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psychedelic-ink · 4 years

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A dream of a memory(by lunna-star-8)

There was a girl running through the forest in blue shorts and an aqua t-shirt, black hair to the wind and tight grip on an old pipe as her feet took her expertly over the roots, the rocks and dead branches, almost like the wind carried her to the edge of their forest and into the sea of grey.

That girl was me.

“I win!” I call out as I throw my arms up in the air.

My oldest brother arrives soon after “When… Did you get so damn fast?” Ace breathes out as he rests his hands on his knees.

I shrug as I get my breath back “I’m like a ninja!”

He straightened up and chuckled “I’m just happy that Luffy didn’t think of rocketing his way here, that would’ve been a disaster.”

We both laughed and that was when my twin brother appeared winded out “I… Should’ve… Thought of that…” Luffy fell back as soon as he reached us.

“Oh no you don’t!” Ace argued with him “I’d like to not start the afternoon with my body smashed against the City Walls, thank you very much!”

Luffy sat up with a whine “That was one time!”

“I’m pretty sure our silhouettes are still marked on the walls, Luf.” I point out with my free hand on my hip.

“Don’t you pick on me too, Lu!” he complained but then his eyes widened and he pointed at me “Eh, your tail’s out again.”

Both my brothers look at me and I slowly look over my right shoulder to see the tip of my tail there again “Luna…?” Ace’s voice calls softly as I keep my eyes trained on the black and white tail attached to me.

“Oh!” Luffy pipes up in excitement “The ears now!”

“You’re not helping!” And I hear the unmistakeable sound of Ace hitting my twin over the head. I feel a growl climbing up my chest and onto my throat, Ace sighs and he’s pulling the tip of my tiger ear before I notice, pain goes up and down my body “And you, why are you growling at your own tail, you moron?!” I tried to get him to let go of the tip of my very sensitive ear but he wouldn’t have it “I mean, how many times do we have to have this conversation? It’s your tail.”

I pouted as I looked at my tail “It’s weird.”

“I wish I had a tail…” Luffy whined as he now stood leaning on his own pipe “And could turn into a giant raging tiger…”

“No!” me and Ace lectured at the same time but our brother only laughed, he was like that. Maybe he’d have mastered the full tiger form by now while I’m still scared of letting go…

Ace let go of my ear and crossed his arms over his chest “C’mon, weird? Have you met the rest of your family?” we both looked at Luffy that kept grinning and I tilted my head “’Weird’ is also known as ‘casual Tuesday’ with us.”

I laughed at that, it’s not like he was wrong. I took a deep breath and felt my ears shift back to their original human shape, when I looked back, the tail was gone too “Hurray!”

Ace nodded, moving to support his own pipe on his shoulders with his arms hanging from it “Ok, now, we were gonna get ourselves some decent weapons, right? Time to retire the old pipes.”

“I don’t need one.” Luffy spoke up as we all started walking through the Gray Terminal “My punches are like pistols!” he punched the air with the fist he was holding his staff with.

“Yeah? Maybe if you ever manage to hit your target.” Ace mocked and I laughed.

We kept our usually cheerful banter as we crossed the Terminal, things were just the same as they’d always been; with the Bluejam pirates gone, Sly and his ‘gang’ had taken over the position of King of the junkyard; the army never really walked outside the gates unless to dispose of the garbage that the nobles still dumped at the Terminal; the scavengers still raced to the ‘treasures’ hiding in the piles of trash that then in turn, they sell back to the city… I swear, sometimes it feels like we were the only ones that had lived through the fire, the only ones that had lost in the fire…

I shook my head as we reach the Great Gate and feel an arm wrap itself over my shoulders, I look over to see my oldest brother smile at me and I mirror his expression without thinking about it. I wrap my arm around his torso and he kisses my head as we continue on into Edge Town, the same low lives as there had always been, selling things that they wouldn’t dare try to sell in town like drugs and weapons. Like I said, nothing had changed really… Made me think why was it all for…? What was the point?

“You’re uncharacteristically quiet.” Ace pointed out and I looked up at him, I don’t think I ever told him how much I liked his freckles “Get out of your own head, shrimp.”

“I’m not a shrimp!” I argue puffing my cheeks out, he pinches my cheeks “I don swech wike Wuffy, ya no?” I pull my hand from his side and start to lightly brush the tip of my fingers where my hand had rested.

“LUNA!” Ace jumped like a scared cat and me and Luffy laughed to tears until I felt his eyes on me.

“You’re in trouble now.” Luffy said to me but his eyes remained on our brother.

I nod “Eh… Depends.”

“It depends, huh?” Ace glared over at me, he really didn’t like when I tickled him, that never stopped me though.

I grinned “If you catch me.” And turned back to run.

Ace chased me up and down the lower town, until I was laughing too much to be able to run anymore and he caught up with me, drowning me in an attack of tickles. Luffy jumped on us, helping out Ace with tickling me, I could barely breathe between laughs “I… Surrender!!!” I call out between laughs and they end up stopping, both laughing at this point as well. I grab Luffy’s cheek and pull as far as I felt like “And you…” I breathed out “What… eheh What made you think hehehehe he needed help tickling me?”

“I wike hearing you waugh.” He replied and it made me release his cheek that smacked back into his face “You’ve been too serious, Lu.”

I smile at him, ignoring the stares on us from the people that passed by “Sorry, I’ve been thinking—” what had I been thinking about…? Him? Ace leaving? It had been two years since one and it still was five years until the other. Why had I been thinking more about it lately?

