sound on headphones, which usually have loads of bass, then you've really got to revisit your mix. It can be helpful to have another set of speakers on hand that you can quickly reference, even just a boombox sitting at the side of your mixing room.

 

You may be adding too much high end, which will also make things sound thin.

 

One thing you can do without changing anything else in your set-up is to reference other music while you're mixing. Pick some tunes that are similar to what you're producing. (And some that aren't.) It's pretty easy to have iTunes open and use the rotate apps command (Command-Tab) to go back and forth between Logic and iTunes and then just hit the space bar to stop-start playback in both apps. This should go a long ways towards tuning up your ears, even if you have speakers that are "lying" to you.

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Hey DJ Sensus, please follow shivermetimbers' recommendation and post your studio set-up in your signature. This helps us help you better, especially in other posts. Do it once and it's done. :)

 

Re - earphones. Some of these, especially the older mac earbuds, don't fit well in the ear and so you loose a lot of bass unless you really jam them in.

 

But again, I have to mention comparing your music to commercial releases. Do the commercial releases also sound thin on your earphones? If so, ditch the earbuds. If not - you've gotta rework your mix.

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  • 9 years later...
On 5/28/2013 at 10:05 PM, camillo jr said:

@ DJ Sensus

Anything is going to sound thin on laptop speakers. They have zero bass! But if you're getting thin sound on headphones, which usually have loads of bass, then you've really got to revisit your mix. It can be helpful to have another set of speakers on hand that you can quickly reference, even just a boombox sitting at the side of your mixing room.

You may be adding too much high end, which will also make things sound thin.

One thing you can do without changing anything else in your set-up is to reference other music while you're mixing. Pick some tunes that are similar to what you're producing. (And some that aren't.) It's pretty easy to have iTunes open and use the rotate apps command (Command-Tab) to go back and forth between Logic and iTunes and then just hit the space bar to stop-start playback in both apps. This should go a long ways towards tuning up your ears, even if you have speakers that are "lying" to you.

I agree to this. Only my bass/drum beats sound very thin on the laptop speakers. Otherwise the piano and guitar sound good on laptop speakers and as a whole the music I made sounded amazing on headphone and external speakers.

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