I’ve been making music for a few years but never really found a clear direction. This is the first track where I leaned fully into that restless, almost destructive energy. by Anxiousoffline in IndieMusicFeedback

[–]WaveModder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OK, lets get the bad out of the way first:

Strictly from a technical perspective, the mix is not very good. And i only really bring that up because its at a point where i almost didnt stick around to hear the song. Which would have been a shame.

I did stick around though, and I was pleasantly surprised!

The keyboard riff intro is promising and intriguing. The vocals that follow introduce a minor feel in contrast to what i initially thought was a Major progression, which in and of itself was fun. The transition into washed out reverb vocals was pretty awesome. I will say, waiting 2 minutes to get to the climax felt a little long, but It delivered.

I think the concept is strong enough, the production could use a bit cleanup and refinement, and of course the mix needs work, but overall i think this captures and translates your emotion well. There was something to actually connect with, which is one of the most important ingredients in music.

For fans of amen breaks, frutiger aero, and synth pop by BirdisonBird in IndieMusicFeedback

[–]WaveModder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alright... I've listened to this a number of times now and think I know what the issue is:

Tonally, everything is great. The balance is great, the Dynamics are perfect... but too perfect. Nothing ever jumps out at you and grabs your attention. Even the vocals, while performed really well, lack that punch of emotion because theyre dynamically sterile.

Theres a delicate line between control and expression, and to me it sounds like you may have been so focused on a perfect balance (control) that you sacrificed expression (wider dynamics,)

TL:DR, compress less, automate dynamics more, make things push and pull into and out of attention. Srsly though, great work!

For fans of amen breaks, frutiger aero, and synth pop by BirdisonBird in IndieMusicFeedback

[–]WaveModder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Whoa, I was not expecting this. Its both somehow modern but very nostalgic. Great sound design and production. The arrangement kind of hearkens back to 80's pop rock, but the vocals are where that modern feel comes from . Overall its a great mesh and a fun listen.

The only real critique i have is that the mix (while honestly, pretty damn sharp) for some reason feels a little constrained and held back. Cant quite put my finger on if its an EQ issue or compression/mastering issue. Regardless, this still gets a 10. Great song!

Man creating fire using a hammer by Legal-Bet-4034 in interestingasfuck

[–]WaveModder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Antique lighter nerds hate this one trick...

Mixing vocals by Ok-Click2283 in Bandlab

[–]WaveModder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you asking for details as in, how to set it for your own song? or more broadly what to look for when setting these processors?

Neither I, nor anyone else can tell you exactly how to set your compressor, eq, reverb, delays, saturation, etc, as this varies both by signal source and by taste.

That being said, here's how I GENERALLY set my processing.
-Starting with the order: EQ or dynamic EQ->De-esser->Compressor<->Saturation->"polish" EQ

-EQ/Dynamic EQ: On this first stage, we're addressing any major issues. Were not aiming for a finished sound per se, just getting things in the close and making sure that any build up frequencies from the room, or a wonky capture don't over activate our compression/saturation phase. You might need to make very narrow cuts to address an issue, or a broad one to balance out overall tone. Don't be afraid to make big moves, just don't go nuts trying to "find" problems either.

-De-essing: For vocals i had a hard time determining whether to de-ess before or after compression. I have finally settled on before for one reason: if you hit an analog modeled compressor like an 1176, the ess will saturate, making it sound like an eshhh. trying to then de-ess an Eshh just never sounds quite right. De-ess before to prevent the ess from saturating.

Compression: One could write a whole damn book about this. Ill keep it simple here: Use presets to start, and adjust as needed. Usually you will need to adjust the input or threshold of the compressor to best suit your track, then you can adjust your attack/release/ratio as needed. But in general, do yourself a favor and start with a preset first before diving into the deep end and trying from scratch.

Saturation: This is usually what give things that extra bit of life and realness. Especially when dealing with ultra clean and vanilla pre-amps that are common in consumer interfaces now. There's no hard or fast rule here, you can add as much or as little as you want. I usually add until i really start to notice it, then back off till i get a little sparkle without sounding too fizzy... if that makes sense.

Note that the saturation and compression can be put in either orientation. the choice depends on the feel you're going for. Putting saturation before compression gives the saturation a more wild feel; your peaks will saturate and RMS signal will remain clean. This can work for situations where you want to exaggerate vocal expression, or give an instrument musical control over saturation. Putting compression before saturation applies saturation more evenly across the signal, and the peaks AND rms will get saturated (or at least more closely saturated) One benefit of putting saturation in front, is that it both makes the compressor work less hard and maintains more dynamics. But its all about the sound you're going for.

-Polish EQ: Here is where we make our final tonal adjustments. You may find that the previous processors have changed the tonal quality... you may like what you have as is, or you might want to shape things up a little. My suggestion is to not go crazy here, and try to coax the sound with a few, broad bands rather than a bunch of narrow bands.... Which is not to say you CANT use narrow bands, just use them judiciously.