“We know.” Ace had simply said in my silence, making me look back at him as he got up and swatted the dirt off his clothes, then held out his hand to me with a smile “We’re here though, Luna. And I promised, didn’t I?” I smiled up at him and took his hand to help myself up “Nothing for you to go all serious about.” Once I was up, he pulled Luffy by the scruff of his neck and we patted the dust off our clothes.

I’ve always felt more intensely than other people, I couldn’t just be happy I had to radiate it and it could happen with the smallest things – I touched my bracelet as I bring it to my chest – I had smiled for a whole month after Sabo got me my bracelet, I could never not smile when Ace braided my hair, smiling came as naturally as breathing when Luffy gave me piggyback rides… It was never hard to make me smile and it lasted for the longest of times. But this also applied for when I felt sad, for I couldn’t just be sad, I’d feel empty and dark and down a hole I could never really climb out of – not by myself at least, fortunately I still had two of my brothers to help me.

I smiled and looped my arms through theirs “Let’s go! I still have to kick both your asses in practice later!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m not nice enough to let you beat me, you know?” Luffy pointed out from my left and I grinned at him.

“You don’t have to dear brother, I still win the majority of our duels.”

“You can’t say the same to me though.” I turned to my right to see Ace grinning down at me.

I puff out my cheeks “Logic dictates that I’m bound to beat you even once in our lives, you know?”

He scoffed “You keep telling yourself that, shrimp.”

“I’m beating Ace before you get a chance to, Lu!” Luffy perked up, making me turn to him again.

“You only get to claim that after you’ve beaten me more times than I’ve beaten you!”

His smile opened wider as he looked ahead “Just you wait until I control my powers better! You won’t beat me then!”

“Ha! By then I’ll control all my Zoan forms.” I reply to him, Luffy turns back to me and we both start laughing at each other.

We casually walked through the way too clean streets of Downtown, completely ignoring the stares of the people that thought us too grotesque for their perfect little town, they should know better than to stare at this point.

It doesn’t take us long to get to Zeke’s shop, he had the best weapons to sell in all the Goa Kingdom, it was right between Edge town and Downtown, hidden enough away to not be noticeable to those that didn’t know where it was but there nonetheless to everyone that tried to seek it out. It didn’t seem very big from the outside but Zeke had used the surrounding empty buildings to expand his business without anyone noticing, also the military approved of it, they had to get their weapons from somewhere.

“Oh no!” Zeke’s voice comes from the back of the shop as the three of us scatter through his corridors making me look up at him. The old man comes from behind the counter with his cain waving in the air looking at me, then looking around “Hey, you too!” he points his cain at Luffy that stops himself from grabbing a battle axe and Zeke looks around again as I see Ace walking up behind him.

“Hi old man.”

Zeke jumps in the air before turning to Ace with his cain still in the air “Oh no!” I can’t not smile to myself “No!” the man shakes his head as he keeps saying it “Out of my shop! All of you!”

Ace chuckled “C’mon Zeke, be nice, we’re here as actual customers this time.”

The old man’s eyes widened between me and my brothers “Is that supposed to make me feel better?! It doesn’t!” the old man is forced to put the cain on the floor as he takes a breath “You three—Brat, you touch that axe I’m throwing you over the damn wall!” he warns and I saw Luffy flinch before he whistles away from the weapon, like he’s discreet or something “You three are destructive enough with your little pipes! I’m not giving you anything that could kill someone!”

I shrug “A spoon could kill someone in the right hands.”

The old man turns to me and waves his cain again “That mindset, little witch, is exactly why I’m not selling you three anything!”

“Old man, c’mon.” Ace tried to reason with him as he pulled his backpack off to show the man the contents “It’s good business.” I tried not to laugh at the way Zeke’s old eyes basically jumped at the amount of gold in my brother’s bag “And I promise that we’re not getting Luffy a weapon.”

The man nodded trying to pull himself together as Ace slung the backpack over his shoulder again “That’s a relief…” but then he eyes me and Ace “You two aren’t that much better though!”

“We’re not that bad.” I waved off and the man waved his cain at me again.

“NOT THAT BAD?!” he took a deep breath and pointed his cain at a bit of his shop that had patchworks holding the ceiling together “Do you know, you little pest, who shot my ceiling into the air?”

I scratched the back of my neck as I looked away “Eh? Luna did that.”

I dropped my head at my twin’s voice “Thanks Luf…”

“Put that down!” the man warned Luffy again before rubbing his face “I’m gonna have a heart attack with you three in my shop…”

Ace laughed “Tell you what Zeke.” Both me and the man looked up at my oldest brother as Luffy moved along to another trinket “What about two of us wait outside? Would that make you feel better?”

“Much better!” the old man admitted taking his hand to his back as he walked back to the counter “It’ll also help me forget that I’m selling actual weapons to the three worst delinquents of Grey Terminal.”

“That’s not fair, you sell weapons to the military!” I grumble “And you used to sell to Bluejam and you now sell to Sly. We’re not that bad!”

The man turned to me half way with a chuckle “In my books? They’re small fries compared to you three.” He paused for a moment before continuing walking to the counter “It’s a compliment, little witch.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this ‘compliment’ but I shrugged it off as Ace rolled his eyes “Lu, take Luffy and wait outside, will you?”

