Feedback on Alternative Mix please? "Waiting"

  • Thread starter Thread starter andrushkiwt
  • Start date Start date
kcearl said:
well all the arguing made me listen lol

Im on my 770's and using a vrm as a grot box (studios off limits) but they do make some things stand out..firstly its a good solid song for its genre

the mix is, obviously, better in the quieter parts, the vox seem a bit bright to me but that could be the way theyre processed, I think theyd sit better drier.
The bass is a bit woolly/boomy but when the whole chorus comes in it gets crowded fast...Id maybe cut a couple of the guitar tracks out first and see what room that leaves you with.
Youve mentioned the cymbals but I think the kicks fighting with the bass and the snares getting lost in there. Id sidechain a bit of room, also maybe try a m/s EQ and cut everything on the sides to 50khz and see if that tightens up the low frequencies. I dont want to offend, and its maybe me projecting but this sounds pseudo mastered smashed..Id take everything of the master channel (if theres anything) or just stick up the clean mix with no attempts to give it any loudness or sheen..theres a good song in there but the mix is a bit brutal just now imo


I dont know your previous dealing with Greg, I know him personally, he's a great guy, and will improve your mixes if you can take the harsh critique (hes certainly not miserable)...I get that hes saying it might be best to zero this track and take a more measured approach in the mix (translation lol) sometimes things get overcooked very quickly...I bet it wouldnt take to much to improve this. hope this helped...
Click to expand...

The "translation" would have suited just fine to begin with. Thank you, this was an excellent critique and I appreciate the time you took to listen and write that out.

The only things in the mix with freqs lower than 50 Hz are the kicks, but I do hear things getting lost in the chorus as well, youre right. Those guitars are bussed and the low cut is at 85Hz. I bet the bass is giving the chorus the crowded feel and possibly the kick too? I did not sidechain those, as I sometimes do. Simply forgot. And yes, the master has some limiting and a very small amount of mbc (1.3:1 I think) on each band except for the highs (1.4). When I remove all these things, it's miserably quiet. Also, I'd rather not remove the extra guitars...one set plays lower, one plays octaves, and the other is a lead set. I'd like to learn how to glue these together better rather than remove them. I have the sound in my head, I just need to get it out the way I hear it

In honesty, I enjoyed my "mix" better than I did my "master", but too many friends/listeners were saying the tracks were too quiet...so, here I am trying to make this damn thing louder without losing anything or smashing it to bits. I invested in the equipment to learn to do these things without a studio, so I'm going to do just that.

I'll try out the things you said, I really appreciate your thoughts kc, thank you
 
Armistice said:
Well, that escalated quickly.... :eek:

I'm hearing that your bass ain't quite on the same groove as your drums in various spots - a tendency to lead in a bit ahead - more in the verses than the chorus. Have a close listen from about 0.40 to the chorus. And the bass notes are dying off really quickly - sounds a bit unnatural to me.

Bit over-reverbed on the lead vocal in the quiet bits for my tastes too. I'm only listening on headphones via the work PC, so can't give you much more than that.

Don't mind the song at all, for this genre, but that bass is driving me nuts, I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that happens. Lol. Hmmm about the bass... I'll double check the attack and release time on the bass compressor, I dont know what else might make it sound like it's dying out quickly. Maybe it was the way I played it? And yes, I agree the reverb was maybe too heavy. Good call. I'll listen closer to that bass again. Thanks man
 
andrushkiwt said:
1. not sure why that is, working on it
2. no one is making you listen to anything... i'm sure your songwriting and performances are incredibly better however, given your tone. i'm sorry to bother your surely amazing evening sir. thnx

edit: fixed
Click to expand...

There was no "tone" to my post. I was referring to Greg's assessment of the mix, which was pretty scathing I admit. I had no way of listening for myself, so my post was just a throwaway gag, nothing to get your knickers in a twist about. Is this how you react to all criticism?
 
Bubba po said:
Is this how you react to all criticism?
Click to expand...

Lol, criticism?! You didn't even listen to the song! What criticism was there? "Maybe I'm lucky" was a smarta$$ remark, so I called you out on it. But there was no criticism...this is fact!
 
andrushkiwt said:
You're not the sharpest tool in the shed, are ya bubsy?
Click to expand...

Listen, while some of the replies here are on the "a-hole" side of things, you really need to filter them in your own mind. Many of the comments are subjective for sure, but many will help you get a better mix.

The first thing you really need to learn is to, step back and read the comments objectively. No personality involved, no personal attacks intended. Many of these people have lived life on the stage and playing music. When you fail there, it can be very brutal. This is their world, you want to come into it, you will just have to adapt.

Second, if you piss people off, you are not going to get people to listen to your stuff for feedback. Just that simple. Take the good stuff, let the bad stuff go. It is a very good exercise because in music, rejection is the rule, not the exception.
 
DM60 said:
Listen, while some of the replies here are on the "a-hole" side of things, you really need to filter them in your own mind. Many of the comments are subjective for sure, but many will help you get a better mix.

The first thing you really need to learn is to, step back and read the comments objectively. No personality involved, no personal attacks intended. Many of these people have lived life on the stage and playing music. When you fail there, it can be very brutal. This is their world, you want to come into it, you will just have to adapt.

Second, if you piss people off, you are not going to get people to listen to your stuff for feedback. Just that simple. Take the good stuff, let the bad stuff go. It is a very good exercise because in music, rejection is the rule, not the exception.
Click to expand...

