Recommended Mixing Site?

[TruThugly]

Hey,

I'll cut to the chase --- Many sites offer to mix and master your song. Some with additional features you can specifically select for a few bucks extra. If any; which of these places do you use yourself or have seen good results from. (please don't plug yourself if you don't run one of these sites, no disrespect intended AT ALL, good chance I come back asking one of you guys anyways)

Longer story, I have been recording in my home studio and I feel I have achieved decent results.... I have also been trying to learn how to mix for about a decade as it would save great amounts of money longterm. However I still don't understand how to bus and use the sends, mix dry and wet signal (which I understand is almost necessary in hip hop vocals) along with a handful of other concepts. So long story short, Ideally I would just do the vocals and bounce out of the studio.

The world is not ideal however. I am running a rode k2 through a presonus audiobox. (My damn avalon 737 is producing a ton of hiss, which obviously leaves a whole in my vocal chain)

 

[rob aylestone]

I have to ask the question - if you have been mixing for a decade and have not worked out how to use your own equipment, that's quite worrying? Even worse for some odd reason you have three grands worth of preamp, and it hisses?? You also bought a six hundred quid mic? You've invested in some VERY capable equipment but after ten years still can't work it properly? So much so you are considering paying a stranger to mix it, when with the hiss, your source material isn't sorted yet?

Are you sure your mixes are as bad as you think? I'm struggling to imagine the problem. The preamp you have should not hiss, but they will hiss if you set them up badly. I'm nowhere near competent in the field of hip hop, but you connect the gear, probably use a pop filter for close in work, then set the input gain so it doesn't distort and you're ready to record. In fairness, the preamp allows a lot more crafting of the sound, but leaving that to one side the key features of the recording will be tone, as in EQ and the punchiness as in compression. You can then add effects to the processing. You've not said what you are recording to, but the snag with those expensive preamps is that they're destructive - as in you record what comes out, with no hope of fixing it, if you later discover you made poor choices.

Normally, you fiddle until you get 'your' sound and then record that, and you can add EQ, or reverbs and delays if it's appropriate.

This is all guesswork.

If you want some honest opinions, and our forum is good for this, post a short sample of one of your mixes you don't like on soundcloud or similar, and let us listen - between us you will get an honest opinion. We can spot adjustment or setup mistakes, wrong mic positioning and bad mixes. In honesty, bad mixes are rare, but ones that can be improved more common.

The reality nowadays is that if you truly can't mix, it's easy to find an engineer, but you will get 'their' preferences and taste. In the past, people who could not mix themselves employed a producer who guided the entire project end to end, and it was their preference you ended up with - the engineer following the producers guidance. Some musicians are rubbish and technology, others excellent - play to your strengths.


so ....... tell us in detail what is going wrong and let us hear it and we'll help. Most of us have put up our stuff and got comments - sometimes sharp. but always honest. It's very useful. About a year ago, a guy posted a track and we all realised 1. he couldn't sing - really, really awful and 2. he hadn't noticed his guitar was dreadfully out of tune. People were really nice, but honest. He had no idea that in musical terms he was awful, but his handling of the technology was really good. an excellent mix of truly dire playing and singing.

Your equipment is great, your problem, from what you've said is your skills running it? If you're up to it, we'll be honest.

 

[Papanate]

I have to ask the question - if you have been mixing for a decade and have not worked out how to use your own equipment, that's quite worrying? Even worse for some odd reason you have three grands worth of preamp, and it hisses??

Your equipment is great, your problem, from what you've said is your skills running it? If you're up to it, we'll be honest.

Exactly - you need to work on your skillsets - Bussing. Mxing, Sends etc… - those are all basic skills that you should have in place.
Bussing for example - it is just a sending the Track Signal to another channel where you can drop Reverb, EQ, Compression or whatever
you want - how is that hard to understand? And like @rob aylestone said your Avalon 737 has audible hiss? No your Gain sturcture in mucked
up - reset it so you have unity gain through out (and it’s flat) so it is neither adding or subtract gain - then see if has hiss - which at that point if it
does means it needs to be Serviced.