I whined “But Ace…”

“I promise I’ll get you something cool.” He assured me as I crossed my arms and puffed my cheeks out “Don’t make that face, shrimp.” He pinched my cheek again “Now take Luffy and wait outside, c’mon.”

“Wat’s sho uffair!” I mumble before he releases my cheek and I stare at him as I rub my cheek “You’re cooking tonight then.”

He nodded “Deal. Now go on before the old man throws a mace at us or something.”

I laughed as I walked around to Luffy that was playing with a dagger, casually put it down and grabbed him by the hand “C’mon Luf, Zeke is an asshole.”

Me and Luffy ducked instinctively as an iron mace hit the wall where our heads were meant to me, didn’t faze us as we walked out back out the door. I sat on one of the boxes pilled on the entrance as Luffy kicked a rock “It’s not like we do that much damage.” He grumbled what only made me laugh.

“I destroyed his ceiling but you tend to nearly kill Zeke with whatever you grab.”

He turned to me with a finger over his chin as he seemed to think “I don’t remember that.”

I laughed more “I’m not surprised!”

We weren’t there for that long, I stayed sitting on my wooden box, flipping my pipe to pass the time as Luffy was clearly starting to hit his boredom mark, I didn’t know how to keep him entertained as I also wanted to go back inside and check out the cool weapons.

“He thinks he’s such a fucking hotshot.” My ears perked up as I heard a male voice from the inside the shop accompanied by more than one set of footsteps “Piece of fucking shit thinking he’s somebody around here.” I didn’t notice anyone in Zeke’s shop but it was certainly big enough for me to have missed them, five guys walk out of the shop adjusting clearly new daggers into their belts. I looked at Luffy that pointed at his own head as he tilted his head to me, I lifted my hand to touch my ears, only to notice that they had shifted again. I tried lowering my head to not call attention to myself, when I felt a familiar straw hat softly settling over my head, I looked up to see Luffy now standing by my side smiling at me, making me smile back at him. I touched my back to notice that my tail hadn’t made an appearance this time, breathed of relief and looked over my shoulder to notice that the men hadn’t paid us any attention, placing them almost at the corner of the short street “I’m telling you, someone should teach him a lesson!” despite their distance, I found that I could hear them just the same.

“And that someone’s you?” another one seemed to ask as I tried to shift my ears back into their human shape “Ha! I’d love to see you try to fight the kid.”

“I’m not saying me, but I certainly wouldn’t mind if someone killed him.”

Why can’t I shake their conversation? What does the tiger know that I don’t?

“Him and the other brats, all a fucking pain.”

“Lu, they’re not going away…” Luffy whispered near me and I nodded as I focused harder on making them go away.

“He’s the worst of the lot! I’m telling you, Ace’s a waste of life.”

I snapped my head in the direction the men had left. What the fuck did they just say…? I gave the straw hat back to my twin, gripped my pipe tightly and got off the pile of boxes before I ran off “Luna!”

I didn’t turn back to see Luffy running after me, I was too preoccupied with turning that corner and finding the group of men “Which one of you said that?”

The men turned to face me “It’s one of the brats.” Rushed footsteps stopped behind me and I glanced over my shoulder to see Luffy looking between me and the men “And another one. What do you two want?”

“Right now? Your head on a platter.” I said, keeping my eyes on them.

The men chuckled among themselves while I felt my brother’s hand on my elbow “Lu, what’s wrong?” he knew I wouldn’t just start a fight out of nowhere, I had met Shanks too after all and had learned that lesson as well, but there was no fucking way I was letting them walk away after I had heard what they said. But at the same time, I didn’t want to tell Luffy what I had heard, it’s silly, but it felt wrong to tell him.

“They’re talking shit.” I simply replied, keeping my eyes on them “And they’re losing their teeth for it at least.” There was something that was worrying me though, inside of me there was a roar that was trying to claw out and not quieting down but I couldn’t bring myself to back down “Keep back Luffy, I’ll handle these guys myself.” He let go of my arm and I heard him step back.

The men laughed but I narrowed my eyes on one of them and jumped him, smacking the bent edge of my pipe right on his face, sending him rolling back a couple of times as I turn to the other four that suddenly were taking me very seriously. They reached for their weapons but with their words ringing in my mind they were lucky if they got out of this with their lives, I was seeing red. They were the waste of life! How dare they?! They should wash their mouths before talking about our brother!

I hit one of them so hard with my staff that his blood splashed on my face. It was like a pulsation coursed through me – shit.

I stopped and glanced over at Luffy that had stayed back like I had asked. We didn’t need words, he knew what was happening, his eyes widened and that was it… That’s what I remember.

Everything else was fog. There was rage, a roar, a cry… I wasn’t enough myself to see Ace turning the corner with Luffy, worry evident all over his face. I don’t remember the feeling of my paws on the back of the men I had just beaten, I didn’t hear my brother’s exchange before Luffy took off running around the building, I wasn’t enough there to see Ace put his staff down and take off his backpack. I wasn’t in control when Luffy tangled his rubbery limbs around my body and Ace wrapped his arms around me. I wasn’t the one that struggled as the tiger thrashed against my brothers’ holds but there was only one thing that broke through the fog and the fear and the anger, clear like a bell came my oldest brother’s voice - “It’s alright Lu, we’re safe.”

