Opinions on Mix & Master...

L

LJUK

New member
Ok so I've got no budget for my next release so I'm mixing the album myself.

Any opinions on the mix and master for the below track would be much appreciated. If it's good I'll save the basis as template for the rest of the album.

Thanks in advance.
 
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I think you could start by letting a little more dynamics through so your music can breathe and live. As is, it sounds like everything is coming from one single plane of volume with little variance. If you don't do this already, I'd try mixing with much less volume so at least you'd have some liveliness going on at an early stage.
On the drums, the hats sound a little sizzly, but ride sound good, hardly any kick though. Bass could have more power, but there's little room for it.
If I could offer one piece of humble advice it would be: turn everything down. The music will love you for it. Then you can be (almost) as manly as you'd like at the final stage.
 
Hi thanks for the reply. I can hear the kick and bass quite clearly on the monitors and headphones I'm using....wouldn't more be too much. I know what you mean about the hats but that's the best that can be done without effecting the whole sound of the kit via the overhead and room mics.
I know a lot of the dynamics have disappeared but I've compressed and limited the master a lot. Are you saying for a mastered track it's too much? I've was using guide tracks of some famous bands to match the db level to limit to.
 
Well, maybe they are coming through fine, but everything's so one-level that there's little distinction (for me).

"Are you saying for a mastered track it's too much?"
100% yes. But that's objectionable since it seems you're going for a particular sound by matching the loudness. That may be exactly what you want in this case. So then my comment becomes even more of a just a keep or sweep opinion.

I'm not old, but I'm old fashioned in the sense that (stepping on soapbox) I prefer the integrity of the music over how competitively loud it is. I think you can still get pretty damn loud wo completely destroying dynamics. It won't be as loud as the competition, but it'll damn sho be more listenable.
Matter of preference.
 
Quick tip, if you are using a compressor or limiter on your master, you should probably back off the gain of the limiter so the compressor is just touching your mix tops. Light touch to start, then bring up the gain for the loudness to give a balance between loudness and dynamics. Once you hear what is being done, then you can make the decision on how important the dynamics of YOUR music is to your mix.

I won't say what is right or wrong, because there isn't one. Just what you want people to hear and knowing how to get the sound you are looking for. Screw the loudness war, we are free to create music like we want. So do it like you want.
 
The cymbal to the left is pissing me off.

Sounds a bit overcompressed to me. It's a lot louder than most of my songs. I imagine that you've smashed it a bit.
The low end suffers from it. The bass is very distant as well as the kick.

The guitar tone is alright.
 
Hi thanks for all of your opinions. I have taken them on board.

I have changed the sound of the drums so the hats sound better and kick is more natural.
This time I mixed the sound quieter. Then I have added compression just so it touches the tops, then made the final adjustments and added oxford limiter and pushed it up a little bit, not overkill.

Please let me know if this is a better mix and if theres anything that could be improved/changed. Once I've got the right mix/master settings I'll use them as a template for the rest of the album as the songs are similar.

Thanks in advance...again!
 
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I get the impression that I can hear the bass but I cant feel it. I can hear the kick but I cant feel it. I would agree with the comments made so far. Mixwise I think its ok but it sounds like a low-cut filter has been applied to the master
 
I can feel the bass on my system, there are more dynamics than the first mix. Tad bit high end for my taste, but I would wait for others to comment before I would change it. If I would change anything, I would bring in a bit more bottom to fill it out. But to me you are getting very close.
 
ok, I'm hoping to get this finished today so decided to do the adjustments as you suggested DM60 (my sound's all on you :) )

I've moved the kick mic nearer the back so it's stronger and I've compressed the bass a little more so it's clearer. Also taken the top end of the master EQ.

Let me know if this on is the one.

Thanks
 
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Wow the pressure.

Now that has some bottom. Little rumble on my system, roll off about <50 might get it under control. Not bad though.

I am hearing something that sounds like static or something. Might be the guitar (too much drive?) Something sounding funny there. Other than that, I think it is all sitting pretty good.

Hopefully others will comment soon, cause I can't take the heat :)
 
The rhythm guitar drives that song but I feel it also dominates it a little. I would have a listen to it with 1 or 2 db down just to see if the vocals come up a touch, without actually bringing the vocals up. I think that everything that makes the song is buried under the rhythm guitar. Otherwise, its much better than the first one I heard
 
DM60 said:
Wow the pressure.

Now that has some bottom. Little rumble on my system, roll off about <50 might get it under control. Not bad though.

I am hearing something that sounds like static or something. Might be the guitar (too much drive?) Something sounding funny there. Other than that, I think it is all sitting pretty good.

Hopefully others will comment soon, cause I can't take the heat :)
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lol

ok, how do you mean <50 on the low end?

thanks
 
GuitarLegend said:
The rhythm guitar drives that song but I feel it also dominates it a little. I would have a listen to it with 1 or 2 db down just to see if the vocals come up a touch, without actually bringing the vocals up. I think that everything that makes the song is buried under the rhythm guitar. Otherwise, its much better than the first one I heard
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ok great, thanks, I'll turn the guitars down a very slight touch.
 
LJUK said:
lol

ok, how do you mean <50 on the low end?

thanks
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On the EQ, there is a low end roll off, normally you can roll of down on that range without hurting the upper bass. I was listening with a sub and could hear some slight rumble. It wasn't bad and you could leave it.

See if anyone else hears it before taking the final decision.
 
DM60 said:
On the EQ, there is a low end roll off, normally you can roll of down on that range without hurting the upper bass. I was listening with a sub and could hear some slight rumble. It wasn't bad and you could leave it.

See if anyone else hears it before taking the final decision.
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Sorry, yeah I realised what you meant just as I posted that.

Ok, I have moved the guitars down a very very slight touch, and have brought the low end down on the master EQ at 50 just a little bit so the rumble disappears. I have also made it fade in at the beginning so it builds up and there's not as much crash to the first chord to steal the thunder of the rest of the track.

Hopefully this is the one lol.
 
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DM60 said:
Sounds good, I am not hearing anything obvious at this point.
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Great :) If I get any complaints I'll say it's all your fault DM60 (only joking obviously).

Thanks for the help everyone. Glad I listened to all of your advise. I like it a lot better than the first mix.
 
LJUK said:
Great :) If I get any complaints I'll say it's all your fault DM60 (only joking obviously).

Thanks for the help everyone. Glad I listened to all of your advise. I like it a lot better than the first mix.
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I just messed my pants ;)
 
LJUK said:
ok, I'm hoping to get this finished today so decided to do the adjustments as you suggested DM60 (my sound's all on you :) )

I've moved the kick mic nearer the back so it's stronger and I've compressed the bass a little more so it's clearer. Also taken the top end of the master EQ.

Let me know if this on is the one.

Thanks

Click to expand...

The second mix does sound better than the first.
 
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