Now onwards, Project Illuminations will download pieces only when they pass the test of audio mixing. The pieces will be tested through the worst-case scenario – Radio Frequencies on Car Stereo in Mono Files. The pieces pass the tests only when all the audio frequencies are clearly heard. This is going to be tough and challenging.
The toughest mixing to deal with is when the bass sound start coming in mixing with The Primary Drums and Percussions previously mentioned. The worst part is when mixing bass with drum kicks as they share almost the same key frequencies ranges. Basses dealing with toms and snares too are very tough.
Revision:
Key frequencies of Kick Drums, Toms and Snares:
Kick Drums: 40 – 129.1 Hz
Toms: 80 – 180 Hz
Snares: 128 – 220 Hz
Key Frequencies for Basses
I prefer that the desired key frequencies are between 128 – 550 Hz but for some artistic reasons, the key frequencies could go as low as 110 Hz. To make matters worse, sometimes I like it when the kick drums have the key frequencies up to 192 Hz.
Kick Drums VS Basses
To me, both musical instruments are major. I guess this has a lot to do with the fact that I like Boney M and Gilla way too much. In fact, in music writing (programming), I make sure that they both are the foundation of the music yet to be written. And today’s high-powered, high-tech, industrial-strength rock and roll is no exception.
The drum kicks provide the punchy beats that control the tempo of the music while the bass is essential in building up the chord progressions that later on creates the harmonies. To me, these both communicate the most that give that emotional feeling, pulses and give the idea of what the grooves, the chords and the riffs of the rest of the musical instruments. The computer is programmed to give a lot of attention to these two no matter what the musical genre is to be written.
Unfortunately, both instruments rely heavily on the low frequencies sharing almost the same places in the spectrum. This is very problematic.
Of late, Project Illuminations has received quite an attention via www.facebook.com by professionals. I receive quite repetitive comments that they are confused when the kick drums and basses compete against another. They are also frustrated when listening to the muddy mix lack of power. I’m not sure how do they manage to download the music videos from facebook. Is there a software somewhere?
It is also strange to know that the trend is, people expect you not only as a songwriter but also a musician and a sound engineer and the main problem is, I am not any of the above.
How I wish I knew this like 20 years ago where I had the ability to sit and do programming for hours and hours without rest, food and sleep. At this age, I can’t even sit more than 30 minutes without backache. This is very frustrating because I know that I have the thinking ability to re-write programs that cover songwriting, musical arrangement and audio mixing at the same time. The problem is that I don’t have the physical ability. The disadvantage of getting old is now clear.
Anyway, to solve the problem, I must do two things concurrently (manually of course):
a) The musical arrangements should be written where the instruments should not hit at the same time.
b) Improved audio mixing.
Another way to solve the problem is to do something I have never done (or programmed) before which is to let both instruments to act as one. The kick drums are to start the punching and attacking while the basses echoed giving the decaying sound. Hopefully it works but still, that has a lot to do with arrangements. Maybe this should also give the unique signature to the sound of Project Illuminations.
Kick drums, toms, snares and basses are going to be problematic. Solve the problems I will. Life is always like that :-)
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