With Ace’s voice came peace, the feeling of being home and not even the tiger could fight that. I remember being cradled in my brother’s arms as my body started to feel too heavy for me to hold, I remember feeling so small I could be a fairy, I remember the smell of my brother’s skin – warm like the sun, fresh like the wind that blows through the forest, bitter like oranges – I smiled weakly at the smell of home and then I was out.

I wasn’t awake to see my brothers share a sigh of relief, or to see Ace glare down at anybody that wasn’t unconscious – a silent threat to stay back or lose their lives – as he cradled me in his arms. No, when I woke up, I was leaning against a tree and the breeze of the forest caressed my skin, beside me to my left, Luffy was wrapped around me so quiet that you’d think he was asleep but the moment I moved, he looked up at me with bright eyes and a radiant smile “You’re back!”

I couldn’t help but smile too “I’m back.” I held him tight too as I looked around “Where’s Ace?”

“Hunting.” Luffy simply replied “He said he’d promised you that he’d cook tonight.” Then he frowned “I thought it was your turn to cook.”

“Yeah, but then Zeke wouldn’t let all of us be in the shop and Ace wanted to be the one to stay.” I explain “I bargained.”

We both laughed as we looked at each other, I was thankful to be back “I was worried, you know?” I didn’t say anything “What you heard must’ve been really bad, huh?”

“Piece of fucking shit.” “I certainly wouldn’t mind if someone killed him.” “Ace’s a waste of life.”

I nodded “It was worse than when we heard those Mountain Bandits talk about Shanks…”

“Oh…” was all my twin said, I knew he understood where my reaction had come from.

We sat there waiting for Ace to come back, I knew I ha scared Luffy by the way he stayed quietly by my side, arms wrapped twice around me as he pulled me close. I’m sorry Luffy…

Ace didn’t take long, showing up with a giant crocodile dragging behind him, he smiled tenderly at me “Good to see you awake.”

“Sorry…” I sheepishly said but he waved me off.

“Are you two gonna help me with this or am I carrying it and you all the way back to Dadan’s?”

Me and Luffy were quick to get up help our brother carry the beast, as we do this, I notice the dagger hanging from my brother’s belt “You got a blade!”

He looker over his shoulder and grinned “Oh, I got a set for you two.” I grinned so widely that if the tiger wasn’t so drained, it’s ears would’ve made an appearance, he looked back ahead “Hey Lu?” I hummed in acknowledgement “You never did say why you don’t like to shift.”

I didn’t reply, simply looking at his back as we walked “I think it’s cool that you can turn into a tiger.” I heard Luffy pipping up behind me.

“It’s scary…” I admit walking between them and adjusting my grip on the crocodile’s back “It’s always angry and I don’t know why…”

“Don’t you?” Ace’s voice made me look up at the back of his head “I think you do.” I thought about what he was trying to say, maybe I did know? But no, the tiger had always been hard to control, calling it had always been scary.

“Well… It’s still hard to control.”

“You’re not necessarily someone that likes to be controlled yourself.” Ace chuckled but it only made me frown at his back.

“Where are you getting at?”

He shrugged and the whole crocodile moved with his shoulders “I’m just saying, you’ve always referred to the tiger as ‘it’ or as something separate from you, and maybe that’s the problem?” I opened my mouth to speak but he was clearly not done “It’s not an ‘it’, it’s you. I think that the more you try to separate yourself from your tiger self, the harder it gets to control. Maybe, and I’m no expert, but just maybe if you learned to accept that the tiger is a part of you, then you’d control it better.”

“What if you’re wrong?” I spoke up “What if the only reason I’m able to come back is because I fight it? What if I invite it to take over and it turns on both of you and then—”

“I’m not dying!” Ace clearly enunciated the words as he looked over his shoulder at me, almost to drive it home “Didn’t I promise that?” I nodded at him, taken a bit aback by his tone “And, for as long as I’m around, I’m not letting anything hurt you or Luffy! I don’t care if it’s the military, the thugs of Gray Terminal, Sly or even if Bluejam himself showed his piece of shit face! This also goes for you hurting yourself, Luna. So no, your inner tiger can try going on all the rampages it wants, I’ll be there to bring you back, get it?” I nodded again, too stunned to find my voice “Do you get it, Luna?”

“Y-Yeah…” I nodded again, feeling my cheeks warm up, I smile “Thanks big brother.”

I notice Ace’s cheeks turn pink as he looks back ahead “A-ACE!!!” I look over my shoulder to find Luffy crying in what I can guess is happiness “A-ACE’S THE BEST!”

“SHUT UP, LUFFY!” Ace argues from the front making me laugh to myself. As long as I had them, I’d be alright.

I had a bath before going to bed that night, put on my pyjama and went back to our room to do something of my hair. Luffy was already snoring it up and I had to smile at the scene before I went to grab my brush, but a hand reached it before I did “Let me.”

“Go sleep Ace, I’m just giving it a quick brush so it’s not all tangled up tomorrow.” I hold out my hand to him but he doesn’t give it back.

“Sit, shrimp.”

I roll my eyes and puff my cheeks out but do as my brother tells me. With my legs crossed on the floor, I can’t help but remembering the first time that Ace had done my hair for me, it had been about two years before and it was messy and he pulled my hair a few times and it had come out full of knots, but I felt deeply loved… I can’t explain it properly, maybe it’s just silly, but it’s like when Luffy gives me those tight hugs that I never want to let go of, it makes me feel truly loved. I really hope that there’s something that I do that gives them that feeling too.