 

[TimOD]

I can see using an online mastering service (like Slate's Virtu--cheap enough to do test mastering before going to an actual mastering engineer), because things are already mixed and ready to go to mastering (hopefully), but mixing? Also, using buses and sends and mixing a dry and wet signal (vital in virtually all music, not just hip-hop) are rather basic things to grasp which I figured out really early on in my little mixing career. Follow the advice above form Rob and post up some stuff.

 

[TruThugly]

Rob-- Haha I understand why you feel like you do. Ok I did not have a fully functioning DAW until this jan; and I got bussing since dude explained it... (opens a whole new world of work/options)

The avalon 737 and this is embarassing but uff off ..... it has large slats in the top of it and a penny fell in, it started to hiss; no big mystery. I have cut it out of the signal chain till I can get around to repair.

Are my mixes really as bad as I think? Possibly not, but probably. I had someone say they liked one online two days ago but it was not an audio forum so grain of salt.....I also posted it on a hip hop website and was told "THATS NOT HIPHOP GTFO"....so I did.

what exactly is going wrong? Ok this is a fair place to start is the beats are damn near if not clipping when I got them. my beatmaker has passed so not much I can do there. This is a project we were working on a decade ago but w/e w/e if I could do anything but embarass us I think it would be nice.

(he sent me these beats about a decade ago when I was going to get into rap......around this time I had a falling out with most of my highschool friends/rap buddies and never really delved into it seriously) Hence the expensive equipment; I was going to be the recording part and another guy was to be the 'engineer'. Well he dipped and it left a sour taste in my mouth about mixing I suppose. So 10 years of experience becomes more like 1-2 of learning about 10 of just sitting on my equipment and now another year or so. Well 1 year 4 months since I got a working DAW.

So I am just recording vocals and trying to throw them over an instrumental; which obviously is not the same as having stemmed out beats; but still can be done.

I can tell you things im doing wrong! too many doubles, overcompressed, boxy sounding. Soundcloud.com/jon-smith-667928375/allondrugstuglyfinal Ok so that was recorded in 2012 apparently but current mixes aren't sounding too much better.

 

[TruThugly]

I know with the equipment I have, even minus the avalon; that I am getting a good recording going in. Silent in the background and peaking at around -8 , so I should lose another 4 db ish of gain. No problem big problem.

From this point on.......I know awhole lot about mixing on paper but have very little actual experience in the studio and absolutely none with anyone experienced.

 

[TruThugly]

Ok I am going to make a new mix of the same song. That one was made in 2012 apparently. Give me a better or worse when I post it; things you would change always help.
Remember at this current point I only have control of the vocal part of the track; so go ahead and make that your only focus. Ill edit when its posted up.

 

[TalismanRich]

The problem with mixing is that each person will have some idea of what they think the song should sound like. Should the vocal be louder, is the bass too strong, is the kick strong enough. These are all subjective calls. It's like cooking... everyone has a different taste. When seems mild to me might be way too spicy for you. Do you like your fries crispy or soft. Should your steak be well done or medium rare? (don't even put those brussel sprouts on my plate!).

One of the first times I tried mixing was on a Tascam Model 10 mixer. It was set up with a 4 track tape, and you could try your mixing skills and compare it to the "pro" mix that was available for comparison. My mix sounded NOTHING like the original, and that was with only 4 tracks. I learned very quickly how EQ and panning could completely change things.

There are several discussions on HR where people have posted the original stems and let people do their own mixes. You get quite a variety from it. Sometimes you find someone who has a great idea on how things should be put together, other times the song goes in the wrong direction from what you want. It's your baby... Sending off to someone to just do a mix might not work. It may take several iterations to achieve your goal.

The way to learn is to do it... again and again and again and again! Try that before sending it off for some random mixing site.

