Mix critique of song-snippet

I

invoid

New member
Version 4 (Current, as of 4th of June)
Google drive
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WZVlp4RA7JSHpUeXBmLURTeHc/view
Soundcloud
https://soundcloud.com/user-965551974/mix-critique-1-fix-4/s-SPR9I



Version 3 - https://soundcloud.com/user-965551974/mix-critique-1-fix-3/s-sNe3h . A lot of changes, look forwards to your input!


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Hi all,

First time poster, not sure how this works.

I've been learning to mix my own stuff on my spare time for about half a year now, and this is a snipped of a test bed I'm using to train myself. I'm well aware that the performance isn't top notch, but hey... it's a funny time signature and this is guitar sound test number one bazillion :-) If you believe a better performance is necessary to give me input, which I doubt, I'll be happy to oblige.

OLD VERSION, COMMENT ON NEW VERSION FURTHER DOWN THE THREAD... https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1WZVlp4RA7JelhqYmFCUW1BTlE

What would you do with this?

A few words about the limitations of my setup: I'm on a pair of M-audio Bx8a ported monitors in my untreated crappy apartment, so pretty standard for your run of the mill home recordist I suppose. I've recorded and mixed everything myself, so feel free to comment on anything from guitar tone to nitty gritty details on "50hz isn't quiiite right" or whatever.

Please, be as frank and honest as you like. I won't be deterred by even the most ruthless critique, and honesty only serves as motivation and direction. I'll be happy to receive even the comments you thing "Nah, that's going a bit far or too picky".

Finally, I really appreciate those of you taking the time to have a listen to this! Thank you so much :-)

-invoid
 
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I don't hear anything that sounds bad. I like the level of the guitars. You seem able to resist the temptation of guitar players to mix the guitars too loud. I'd like to hear more bass and kick. The cymbals are very clear and sound nice, but need to be balanced out with some low end. Snare is low but not a problem for me. Some will think it needs to be louder. Overall it sounds like most of the drums are in the overheads. These are samples, I assume. What do you use?
 
Sounds pretty good to me. The guitars are a bit loud. I guess their volume fits the genre, but it's drowning out the bass and kick, so somehow you have to resolve that, and I don't think it's by turning everything up. So use volume or EQ to fix that. I like the snare where it is and would just lower the guitars a bit. If you mix in a vocal that will probably change everything, though. Overall I like the vibe. Even if these are samples, it feels pretty raw and organic.
 
Thanks both of you for taking the time, and very useful comments! :-)

The drums are indeed samples. Specifically EzX Progressive for EzDrummer, using the most "raw" kit available on there and routing everything as separate tracks in my DAW. Only the cymbals, and some hihat, are in the overheads actually, because I didn't feel I could control the level's of cymbals versus the remaining kit properly with all that bleed between them. If I had a proper drummer that wouldn't be a problem, of course. I've iterated on them since last autumn, when I think about it, and only recently got to the point where I could make them sound pretty organic and natural. I think I'd fool non-musicians with this.

Looks like you both miss the presence of low end, which sort of confirms the issues of mixing on ported monitors. The kick can easily punch through this, so I'll get on that, but the bass guitar has been more of an issue for me. I have no idea what kind of bass guitar tone I should look for to punch through all this, and so I believe my troubles begin already at that point - and should be addressed there a bit before tweaking more with EQ.

I'm adding vocals at a later stage, but for now I'm trying to get a decent "band" going for myself :-) Will be exciting to see where I find the room for them though!

Thanks again, both of you!
 
That's a fairly standard bass tone--P bass-ish, round wound strings, pick. It should cut through fine. Try throwing a high pass filter on the track at 50Hz and then turn it up. Are you using an amp sim? I find that a P bass can benefit from a bit of boost on the low end, as they tend to be midrangy.
 
Just hearing that really alleviates a lot of doubt on my part, incredibly useful. I'll be back with a fix later today, when I finish work. I'm thinking this is a good place to be for getting feedback as well, so I'll be sure to try and pitch in on others' stuff so I'm not just "taking". :-)
 
Allright,

I've done some revisions. The kick and bass guitar are louder than what "seems right" given my monitors and room, so do let me know if it's too much/little/spot on etc. That way, I can make a note of how much to add from what I perceive as balance in my listening position.

Robus: Yes, I'm using Amplitube with the SVX pack. I really only record vocal tracks, guitar tracks with an amp and Torpedo Live and the bass guitar direct through a DI.

Mix
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1WZVlp4RA7JQ0d0VEIxanQ2X1k

Mix without vocals
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1WZVlp4RA7JVEZJQVd6cUFyVDA

Pseudomastered
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1WZVlp4RA7JTElmYktSWGpMWTA

Pseudomastered without vocals
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1WZVlp4RA7JV2Nid0lOaG5pRGs

Once more, the song and performance is not my focus at this point. Just getting a "band" together in a mix, and master it, is my main focus. Let me know what you think, what you would address before publishing, what are the giveaways of an amateur recording etc.

Thanks :-)
 
similar setup as you...amplitube 4 with Superior Drummer.

this is good to me. Something is a little mud/dark overall. Not a huuuuge problem, but i do think it's those guitars actually.

what's your vocal mic/chain
 
Good to hear it with vocals. I think this is real promising. Good vocals. Is this a song in progress? I'll look forward to hearing the finished product. I hear what andrushkiwt is talking about when he says dark/muddy. To me it's more dark than muddy. Muddy is a problem, dark is a choice. It works pretty well for me.
 
andrushkiwt:
Thanks. Yeah, it's a little muddy/dark, and the guitars are probably part of the reason why. I'm considering hunting through the project for unnecessary mud before brightening those even further, though. Maybe add a bit of highs on the mix bus instead. We'll see.