I do agree with you, but nowhere is it a rule that you have to be an a$× with the absolute knowledge no one else can possibly contain. I have played many years and shows as well. The band I left is on national radio, local radio, and touring with acts many of you know. Not enough to quit fulltime work, but they've been tinkering on that edge for awhile now. I'm just saying, everyone here has a story.

But this is a community. I have no problem calling someone out for being a d!€k. If I'm alone here, that's fine. I couldn't imagine posting on someone's track with "this is nonsense without a single good quality", again paraphrasing. Why join a forum meant for feedback and sharing knowledge if you have that attitude?

If I'm supposed to gloss over it, I just can't sometimes. Sorry. If no one wants to listen because Greg and I had a spat, thats fine too. No worries. You always post helpful and insightful things to my posts. Thanks DM
 
My thoughts on the mix (listening at low and high volumes): Vocals could use more volume with less reverb/delay. The bass levels are inconsistent in a few of places throughout the song, more noticeable at volume. Did you track the bass part in separate parts? It seems to lack that fluent-ness of tracking all the way through.

The electric tone for the chorus is OK and quite fitting but when it continues into the 2nd verse (1:06) with the chord chops it sounds too fizzy and out of place against the rest of the backing which sounds nice. Similar with the "chug chug chug" rhythm from 1:21. This could possibly benefit from being brought down in the mix and a change of tone. Something about that part sounds wrong to my ear and just doesn't seems to gel well.

I liked the ending. With everything that's going on, it sounds pretty good.

Like KC said, there's a good song there. Just needs some attention to bring out the best bits at the appropriate times.

I enjoyed the track regardless. Look forward to hearing a revised mix :thumbs up:
 
Mr Clean said:
My thoughts on the mix (listening at low and high volumes): Vocals could use more volume with less reverb/delay. The bass levels are inconsistent in a few of places throughout the song, more noticeable at volume. Did you track the bass part in separate parts? It seems to lack that fluent-ness of tracking all the way through.

The electric tone for the chorus is OK and quite fitting but when it continues into the 2nd verse (1:06) with the chord chops it sounds too fizzy and out of place against the rest of the backing which sounds nice. Similar with the "chug chug chug" rhythm from 1:21. This could possibly benefit from being brought down in the mix and a change of tone. Something about that part sounds wrong to my ear and just doesn't seems to gel well.

I liked the ending. With everything that's going on, it sounds pretty good.

Like KC said, there's a good song there. Just needs some attention to bring out the best bits at the appropriate times.

I enjoyed the track regardless. Look forward to hearing a revised mix :thumbs up:
Click to expand...

Thank you. it was one take on bass, but you're the second person that's mentioned it, so maybe i need to look at the compressor settings like i mentioned. i'm no bass player - so maybe i hit something too hard and the threshold was too low on it. thanks for pointing that out and i agree that the faded out chord into the second verse was not in place...i debated for a bit about how to carry over some of the energy into the second verse and i went with the fading guitars. i think a problem there is that one set of guitars stops completely and only the other set is doing that fading...that was most likely a bad idea on my part. and agreed on the verb...too much. thanks for giving me something to work with here, and i appreciate the listen and feedback.
 
Sounds pretty good to me, the vocals sound a little harsh in the beginning, could just use some de-esser. Bass sounds great but it might be tempting you to turn it up a bit, it being new and all. :) Maybe try lowering the levels on it a bit.

I'm not sure what drew the bees to your thread, it might mean people are just taking an interest in you. Or they got bored of the cave or whatever it's called nowadays heh
 
easlern said:
Sounds pretty good to me, the vocals sound a little harsh in the beginning, could just use some de-esser. Bass sounds great but it might be tempting you to turn it up a bit, it being new and all. :) Maybe try lowering the levels on it a bit.

I'm not sure what drew the bees to your thread, it might mean people are just taking an interest in you. Or they got bored of the cave or whatever it's called nowadays heh
Click to expand...

i actually hit the de-esser pretty hard, the threshold was near the bottom - but i hear it too, especially in the beginning. i think i need to pay more attention while i'm tracking it and try to avoid that in the first place. I'm not sure i like the bass so much in parts, but thanks man. and yeah, i don't know. i'm not very good at handling that kind of attitude though - i should be more reserved about it, but it's something that really gets to me. some people have been around this forum a lot longer than i have, but they don't know where everyone is coming from and what their experiences are. ah well, that's music for ya
 
I wonder if having separate eq settings for vocals in intro might help. Keep the treble down on vox until the heavier stuff comes in because it isn't noticeable after that.
 
easlern said:
I wonder if having separate eq settings for vocals in intro might help. Keep the treble down on vox until the heavier stuff comes in because it isn't noticeable after that.
Click to expand...

good idea, thxn easlern
 
andrushkiwt said:
If I'm supposed to gloss over it, I just can't sometimes. Sorry. If no one wants to listen because Greg and I had a spat, thats fine too. No worries. You always post helpful and insightful things to my posts. Thanks DM
Click to expand...

No man, do what you have to do, just make sure you pick your fights correctly. :thumbs up:
 
for the record it sounded pretty bad on the speakers I have in my office so I ran it through my Monitor Audio set in my music den. It sounded worse.
 
Yet again muttley600 proves himself to be the biggest PRICK on HR.

Seriously, you need deleting! :thumbs up:

The report button is below. Knob!
 
Can we re-name this thread to 'fight thread'?

Im gonna go listen to this mix later and give feedback, purely because of all the fuss.
 
they come in pairs... real winners right there. offer no practical advice, but like to stroke their egos because no one else does it for them. at 55 years old nevertheless. sad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top