 

[TruThugly]

TalismanRich- "the way to learn is to do it.....again and again and again" but but but, i don't want to; mixing feels like "work" to me and the thought of doing it over and over again ad-nauseum for years until Im decent; in this case is unacceptable. Okay my beatmaker has passed and I would really like to release some of our work together by mid-june at his memorial. (by release I mean hand copies out for free to chosen people who I feel would appreciate hearing his music once more). He was the drummer in a band that had a #1 single on the popcharts...and the professional musician. He indulged my rhymewriting by making me some beats, even spit a verse. So I guess there is somewhat of a deadline on the learning curve.....(I am realizing I am an expert in excuse making)

I understand this. That being said, I am just tech challenged (literally never owned a cell) and often think "any mix engineer could do better than this! You forked out for good equipment......it'd be best to fork out for a "real" mix engineer''.

So I am learning the basics on mixing and have learned "group channels" but I am still a little unclear on bussing. I use mixpad as a daw if anyone wants to pick that low hanging fruit... I suppose I can paralell compress by using two channels and blending them myself; but this is basic stuff and i shouldn't be stumped. I do get that.

What I do know how to do is capture a good clean dry vocal take. (not that it is hard). I am pretty professional in the way that I am never "reading my lyrics" when I am recording. My doubles are no more than idk 200 ms off performed (ALOT less usually) 10-40ish. (which obviously means some editing but plenty takes, easy to comp segments).

The current project I am working on; none of the beats have stems; some are even mp3's.. i guess I was under the impression that in such conditions (being not great) that a generic-ish process was generally used? (the turd polish tek lol)

If this is so I would expect a relatively similar mix from just about anyone? ( some comp, some good use of reverb and delay on the vocal, some EQ and than glue it all together with a comp/limiter) was somewhat how I imagine anyone would do it; plus whatever tricks they have learned, plugins they use etc.....

is the premise "There is a fairly generic process that most mix engineers would employ in a two track vocals + beat situaton?" true?

*edit* I am working on learning some eq and mixing basics. I am not ignoring advice on purpose...wont bug you again till I have a new version

 

[TalismanRich]

If you go to the Mix This: section, there was a recent one called Already There that Michael Ward posted. He put the files in a zip folder on his Google Drive and included 2 rough mixes. I used that as a starting point, and still had to do 4 mixes before I got something Mike liked (I actually did about 10 mixes, but would go back and adjust things I didn't feel good about). Papanate put up a mix, as did Dantinok.

Go to that thread and give those mixes a listen. It is a good lesson on how mixes can vary even coming from the same starting points. It also points out how language sometimes means different things to different people. One person's "mud" is another person's "boom" and someone else's "fat".


If you aren;t doing the mixes yourself, then the next best thing would be to work together with someone so that the feedback is immediate. You can discuss and adjust things immediately rather than taking 2 or 3 weeks to accomplish things. And I'm sure some of us on HR would take a crack at working on mixes. It's something that some of us do for fun.

 

[TruThugly]

www.soundcloud.com/jon-smith-667928375/allondrugstnewestugly (There is also a third one where the beat really bumps but watch your speakers i am a novice, the vocals are dry and just the levels mixed, minus the hook.) There are three attempts.

Ok I re-recorded it and did the best I currently can, give me a better worse? things to work on? And I did decide to add a little extra effects on vocals as the song is meant to be a bit spacy.

I ran the high pass pretty damn high, like 150-200 on the vocal. Than mixed that with a compressed signal with a boost around 250 ish, idk it sounded right to me as the beat is an MP3. added Light compression? (too much?) and reverb on the main vocal. Than hit the whole thing with one more light compression on the master fader.

I not know why I insisting on doing doubles of every verse as they don't sound very good looking back. Are most people of the opinion that one lead vocal track should be used; and doubles only for punches, emphasis, the hook usually; or perhaps some kind of automation trick building the doubles up in volume to create a momentum or accelleration type fill. Still is it general practice to just double your signal on doubles or do we still do those one at a time because of phasing or w/e.

ignore the last ending, if you saw in the original lyrics i have (need vocalist! written down)

haha I am willing to accept any help I can get, Certainly willing to pay for a good mix; which I suppose you gather would be my preferene by now.