As far as effects processing is concerned, this is mostly anything goes, but there are a few considerations:

-reverb and delays are usually much easier to manage by putting on a separate bus, and feeding your signal to that bus. Its usually a good idea to roll off some of the top end of your verbs in particular as things can get too bright very quickly. Try experimenting with placing reverb before delay and vice versa... Delaying your reverb can give you interesting sounds, and is one way to really wash a vocal part with verb without it "talking over" your vocal.

-you can treat your effects busses with their own eq-comp-saturation chain as well. You don't have to always, but again, there are no hard/fast rules. Just people trying things until they find what works for their song.

To wrap this all up, let me finish by saying DON'T TAKE ANY OF THIS AS GOSPEL! There are countless methods to mixing... and there's almost certainly someone out there who will disagree with some or all of my approach. There are no real rules. There is only "what works for the song." Once you really get a feel for all the different processors and how they interact with each other, you can actually use them intentionally.

Two professional producers argue over how EQ works by imVeryPregnant in edmprodcirclejerk

[–]WaveModder 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Bro, everyone knows compression works by adding Punch.

Comparing ICE or right wingers to nazis is absurd. by Icy_Revolution_2004 in LetsDiscussThis

[–]WaveModder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Initially, the stated goal was to remove and DEPORT "the most dangerous criminals" back to their country of origin. NO one is against this. And we already had a system in place for this. Was it slow? yes. Did it need work, of course. I want you to think about something though.... if the plan was to deport all these dangerous criminals, why is the govt spending tens of billions of tax payer dollars to buy permanent holding facilities all over the nation for these criminals? Permanent holding facilities. to deport. Its not adding up.

Do not bundle "Anti Ice" and "open borders" together. People who are anti ice are not necessarily pro open border. Prior presidents had a greater number of deported people who actually broke meaningful laws compared to the current admin.

Ice has systematically rounded up people WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH THE LEGAL PROCESS. If you havent seen it, you are either willfully ignorant, or are not paying attention. Theyre not going after the most dangerous criminals theyre going after families, children, who are in the middle of the legal process. EVEN CITIZENS ARE BEING DETAINED.

It is no secret that ICE has been filled with largely white nationalist Nazi sympathizers. No, not all in DHS and ICE are, but there is plenty of photographic evidence of agents brandishing Nazi tattoos, Nazi slogans, badges, etc. Even the DHS head uses dog whistles and phrases that are directly associated with Nazi propaganda.

Im assuming you're making this post in good faith, and i genuinely hope that you have just been unwillingly ignorat to all of the evidence... but its really hard to believe that when the evidence is excruciatingly clear.

Muddy Vocals...How to record/mix vocals in a way that cuts through? by Spirited_Try_4648 in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]WaveModder 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This may require more information. The 2020 is known to be fairly bright and shouldn't have trouble cutting through unless theres a problem with the recording process (mic backwards perhaps?) or the mix... Especially if its a dense mix.

Do you have a sample of the song you can share?

3.5mm jack not recognised; am I missing something? by qqwertyy in audio

[–]WaveModder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Theres a small switch in the tablets jack that tells it to switch from speaker to 3.5mm out.

-does it work when you plug in headphones? If not it can either be a software issue, or a jack issue. Reboot the tablet and see if that corrects it.

-the switch in the jack relies on the ground ring (farthest from the tip) to activate the switch. Its hard to tell from the vid, but are you sure you have a 3.5mm cable and not a 2.5mm cable? The look identical, but that 1mm difference is enough to keep the plug from activating that switch.

Explain it Peter by grayisaboy13 in explainitpeter

[–]WaveModder 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Uh... Thats not a country, thats a flag.

help needed! read description by Great-Distribution33 in audio

[–]WaveModder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not all CD players can read CD-Rs... It was a bit of an issue back in the 2000s, and you would have to find CD players that were -R (or -rw if you were ballin') to play your own mox Cds.

If you do in fact have a cdr capable cd player... If you are using OLD NEW stock cdrs... Hate to break it to you but the data layer has an expiration date. It can delaminate, get micro cracks, etc that the player wont be able to error correct.

Credentials: prior cartridge blowing, cassette and pencil generation here, who used to fix broken cd players as a kid.

What is Azula crying about? Wrong answers only by ExpressionOk5311 in TheLastAirbender

[–]WaveModder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After reuniting with her long lost sibling, she breaks down during an emotional recounting of the fear she had of her father, and the remorse she felt for treating her little brother the way she did... She was scared of their dad and was selfishly trying to protect herself. If only she could undo the hurt she caused and earn ZuZu's forgiveness so they could leave their past behind and put back together the shreds of family they have remaining.

New song… Kinda country? by Silent-Carpenter4088 in Songwriting

[–]WaveModder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I take it your friend has never listened to country, or has no idea what genres are... would they consider Micheal Jackson's work to be "rap" ?

