F
fHumble fHingaz
Member
Hi guys.
Give me some feedback please
Was really fun doing this mix. I tried to keep it as natural as possible!
Good luck to all,
W
Mission accomplished - sweet mix! Very tastefully done!
- Status
Mission accomplished - sweet mix! Very tastefully done!
M
Mark Bliss
New member
Discussion
I have been lurking, listening and learning, and had no intention really of posting here, but this post encouraged me to join in. I like the idea. Maybe best as a new thread?
I have been lurking, listening and learning, and had no intention really of posting here, but this post encouraged me to join in. I like the idea. Maybe best as a new thread?
F
funkycam
New member
One of the coolest things about this competition will be the opportunity to compare your mix against the top entries that are picked by Puremix.
Even if you are in the top 16, there will be 15 other mixes to compare to yours to.
Even if you are in the top 16, there will be 15 other mixes to compare to yours to.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
I know of lot of the HR newcomers here have been somewhat "stuck" in this thread due to the contest focus....but you know guys, HR has a bunch of forums that cover recording, mixing, mastering, analog, digital...etc...etc.....and there is even an MP3 Clinic where people post their mixes for comments/help/discussions.
So guys....step out of this thread at some point.....there's a much bigger world here at HR to explore!
M
Mark Bliss
New member
Discussion
I get your point Miroslav, but I meant to suggest a new thread on the subject of discussing this project in particular, as suggested by AndyGallas. I am not a regular here, but am aware there is other content. Actually there is so much its hard to know where to start! But I've done some reading. When I said I originally had no intention of posting, I meant in this thread in particular or posting a link to my mix, and that Andy had changed my mind. I think discussing our efforts, difficulties, questions, tips and so forth could be very useful and educational.
I would be especially interested in your comments Miroslav.
But no, maybe I am wrong. I just thought maybe this thread was getting a little long in the tooth.
Should we just continue here? Thoughts?
I'll assume so for the time being.
Brief introduction, since I am not a regular here.
I would relate to the older participants, tinnitus and tape. Mixed mostly for rock band PA systems and messed with home recording long before DAWS and such and only recently started my learning curve of getting back into some of this.
I would describe myself as a studying beginner in the digital realm, learning as much as I can and gathering some basic equipment to augment some of the basic old crap I have hoarded and stored away for decades.
I have no interest beyond learning as many aspects of modern music production as I can, for fun and personal projects.
I have taken some classes, read many books and I have been mixing a few projects mostly for the experience and education. I follow Puremix, Mixcoach, and others. I have also been doing a little recording/production, but dont have my "space" set up for that yet really.
I have read some at this site, but I have to admit I havent followed it close and am not real familiar with the regular characters here.
This isnt my first mixing contest, but I would say it was the first time the prizes were all attractive enough to motivate me to enter for more than "just the fun of it" and the opportunity to gain experience using some good stems.
I have listened to every submission linked to the HR thread, and many more at random from the submission site. Some just snippets of course, but I have heard at least samples of probably 300 mix submissions or more. And I will warn you now, I am not going to be one of those "ooh! Nice mix!" critics. My comments are meant as constructive, but its about mix notes and a critique discussion not a fan site.
I am blown away at the sheer volume of submissions. Half as many would have been beyond my wildest estimates.
What did not surprise me was that the majority of submissions were so ridiculously overcompressed (IMO.) "We" lament the loudness wars, and criticize what has been happening to the industry, yet use the same references anyway.
I know its subjective but for my tastes on this specific project, the overwhelming majority of submissions had far too much reverb and delay as well.
As to the submissions with all the doubled and added tracks and such stuff, they were pretty far off base to both the intent of the contest and the genre and character of the tracks IMO. Although the one recently shared here (sorry I cant recall the name right now, I get the feeling its from a "regular" member.) was very well done, it just was a bit much for my tastes. Good work though.
All that said, there was only one mix that I heard that stood out noticeably from the pack. Many props to Miroslav. Not one other mix that I heard came close. Very tasteful and well done mix. Maybe its just that he produced the result closest to what was in my head. I wish I had the experience, talent and tools to get there. It inspired me to work harder on my skills.
I heard a handful of pretty good mixes that would make it hard for me to choose the rest of the field.
I heard many many that were just not very good at all. And I agree with previous comments that many times it was the ones who listed pro equipment or studio names. A lot of really bad, tasteless. clueless mixes.
