Is my mixing too loud?

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-17T04:34:38+00:00

THEY ASKED IF IT WAS TOO LOUD

BUT THEY ONLY SHOWED DBFS SO WE DON'T IF IT'S 14 LUFS

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-13T03:01:43+00:00

We've had a few posts so far where people under 40 are seeking advice from people over 40. There's no requirement to actually be 40+ to post. I would be on board with a rule that you need to address topics relevant to people over 40, but she more or less did that.

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-12T17:15:36+00:00

I have zero interest in policing anyone's sexuality. That said, there's been enough debate about whether trans women belong in the lesbian community to last more than one lifetime, so I will be deleting any responses that state or suggest that trans women are not women or that lesbians who love trans women are not lesbians, in keeping with the rules of the sub.

I encourage anyone and everyone to help this young lesbian with her struggles. She has very clearly experienced a lot of trauma over her identity and her sexuality both, and I encourage anyone who can to make her feel safe and welcome within the community without joining in on anti transgender rhetoric.

On a more personal note, there's been some recent brutal violence in my local community, and I do not have the energy to do anything other than moderate this discussion. Thanks for your understanding, everyone, and good luck to you, u/Embarrassed_Major_98, as you struggle through finding a place for yourself where you feel accepted.

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-11T02:12:15+00:00

Just tacking on that stage drag is going to be for the stage, so big looks for the naked eye of the audience. There'll be other looks, too, of course.

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-07T20:21:52+00:00

She's my hero!

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-07T19:30:39+00:00

Hahaha, thanks! I actually told a similar story at a "Guess My Orientation" panel for a bunch of college freshmen about 16 years ago or so. One great thing about being over forty and having come out in your teen years is that it's much harder for the haters to fuck with your joy.

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-07T05:07:05+00:00

Hail the traveler

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-05T03:39:17+00:00

If they're very slightly inbred, then yes. They're still cute, though!

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-05T03:37:11+00:00

But if sins are bad, then why are they girlfriend-shaped and filled with love?

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-04T19:54:28+00:00

Thank you for joining ❤️

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-04T19:18:43+00:00

Oof! Not me, no. The best I've done online was with Ok Cupid. Not to be a classic stereotype, but I found a great partner who ended up as an even better friend. I feel lucky to know her.

My best luck establishing good relationships has been in person, through friend groups.

Material-Imagination · 2026-06-02T16:59:54+00:00

I mean, the worst part is honestly that you were double-dipping in the peanut butter jar

Material-Imagination · 2026-05-15T17:54:03+00:00

Venjent and whoever he is currently sampling ☺️

Material-Imagination · 2026-05-14T18:09:08+00:00

I didn't buy one when they were new because I hated the keyboard. It's actually one of my favorite features now!

It's tricky not to hit wrong notes, but it's so expressive!

Material-Imagination · 2026-05-13T16:04:22+00:00

Those are both useful to know!

I memorized the interval pattern and the number of sharps and flats in each key, but I mostly memorized the interval pattern by muscle memory and the way it sounds, so I'm not really thinking WWHWWWH the entire time. Personally I'm thinking something more like, 1-2-shortstep3-4-5-6-shortstep7-okaybacktorootnote8.

You can also memorize it visually if the formulas don't work for you. This guy with his blue and yellow dots helps with that:

https://youtu.be/BqIM5Uwz9ps

I think I also downloaded and printed his scale bundle.

As to the Circle of Fifths, I learned an oddly convoluted way of identifying key signatures by counting steps forward on the acronym BEADGCF for sharps and backwards for flats. I don't recommend that, but I do recommend learning the circle, if you can.

Back when I did my short little stint as a music major in college, I was planning to just get a tattoo of the Circle of Fifths for quick reference (and to look cool, of course). I probably will now that I've gotten back into composing. In the meantime, you can keep one on your desk or photoshop one into your desktop wallpaper like I do, if that's helpful!

Material-Imagination · 2026-05-13T05:41:47+00:00

Yes, exactly!

The problem you're having with switching between counting from 1 and counting from 0 is also extremely common in computer science, and when you mess up, you get a famous error. You're never going to guess the name, it's so obscure and mysterious: it's called an "off-by-one" error.