*edit* It would definitely be best to be physically with the mix/sound engineer, that was the original plan. I record the vocals dry and bring it to the music pro to 1. learn firsthand as I always hear is best. 2. be there to bounce ideas off eachother. I live literally in the middle of nowhere. This is a true story, I once had a mix engineer with a degree as a sound engineer, he put a beat on live in the damn background and had me one take it!! Never pay a ''friend'' up front lol

 

[rob aylestone]

I'm not remotely competent to comment on the style (far outside my are of skill) but I can comment on the content. The vocals you recorded are heavily processed and filtered, but sound fine, and to my limited understanding of the genre, typical. Not sure about the doubling because it does make the lyrics more difficult to understand but it's OK - not destroyed, just difficult. What does leap out at me are the audio sources in your stems. The bass repeated riff is difficult. It's reminiscent of the GM sounds 34-36. Not that real. Like the difference between Roland GS versions and Yamaha XG version. Not sure if you intended this sort of 'fake' bass sound? The drum cymbals and hats are also quite synthetic. what got me though is the vocals are swung to the real beat, and so is the bass and drums, but all slightly differently - so the groove this kind of music usually has is missing. It's sort of like where you have a quantised MIDI drum pattern to 32nd timing, and the same with the bass, and the two are slightly adrift, the bass and drums don't 'lock' together - but this could just be me expecting something the latest versions of the style don't do, but it sort of sounds like the bass and drums are separate not together? does that make sense? The vocal quality is better than your backing. Like I said, I don't get the style, but musically, I found it difficult to feel the beat.

 

[TruThugly]

Rob -- Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and respond! Unfortunately the beat is already a MP3 that was made by a fellow who passed and I am no beatmaker...so beyond adding effects to the actual beat I cannot do much but would like to honor his efforts. (w The third one I do believe I hit the beat with a compressor but yea, I recognize my man was not really adapted to rap and some of his sound choices were probably not great. I do have stemmed beats (or did, gotta get in touch with homie again to send stems) but I would really like to; you know; work out any basic writing/performing/recording problems to sound professional on those. I would like that here too but it is understood they are a bunch of two tracks and you can only do so much.



ROB--- "What got me though is the vocals are swung to the real beat, and so is the bass and drums but all slightly differently so the groove this kind of music usually has is missing" -
YES THANK YOU. I HAVE ALWAYS FELT THAT WAY ABOUT ALMOST ALL OF MY TRACKS but never quite put a finger on it... you lost me on the quantisizing analogy. BUT YES THANK YOU. Could you extrapolate just a tad, any advice? I feel like each one of my verses although on topic and beat are almost seperate songs inside a song. NOT what i am going for. As you can probably tell I have no formal music training.... hell alot of this (full disclosure) wasn't even written with a metronome; if that helps advice wise.

I do try to avoid using the same exact delivery and rhyme scheme in each verse of the song as I feel it becomes a bit boring and repetitive.....but that is still better than no groove!. I NOW KNOW WHAT TO WORK ON; can't thank you enough: ANY AND ALL ADVICE ON HOW TO ATTACK THIS PROBLEM FROM ANYONE IS MORE THAN WELCOMED. You won't hurt my feelings; I know I am not a rhythm expert either. Open Season Fire Away.

I am largely losing the doubles as if the lyrics become unintelligible/too inarticulate and the only part I have control over is the vocals; I have failed. On the second two mixes I did remove the doubles; to be more accurate on two I high and low passed them to the point they aren't really audible, just adding a bit of energy. On 3 I removed them completely other than the hook

Am I correct in saying the reason doubles are done instead of just copying the track is due to phasing issues; and if so is this always the case? I would much prefer to just copy the lead vocal and use effects on the copy for the doubles, if used at all....as I don't have voca-lign...... But if duplicating a track is frowned upon doubles are no problem; other than time.

