feedback on my mix "sonics " etc

mark de berard

mark de berard

Active member
Hi All ! im currently mixing in a new room and curious if this sounds ok sonic-ally ? im thinking the guitars are too bright in the chorus ..

havent mixed the vox yet , no automation etc just a basic mix.

Any feedback appreciated ..
 

Attachments

  • Fall mix 1.mp3
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Comments like "too bright" are tough, because they can be very listener subjective.

All in all, it's a clean start. Nice use of production techniques and ear candy adds.

The mix is highly compressed, and when the arrangement gets dense, distinction is lost in collage fashion. It just all mashes up together in wall of sound - just a kaleidoscope of audio.

All in all, though?

Good start. Like the material.
 
Sounds a little spiky in the upper mid and high end to me. Listening at medium volume it's irritating my ears. I actually struggle with this myself and is why I test my mix on several different systems. I know this is all subjective but I would also like to hear more low end added to the bass.
 
Listening thru isolation cans, cheapo Control Acoustics and it sounds pretty damn good to me.
The mix is very clear.
Staccato guitars and drums all have a nice spot.
Bass sounds a bit like a synth.
Grungy guitars work too.
Good placement of the slide and intermittent voxes.
 
markmann said:
Sounds a little spiky in the upper mid and high end to me. Listening at medium volume it's irritating my ears. I actually struggle with this myself and is why I test my mix on several different systems. I know this is all subjective but I would also like to hear more low end added to the bass.
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This is exactly what i was thinking. Im thinking a tiny bit of 40hz on the bass and a smidge less of 3.6 k on the chorus guits. hmmm
 
Manslick said:
Listening thru isolation cans, cheapo Control Acoustics and it sounds pretty damn good to me.
The mix is very clear.
Staccato guitars and drums all have a nice spot.
Bass sounds a bit like a synth.
Grungy guitars work too.
Good placement of the slide and intermittent voxes.
Click to expand...
Thank you , i did a lot to destroy the bass sound with over drives and saturation.. just to sort of " modernise " it .. cos there are 2 bass tracks im gonna let one of them breathe more i think.. Cheers :0)
 
ive added some new monitors and in an un treated new room so im still getting my sea legs .. also for the first time in over 20 years used a mix buss comp( on this mix specifically ).... i turned my nose up to the idea for ages but i realise now its a really cool way of " gluing " the mix. I am thinking however the mix buss comp is adding "grit" to the mix.. I used the Waves LA2A .. probably not the best choice for mix buss .. or good choice depending on how you look at it.
 
K-dub said:
Comments like "too bright" are tough, because they can be very listener subjective.

All in all, it's a clean start. Nice use of production techniques and ear candy adds.

The mix is highly compressed, and when the arrangement gets dense, distinction is lost in collage fashion. It just all mashes up together in wall of sound - just a kaleidoscope of audio.

All in all, though?

Good start. Like the material.
Click to expand...
what an awesome way to say your mix needs work lol " The mix is highly compressed, and when the arrangement gets dense, distinction is lost in collage fashion. It just all mashes up together in wall of sound - just a kaleidoscope of audio. " ;p
 
heres a second mix , played with a bunch of stuff , getting ideas on what to do with the vocal fx etc , tried the IRC 3 on the maximiser in ozone and i think i like it better than the IRC 2 for this track. I edited the drums towards the end when the drummer goes into double kick , i changed it cos i thought it was too muddy/dated as a choice in that section.the fall mix 2
 
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mark de berard said:
heres a second mix , played with a bunch of stuff , getting ideas on what to do with the vocal fx etc , tried the IRC 3 on the maximiser in ozone and i think i like it better than the IRC 2 for this track. I edited the drums towards the end when the drummer goes into double kick , i changed it cos i thought it was too muddy/dated as a choice in that section.
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Yep. Better. Much better spacing/air.

Compression, itself, has a tendency to bunch midrange frequencies and dominate (turns everything "nasally") - so the two issues might have been interrelated.

Stick a fork in it.
 
Hate to 'rain on your parade' but for me this isn't ready yet.

For a start, as has been mentioned before, you need to look at the compressor settings which are clamping down too hard at times and you have a pretty big volume drop as well as a pretty big EQ variance. If you listen from about 1.09, the compressor starts clamping down and by 1.20 it's crushed and doesn't sound so great, releasing around 1.35. If you did this on purpose (?!) it didn't work out. You could look to automate and quicken up the release where neccessary. It happens again around 2.23 and varies all the way to 4.00 and just sounds odd.

It's not a big fix but one you should be looking at even if you don't fix anything else.
 
theres no parade, i prefer highly critical feedback :0)

Ok so which compressor are you referring to ? are you saying you can hear pumping ? like a slow attack fast release setting ?
 
aaah i can hear what youre talking about. Ok so yes that was deliberate in the mastering phase. Set freq bands on the lower mids threshold to clamp down on the " mud " during the choruses and make the guitars appear " larger " for the chorus.
 
To my ear it's had the opposite effect and made it muddier during the chorus and there's definitely a compressor clamping down. Have you noted the dynamic range across the mix?
 
HumanPlanet said:
To my ear it's had the opposite effect and made it muddier during the chorus and there's definitely a compressor clamping down. Have you noted the dynamic range across the mix?
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yeah the verses are warm and fat then it goes into slam country for the chorus ... i havent played it on a big system .. i usually get my dynamic feedback by playing on the large monitors at various volumes and getting more of a " feel " that way ,
 
HumanPlanet said:
and listen carefully to the tone. Then you can have a parade...
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Thanks again HP. my situation atm is im looking to move away from Ghost Production which is about 70% of my work load and move more towards straight mixing. As a mix engineer im mid level .. Ghost Production is typically more about creating ideas ( in my instance ) and sending them off as rough mixes so my "process" for final mixes needs work as well as my mastering process.
 
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