Better Late Than Never - DJ Storm
It’s been a minute so let me begin by saying - “HAPPY NEW YEAR” and all the best for 2024, I hope it’s a happy, healthy and productive one!!!!
2024 has already started off very rough for some people and we should take nothing for granted and appreciate all that we have, because it can be gone, just as fast….
FINALLY……after several years (yes, not weeks or months, years - not a typo!) I finally got around to compiling all of the tracks I worked on with several artists during the pandemic to put together a record, I entitled “BETTER LATE THAN NEVER”.
Fitting, no? LOL.
I want to 1st start of by apologizing to all of the artists who worked on this project for its tardiness. I could get into many explanations, but I’ll spare you all the gruesome details and simply say that after the long wait, here it is!
As of right now, it’s exclusively available on Bandcamp, but will soon be streaming on all platforms!
Despite its delay, I had a lot of fun working on this record with all of these very talented artists from both the USA and Canada. I believe there’s a little bit of everything and of course….in predictable fashion, (with me), it’s a 90’s boom bap styled record with even an R&B track! I would love to know what you all think so have a listen and hit me up with your thoughts, comments and more when you can. Enjoy!
Along with finishing off BLTN, I always make sure to bang out a beat or two here and there and as the calendar turned to 2024, I made sure to have one ready to go.
Check out “TUNNEL VISION” on my YouTube channel and let me know what you think. Always more to come….
A couple of things I wanted to share and learned during this project.
I discovered a multitude of tools, plugins, and approaches that I had heard of in the past, but never actually put into practice until now….and HOLY CRAP did it make a difference. (It also explains why in some of my past projects, I could never get things to sound exactly how I wanted it too! - you can’t teach experience, you just have to learn on the fly!)
The plugins pictured above, helped immensely in helping me properly place and balance a lot of the tracks on the record. LET ME BE CLEAR, I ALWAYS use my ears first and then once things sound ok to me, I then turn to some of these tools for reference.
One approach I never used to do (I wish I would’ve done it sooner!) was to mix using reference tracks. You hear people talk about it all the time, but we never really take the time to understand why, UNTIL you try it yourself and then realize how much it helps and, in some ways, even speeds up the process. Reference 2 & Tonal Balance (you don’t need them both, one of the 2 will suffice) were 2 plugins I used quite often alongside YouLeanLoudnessMeter2 for final stream able files. Again, let me reiterate that I use my ears first and foremost and then when it’s time to make sure I won’t have the tracks distorted once uploaded to all of the streaming services, I then use these tools to help conform to the desired output levels (True Peak & LUFS).
I won’t get into explaining all of it, as it would take several pages, but I strongly suggest for those of you mixing down your tracks to do a little research about it. Trust me it goes a very long way.
One last note is to also check your phasing. That was a HUGE issue for me on several tracks and was completely ruining the mix until I found strategic ways to solve those issues. It made all the difference in the world.
Feel free to poke me anytime if you have any questions about any of this.
In the meantime, take a listen to the record if you need some background music.
Also, I’ll have some new mixes coming shortly and of course, more beats!
Holla at me and let me know what you all think and, in the meantime, stay safe.
Talk Soon!
DJ
Tonal Balance devotee here, guilty as charged.