As for my vocal chain... I have an AKG D5. For each track, I hi-pass with ReaEQ at 115hz, tune with ReaTune if needed, volume riding with Terry Wests Steady-plug, and compress a bit with TDR feedback compressor. This and dubs go to a bus with more fx. ReaEQ with a wide boost at 1k and a wide cut at 5k, Klanghelm DC1A2 compressor for finally levelling. De-esser, heavily, and an exciter as well as a boost at 20k with Luftikus to fake a more high end sound than I have. I mix this with NastyDLA from Variety of Sound. That is a long chain, and I intend to review it and see if I can't do better with fewer plugs. It was just what I ended up with to get to this point this time around. Ah, and I thought that was kind of lifeless so I sprinkled it with chorus from Blue Cat. Did you like it? I think it was a bit low in the mix on my end, but I sort of liked it.

Robus
Thanks again for listening even more!

Yeah, it is part of a song I intend to put on my first album. I'm holding off writing it, though, because I write by juggling things around in Reaper - and I struggle to re-create that magic after the fact. I need to be sure what I record can be mixed and pseudomastered by me into something that sounds decent, so I'm learning to record, mix and pseudomaster because I really don't know to do that. I've been at it in earnest for the past six months, and I finally believe I'm making progress. That's really what I'm testing here!

On a scale from 0 to 10, 0 being garage band and 10 being an okay commercial record, I feel like I'm at about a 7 sound-wise right now. What do you guys honestly think? Perhaps I've listened too much to this myself, hehe.
 
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I listened to the pseudo mastered version near the bottom of page one. It's cuts off at 1:05 for me.

The first thing that stuck me as being cool is the low end. Very well controlled and cool sounding. The bass is covering the kick a little bit. But what a cool low end.

I like the singer's voice. Very nice. Vocals are a bit behind the guitars. I'd probably pull the guitars down a little.

The guitars sound a little glassy. They're missing a little of the low end warm growl that I'd like to hear.

Listening to the non-pseudo mastered version now....

Not too much difference other than it's at a lower volume. I'm hearing the vocal just a little bit better in this version. It also cuts off at 1:05.

To me, I'd focus on getting a warmer guitar sound. Then probably the drums. But the vocal and bass were quite good to my ear.
 
TripleM, thanks for taking the time! I'm going to switch to soundcloud later to avoid the rather cumbersome Google drive issues.

You are correct, this is just a 1:05 section of a song. I'm only focusing on making this section sound good right now, because after this mess... the rest is easy! (I think).

Glad to hear the low end is working, it is one of the things that I got comments on in the former mix that I've tried to balance out in this one. I'm having a hard time hearing what's going on down there due to ported monitors and an untreated crappy apartment space. Hearing this means a lot - matter of fact, I'm storing this version for later reference.

Also good to hear you like my voice! You're right about the level issues. Haven't made up my mind about the guitars yet, but thanks for that too! :-)
 
I suck so bad at this (critiquing). Unless someone posts something really amateurish, it's hard for me to find fault.
This just sounds great to me.
Make it less...um...great! I dunno! :D
 
invoid said:
andrushkiwt:
As for my vocal chain... I have an AKG D5. For each track, I hi-pass with ReaEQ at 115hz, tune with ReaTune if needed, volume riding with Terry Wests Steady-plug, and compress a bit with TDR feedback compressor. This and dubs go to a bus with more fx. ReaEQ with a wide boost at 1k and a wide cut at 5k, Klanghelm DC1A2 compressor for finally levelling. De-esser, heavily, and an exciter as well as a boost at 20k with Luftikus to fake a more high end sound than I have. I mix this with NastyDLA from Variety of Sound.
Click to expand...

We have a similar chain. Also, I use that TDR compressor on vocals and the master bus. That also goes for the DC1A2, but only on vocals. I have not found a free exciter, but I think I'll go off and look for a free one now. Let me know if you know a good free exciter vst..

Listened to the new mix. Less dark/mud, but the vocal level is a little low, no? Perhaps the guitar could come down a bit?

I'm liking all the new alternative stuff in here - I have more things to compare against! ha. nice work man, cool tune
 
andrushkiwt, thank you. You're right, I've posted this other places as well and my guitars are consistently too loud. I'm zoning in on how much I misjudge this now, and I reckon about 2.2dBs down after I find the level I think is right is about right.

As for plugins, my (badly kept) blog has a list which should help you on your way with plugins. A lot has happened since I wrote that, though, so I'm going to update it and do a post on which I use frequently and why later on. I'm using Thrillseeker from Variety of Sound on this one, but the one from Antress is good too. If I were you, I'd pick up all of Antress, Variety of Sound, Melda Productions and Blue Cat free stuff. All that stuff is excellent, in my experience.

https://onemanconceptalbum.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/plugins-free-donation-ware/
 
invoid said:
. If I were you, I'd pick up all of Antress, Variety of Sound, Melda Productions and Blue Cat free stuff. All that stuff is excellent, in my experience.
Click to expand...

cool blog dude. funny, when i went on a search, i picked up those Variety of Sound plugs and Antress too. About to give them all a spin. I've bookmarked your link. thnx
 
invoid said:
TripleM, thanks for taking the time! I'm going to switch to soundcloud later to avoid the rather cumbersome Google drive issues.
Click to expand...

I'd either stay with Google Drive or use dropbox for reviews here. SoundCloud's player is pretty good, but it can mangle a song's high end on many occasions. I have a SoundCloud account. But I only put a tune up there after it's reviewed here via the Dropbox player.
 
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