As far as my effort goes, I experimented with some ideas for getting the results I wanted and in the eleventh hour found myself in the position of having an utter failure of a mix going and no time to fix it. I was on the road with nothing but my laptop and a pair of cheap headphones. I went back to a previously saved rough mix, and in about 45 minutes on my lunch break Friday I threw something together just so I could say I at least submitted something.
I have not mixed a live recording like this in a DAW, so dealing with some of the related issues challenged me. I knew I didnt want to kill the dynamics of this performance.
Probably the biggest issue I had was in trying to get a little stereo separation going on without it sounding too unatural. I didnt accomplish that well at all.
The first thing I went to work on was the vocal, feeling it was the centerpeice to this project. I dont have any sophisticated plug-ins and dont have the experience to use them if I did, so I went about it the hard way, starting with a tedious automation to just attenuate some peaks a touch and tame things down a little. Then I attempted to EQ the track a little to clean it up and bring out some of the upper mid in her range. Then just a little touch of compression to smooth it out a little. I like the result. That may be the one thing on my submission I was quite happy with. But I found that while it holds up at lower and mid levels it gets weird at higher volumes.
Resonance. Gotta learn to deal with that better.
Next I went to work on the drums. I wasnt crazy about the kick sound. I watched the recording videos as Fab tried different mic positions, removed the outer kick head etc. I think he could have gone one more step and maybe tried a different mic. I messed with some eq and mild compression and I think I got an acceptable kick.
The snare was a challenge to me. I went the route of editing a snare track to kill the bleed, and blending it with the original to get a balance of snare I liked. More eq and another incidence of compressor to taste. Fairly successful.
Then theres the OH's. Mics close, no stereo separation. When attempted to pull up the toms, the snare was a bit much. When I reduced the snare accordingly I lost too much "snap." I struggled with this a while but found a reasonable balance. To be honest I would have to go back and look at what I did. I spent a lot of time there. Now in this discussion I had the idea planted that sidechaining could be used in ways I had never really imagined. I have to learn more about that.
I also pulled the tambo out of the vocal track so I could work with it as its own sound, independant of the vocal track.
I then bussed the drums and tambo through a little hint of reverb, A little more on the snare than the rest. Due to the headphone mix it probably could use a hint more, (as we know, headphones tend to make reverb choices especially difficult. I was working handicapped.) But I wasnt looking for an obvious noticeable effect.
I didnt do a lot with the bass. I blended the DI and amp track to taste and attempted to eq it and the kick to get along. Needed more time there, ran into the deadline. I work too many hours.
Similarly on the guitar track I left it pretty much as it was. The guy has his effects and reverb settings, I figured, why screw with it too much? I touched it up a hair and tried to get the level to suit the parts a little better, just a touch down in the two more subdued verses, up a touch for the lead. Once again, out of time to finish.
The voc and guit tracks are bussed through another reverb, again just a touch as with the drums.
I then experimented with a little eq and mild compression on the 2 buss, probably a touch more comp than necessary, but again.....out of time.
Going back to the project, besides the above mentioned issues, I would probably try to build more excitement for the big ending by pulling back the rest of the sections a touch, especially in two verses where it would be appropriate. Some minor changes, but overall, I like my effort. I am proud of what I did with an economy DAW and some included, free and cheap plugs. I learned some things, and discovered some things I need to learn. Thats all I really need to be satisfied. I have to learn more about recognizing and dealing with phase and resonance issues.
But that UAD would be nice. LOL! No seriously, a years subscription to Puremix would make me do back flips. Cool competition, I enjoyed it even when it stressed me out.
Oh, and as of 6/6 my submission had over 70 plays and two downloads, one after the contest ended. (Not that it means anything!)
And I have no idea how to post the link.......... so if this fails dont be surprised
Yep, read how to do it ten times in this thread and still fail. Geezer.
I know of lot of the HR newcomers here have been somewhat "stuck" in this thread due to the contest focus....but you know guys, HR has a bunch of forums that cover recording, mixing, mastering, analog, digital...etc...etc.....and there is even an MP3 Clinic where people post their mixes for comments/help/discussions.
So guys....step out of this thread at some point.....there's a much bigger world here at HR to explore!
I get your point Miroslav, but I meant to suggest a new thread on the subject of discussing this project in particular, as suggested by AndyGallas. I am not a regular here, but am aware there is other content. Actually there is so much its hard to know where to start! But I've done some reading. When I said I originally had no intention of posting, I meant in this thread in particular or posting a link to my mix, and that Andy had changed my mind. I think discussing our efforts, difficulties, questions, tips and so forth could be very useful and educational.
