Can't Get the Mix Right

N

NobleSavage

New member
Help me!!! I'm attempting to better my mixing capabilities and I need help. My mixes sound different on everything I play them(home stereo, car, van, computer, etc) and I'm not sure which sound to go for...
So, please check out this link
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1444&alid=-1

It's a very short, very small track with 5 different mix ideas of the same piece of music. All I need is for you to tell me which one you like best and which you dislike most. None of them are perfect, I know that, it's why I'm asking for opinions. You can tell me exactly what you like or dislike about the mix, but you don't have to, the number of fav and least fav will do just fine.

Comments on the performance and songwriting will be fine, but will mostly be ignored as I'm very happy with how they are turning out.

Help me!
 
hmmm... I wouldn't pick any of them... they all suffer from the same sonic "issues" and the various blends that you're trying doesn't really change the problems.

If you gets the sonics right, blending the mix becomes MUCH easier.

Here's what I'm hearing in all your clips --

- everything has a harsh, edgy and thin sound to it, as if you applied the same smiley-faced eq to each track....

- there are virtually no clean mids represented by any track -- all the mid-range definition is missing

- the vocal is overbright and sibilant (overuse of EQ again??)

- everything is buried and awash in reverb which pretty much has the effect of muddying it all up


As I said, if your get the sonics of the tracks down properly, and you have your arrangement balanced so that each track represents its own portion of the frequency spectrum in the song, the mixing becomes a whole lot easier.
 
Bruce really has a point with the missing mids. The guitars don't give them, and your bass messes a bit in the low but doesn't provide much mids also. the result is a thin, unconsistent sound.

Also, the reverb on the drums is waaay to much, what really helps to muddy it all up.
 
4 had the most body (low mids) but lacked top end. Of the 5, thats the one I would work with if I had to but I would retrack the drums. There is no bass drum in any of them, the snare is cardboard sounding and the mid midrange on the whole mix (700-1.5k) is set back on all of them. Try doubling and panning more for a bigger, wider and more defined sound.
It sounds like a monitoring problem in conjunction with EQ and tracking issues. Your monitors are probably telling you theres more midrange and bottom than there really is.
The 5 versions of your mix do sound like EQ adjustments, not 5 completely dif mixes.
 
wow, I thought it was a simple question...

while the suggestions and comments given are semi-helpful, they dont really answer the question.

Lemme try it again:

"All I need is for you to tell me which one you like best and which you dislike most. "

I listen to the radio and mtv and hear a billion different sounds for best mixes, so I hear that it's a very personal thing... so my mix is not trying to sound like anything but itself, which is why I'm asking for a pick of the 5 - regardless of if you think they all suck, one might suck less... that's all I'm asking for.

But thanks for at least listening and offering opinions.
 
BlueBearSound,

I'm working on a recording and hope to get it mastered when it is finished. Before I send it away to get it mastered I'll have to have you listen to it for me because you seem pretty honest and knowledgeable.
Do you work at a mastering house or in a studio?


Adam
 
atomlow said:
BlueBearSound,

I'm working on a recording and hope to get it mastered when it is finished. Before I send it away to get it mastered I'll have to have you listen to it for me because you seem pretty honest and knowledgeable.
Do you work at a mastering house or in a studio?


Adam
Click to expand...
Studio.... but I'll do pseudo-mastering for clients that don't have the budget for the real thing. However, Blue Bear Sound is NOT a mastering house by any stretch of the imagination!

Send me a link... I'll give it a listen!
 
NobleSavage said:
wow, I thought it was a simple question...

while the suggestions and comments given are semi-helpful, they dont really answer the question.

Lemme try it again:

"All I need is for you to tell me which one you like best and which you dislike most. "

I listen to the radio and mtv and hear a billion different sounds for best mixes, so I hear that it's a very personal thing... so my mix is not trying to sound like anything but itself, which is why I'm asking for a pick of the 5 - regardless of if you think they all suck, one might suck less... that's all I'm asking for.