“Are you gonna tell me why you started that fight?” he asks as he brushes my hair but I don’t reply “You can imagine my scare when Luffy runs into the shop calling my name and saying that you’re shifting. When you passed out, he said you were fine and then you just went after those morons.” I still didn’t say anything “The both of us know that you wouldn’t just randomly start a fight, so I’m curious of what made you lose control so badly that you went full tiger on them.”

I sighed as I fiddled with my bracelet on my lap “They said something – that I’m not going to repeat – but it was bad, like… There was no way I was gonna let them leave with all their teeth, kind of bad.” He chuckled behind me “Nobody talks of my brothers like that…” I only realized I had said it aloud when he stopped brushing my hair, immediately I covered my mouth.

“Luna…” shit, there was the serious voice. He spun me on the floor so that I was facing his rather serious face “I don’t want you getting into fights just because some assholes bad mouth us.”

I crossed my arms over my chest “You’d have done worse if what they said had been about us instead.”

“So, worse, you got in a fight just because they bad mouthed me?” he lectured “C’mon Luna, you know better than that.”

“Just?! Oh…” I tried to keep my temper in check but keeping my eyes on his “Ace, the oceans of the world will run dry before I let anyone bad mouth my brothers. God help the world if your secret ever comes out and I hear anybody make comments I don’t like!” he rubbed his face, covering whatever expression he might be making but I saw his shoulders drop slightly as he breathed out.

“You can’t just fight the world, Lu.” He said, as he dropped his hands to the floor “Trust me, I’ve tried.”

I frowned and waved my finger in the air a bit “Oh, you watch me, brother!”

“I thought your pal Shanks had taught you that it’s stupid to pick fights over stupid things.” He tried again but I found myself standing up, my small height being just enough for him to have to tilt his head back a bit.

“It’s not stupid!” I protest “It’s my family! You’re my family! Luffy’s my family! Dadan is my family! Grandpa’s my family! I will not stand by as some jackass says bad things about any of you! I refuse to! What kind of woman would I be if I just allowed that?” he keeps staring at me and I just cross my arms over my chest again. In retrospective, saying that while wearing an oversized shirt that read ‘sunshine’ in the front, might’ve not been the best of moves, but it was done either way “And after what that guy said? He’s lucky if he’s still breathing.”

“What did he say?”

“I refuse to repeat it.” I reply “It was an absolute lie, like saying that we don’t need the sun in the sky! Like saying we don’t need air to breathe! It was ridiculous and I’ll never let anyone say such things and walk away laughing!”

He sighed but his features softened “You could’ve gotten hurt…”

I shrugged as I sat back down, facing him “It won’t stop me from fighting.”

He spun me back around and continued brushing my hair “What am I gonna do with you, shrimp?” there was silence for a moment as he put the brush down and started to wrap my hair up in a braid. I handed him a rubber band when he was done and he kissed the back of my head “Thank you, Lu.” I couldn’t help the small smile on my face as I traced my fingers through my freshly made braid. When I turned, he was already settling himself to sleep and I did the same, for the first time in a while, not scared to see the tiger in my dreams.

When I opened my eyes, there was no more forest, no more junkyard and I was no longer a child, I was wrapped in bandages in the Heart Pirates’ ship and it hadn’t been the tiger that roamed my dreams, but the past.

#submit #lunna-star-8 #monkey d luna #monkey d. luffy #portgas d. ace #one piece #one piece oc #submission

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audiohut · 4 years

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Thoughts for Engineers

Here is something for the engineers. I have been working as an engineer for almost a decade and have come to find a few elements the new found engineer can implement to get them started!

When you first have your mix, it might be hard to grasp but finding balance is key. Start your mix by simply adjusting the volume faders and panning knobs to 1. Create your stereo image and 2. Keep away from any un needed processing that might over saturate or damage your mix in the long run. When you do this, imagine that this is all you have to mix with and keep an eye on your master bus to see what is peaking above -6 dB and note it down as the first things you will approach along with anything else you see fit with dynamics, frequency or busing.

Once you have a balance go ahead and briefly solo out certain elements that you prefer to start with. For me, i solo my kick and snare and sweep for clashing frequencies within each. I always start with subtractive EQ before my compression to only compress the frequencies i see as needed or as “the good ones”. Once i have removed frequencies i do not like, i will throw them back into the mix and make minor adjustments without making arbitrary changes that suck up time and that could lead to a foggy direction for the mix eventually ruining it. I repeat this process with very minor removals until i feel i have a good foundation setup.

Side Note: Always focus on your subtractive EQ. You are more likely to find good results in removing bad frequencies which allow the positive ones to show themselves and breathe especially after compression. Boosting to much low, mid or high can result in a muddy, boxy and airy end point in your mix. While boosting is beneficial in many ways you want to boost with closure and know exactly what you want to bring out with said boost. A good example is with bass. I will dual process the bass which entails one low end track and one high end track containing the grit or clank. To really grasp the clank, i will either use a saturation plugin (Fab Filter Saturn) and boost the 2khz-3khz range or simply boost this region with a multi band EQ like Fab Filter Pro Q or SSL’s Channel. If i did not know what i had been looking for i would not have boosted to begin with but considering this range is the attack and grit and i want it brought out, i chose to boost it.

Once i have gotten a foundation, i will then apply Waves L2 on my master bus with a dB and LUFS level that is fitting for the time being. As i achieve certain milestones i will adjust my limiter to a commercial volume level to sort of guide the mix as i go. This helps me focus on sounds that need relief rather than crushing my mix with a limiter after my mix which could result in thinned out sounds especially when clipping elements like snares, kicks and vocals.

