Love to have some tips on improving this mix

[alexofsalmacis]

I've just finished a song called 'While I'm Waiting'. I'm fairly happy with the balance of the instruments, the use of reverb and panning. However, I'm not so sure about the use of EQ and I'm very concerned that the overall volume is not even in the same league as normal volume CDs. I'm aware of CDs that are so loud they sound crap and I'm not interested in getting THAT loud. I would just like a few extra dBs overall.

I'm very inexperienced with compressors and limiters and quite a novice with EQ. What I can't seem to do is see what I'm doing wrong and I know it's no use just twiddling knobs when I don't know what I'm doing! This track is considerably quieter than some of my others and I'm not aware of having done anything different.

I'd be delighted if someone could tell me one or two things that can start to fix the problem of the overall volume. I'm aware that the game of mixing takes years to perfect and I'm willing to be patient. So if someone could just tell me the next step I'd be very grateful.

The song is on the page below and is the first song in the player.

http://composersforum.ning.com/profile/AlexDunn

 

[jlewis]

It sounds too programmed to me, like it's trying to be a natural prog-rock band but it's all midi. Try and push the fact that it's electronic. Check out some stuff like Sound Tribe Sector 9, Pretty Lights, and Shpongle. It kind of reminds me of them. As for the mixing, bring up the drums some, might give it some more punch. Also a compressor or limiter on the whole track can bring up your volume as little or as much as you want. Your threshold is the db level at which the compressor begins to take effect, the ratio is how much the compressor acts, if it is at say, 1:4 it will compress 1db for every 4db over the threshold. You can use the gain to turn everything up, the attack is how long the compressor waits to clamp down and the release is how long it takes to let go. For EQ, try starting with a band with the Q set at like 10%, turn the gain up on it and the slowly sweep across the spectrum, you will hear spots where it sounds bad, bring that band down and do it again until you feel like you've cleared out all the harsh stuff.