I would be especially interested in your comments Miroslav.
But no, maybe I am wrong. I just thought maybe this thread was getting a little long in the tooth.
Should we just continue here? Thoughts?
I'll assume so for the time being.
Brief introduction, since I am not a regular here.
I would relate to the older participants, tinnitus and tape. Mixed mostly for rock band PA systems and messed with home recording long before DAWS and such and only recently started my learning curve of getting back into some of this.
I would describe myself as a studying beginner in the digital realm, learning as much as I can and gathering some basic equipment to augment some of the basic old crap I have hoarded and stored away for decades.
I have no interest beyond learning as many aspects of modern music production as I can, for fun and personal projects.
I have taken some classes, read many books and I have been mixing a few projects mostly for the experience and education. I follow Puremix, Mixcoach, and others. I have also been doing a little recording/production, but dont have my "space" set up for that yet really.
I have read some at this site, but I have to admit I havent followed it close and am not real familiar with the regular characters here.
This isnt my first mixing contest, but I would say it was the first time the prizes were all attractive enough to motivate me to enter for more than "just the fun of it" and the opportunity to gain experience using some good stems.
I have listened to every submission linked to the HR thread, and many more at random from the submission site. Some just snippets of course, but I have heard at least samples of probably 300 mix submissions or more. And I will warn you now, I am not going to be one of those "ooh! Nice mix!" critics. My comments are meant as constructive, but its about mix notes and a critique discussion not a fan site.
I am blown away at the sheer volume of submissions. Half as many would have been beyond my wildest estimates.
What did not surprise me was that the majority of submissions were so ridiculously overcompressed (IMO.) "We" lament the loudness wars, and criticize what has been happening to the industry, yet use the same references anyway.
I know its subjective but for my tastes on this specific project, the overwhelming majority of submissions had far too much reverb and delay as well.
As to the submissions with all the doubled and added tracks and such stuff, they were pretty far off base to both the intent of the contest and the genre and character of the tracks IMO. Although the one recently shared here (sorry I cant recall the name right now, I get the feeling its from a "regular" member.) was very well done, it just was a bit much for my tastes. Good work though.
All that said, there was only one mix that I heard that stood out noticeably from the pack. Many props to Miroslav. Not one other mix that I heard came close. Very tasteful and well done mix. Maybe its just that he produced the result closest to what was in my head. I wish I had the experience, talent and tools to get there. It inspired me to work harder on my skills.
I heard a handful of pretty good mixes that would make it hard for me to choose the rest of the field.
I heard many many that were just not very good at all. And I agree with previous comments that many times it was the ones who listed pro equipment or studio names. A lot of really bad, tasteless. clueless mixes.
As far as my effort goes, I experimented with some ideas for getting the results I wanted and in the eleventh hour found myself in the position of having an utter failure of a mix going and no time to fix it. I was on the road with nothing but my laptop and a pair of cheap headphones. I went back to a previously saved rough mix, and in about 45 minutes on my lunch break Friday I threw something together just so I could say I at least submitted something.
I have not mixed a live recording like this in a DAW, so dealing with some of the related issues challenged me. I knew I didnt want to kill the dynamics of this performance.
Probably the biggest issue I had was in trying to get a little stereo separation going on without it sounding too unatural. I didnt accomplish that well at all.
The first thing I went to work on was the vocal, feeling it was the centerpeice to this project. I dont have any sophisticated plug-ins and dont have the experience to use them if I did, so I went about it the hard way, starting with a tedious automation to just attenuate some peaks a touch and tame things down a little. Then I attempted to EQ the track a little to clean it up and bring out some of the upper mid in her range. Then just a little touch of compression to smooth it out a little. I like the result. That may be the one thing on my submission I was quite happy with. But I found that while it holds up at lower and mid levels it gets weird at higher volumes.
Resonance. Gotta learn to deal with that better.
Next I went to work on the drums. I wasnt crazy about the kick sound. I watched the recording videos as Fab tried different mic positions, removed the outer kick head etc. I think he could have gone one more step and maybe tried a different mic. I messed with some eq and mild compression and I think I got an acceptable kick.
The snare was a challenge to me. I went the route of editing a snare track to kill the bleed, and blending it with the original to get a balance of snare I liked. More eq and another incidence of compressor to taste. Fairly successful.