 

[TalismanRich]

Like Rob, this isn't the type of music that I would listen to.

I listened to both versions, (new and final). The "new" version has no bottom end to me, which is a bit of a mortal sin in that genre! It certainly won't rattle the subs in a car. The "final" version was much more listenable to me from a sound quality standpoint.

The first problem I hear is that the bass is way too repetitive. I don't know anything about making "beats", but just looping something endlessly gets very boring to me. From what I hear, there are two drum beats, and one bass line. The better raps that I've heard have more variety. The doubling of the voice wasn't much of an issue to me. Lots of rap groups have two or more people singing in unison. It should sound like two people, tho. The processed vocal wasn't bad, but if I was going to mix this, I might use the effect you used on the vocals, but with the bass/drums/claps from the "final" version.

Get rid of the 15 second silence at the beginning. The track should start within a second of hitting play. The ending cuts off before the end of the song. Make sure your edits are good.

As I said, it's not my style of music, but comparing to some of the current rap songs, the new version is lacking.

 

[TruThugly]

TalismanRich- Thank you so much for taking the time to listen. (first posted was final the second was new.) I agree about the the second one lacking bass and that being a mortal sin in the genre. I hit the vocals with a pretty steep HP filter and I thinks I may have accidentally HP'd the beat too (playing with "groups" which seem similar to busses?)
haha the silence was deafening so I may have panicked and overcorrected.

The third version I believe I compressed the beat with the masterfader on and it was bumping 'too hard' i wouldn't reccomend maxing that on your monitors so it is probably best that is the you one missed. Also HEADS UP to anyone who for whatever reason has there system cranked

I hear you on the bass being way too repetitive, I tried to find a way to downplay it but I don't think that is within my power. Now normally I would take my lyrics and switch them to a different beat: But dude who made this (and most) of my beats passed last month and I would like to do my best to honor the beats he gave me... Duely noted though beat not so great....

The 15 seconds at the beggining is left for a sample from a movie (which i still need to find and download) my apologies about the 15 seconds at the beggining and me skeleton singing on the end; I have a "need vocali
st" note to self before singing but figured it would lend to workflow if when said (whoever TF can sing) person has something to listen to ad go off....

I don't think I really like the hard start right into a verse and plan to gussy that up a little with an intro. Normally I would elect to copy the hook and put it on the intro but as you mentioned; the beat is quite repetetive and lends to ear fatigue. Also noted though, don't bore people for 15 seconds who are kind enough to lend an ear.

So if I understood you first you liked the vocal processing from "New" more but the beat left the way it was in final? That gives me a good area to aim in between.

Now may I.ask if you found the same effect with the vocals/delivery that rob explained so well, "the vocals swung to the real beat, so are the bass and drums but slightly differently which does not lend to the groove this type of music is known for is missing." Because I feel like he really put a finger on something I have been trying to understand why isn't quite sounding right......Which if I understood correctly means it is something I can fix on my end, the lyrics and vocals.....If you found this to be the case as well; do you have any suggestions?? Did you find this to be the case? (If so I can take this to the rap forum and ask them if they can suggest anything, or the writing and song construction)

generally bobbing head, good enough. head not bobbing to it somethin aint right, thats my delivery test in general.

Thank You for your time, ears, and feedback!

 

[rob aylestone]

Take your track as done, and then get a drum sound. Snare would be best. Try to imagine being a drummer. You are going to create a metronome, by ear. Press record and start listening. You’ll miss the beginning of course but you then join in onece your brain kicks in. Listening to your voice, the existing drums and the bass which pulse are you playing too. With your voice, you are fitting in the words to the rhythm. As i understand this style, fundamentally, each syllable has to fit the beat, until you get better at it when you can go ahead, or behind the beat on purpose, in a musical way which give the piece a sort of pace, a feel, style. Beginners must not do this till they’ve got a real feel for finding a groove. The best known singer who did this to extreme was Frank Sinatra. He was way behind or way ahead as part of his style and it worked. If your tracks are a bit of a rhythmic mess, thats not good. Which is the ‘right’ beat?