But thanks for at least listening and offering opinions.
Click to expand...

Those aren't different mixes though. It would be easy to say I prefer the one with more bass and hotter vocals but that isn't the case here. It sounds like different EQ curves, not different mixes, and each one has some weird issues. Can you post one without all the EQ'ing?

As I recall #4 was the least offensive.
 
NobleSavage said:
wow, I thought it was a simple question...

while the suggestions and comments given are semi-helpful, they dont really answer the question.

Lemme try it again:

"All I need is for you to tell me which one you like best and which you dislike most. "

I listen to the radio and mtv and hear a billion different sounds for best mixes, so I hear that it's a very personal thing... so my mix is not trying to sound like anything but itself, which is why I'm asking for a pick of the 5 - regardless of if you think they all suck, one might suck less... that's all I'm asking for.

But thanks for at least listening and offering opinions.
Click to expand...

Seems to me like the critiques you were getting would be more useful than just finding out which one sucks the least. But, then again, you probably watch MTV more than I do, so I defer to your expertise...
 
And in all the above posts, Mr. Noble S, you find every comment you need to make your mixes sound much better.

In what I hear - its all a question of over processing and bad judgement in setting / selecting frequencies, most likely because you are not listening to anything that will give you a true picture.

Why ask which one is "best"? They all suck, sonically. Get to work on making them sound better!
 
# 1 sounded the best on my computer speakers. The others all sounded muddy in the low end. The vocal sounds pretty good - easy to hear.
 
If you answered my question; thanks!

If you answered my question and added additional info; thanks even more!

If you refused to answer my question; thanks anyhow... I guess...

I think the helpful comments were very helpful to a certain extent. If I were shooting for a hit single, I'd definitely be all over those comments. If thought the songs I wrote had any commercial potential, I'd be dissecting each and every comment with additional questions, to ensure I had a very appealing product. But that's not what I'm doing. I'm creating a sound that no longer is around... standard, old school 80s heavy metal. No death, thrash, prog or whatever else... just big dumb riffs over big echoey drums... much like surf music and doowop, the music of my youth has been replaced by newer stuff, which is fine and natural, especially since I can create the sound I need to hear myself on my computer with a crappy little sblive and an amp simulator. So, when I ask your take on the mixes, it's not because I'm wanting any huge major change on them... they sound great to me on my system and in my car, which is where 99.99% of all airplay they will ever recieve. The problem being that in a few other vehicles, they havent come across right and sound like the crap that you are all hearing in each mix. Yet, each one of those varying mixes(yep, levels, eq, effects... the whole mixing deal) sound good in various vehicles I frequent... but I've yet to find a happy medium that sounds right in each vehicle. By getting a nice spreadsheet friendly vote, I'm able to calculate which tracks sounds the 'best' in varying enviroments and systems. Fortunately, listeners on most boards have taken the tracks for what they are and have given me a simple response.

So, all in all, this experiment has given me a good response, a good amount of information that has helped me and has reinforced quite a few other ideas. So, for that, I thank each and everyone of you for checking it out and offering your responses.
 
If that's your goal then there is a fairly easy solution, if you are willing to spend a little money.

Take the mixes to a mastering engineer and they will make it so it will sound equally good (or bad) in any vehicle you chose to play it in. If it's just one song, it shouldn't cost you very much.

If that's not an option, there's still one more thing you can try. Find a commercially released CD from the 1980's (or whenver) that has exactly the sound you are aiming for. Then compare your mix to that CD, especially paying attention to amount of low end given to the bass vs. the kick drum, the reverb (type, size, length, and eq), and amount of high-end sizzle on the vocals, cymbals, and other high frequency instruments (like tambourine, strings, etc.). Instead of trying to make your mix sound great on your speakers, try and make it sound the same as the CD. If you can do a reasonable match, it should translate well to other systems. Good luck. (I guess... :D )
 
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