Side Note: With every single move i make and more specifically EQ i implement the LDFC method. Listen, Diagnose, Fix and Compare. This will keep you grounded to your moves and make them happen with the reassurance that they are there for a reason. When i first started mixing, i found myself making moves without knowing what i was doing. This is obviously a n00b move, but without starting and actually applying these tools like EQ, Compression etc i would not have gotten better.

After i have gotten my EQ some what out of the way, i move to compression. This is usually done by instrument for me but it never hurts to change up your work flow. If you have a good dB balance paired with a good frequency balance you will be able to hear which areas need tamed dynamics and or punch and attack. Depending on your instrument and what you want to pull from it, you will want to approach your compressor a little differently.

Side Note: I want you to know that a great place to start is to find a signal chain of your own that you are comfortable with tool wise and that is logical to your work flow and use this over and over again starting from scratch every time. You do not want to simply copy and paste the same chain on every vocal as every performance is different and every recording is as well. Doing this will help you grasp the tools and how they work together and become familiar with where they should be used and how heavily they should be worked next time. Remember this: There is no magic button, signal chain or piece of gear/plugins that just make it great. It requires time and effort and real work to learn how to get a colorful and punchy mix.

These two elements (EQ and Compression) once mastered will absolutely bring out what you want from your recordings. There is no simple way to achieve a good mix other than by starting and repeating a process that hones in the skills you desire to get a colorful and bright vocal, guitar or drum track.

If this helped you in anyway i am glad! I hope you the best in your mixing journey as i know it has been fun learning and advancing every mix for myself. If you are looking to produce, write or compose songs please follow and look back at my thoughts for song writers! These posts are all first hand from my experience and i love sharing the information with you and hope you learn from it!

-Andrew Giordanengo

-Audiohut

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streamsspotify-blog · 5 years

Text

Why Spotify Lowered the Volume of Songs and Ended Hegemonic Loudness

In the end of May, Spotify made an alteration to its own music documents that went undetected by virtually all the agency's listeners. What was obvious, but to sound engineers and studio wizards was that the volume was reduced on each Spotify-hosted track.

Using software called Dynameter, this assortment of audiophiles took dimensions of favorite playlists such as the Global Top 50 and records of genres which range from soul to alloy, also found the Spotify catalogue had become more silent.

We believe"loudness" to explain the individual perception of a sound that is rich. When you hear something, so, what really counts is your understanding of the noise, not the values which are enrolled on a decibel meter.

It was just in 2011 the European Broadcasting Union, one of the chief broadcasting associations in the world, based that a dimension unit of loudness using all the EBU-R128 benchmark , known as LUFS (acronym for Loudness Units comparative to Full Scale). It's, in actuality, a smarter component of measure compared to decibels for understanding human comprehension of quantity.

Contrary to RMS, yet another measure used to find out the typical quantity of audiovisual productions, LUFS dismisses low frequencies, rather focusing on high and average steps over 2 kHz--the most sensitive area to our ears. A shout, as an instance, conveys more quantity feeling than the usual double bass may, though RMS suggests higher amounts for the device (and basses weigh heavily with all the older measure). That is because the human voice is at the center area.

LUFS was made to approximate our hearing functions.

What engineers have started to see is that Spotify has decreased the LUFS indicator of everything on its own stage from -11 LUFS into -14 LUFS, some in accord with that of rival musical platforms such as YouTube (- 13 LUFS), Tidal (-14 LUFS), along with Apple Music (-16 LUFS). In practice, the quantity for human ears will probably be controlled, and you might not even see the change.

We achieved to Spotify for remark about the LUFS decrease:"Spotify is always testing new features to benefit its users. Recent changes in the playback experience are part of the aspects we are evaluating."

So why is this significant?

A much better audio

At first, the acceptance of this EBU-R128 standard wasn't aimed at streaming programs as well as the audio world. The aim was to normalize the audio patterns of content. You understand how some advertisements are far louder than others? Or the gap in the quantity involving a TV app and an advertisement? The target of the EBU-R128 benchmark was supposed to streamline those gaps and subtract the quantity of TV stations.

One of the principal methods for boosting the quantity perception of a tune is by way of compression. It may be carried out with particular hardware or applications throughout the mastering process. As its name suggests, the method compresses the sound wave. This puts a ceiling on the waves' peaks while promoting the gain in the lower parts. Imagine taking an electrocardiogram and tightening those gauges so that the higher and lower parts are more level.

"While attempting to raise the sound, they ended up forfeiting its quality."

"If you compress an orchestra, and the violinist is playing with a smooth violin by himself, then you are likely to hear it loudly," explains Pedro Luce, a Brazilian music producer. "When the remaining musicians come together with their tools, you are going to hear everything with the identical intensity." The compression intensifies the calmest, emptiest moments of the song.

You see the problem, right? A song is made of quieter and more agitated moments. In real life, a guitar alone doesn't have the same intensity as when the drums join in. When compression occurs in an exaggerated way, it makes everything louder, which ends up stealing the dynamics away from the music itself. It's like listening to that one loud friend of yours who always yells when they're drunk. In addition to being bothersome, it also becomes monotonous after awhile.