 

[Folkcafe]

If I am understanding this correctly, the situation is that you are really not interested in becoming a mix engineer but somehow you perhaps feel obligated to honor your friend who has passed.

I can certainly relate. I've spent years live recording to the point where I have an archive of hundreds of artists. Some local hero types from open mic nights I worked and even some who have gone on to sign with major labels. At least once a year or so, I'll get a request to find something suitable from the archive from someone who has passed. Initially I felt a lot of pressure to mix something really great. Thing is, not every performance or project is great. This is not a critique, just a reality many musicians don't always talk about. It's great if you have a passion for creating music. From experience, I can say that family and friends have always been appreciative of having the keep sake of a loved one's music. Don't be too hard on yourself, just do what you can and keep things in perspective.

Here is a video with a bit of advice on this topic and a channel that is a great resource in general if you intend to go further with making music.

 

[TruThugly]

Thank you, in this case I would rather not 'put it off in perpetuity' as to tell you the truth, by the lyrics being written pre 2012, I have already had it on the sideline long enough that before my guy passed he did ask me "Hey I put hours into those beats are you going to use them" ... "Well there are at least some of them I can use". Mid June is his memorial; HE WAS A PROFESSIONAlL MUSICIAN, drummer from a band called "the monsters that made me" (im pretty sure); anyway his family really treasures his music and I think it would be nice to pass out a few by his memorial (for free by hand to people that actually cared about him).

I absolutely understand that this is a passion project and only so much can be expected, given he was starting to make beats and I am still learning (always i suppose) how to properly conduct a song......As long as the people i hand it to can respect the effort my man put in and im not so bad im draggin his beats down.....nothing is expected from this project nor advancement of anything but it looks like skillset possibly.

FOLKPASSION: I do believe you have understood my situation completely. You are correct, not every project or performance is great. Did you find the lyrics lacking or the vocal delivery poor? If so the critique is appreciated; I would love any information about what is lacking and even moreso suggestions to improve. (Im above no advice)

I love writing lyrics and piecing them together like a puzzle, I often think of a funny punch or w/e and have to go write it down. Yea I am passionate about lyric writing and recording, performance and mixing not as much...... I am as bias as every other rapper towards myself; that said I like the thesis of the song if absolutely nothing else. I think it is an important issue although I chose to come at it comedicly.
I think the lyrics are generally just fine? but as rob said "despite the vocals swinging correctly to the beat they did so in a way that does not lend to the groove this music is known for"

would you agree with the above statemets or do you (and dont worry im a big boy) just think I am talentless as a lyricist and vocalist (at least by what was displayed here)....Believe me I don't wanna make an embarassment out of myself and Id rather have people lookin out saying 'no that sucks dont do it, at least if it is consensus' than doing the easier thing and saying yea proceed and allow myself to pull a melle mel (his last track)

*edit* Oh I dont plan on spending anymore money, well to get the avalon 737 fixed but not passed that until I have some ish I can show ppl and know i wont be laughed at righteslously? I guess I gotta learn to do it myself by the sound of things.

 

[Folkcafe]

Thank you, in this case I would rather not 'put it off in perpetuity' as to tell you the truth, by the lyrics being written pre 2012, I have already had it on the sideline long enough that before my guy passed he did ask me "Hey I put hours into those beats are you going to use them" ... "Well there are at least some of them I can use". Mid June is his memorial; HE WAS A PROFESSIONAlL MUSICIAN, drummer from a band called "the monsters that made me" (im pretty sure); anyway his family really treasures his music and I think it would be nice to pass out a few by his memorial (for free by hand to people that actually cared about him).

I absolutely understand that this is a passion project and only so much can be expected, given he was starting to make beats and I am still learning (always i suppose) how to properly conduct a song......As long as the people i hand it to can respect the effort my man put in and im not so bad im draggin his beats down.....nothing is expected from this project nor advancement of anything but it looks like skillset possibly.

