I bought a fancy limiter plugin last month claiming it would fix my muddy mixes, but my track still sounds flat compared to just using free stock tools. Did I waste my money or do I just not know how to use it right? Anyone else feel tricked by these big promises?
So I played a set at this small club in San Miguel last month, and after I got off the decks the sound engineer pulled me aside. He told me my kick drum was eating up all the headroom and making everything sound like mud. I thought I had it dialed in, you know, like punchy and tight. But he showed me how I was boosting way too much around 60 Hz instead of letting the sub bass breathe separately. So now I cut the low end on the kick by about 4 dB and use a sidechain compressor on the bass line instead. Made a huge difference in my last mix for 'D11-04' actually. Has anyone else had a live sound person call them out on something they thought was perfect?
I bought this 'exclusive' sample pack from a San Salvador producer last month, thinking it'd give my tracks a fresh edge, but it turned out every kick and hat was the same stuff I already had from a free pack I downloaded in 2022. Felt like a total idiot when I saw the waveform matched up perfectly with something I'd deleted off my hard drive. Anyone else get burned by a hype sample pack that was just a rip off?
I used to just bring my main laptop and a USB stick with a few tracks, but during a gig at Mala Vida last month, my DAW froze and I had to restart while the crowd stood there staring. Now I carry a second laptop with the full set synced and I check all my cables before plugging in. Anyone else here dump their old setup after a live failure?
I kept reading forum posts saying the workflow was clunky compared to just using a laptop, but a buddy in San Salvador let me borrow his for a weekend and I had a beat laid down in 20 minutes. The thing just clicked for me way faster than clicking around in Ableton ever did - anyone else find hardware helps them stop overthinking and just make stuff?