"In nationwide (Brazilian) manufacturing, you will find [musical fashions ] that misuse the usage of compression," producer Nando Costa told me. "In country music, including mainstream artists, there is many productions and combinations that are completely distorted. You listen to the sound of the muted voice. The drums look like the celebrity is playing a toothpick. This is a consequence of quite compressed and limited sound. While attempting to raise the noise, they wind up forfeiting its quality."

Even with this knowledge, producers, artists, and record companies prefer to bet on loud sound that's full of compression. Among other concerns, there's the thought that a sound stands out more in comparison with the work of other artists when it's louder. Sadly, for most untrained ears, loudness is mistaken for a sign of quality. The dispute to see which artists created the loudest songs initiated the "Loudness Wars."

The race for the highest volume started in tandem with the emergence of the digital age of music, back when CDs became the main form of sound distribution. Prior to that, when vinyl reigned, there were physical limitations that ensured the compression wouldn't become muddy; a record that produced loud enough sounds could make the needle jump, which would ruin the entire musical experience. Those limits ended with the dawn of the CD. It was as if a road with no speed limits had been paved, and compression gained even more traction.

Moreover, in the vinyl era, it was normal to listen to an entire album by the same artist. The immediate comparison between works from different records and different artists did not exist, so there was no need to make one track stand out from the other by volume. This practice began to fade with the introduction of the CD, which made it easier to change the disc on the stereo, and went even further with MP3 players, which introduced the option to play songs on shuffle. Nowadays, in the era of playlists, it's difficult to find people who listen to two songs by the same artist back to back. As a result, produced music has become compressed and louder. Check out a chart generated by the site Sample Magic.

To make matters worse, lack of momentum isn't the only side effect of excessive compression. When you enforce boundaries on a sound wave, you create distortions in the actual waves, which can create distortions in the music. "The longer the compressor functions, the longer it will lead to distortion in the audio," explains Costa.

One of the records that symbolizes just how far a band will go to boost compression in order to gain volume is Metallica's Death Magnetic. At the time of its release in 2008, many fans complained about the sound madness found on the disc: There were no auditory dynamics and many moments of pure distortion. Months later, the band released the game Guitar Hero: Metallica, which featured remastered, quieter versions of the same songs which, within the game, had to compete with other Metallica songs from other albums.

Researchers at the University Hospital of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, and the University of Aalborg published a study comparing the two versions of the album. Below, you can see the comparison of a 30-second stretch of the song "My Apocalypse." Notice how the band managed to achieve the so-called "brick wall compression," a track of sound with no dynamics whatsoever.

By reducing the LUFS index, Spotify is telling the music industry that there's no use in trying to sound louder than everyone else. Everything that comes into the platform will sound and be on the same level. Even if something is mastered very loudly, the volume will be automatically reduced. Of course, this serves to standardize the streaming service as TV channels previously had done with their commercials, but apart from benefiting the service itself, Spotify will force the industry to work differently. The songs will have to draw attention to other aspects that go beyond the volume. The door to more dynamic sounds is wide open.

"If you've got a extremely compressed sound, it is going to get smaller due to the absence of dynamics," explains Costa. "When you reduce the loudness of the noise, you've got the impression that it plays considerably lower"

In other words, the songs with loudness above -14 LUFS sounds lower on Spotify compared to those that have been compressed below the magic number. Nando Costa makes this comparison in the video below: A national artist mastered around -13 LUFS and a Metallica song from Death Magnetic(watch from 40:30). At the time of the video, Spotify's standardization standard was still -11 LUFS and the music had not been mastered specifically for the platform, however, the result of the national artist was much better than that of the elderly metalheads.

On this site, you can graphically see what happens when a very loud song has its volume reduced when entering Spotify.

"Sometimes the music isn't bad simply due to the composition, but from how it's introduced," says Costa. Thus, Spotify may help bring an end to Loudness Wars, which should generate better quality music in general, with more dynamics and cleaner audio.

But that's not the only result of Spotify's new volume regulation.

Protect Your Ears

Are you familiar with the sense of relief that sometimes comes when we stop listening to music and indulge in peace and silence? It happens even to people who can't get enough of their music, and it's associated with a phenomenon called "listener fatigue" (or ear fatigue).

"The ramifications of [listener] exhaustion are well understood, though people don't always associate these consequences together with the term tiredness," said Dr. Tanit Ganz Sanchez, an associate professor at the School of Medicine at the University of São Paulo (FMUSP) and founder of the Ganz Sanches Institute, a facility that specializes in hearing treatment.

Symptoms include actual fatigue, irritability, and insomnia.

Sanchez explains that we have a small muscle whose function is to protect our hearing, called the stapedius. The function of this organ is to bar the entrance of very aggressive sounds in our ears. It tightens the eardrum and functions as a filter so that the sounds get softer before they're perceived by the middle ear, a portion of the auditory system that leads the sound to the inner ear, where we actually hear. The problem is that prolonged exposures to intense volumes can cause fatigue in this muscle.

"I'm comparing the stapedius muscle together with all the arm muscle," she explains. "Let's say that you invest 30 minutes pumping iron at the gym. Sooner or later, that muscle will state' Enough, no more.' The ear muscle also has this contraction, but we don't have any power above it. It is involuntary and occurs whenever you listen to a louder noise. Should you hear loud music frequently, that muscle will end up wearier."

The only difference between the stapedius and the bicep is that we rarely actually feel any pain in the ear, like the pain caused by a day of over-lifting in the gym.