Then theres the OH's. Mics close, no stereo separation. When attempted to pull up the toms, the snare was a bit much. When I reduced the snare accordingly I lost too much "snap." I struggled with this a while but found a reasonable balance. To be honest I would have to go back and look at what I did. I spent a lot of time there. Now in this discussion I had the idea planted that sidechaining could be used in ways I had never really imagined. I have to learn more about that.
I also pulled the tambo out of the vocal track so I could work with it as its own sound, independant of the vocal track.
I then bussed the drums and tambo through a little hint of reverb, A little more on the snare than the rest. Due to the headphone mix it probably could use a hint more, (as we know, headphones tend to make reverb choices especially difficult. I was working handicapped.) But I wasnt looking for an obvious noticeable effect.
I didnt do a lot with the bass. I blended the DI and amp track to taste and attempted to eq it and the kick to get along. Needed more time there, ran into the deadline. I work too many hours.
Similarly on the guitar track I left it pretty much as it was. The guy has his effects and reverb settings, I figured, why screw with it too much? I touched it up a hair and tried to get the level to suit the parts a little better, just a touch down in the two more subdued verses, up a touch for the lead. Once again, out of time to finish.
The voc and guit tracks are bussed through another reverb, again just a touch as with the drums.
I then experimented with a little eq and mild compression on the 2 buss, probably a touch more comp than necessary, but again.....out of time.
Going back to the project, besides the above mentioned issues, I would probably try to build more excitement for the big ending by pulling back the rest of the sections a touch, especially in two verses where it would be appropriate. Some minor changes, but overall, I like my effort. I am proud of what I did with an economy DAW and some included, free and cheap plugs. I learned some things, and discovered some things I need to learn. Thats all I really need to be satisfied. I have to learn more about recognizing and dealing with phase and resonance issues.
But that UAD would be nice. LOL! No seriously, a years subscription to Puremix would make me do back flips. Cool competition, I enjoyed it even when it stressed me out.
Oh, and as of 6/6 my submission had over 70 plays and two downloads, one after the contest ended. (Not that it means anything!)
And I have no idea how to post the link.......... so if this fails dont be surprised
Yep, read how to do it ten times in this thread and still fail. Geezer.
Last edited:
M
Mark Bliss
New member
Link
Another try.
Another try.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
Wow! Thank you!
Didn't expect anyone to say something like that....but I'm very glad to hear it.
I sure hope the judges hear it the same way you did!!!
There were some very well done mixes in the 2800+....I didn't get to hear a lot of them toward the end, but early on I did listen to a whole bunch just to see what people were putting out.
I just went with my gut and my ears about what I thought was good, and I didn't really try to mix competitively against anyone else's stuff.
Early on I felt and said that to do the song any justice, there weren't too many ways to go. It's a 3-piece Rock band with a great female vocalist. Their sound is about the raw, open vibe of a live bar band. Too much embellishment and FX only take away from that....IMO...and that's how I tried to mix it, raw with a good amount of dynamics and punch, but not squashed just for pure level.
I also made a point of giving myself a very short amount of time...and once I felt I had something...that was it. I refused to go back and do 35 alternate mixes. I was actually fighting the deadline to get it posted...so there was some urgency that kept me from picking at it to death. I spent a couple of hours one night just listening to the tracks and making note of what I thought needed to be edited/fixed a bit. Then on the second day I spent another couple of hours and worked up a rough mix all ITB just to see where it would go. Finally on the last day I took the tracks OTB and did the final tweaks with my rack gear and console.
I think it needs some reverb since they did track it live on a large stage...and it's hard to dry it up and lose that, so might as well let it work for you...but yeah, some folks got a little carried away with the reverbs/delays and FX, but hey, maybe the judges will like that too.
Your last mix is pretty good for what I'm hearing on my dinky laptop. I would give the vocal some reverb to blend it better with the guitar and drums. It kinda sticks out too much when it's that dry, but otherwise you have a solid balance there...after that it starts to get subjective and more about personal tastes.
Oh, and I was only teasing about folks being "stuck" here, and just wanted to see some people venture out into the other forums....we need some new blood posting in other topics here at HR.
M
Mark Bliss
New member
Thanks
"Your last mix is pretty good for what I'm hearing on my dinky laptop. I would give the vocal some reverb to blend it better with the guitar and drums. It kinda sticks out too much when it's that dry....but otherwise you have solid balance there...after that it starts to get subjective."