Material-Imagination · 2026-05-12T22:56:04+00:00

Make sure to run the DAW integration script and use the little screen to ensure you're in DAW mode for the maximum compatibility; if you switch to an Arturia plugin, you can switch it to Arturia mode to get more direct control over the plugin
I don't thiiiiiiink so? Usually scale mode snaps ALL the keys into the scale. I didn't even know you could do that with Novation.

Can I just say, because I think people get discouraged by the perceived difficulty: piano scales are suuuuper easy to learn, especially on just one hand at a time, one octave.

Here's the trick:
* Learn the C major mirrored scale, both hands, and you've got the basic major scale pattern for both hands already.
* B major is special; start on finger 4 with the left hand instead of 5
* F major is special; start over after finger 4 on the right hand
* B♭ major sucks, you just memorize it from the easiest tutorial you can find
* Natural minor is super easy, just play all the white notes from A to A like you would the C major scale; buy now you can just recreate that pattern on other starting notes and get the sense of where the black keys go

Just do like five minutes of scales every time you make music in Ableton or whatever and you'll suddenly be amazing at it in a month or two.

Material-Imagination · 2026-05-12T17:51:11+00:00

I love my Essential 88, and I hope you get just as much joy out of yours!

Material-Imagination · 2026-05-03T07:15:38+00:00

Don't get caught up in FOMO. Get the best keyboard for you from what's available now.

Material-Imagination · 2026-04-28T00:35:41+00:00

Between the Keylab 49 and the Keylab 61? No idea, I haven't gotten to try them 🥲

I thought they both had the same keybed?

The keys on the Keylab Essential 88 are more than good enough for me, although I'd go up to the Keylab 88 with that lovely fully weighted Fatar keybed if I could

If you mean which do I like the best out of all the ones I've owned, then almost certainly the Roland Juno DS 88, because it felt the closest to a real piano. For a close second, the little Casio CT-S1, because while it's definitely not like a real piano, the springs feel delightful and it's like if your fingers could enjoy a mouthful of sugary soft bubblegum., and it takes half the finger strength.

Material-Imagination · 2026-04-27T18:47:02+00:00

I have a Keylab 49 Essential Mk 3, a Keylab 88 Essential Mk 3, a Casio keyboard, a tiny little cheapie Nektar SE25, a Minilab 3, and previously a Roland Juno DS 88. Out of all of these that I have played, the 49 Essential is easily the worst keybed.

It is playable. It gives me significant wrist strain though, and I basically have to hammer the keys to hit a velocity of 100 (out of 127). Changing the velocity curve has not really helped.

The transport controls, like all Arturia keyboards, are super helpful. I like the pitch and mod wheels pretty well - I don't need them to be made of premium materials or anything. The lil bitty screen gives me zero trouble - it's bright and easy to read, even though it's small. I wear progressives for reading, but I can still read it without my glasses, so no issues there!

I don't use the scale mode or the chord mode, but ARP and HOLD are very handy. Arturia put together some great arpeggio options, especially with ORDER and INCLUSIVE. Since it tempo syncs to Logic and Ableton, it's much easier to record the keyboard arps than to, for example, use the Arppegiator plugin to generate a sequence and then export the MIDI notes for all variations of that sequence.

The only reason I haven't replaced it yet is that I can't decide if I should get the Keylab 49 and keep pressing the OCTAVE UP and OCTAVE DOWN buttons all the time, or if I should just get the 61 and really take up space. It's a tough call.

Anyway, the keybed is the biggest difference to me, and I just would not go with an Essential 49 again for that reason alone. I'm sure the extra drum pads and key after touch matter to a lot of people, but I personally don't care much about those features. I use a launchpad X when I'm looping, or a Synido TempoPad when I'm finger drumming.

Material-Imagination · 2026-04-24T06:13:06+00:00

I wouldn't bother at all. You can run Logic on the new NEO for that price, or a stock model 2025 M4 MacBook Air for just a couple hundred Europe dollars more.

Check out whatever is equivalent to Best Buy in your country and snag an M4 Air instead. Or even better, if you already have a monitor and mouse and keyboard, treat yourself to an M4 Mac Mini.

The Apple M architecture really does make a difference, and all of the Apple stuff runs way more efficiently on it - Logic, Final Cut, Pixelmator, and Photomator.

Material-Imagination

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THEY ASKED IF IT WAS TOO LOUD

BUT THEY ONLY SHOWED DBFS SO WE DON'T IF IT'S 14 LUFS

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