In this way, by putting a ceiling on the LUFS, Spotify is contributing to the health of its customers' ears. It is well worth mentioning that Apple has been sued by men and women who lost their hearing after extreme listening to the iPod.

0 notes

buyspotifysaves · 5 years

Text

Why Spotify Lowered the Volume of Songs and Ended Hegemonic Loudness

At the end of May, Spotify made a change to its own music files that went undetected by virtually all the agency's listeners. What was obvious, but to sound engineers and studio wizards was that the volume had been reduced on every Spotify-hosted track.

Using software called Dynameter, this assortment of audiophiles took measurements of favorite playlists like the Global Top 50 and albums of genres ranging from soul to metal, and discovered that the Spotify catalog had become more silent.

We consider"loudness" to describe the human perception of a sound that is rich. When you listen to something, so, what really counts is your perception of the sound, not the values which are registered on a decibel meter.

It was just in 2011 that the European Broadcasting Union, one of the chief broadcasting organizations in the world, established a dimension unit of loudness with the EBU-R128 benchmark , called LUFS (acronym for Loudness Units relative to Full Scale). It is, in fact, a smarter component of measure than decibels for understanding human comprehension of quantity.

Contrary to RMS, yet another measure used to determine the typical quantity of audiovisual productions, LUFS ignores low frequencies, rather focusing on average and high measures above 2 kHz--the most sensitive area to our ears. A shout, as an instance, carries more quantity sensation than a double bass might, though RMS indicates higher numbers for the device (and basses weigh heavily with the older measure). That is because the human voice is in the center area.

LUFS was made to approximate how our hearing functions.

What sound engineers have come to see is that Spotify has decreased the LUFS indicator of everything on its own platform from -11 LUFS into -14 LUFS, a number in accord with that of competing musical platforms like YouTube (- 13 LUFS), Tidal (-14 LUFS), and Apple Music (-16 LUFS). In practice, the quantity for human ears will probably be controlled, and you might not even notice the change.

We achieved to Spotify for comment about the LUFS reduction:"Spotify is always testing new features to benefit its users. Recent changes in the playback experience are part of the aspects we are evaluating."

So why is this important?

A much better audio

At first, the acceptance of this EBU-R128 standard was not aimed at streaming platforms and the audio world. The intention was to normalize the audio patterns of televised content. You understand how some commercials are way louder than others? Or the gap in the volume between a TV app and an advertisement? The goal of the EBU-R128 benchmark was to streamline those gaps and standardize the quantity of TV channels.

One of the principal techniques for boosting the quantity perception of a tune is by way of compression. It may be carried out with particular hardware or applications throughout the mastering process. As its name implies, the technique compresses the sound wave. This places a ceiling on the waves' peaks while promoting the gain in the lower parts. Imagine taking an electrocardiogram and tightening those gauges so that the higher and lower parts are more level.

"While trying to raise the sound, they ended up forfeiting its quality."

"If you compress an orchestra, and the violinist is playing a smooth violin by himself, you're going to hear it loudly," explains Pedro Luce, a Brazilian music producer. "When the remaining musicians come in with their instruments, you'll hear everything with the identical intensity." The compression intensifies the calmest, emptiest moments of the song.

"In nationwide (Brazilian) production, there are [musical fashions ] that abuse the use of compression," producer Nando Costa told me. "In country music, which includes mainstream artists, there is many productions and mixes that are completely distorted. You listen to the sound of the muted voice. The drums look like the celebrity is playing with a toothpick. This is all a consequence of very compressed and limited sound. While trying to raise the noise, they wind up sacrificing its quality."

To make matters worse, lack of momentum isn't the only side effect of excessive compression. When you enforce boundaries on a sound wave, you create distortions in the actual waves, which can create distortions in the music. "The more the compressor works, the longer it will cause distortion in the music," explains Costa.

"If you've got a very compressed sound, it is going to get smaller because of the absence of dynamics," explains Costa. "When you reduce the loudness of that sound, you've got the feeling that it plays considerably lower"

On this site, you can graphically see what happens when a very loud song has its volume reduced when entering Spotify.

"Sometimes the music isn't bad just due to the composition, but by how it's introduced," says Costa. Thus, Spotify may help bring an end to Loudness Wars, which should generate better quality music in general, with more dynamics and cleaner audio.

But that's not the only result of Spotify's new volume regulation.

Protect Your Ears

"The effects of [listener] exhaustion are well understood, though people don't always link these consequences together with the term tiredness," said Dr. Tanit Ganz Sanchez, an associate professor at the School of Medicine at the University of São Paulo (FMUSP) and founder of the Ganz Sanches Institute, a facility that specializes in hearing treatment.

Symptoms include actual fatigue, irritability, and insomnia.

"I'm comparing the stapedius muscle together with the arm muscle," she explains. "Let's say that you spend 30 minutes pumping iron at the gym. Sooner or later, that muscle will say' Enough, no more.' The ear muscle also has this contraction, but we don't have any power over it. It is involuntary and happens whenever you listen to a louder noise. Should you listen to loud music frequently, that muscle will end up wearier."

The only difference between the stapedius and the bicep is that we rarely actually feel any pain in the ear, like the pain caused by a day of over-lifting in the gym.

In this way, by putting a ceiling on the LUFS, Spotify is contributing to the health of its customers' ears. It's worth remembering that Apple has already been sued by men and women who lost their hearing after excessive listening on the iPod.

0 notes