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I have been working on my new single but I feel like it could have a brighter more professional finish. To me, it sounds like there is a problem with the dynamics. The drums and the brass sections seem muffled I wonder what can be done to fix it. I have topped and tailed it so its tighter and in better time on the newer one I have here in front of me but it doesn't sound as professional as John Newmans "will you love me again" for instance, I have been working with top notch engineers but to no avail, why? It sounds okay in the studio on top notch speakers, but when I listen to it through radio or on other systems, it sounds too muffled.

What can I do to make my single sound brighter and more professional without the instruments muffled? How can I account for the loss of fidelity associated with radio or consumer audio gear?

You can hear it here.

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  • you can contact me on george@theroaringforties.com – george patterson Oct 16 '13 at 19:36
  • You might have passed the red ahem "nazi" boxes quicker by actually making your question meet the required standards. It doesn't, at the moment! – You can upload your single to e.g. SoundCloud, link to it, and ask about something specific in the way it sounds right now and what you don't like. Then we might be able to actually help you. – leftaroundabout Oct 16 '13 at 19:40
  • This isn't really a question, but more of a discussion. If you can post your file somewhere publically accessible and then ask a question about how to get it to sound like you want with a description of how you'd like it to sound and a link to the file, then we can probably be much more helpful. As leftaroundabout said, the little red boxes were telling you it didn't meet standards because it didn't and doesn't currently meet standards. – AJ Henderson♦ Oct 16 '13 at 19:42
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    Oh, and please don't take my comments as a criticism or beating the new guy, it's just the purpose of this site is a bit different from most sites you might be used to. It takes a little getting use to, but helps make it a much more useful and accessible source of information. – AJ Henderson♦ Oct 16 '13 at 19:49
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    This is not a forum where you scream for quick help, it's a Q&A site where we gather up information supposed to be useful on the long run. Hence the policies, which are empirically chosen to solicit high-quality content. – leftaroundabout Oct 16 '13 at 23:42
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I would look into "Multiband Compression".

Also, you should mix-down and master on a variety of speakers from pro- to consumer-grade and adjust the EQ etcetera so that it sounds good across all of them (not just the studio speakers, those are for finding minute flaws).

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Get a set of NS-10's... But more to the point (to elaborate on the post above),

One of the more deceiving issues in a recording studio is that they tend to have some of the best speakers in the world installed in some of the best listening spaces ever made. This is all great until you consider the fact that (especially today with the iPod etc) most music is consumed in a less than optimal setting. A mix may sound great on your ADAM monitors but by the time it hits ear buds it is not quite right. I would advise actually mixing on some less than optimal devices. If you can get a final pre-production mix to sound good on iPod headphones in the studio, it will sound good on your really nice speakers too (or at least it should). I mention the NS-10's as they are one of the more famous studio monitors. They are actually not very good speakers for all intensive purposes but legend has it that "If it sounds good on the NS-10's it will sound good anywhere" Thus engineers liked to mix on them which in turn forced a good end result. Basically you account for the loss in fidelity by creating that loss from the get go.

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