Hey, thanks for that, I really appreciate it. And I agree.
The vocal in mine starts out a little weird, gotta work on that. But in the big section at the end it seems to drop into place and just work.
I've got a lot to learn, but this was fun and interesting.
"Your last mix is pretty good for what I'm hearing on my dinky laptop. I would give the vocal some reverb to blend it better with the guitar and drums. It kinda sticks out too much when it's that dry....but otherwise you have solid balance there...after that it starts to get subjective."
Hey, thanks for that, I really appreciate it. And I agree.
The vocal in mine starts out a little weird, gotta work on that. But in the big section at the end it seems to drop into place and just work.
I've got a lot to learn, but this was fun and interesting.
F
fHumble fHingaz
Member
Another try.
Sweet sounding mix Mark!
I like the balances you got, & it sounds dynamically really well controlled - drums are punchy & vocals are upfront & clear. The cymbals get a tad loud in the choruses, but certainly not painfully so.
The guitar tone is likewise, very solid - not too strident, just really "grunty", as it should be.
Bass-wise, it's a good tone you achieved, but I'd like to hear a little bit more fullness in the bass - a little more "thickness" from the sub element so that it supports the kick drum more & generally "glues" the low end of the mix together. One thing I've found really effective to get the bass to a volume where it fills out the track without drowning the kick is to send the kick to the sidechain of a compressor on the bass, then adjust the attack & release controls so that the bass just "ducks" out of the way of the kick drum attack momentarily. The amount of gain reduction you set is completely by ear, but it's an amazing technique that just seems to work.
Overall, about the only thing I noticed was that there tends to be a touch of "boxiness" about the mix. I'm hearing it in the kick drum & the vocal in particular, but it would be worth investigating all of the elements, including whatever "room" ambiance you used. It's not a huge issue, but it's one that could easily be remedied by boosting with a fairly tight Q & sweeping through those low mid frequencies around the 350-600hz range & listening for that "cardboard-y" sound to jump out - & then notch it out.
One other thing I'll mention is use of "decorative" ambiance. I really like the sound stage you created here - although for all intents & purposes it appears to be very dry, I can hear that you have a carefully managed sense of "room" on the mix. So from the POV of "depth" you've gone the subtle route, & I prefer that over the "soaked in reverb" way. That said, what I do hear on a lot of pro mixes is the use of "secondary" or even "tertiary" ambiance as well as subtle delay to really create some variation, movement & excitement in the mix. That's one of the things I felt was missing from the mix. Since you have your eq & compression chops well under control, I'd really suggest exploring this avenue.
Top job!
PS. Good to hear another Mixcraft user - My main DAW is Sonar, but I've had Mixcraft since version 3.
S
Synonym Music
New member
Alright, well, time to join the fray.
Really had fun working on this, really had fun listening to the other entries. I wish I'd joined this thread sooner to catch up on all the action and all the problems/quick fixes/tweak-me-nots folks ended up using on their mixes. As much as I like my entry, it's ALWAYS an eye-opener to see how other people do things.
I think I'll stick around.
Really had fun working on this, really had fun listening to the other entries. I wish I'd joined this thread sooner to catch up on all the action and all the problems/quick fixes/tweak-me-nots folks ended up using on their mixes. As much as I like my entry, it's ALWAYS an eye-opener to see how other people do things.
I think I'll stick around.
D
davidpend
New member
Wow! Thank you!
Didn't expect anyone to say something like that....but I'm very glad to hear it.
I sure hope the judges hear it the same way you did!!!
There were some very well done mixes in the 2800+....I didn't get to hear a lot of them toward the end, but early on I did listen to a whole bunch just to see what people were putting out.
I just went with my gut and my ears about what I thought was good, and I didn't really try to mix competitively against anyone else's stuff.
Early on I felt and said that to do the song any justice, there weren't too many ways to go. It's a 3-piece Rock band with a great female vocalist. Their sound is about the raw, open vibe of a live bar band. Too much embellishment and FX only take away from that....IMO...and that's how I tried to mix it, raw with a good amount of dynamics and punch, but not squashed just for pure level.
I also made a point of giving myself a very short amount of time...and once I felt I had something...that was it. I refused to go back and do 35 alternate mixes. I was actually fighting the deadline to get it posted...so there was some urgency that kept me from picking at it to death. I spent a couple of hours one night just listening to the tracks and making note of what I thought needed to be edited/fixed a bit. Then on the second day I spent another couple of hours and worked up a rough mix all ITB just to see where it would go. Finally on the last day I took the tracks OTB and did the final tweaks with my rack gear and console.
