Is this ready for mastering?

  • Thread starter Thread starter RobbieL
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Great vibe! Def sounds good and would IMO be ready for mastering. The whole band sounds great - tight rhythm section, good vocals, good lyrics... Do you play just reggae or other genres also ?
 
We're alternative. We do a bunch of stuff. I don't know how to describe it other than we sound like Dave Matthews Band.
 
I'm not very experienced with Reggae, so feel free to disregard this, but:

There's something off about the bass, but I can't quite put my finger on it. It's almost like there's a stereo enhancer or something on it, or it's been double tracked (very tightly).

And I would've had the guitar on the left maybe not quite so far left, maybe with a bit more presence to show the percussive aspect of it a bit more.

I think it could do with a little less reverb overall (mainly the guitar). Not much, just enough to bring everything a bit further forward. (But I'm listening on headphones that bring the reverb out a bit, so that could just be me)

Although, this sems a bit more "I would've mixed it different." It's a good mix, and you could use it as is if you want. I just think it could do with just a little more work if you want a broadcast quality album.
 
Sweet track there, dude. I'm in the reggae genre too. It sounds pretty tight, but I have a few suggestions.

  • The snare sounds real tight, but pretty flat. I would probably boost some high freqs to give it a ring or something that could make it stand out a little bit more in the mix.
  • To make the bongos sit better I might add some reverb and lower the dry to wet ratio so there is more reverb than unaffected signal. (This might not work well, but it would be the first thing I'd try.)
  • Maybe consider double tracking the guitar? You can still have it mostly panned to the left, but I think another track of guitar could strengthen this mix up.
 
double tracking the guitar is not really an option for me because pretty much everyone in the band went off to college including myself. I had to do this mix with sony 7506 headphones and I only tested the mix on my Samsung home theater system that I have in my dorm.
 
RobbieL said:
double tracking the guitar is not really an option for me because pretty much everyone in the band went off to college including myself. I had to do this mix with sony 7506 headphones and I only tested the mix on my Samsung home theater system that I have in my dorm.
Click to expand...

Okay, well that's fine. Double tracked guitar is not totally necessary.
 
Sounds more like Sublime than Dave Matthews Band.. Sounds great, but I keep waiting for something added to drop in with more energy.. some horns or some overdrive guitar.. not throughout the whole thing.. I really like it how it is.. but just on the chorus or for a solo.. part of one of the verses.. etc.. especially when everything drops out.. it sounds like one of those parts of a song where it's going to drop back in with added instruments to ramp up the energy for that part.. but then it doesn't.. kind of keeps you waiting for something that doesn't come.. this song would be perfect if you added something like that in parts IMO. Great work though, no doubt. I think it's ready for mastering personally if you like it. Good luck with your album.
 
Overall I'd say yes, except:

The bass drum is very boofy, the blend between the bass and kick sounds odd to me. Have you listened to the mix on a boom box or car stereo?

Mastering may even things out, but generally its best to make the mix as close as possible.

Great song, like the track, good work!
 
Since you can't retrack you can cheat a little - clone the guitar track but add a tiny, tiny bit of delay & make it 100% wet - no dry from the delay process. That'll give you a guitar that''s ALMOST the same as the L - you'll need to experiment with the delay lebgth to make it work. Cna be done, isn't the best option but you've said you can't add another gtr.
The bass is OK but needs a littl definition - IF you get it stem mastered the ME will prpbably do that for you BUT if you're going for a stereo track to be mastered you should put a little 3 db peak at 3khz with a varrow Q.
Once there are two gts panned L & R you could create a stereo spread of the bongo/s.
When the drums break comes in you ought to have more snap - v/often thet break is on timbale or something else that cuts through with a big snap sound. Not for all the snare just the breaks.
NO MORE reverb, please unless you're going for a more dub reading.
Less reverb would be better to my ears - esp on the guitar (again with 2 you'd not need the reverb).
Good song & a good mix given the restrictions.
I've just been through a slow process of having 13 tracks mastered, (slow because I could only afford to get one done at a time). If you break you song down into sub mixes: bass gtr, snare, rest of drums, guitars, vox & so forth do an export of each of those individually then recombine them in a new project you'll get a better idea of how things fit & what needs to be done to each group in the same way as a stem mix would work for you.
have a listen to my last couple of posted tracks to hear what stem mixing can do for an amateur.
 
this mix has a nice vibe, but also some small problems (e.g. bass area, phase, voice a bit thin & the reverb on the vox a bit grainy) which could not be fixed with stereo-mastering, so i would not call this mix 100% "ready for mastering". i would request stems in that case.
really cool song, i like it!
 
Overall I thought this sounded good.

A couple of nits...

I didn't care for the reverb level on the guitar. I just thought it was too much. It's noticeably different from the verb on every other track.

I thought the vocals were a little dominant. You definitely want the vocal to be the center, but I think you can bring up the guitar and bongos and still have a nice balance.

Speaking of balance - this time left to right... You have a guitar on the left and you balance that with bongos on the right. I think the bongos are having trouble filling out the right like the guitar filled out the left. If you lower the reverb level on the guit, you could probably bring it up on the bongos and fill things in on the right. Maybe adjust their levels relative to each other as well.

The drums had a weird dry sound to them, but I really liked that.
 
Couple of notes:

First, thanks guys so much for the suggestions. I've found all of it to be very informative and helpful.

Next, about the guitar. I tracked the guitar by micing the amp and our guitarist always uses reverb. At that time I didn't think the amount of reverb was too wet so I left it be but since that seems to be the main problem with the mix I will take a look at it. Fortunately, I do have a DI track of the guitar that is usable so I may try using that w/ Guitar Rig instead of the amp track.

Third, I do have a new mix that took into account some of the suggestions concerning the snare drum and the bongos. Here it is.
View attachment BRAVO wage peace mix test 6-Main.mp3
 
Good melody, drew me in to listen to the whole thing. I don't normally listen to reggae so am coming at this from out of the category.

I want to say I agree with Mr. ROUSH's comment about waiting for something, energy wise, to drop in. Although the melody and words work well together, I did not feel a build up or a climax to the song. Maybe this can be delt with in the mix at the end, somehow by strengthening the last verse chorus. Not sure exactly, but I think it is 99% there, just needs a little nudge.
 
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