Mastering suggestions?

[jamesduysen]

Here is my mix. Protools, projectmix, treated room...etc...This is my first try with this setup...tell me what I could do...mastering wise to help it out!

Here!

Thanks Alot!

james

 

[altiris]

Im no expert at this but from what I observed: timing is off, I hear the drums and bass hitting too early or too late. Some vocal pitches are off ( out of tune). The who mix sounds like I have books in front of my speakers. It seems to be missing clarity or brightness.

 

[S.Clause]

Yeah it needs some brightness and crsip-ness. I didn't really notice big timing issues though.

 

[guitarmonkus]

The song itself could use some work. The dual vox parts don't seem to fit very well. Also some tone issues...

the mix has no life. doesn't do anything for my speakers here..

but the song is listenable..keep it up.

 

[jamesduysen]

...

Yea...myspace kinda goos up the mix...im not talking about musical problems guys...I need advice on the mix and what to do for the "lack of brightness"!

thanks

james

 

[DavidK]

Yea...myspace kinda goos up the mix...im not talking about musical problems guys...I need advice on the mix and what to do for the "lack of brightness"!

thanks

james

The "musical problems" and " the mix" go hand in hand, we cant really seperate the two.

Its a good song. It has a lot of reverb, which is one reason it isnt "tight". One reason it has a lack of brightness: its not tight enough musically. I think the word is lugubrious, it just needs an overall attention to detail.

 

[jamesduysen]

Well, I should have specified to spare musicality. Anyway, still I am getting a lot of criticisms, (which is good!), but to go along with them I need advice on how to fix them...Isn't that what this whole thing is for? Eq, compression, fx, limiters, etc...help!!!

james

 

[J.C. Scott]

Is there anywhere to download the file? I have no desire to listen through myspace.

 

[NYMorningstar]

It's a nice tune but it sounds pretty well beat up. The mix is alright as far as volume goes but the effects is what is killing it. There's way too much reverb and you have some phase issues. It's a guess at what is causing this but you need to take a look at the cause and change that.

This is not something you want to try to fix in the mastering stage.

If all that verb is the natural sound of the room then you need to track the instruments closer to the speaker and/or not mix in so much room mic. If you are tracking each instrument with multiple mics then you need to move them until you cancel out or at least minimize the phase issues. Track a dry take of each instrument to mix also.

If the instruments are tracked well and all this is from mixing then I'd say save the verb till nearly last and lay it on the mix, not individual instruments if you feel the need to use it at all.

 

[SteveE9C6]

I found this tune refreshing.

Assuming you are happy with what you have, I would suggest a minor tweak before beginning mastering. remove a bit of the reverb if at all possible.

Now, what mastering tools do you have?

Here are my suggestions using the tools I have:

All Voxengo Mastering Software

Chain:
Soniformer "radio mix preset"
HArmonie EQ "gentle sheen"
Polysquasher "In your face"
Elephant +3.5 punchy


You can download trial versions of this at Voxengo to give you an idea...

 

[ecktronic]

Yeah I noticed some timing issues with the drums at the start of the track. Nothing that cant be fixed with editing. A long process but worth it if you are serious about your music.

Guitars can be a big cause of a track sounding muddy. Muddiness lies in the lo mids around 100-250Hz maybe. Try a small cut with small Q to take out some mudiness.

Good mix.
Eck