I think it needs some reverb since they did track it live on a large stage...and it's hard to dry it up and lose that, so might as well let it work for you...but yeah, some folks got a little carried away with the reverbs/delays and FX, but hey, maybe the judges will like that too.
Your last mix is pretty good for what I'm hearing on my dinky laptop. I would give the vocal some reverb to blend it better with the guitar and drums. It kinda sticks out too much when it's that dry, but otherwise you have a solid balance there...after that it starts to get subjective and more about personal tastes.
Oh, and I was only teasing about folks being "stuck" here, and just wanted to see some people venture out into the other forums....we need some new blood posting in other topics here at HR.
I think your approach to the mix was really good Miroslav. I like clean and open sounding mixes for this kind of project. Its pretty much how the band sounded in the environment they were in. Maybe a bit more work on the room sound, other than that I liked it!
https://soundcloud.com/pendragonx/david-pendragon
L
LenSears
New member
I love this mixing contest. So many times you receive and give critiques, and now all you have to do is listen and let others listen to your mix because they are the same tracks. I stumbled onto this contest about 3 or 4 days before the deadline, I was listening to someone's track and thought it really sounded great and noticed the gearfest mixing contest in the title so I googled it. I wanted to mix and submit before I listened to any more entries, so I would do what I thought sounded right, then see how that compared with the other mixes. Maybe I should have listened more first?lol! 
I haven't been quite able to figure the soundcloud out. It keeps showing the same hundred people I've already listened to, and when I get so far down, the little wheel just sits and spins and goes nowhere, both on the tunes and going to the contributors box.
I discovered very early on that it was best for me to download a ton of mixes and then open them in wavelab and loudness normalize them, sometimes they were still 'loud", the loudness range was anywhere from -8db to -30db.
Right away the first thing I noticed is that most entries have a pounding kick and a buried bass. Maybe I need to monitor differently, my bass seems more pronounced to me and the kick is more subdued.
The pounding kick makes me think I'm coming off a mountain and my ears are going to pop, and maybe I'm losing my hearing in the bass guitar range?? My senior years are quickly approaching, if not here already,lol!
I had just purchased a couple new plugins a couple days before, and you know how that is, I had to try them out,lol! I wanted to dabble with the mid-side. Also I impulsively bandpassed the vocal into five or 8 band snippets and mixed them, comping a vocal. I'm sure someone, somewhere has maybe done that before, though I don't recall ever reading about it.
Maybe it's too embarrassing to admit to,lol!
If anyone has tips on how to better navigate soundcloud, I'd sure appreciate it! Over 2,800 entries and I hit the wall after a few hundred or so.
I haven't been quite able to figure the soundcloud out. It keeps showing the same hundred people I've already listened to, and when I get so far down, the little wheel just sits and spins and goes nowhere, both on the tunes and going to the contributors box.
I discovered very early on that it was best for me to download a ton of mixes and then open them in wavelab and loudness normalize them, sometimes they were still 'loud", the loudness range was anywhere from -8db to -30db.
Right away the first thing I noticed is that most entries have a pounding kick and a buried bass. Maybe I need to monitor differently, my bass seems more pronounced to me and the kick is more subdued.
The pounding kick makes me think I'm coming off a mountain and my ears are going to pop, and maybe I'm losing my hearing in the bass guitar range?? My senior years are quickly approaching, if not here already,lol!I had just purchased a couple new plugins a couple days before, and you know how that is, I had to try them out,lol! I wanted to dabble with the mid-side. Also I impulsively bandpassed the vocal into five or 8 band snippets and mixed them, comping a vocal. I'm sure someone, somewhere has maybe done that before, though I don't recall ever reading about it.
Maybe it's too embarrassing to admit to,lol!If anyone has tips on how to better navigate soundcloud, I'd sure appreciate it! Over 2,800 entries and I hit the wall after a few hundred or so.
T
Tyler_Rhys
New member
Hey guys, completely new to this forum and sadly missed the deadline for submission to the contest but I'd love to some feedback on my mix!
