I don't have any experience with Winamp, so I can't be of help there. I always use Quicktime to check my .wav files (there should be no difference between your .wav file and your song), and occasionally iTunes.

There are lots of mastering tools out there that are relatively cheap. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but you could set up a mastering chain inside your song project, and mix into it. It's not the best way to do it, but, as long as your system can handle all the extra demand, it should be okay to at least attempt.

If you put one of your songs in a place where I can download it, like youtube, I can do a quick analysis to see how close you're getting to professional levels for your mastering. I won't have time to do this for several days, though.

Is there anyone on here that knows a thing or too about music production schools that I could send a PM too? I have a few questions but don't wanna hijack the thread

nunnehi, I'm not sure what you mean about mastering chain? I tried listening to a song on quicktime, that came out louder than on ableton and winamp, so Idk what's going on there. And yeah it'd be nice to get an opinion on what I've done. I can make my last song downloadable on soundcloud for you, when you're ready. What experience do you have btw?

I don't know info about a particular school, but one of my fav producers put it in perspective in saying why pay for something you can learn entirely on your own?

You should check out Full Sail. And by "check out" I mean make sure to read all the negative stuff, too.

While Full Sail has made a lot of inroads in the past 17 years or so, it's really not worth the extremely high cost, as it is really hard to land a job in the industry, and it will take you forever to pay off your loans. I remember when everyone used to make fun of Full Sail. However, I can honestly say I have met a lot of talented working people who went there. It's not considered a joke in the industry anymore.

A mastering chain is just what you put on your master fader, before export. It could be something like an extra EQ and then a limiter, or a loudness maximizer, or any kind of combination you can think of. It's just any plug-in or piece of outboard gear that is used to affect the actual mix, as opposed to single elements.

I have no idea why you're having such a hard time getting your sound to be similar. Maybe you need some kind of cheap USB audio interface to monitor through. Your Ableton and QT would go through it.

I might not be able to get to analyze your song until next week, as I am slammed this week.

In your country, I am what is called a Dubbing Mixer, if you've ever seen that credit. I've been doing that for a bit over 17 years. I also occasionally mix and master music on the side. Here's an example of something I mastered and partially mixed.

http://soundcloud.com/michaelmayeda/stungun

nunnehi, the song sounds really good. I'll reupload my song and send you a pm with the link in, but I'm going to have another go at fixing it, maybe do something like you suggested with putting something on the master before export, so I'll pm it in a day or so. Thanks for the help.

My first production after messing about on Ableton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbkpgStSF78

Cunning, listened to all of it, was really good.

I got an idea for a music challenge after reading a blog if anyone is interested. The challenge is to make a song within a set time period, can be 24 hours or less if preferred. There could be a special theme or a sample we could use and see what different things we make from it. Anyone up for that?

I dl'ed logic what else do I need to make beats? Its for hip hop/trap/ edm beats

here is my latest track:

http://soundcloud.com/mattmillermusick/trouble

All done in Logic 9. Built all synths and beats, no loops were used!

Serious fire. I'm super impressed, the synths are great and the structure is solid. Vocals really add something special as well.

The only thing I am not totally feeling is the synth used for the reggae/offbeat thing - it is interesting sounding, but I think it would be cooler if it were less sine wavey and sharper in some way (maybe more like a hit rather how it sounds now) - wish I could explain better, just less airy and more punchy IMO. Volume envelope all the way up to start and then decrease quickly on each play of those notes... wish I had a better music vocab.

But, wow, making this type of music is really hard, and I commend you.

Thank you sir!! That feedback is very flattering.

The offbeat pulse thing you are hearing is actually a vocal sample. Hence the reason it isn't punchy with too much attack. That's a really good suggestion though, I could potentially change it, but that's where I got the title of my song from... it sounds to me like they are saying "Trouble"' When I bring the whole sample in on the 2nd measure. Oh well!

I'm not even sure if these fit the Op after all the sick tracks posted here.

I made these on my telephone while tripping on shrooms with GarageBand. Lost those files and had to transfer them to FL studio. I have no idea what I am doing.

I'd appreciate every bit of negative feedback.

http://m.soundcloud.com/aoo-2/my-song-2

http://m.soundcloud.com/aoo-2/my-song-4-copy-6

No clue about this kind of music, or even if it is music.