Wow. Started a bunch of negativity that I didn't intend. Maybe I should have been a bit more clear on what I was commenting on. That always helps, eh?
When I first got here, I was fairly new to home recording and I didn't know WHO was WHO and who was good at what they do, who wasn't, who knew the right things to comment on, etc. So I took all the advice at face value and thought there must surely be something wrong with my mixes - ALTHOUGH THEY SOUNDED GOOD TO ME. What I learned first was about EQ and making space for the different instruments (including vocals - voice is an instrument too).
Then I learned about reverb and how to apply carefully instead of just cranking it and letting it fly. Even my ex made a comment about that and one that she heard from a family friend who was doing home recording. She said the one thing she noticed the most on his and my CD was all the reverb. So I've learned to tone that down.
Believe it or not I really HAVE learned a boatload of extremely helpful stuff since I discovered this board, and I believe John at Massive is the one who steered me here. Still trying to figure out the compression, limiter, -6db recording thing and a few others but that will come in time. Right now I'm trying to figure out which new monitors I want to get. But that's another thread.
Now, what got me confused at first, and I even posted something about it quite a while back, was the 'if it sounds good to you then it is right.' I thought my stuff sounded good. So I post them here and was told, too much verb, too much bass, turn the drums up, EQ the cymbals they're killing my ears, don't pan so hard, pan harder, can't hear the vocal, etc. Now a lot of these comments don't really fall under the 'if it sounds good' rule of thumb. The EQ thing was dead on because I never really thought how much it would clean up my mixes. And too much bass? That could go either way. Maybe I was going for that sound. But then as a second guess on myself I would think that maybe I overdid it. Too much verb? Same again! Panning too hard? Not hard enough? Shit city... So I started redoing my mixes applying the suggestions, turning down the verb, panning a little less, turning up the vocal, etc., and it made the song sound totally different than what was in my head. And what was in my head was what I started with! Some of the suggestions worked, like the EQ thing as it really did clean up my mixes a lot. And the verb thing... yeah I overdid it as any newbie does. But the rest I think is, as was said earlier by I Forget Who
, just different people's opinions.
So I've learned what to 'look for' in a critique and what to ignore. Don't get me wrong! I really HAVE learned TONS from this board and all the fine people who are willing to help (I ignore the ones who just want to start some shit in every freaking thread posted) and you have all pointed things out to me that I needed to learn. Which is why I come back here 25 times a day! And it just can't be said enough, no matter who you are. Thanks to you all for all the help you provide!
And to those who were following or were wondering - I won my case. Mom gets to stay in the house that she has lived in for 30 years and my asshole brothers don't get to hijack her estate. Thanks to all who supported me in THAT 'war.'
Oh, and one more thing... Lawler! Have I told you I hate you lately?
That is some seriously awesome playing dude! I have a song that I would LOVE to hear you playing on. But sadly, it needs EQ'ing... and there's too much verb... and the guitars are panned too hard... and the bass is too loud... and the drums aren't loud enough... and the kick sucks... and the vocals are buried (oh, wait... I haven't recorded the vocal yet!)... and there's phasing (which I'm still trying to figure out) on the stereo XY triple mic'd room mics, etc...