K
Kultluc
New member
hey Tyler, for me the biggest problem with your mix is your drums that are WAY too far away, especially that snare; there might be a problem with your stereo too (the snare isn't in the middle). It's a shame cause the other element are not too bad and if you work a bit on this drums sound you can really improve your mix
Also I find the voice sound too harsh (sound a bit like an old radio), try cutting a bit at 1-2k and maybe adding a little bit of air; also it might be too compressed.
Now what's good: the kick sound, tight and boomy, the bass and guitar sound, very natural.
Here's mine, I took the "in your face drums sound" approach so it might help you understand what I miss in your drums sound!
hope that helps
Also I find the voice sound too harsh (sound a bit like an old radio), try cutting a bit at 1-2k and maybe adding a little bit of air; also it might be too compressed.
Now what's good: the kick sound, tight and boomy, the bass and guitar sound, very natural.
Here's mine, I took the "in your face drums sound" approach so it might help you understand what I miss in your drums sound!
hope that helps
F
fHumble fHingaz
Member
Alright, well, time to join the fray.
Really had fun working on this, really had fun listening to the other entries. I wish I'd joined this thread sooner to catch up on all the action and all the problems/quick fixes/tweak-me-nots folks ended up using on their mixes. As much as I like my entry, it's ALWAYS an eye-opener to see how other people do things.
I think I'll stick around.
I like the low end in your mix - it's nice & full.
Balance-wise, the vocals are nice & upfront & airy. However, I'm finding the balance between the drums & guitar a little skewed. The drums are very "large", but the guitar suffers in relative "size" by comparison - it sounds quite "small", which tends to take some of the energy out of the song somewhat.
I like some of the little delay throws on the vocals - very subtle, but they do add some welcome movement & variety.
Speaking of ambiance, I think the mix would be served well with a little more generous use of ambiance - particularly the guitar would benefit from some room-style ambiance from it perhaps panned to the right channel of the mix in the interests of getting a realistic spatial image. The vocals also could do with some more "room" on them to give some spatial depth "behind" the vocalist. Using some pre-delay to keep the vocal "up front" will prevent things from sounding too "soaked" in reverb.
Nice work!
D
davidpend
New member
I thought that what was said in this review to Synonym Music said it so well I would just say...I agree.. Good feedback!
M
Mark Bliss
New member
fHumble fHingaz:
Thanks, I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment.
I think you nailed the same points as my own self evaluation.
Edit:
I see I now have a reputation here. I guess maybe I should hang out enough to lose the new member status.
Thanks, I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment.
I think you nailed the same points as my own self evaluation.
Edit:
I see I now have a reputation here. I guess maybe I should hang out enough to lose the new member status.
dbths1987
New member
here is my entry - unmastered
https://soundcloud.com/abonalesaudio/01-liza-colby-oh-baby
here is a faux mastered version in my site.
audio.abonales.com -
https://soundcloud.com/abonalesaudio/01-liza-colby-oh-baby
here is a faux mastered version in my site.
audio.abonales.com -
T
Tyler_Rhys
New member
hey Tyler, for me the biggest problem with your mix is your drums that are WAY too far away, especially that snare; there might be a problem with your stereo too (the snare isn't in the middle). It's a shame cause the other element are not too bad and if you work a bit on this drums sound you can really improve your mix
Also I find the voice sound too harsh (sound a bit like an old radio), try cutting a bit at 1-2k and maybe adding a little bit of air; also it might be too compressed.
Now what's good: the kick sound, tight and boomy, the bass and guitar sound, very natural.
Here's mine, I took the "in your face drums sound" approach so it might help you understand what I miss in your drums sound!
hope that helps
Cheers for the feedback! You're very right about the drums! Especially when referencing them against your mix.
I'm used to mixing 6+ channels on the drums so just having the stereo overheads and the kick felt a bit strange to me, and as such I think in trying to get more snare, I ended up actually just putting too much reverb on!
Really glad you liked the bass sound, I was going for a natural style and I was really conscious of getting some clarity while keeping the low end - looks like I didn't do a bad job!
As for the vocals, I used a new DAW for this mix - Harrison Mixbus, which mimics a console and has built in tape saturation on each bus. In trying out the new software, coupled with trying to make the song sound quite rough and ready I think I may have been a bit too ambitious with the amount of tape sat. The effect sounds like it compresses as well as lightly distorts so that's probably where the over compression suggestion is coming from also.
Again, thanks for the response! I'm happy to return the favour if you have any mixes that you want some feedback on
J
Javiramallo
New member
Nice! Well Done.
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