Opinions welcome!

[k0t0v]

Hey! I've been lurking HR for about a year and I've finally decided to post some of my stuff. It's nice when friends say "that's cool man!" but it doesn't help you improve as much as some (at least occasionally) constructive criticism.



So, this is one of my 'concepts': I begin with an idea and develop it somehow. Since I usually abandon projects halfway through when they take more than a day or a weekend (unfortunately home recording is not by far my main occupation), I try to keep the ideas (concepts) simple and short so I can spend more time working on nice sounds, good mixing and a clean 'final product'.


Any comments/oppinions in general are welcome, I mainly want to get some exposure so I can know what to spend more time on when I'm recording something else.

There is also one concrete aspect I would like some advice about: when I'm mixing, I usually find that everything takes up too much space. Even when panning and adding reverb to add width and depth to the mix, I find it hard to keep acoustic guitars from masking keyboards or vocals, or to make an instrument stand out in a given part of a song. Any thoughts on this?

Thanx in advance! Feel free to listen to & comment on the rest of my profile on Soundcloud as well!

 

[Btyre2013]

Hey! I've been lurking HR for about a year and I've finally decided to post some of my stuff. It's nice when friends say "that's cool man!" but it doesn't help you improve as much as some (at least occasionally) constructive criticism.



So, this is one of my 'concepts': I begin with an idea and develop it somehow. Since I usually abandon projects halfway through when they take more than a day or a weekend (unfortunately home recording is not by far my main occupation), I try to keep the ideas (concepts) simple and short so I can spend more time working on nice sounds, good mixing and a clean 'final product'.


Any comments/oppinions in general are welcome, I mainly want to get some exposure so I can know what to spend more time on when I'm recording something else.

There is also one concrete aspect I would like some advice about: when I'm mixing, I usually find that everything takes up too much space. Even when panning and adding reverb to add width and depth to the mix, I find it hard to keep acoustic guitars from masking keyboards or vocals, or to make an instrument stand out in a given part of a song. Any thoughts on this?

Thanx in advance! Feel free to listen to & comment on the rest of my profile on Soundcloud as well!

I can help with the masking thing, it's mostly in the arrangement, if you have two guitars for example make one a strat and one a les paul, I know that might sound over simplistic but when you add all the elements together it makes much cleaner sounding mixes. Don't be afraid to hard pan things left and right or in the middle, it almost always sounds better LCR panning. Listen in mono when doing EQ... Also EQ and filtering is crucial in a good mix, you want to use high and low pass filtering and don't be afraid to be quite brutal with it, I quite often do high pass filtering on keyboard tracks at 300Hz or above, which might sound extreme but in a mix it's not getting in the way of the bass and drums that way, it's never the same with each track.

remember if it sounds good it is good

 

[TripleM]

Things sound OK tonally. My biggest thing is that every instrument is playing lead. There are two lead guitars, and a lead piano, a lead synth, lead drums, etc. OK I'm joking with a couple of those things. But I'd try to develop some supporting tracks instead of trying to make everything the center of attention.

 

[arsenaultk9]

This actually sound really good. Mix oriented I'd have very little to comment on (everything sound very clear and nothing conflicts which makes the sound good). I'd have to agree that where things get a little weird is arrangement wise. Three leads at the same time (which you arrived with good results btw) is a little confusing to the listener. Also I'd think that adding a bit more bass (not necessarly a bass instrument could be a pad) would give this piece more dept.

 

[FoulPhil]

Peaceful shit bro.

 

[k0t0v]

My biggest thing is that every instrument is playing lead. There are two lead guitars, and a lead piano, a lead synth, lead drums, etc. OK I'm joking with a couple of those things. But I'd try to develop some supporting tracks instead of trying to make everything the center of attention.

I'd have to agree that where things get a little weird is arrangement wise. Three leads at the same time (which you arrived with good results btw) is a little confusing to the listener.

Although I had thought of the acoustic guitars as rhythm (or at least not-lead) and ambient parts, especially when the reverb comes in, I agree that such elaborate rhythm parts tend to become lead-ish and confuse the listener. I'll keep that in mind for future recordings.

As it usually happens with recording, I think it's not necessarily good or bad to use complicated lines that sound confusing or overwhelming here and there, but you have to know that you're being confusing or overwhelming, and whether or not you want to do so. I hadn't realized it would have that effect, so thanks to both of you for pointing it out!

Peaceful shit bro.

Thanx man!


Any comments on the rest of my tracks, anyone?

 

[Crazy Luke]

I like all the counterpoint elements in the song. This song reminds me of something of of "Trick of the Tail", by Genesis. Some lower cello would do well in this song.