Mastering sample from my home suite.

[ryanlikestorock]

This is a track from an album I just mastered in my home editing suite. I'm not usually one to submit a sample to be critiqued by the masses, but this seems to be a pretty talented group of people on these boards, so maybe I can get some useful advice.

Here's an mp3 of one of the songs:

 

[guitarjesus]

The recording sounds good.


Not my type of music, but keep going.

 

[KaosTheory2.0]

Pro's

1. aurally interesting
2. good composition
3. Like the beginning sound effect instrument, gives it an eerie feel. What is it? I like it. It should dip down a bit when the vocals come in though.
4. Snare sounds nice

Con's

1. HHat sounds a little bright
2. Kick needs some more low end, attack is ok
3. The vocals sound dry and distorted. Try and see what it would sound like if you emulated the vocal style from the Sapranos theme. Keep the harmonies and everything. It's the eq or something. It just sounds like you are using a distortion effect. "No sir......I don't like it......"
4. That guitar should be more peripheral, it seems to stick out in front of the mix too much
5. Low end is a bit muddy


Next!! Step right up.....get your abuse here......

 

[ryanlikestorock]

Thanks for the comments. I didn't record or mix the song. I just mastered it. I'll have a listen to it again with your comments in mind. Thanks.

 

[Protoolfool]

Great Listen!

Very cool Fuzz sound on the vox at the beginning.... What is that going through?!! Two of us sitting here and my buddy is saying guitar solo sounds like Radio Head.......BIG COMPLIMENT. Enjoyed the listen.


Cheers

 

[Protoolfool]

Oh Shit... JUst Realized you said you mastered it.....never mind!!!! Still a nice sounding mix!!


Cheers

Mike and Scott

 

[SOUND DIAGNOSIS]

Hello, Ontario! The first thing that hit me on this piece is that the vocals are dreadfully low in the mix, and need to be balanced with the gee-tars, etc STAT! I think the highs sound fine and not overemphsized. I do hear distortion in the vocals as well. The bass is too heavy and needs some more definition. The snare and kick need some Viagra for sure. Otherwise, I am hearing decent representation of all other frequency ranges which is a good starting point. Please balance the vocals. I will stick to this thread for a bit if you are inclined to repost. Best of luck. ---Lee

 

[caryindy]

Just listened. As the mastering engineer, it would help the artist to recommend a remix. As the previous posters said, the mix has problems.

 

[ryanlikestorock]

I appreciate all the comments posted here. Some of them are totally valid to my relationship with the client and others don't really fit my situation very well. Thanks for the comments, and keep 'em coming.

 

[auburncatfish]

It's much better than I can do with T racks. It seems stacked to the low end of the eq range though. Maybe bring that down and take the higher freq's up and mids up a tad. The total gain for the mix is right though.

 

[ryanlikestorock]

Thanks. I took the mp3 offline for bandwidth reasons, so I guess that's the end of our discussion.

I actually used T-Racks as the main compressor on that album. I've been messing around with it for a year, and finally have it "mastered", so to speak.