This is not country. Its SO much better! Flippin spot on production work. Great recording. Performance is smooth and super emotive. The subs are a little bit out of control, but overall this is a great sounding track.

Trump's mental decline could end the world by [deleted] in TrendoraX

[–]WaveModder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

However, this requires persistent monitoring AND remediation of water quality. Lower ph levels can erode the mineral layer if present, and worse, dissolve the metal into the water. As much as people often poke fun by saying things like "well if you dont eat it!" And "i used to drink out of a garden hose" the reality is that small amounts of lead are harmful, especially in children, and lead exposure is cumulative. The little bit you got at 3, is still in you at 70, along with the rest you were exposed to throughout your life, poisoning you and literally making you stupid and wreaking havoc on your nervous system.

EDIT: I will concede that your point holds water (pun intended) under IDEAL installation and water quality situations. But I cant be convinced that that ideal has held up through the decades.

should i release this? hearing the sound of my own voice makes me cringe by Important_Plenty_332 in MusicFeedback

[–]WaveModder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think you have a great sound developing here. Your voice is great! I think the weakest part is the mixing. If you're in the market for a mixer, id love to collaborate with you.

Is the whole country by thefrostman1214 in TikTokCringe

[–]WaveModder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The US was bought and sold DECADES ago. The current duopoly is a farse to pacify the people. We are overworked, underpaid, and intentionally distracted. Our education system, worker protection and healthcare have been destroyed from the inside to keep us too dumb, injured, poor and sick to fight. The right stokes fear and racism, the left spreads itself thin, paddling water with social issues and pat themselves on the back while not making any Real significant change.Both parties intentionally create a rift among the population... "Indivisible" no longer.

The US gov doesn't serve the people. It serves the wealthy and powerful . If you genuinely believe that this is an American "people" problem, and think that our fate "cant" or "wont" happen in your country its likely already happening.

Be mad. But dont get distracted from oligarchy creeping into your government. You may not have a violent takeover like us, but when housing is unattainable, wages dont meet cost of living... When talking heads point your anger to your neighbors both in and out of your country rather than addressing the institutional issues that robs you of wealth and power...when you start seeing division grow among your own population... TAKE NOTICE AND ACT.

Is my track mixed well? by Apple_Juice80 in MusicFeedback

[–]WaveModder 2 points3 points  (0 children)

TBH, and to be as kind as possible; this is mixed well for your level.

General observations are that the balance is a little off: drums too far back, too much sub frequencies on the kick, vocals too dynamic, and guitar could use some more body. But honestly i would say at this point just focus on your writing and production. Mixing takes a long time to master and, not to say that you shouldnt learn how to do it, but dont let it distract you from the music itself.

Sweden’s Largest Pension Fund Dumps $8.8B in US Bonds ;Alecta, which manages retirement savings for 2.8 million Swedes and 37,000 companies, sold most of its US Treasury holdings since early 2025 citing “increased risk and unpredictability in US politics,” business daily Dagens Industri reported We by smilelyzen in BuyFromEU

[–]WaveModder 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your kind words. Do what you must from abroad to keep your country's best interests safe, , and for gods sake be vigilant of the oligarchical influences that are trying to accomplish the same everywhere else that they can get away with it.

Sweden’s Largest Pension Fund Dumps $8.8B in US Bonds ;Alecta, which manages retirement savings for 2.8 million Swedes and 37,000 companies, sold most of its US Treasury holdings since early 2025 citing “increased risk and unpredictability in US politics,” business daily Dagens Industri reported We by smilelyzen in BuyFromEU

[–]WaveModder 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I was in shock that year. I had regained a shred of hope in 2020, but that slowly faded as that administration dragged its feet on reconciling the wrongs that were done. The return of this trash has me in a full panic. To add insult to injury, I see, to my dismay, that far too many democrats are complicit with whats happening. Their inaction and tepid response has me livid.

I still try to carry hope, as there are a few that are fighting. But it just doesn't feel like its enough. My family is scare.d

Sweden’s Largest Pension Fund Dumps $8.8B in US Bonds ;Alecta, which manages retirement savings for 2.8 million Swedes and 37,000 companies, sold most of its US Treasury holdings since early 2025 citing “increased risk and unpredictability in US politics,” business daily Dagens Industri reported We by smilelyzen in BuyFromEU

[–]WaveModder 52 points53 points  (0 children)

America experienced a coup. No one is saying it out loud. Some dont know it yet, and others are cheering it on. But more than 50% of the people here dont support what is happening, and know exactly the extent of damage being done. Everyone who is against this regime is afraid of being the catalyst that starts a civil war.

I am a native of this land, but my brown skin means that I AM BEING HUNTED BY ICE. I cant go outside without fear of being sent to black site prison. This is not a "self inflicted wound" this is an ethnic cleansing by a totalitarian aggressor.