FOLKPASSION: I do believe you have understood my situation completely. You are correct, not every project or performance is great. Did you find the lyrics lacking or the vocal delivery poor? If so the critique is appreciated; I would love any information about what is lacking and even moreso suggestions to improve. (Im above no advice)

I love writing lyrics and piecing them together like a puzzle, I often think of a funny punch or w/e and have to go write it down. Yea I am passionate about lyric writing and recording, performance and mixing not as much...... I am as bias as every other rapper towards myself; that said I like the thesis of the song if absolutely nothing else. I think it is an important issue although I chose to come at it comedicly.
I think the lyrics are generally just fine? but as rob said "despite the vocals swinging correctly to the beat they did so in a way that does not lend to the groove this music is known for"

would you agree with the above statemets or do you (and dont worry im a big boy) just think I am talentless as a lyricist and vocalist (at least by what was displayed here)....Believe me I don't wanna make an embarassment out of myself and Id rather have people lookin out saying 'no that sucks dont do it, at least if it is consensus' than doing the easier thing and saying yea proceed and allow myself to pull a melle mel (his last track)

*edit* Oh I dont plan on spending anymore money, well to get the avalon 737 fixed but not passed that until I have some ish I can show ppl and know i wont be laughed at righteslously? I guess I gotta learn to do it myself by the sound of things.

A lot to unpack here. I've read a duality of both doubt and hope throughout this thread with you and the dynamic goes back and forth. Lets take this bit and have a dialog. It is said that to achieve one's dream, you must first give it voice. Unfortunately, after that is where the work begins.

I went up to the studio and listened to your track on something better than the bluetooth speaker on my desk. I thought the overall balance between everything was best in the original track vs the other two you uploaded after. (insert something unsaid about the idea of dispelling self-doubt).

Lyrically, from a message perspective this style is somewhat subliminal. It moves fast and on one listen, you catch parts and miss parts. It is presented in a different way than typical lyrical poetry where each phrase paints from the subject matter palette. This type of style delivers the message over time as you try to keep up through the fast pacing. If the point is the message, did I get it? I'd say yes.

After all this talk, what is the path forward? Give it voice and dare to make it real. Next steps?

 

[Papanate]

The avalon 737 and this is embarassing but uff off ..... it has large slats in the top of it and a penny fell in, it started to hiss; no big mystery. I have cut it out of the signal chain till I can get around to repair.

- Repair? If the penny did anything it’s probably just shorting something - just open the Avalon and get the penny out.

Are my mixes really as bad as I think? Possibly not, but probably. I had someone say they liked one online two days ago but it was not an audio forum so grain of salt.....I also posted it on a hip hop website and was told "THATS NOT HIPHOP GTFO"....so I did.

what exactly is going wrong? Ok this is a fair place to start is the beats are damn near if not clipping when I got them. my beatmaker has passed so not much I can do there. This is a project we were working on a decade ago but w/e w/e if I could do anything but embarass us I think it would be nice.

RX10 Elements is $99 - You could fix those Clipping beats with them - and they would be clean,.

So I am just recording vocals and trying to throw them over an instrumental; which obviously is not the same as having stemmed out beats; but still can be done.

I can tell you things im doing wrong! too many doubles, overcompressed, boxy sounding. Soundcloud.com/jon-smith-667928375/allondrugstuglyfinal Ok so that was recorded in 2012 apparently but current mixes aren't sounding too much better.

I didn’t listen to the Tracks - but if your mixes are sound boxy - Start over with a clean slate - start with the drums - then bass - then voice - get those sounding right - and then add what ever elements you have in your mix one at time - priotizing the Voice/Drums/Bass over anything else - I wouldn’t say it’s simple - but if you start mixing that way
it will be a lot easier - also take an Spectrum Analyzer and look at each track - iZotope Insight 2 is free BTW - it will give you an idea of what you are trying to mix and frequencies each part of mix occupies so you can make good decisions.