Hi all, so I have been reading this forum for a while and this is my first post here!

I am quite new to production (started around 3 months ago) and I have made some tracks so far but I just can't find my own style yet, however would someone please give me some advice on mixing/mastering techniques for my track?

I have used use saturator/exciter like Dada sausage fattener and PSP vintage warmer to give more characters to my track but it still sounds dull and not airy enough And it is also very difficult to get a clean mix at the bottom end although I have tried to tweak the low end (Sub and kick) using different EQ and sidechain compression on the bass but it still sounds quite muddy..

(P.S. I'm not sure if soundcloud compress your sound but it sounds quite different from what it is played from my DAW ableton )

Thanks for your reply in advance! Cheers!

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Get your OWN style sorted first b4 jumping into the dark world of mixing and even darker world of mastering. No amount of nice avatars or mastering will sort that track out m8.

 

It indeed sounds a bit muddy.
Try not to over saturate things, for instance it seems like your pads are a bit too driven.
And it's a bit mono, try imaging more.
I'm guessing at saying you have put some plugs on your master?
Try to mix every sound individually (to the bone) before you do that.
If you think it's not loud enough just gain the volume.
It will take a long time before you'll figure everything out since you've only really been mixing for 3 months.
Or did you actually start making music 3 months ago?

 

well done for completing your track.. always hard, especially at the early stages of Mixing.. nice chilled track.. keep up the good work..

 

Thanks for your reply mate!
I do think that my mix is quite muddy but I have no idea which frequency range has went wrong

Yea i have actually put a saturator to every single channel to make everything sound warmer and I have also put a saturator and limiter on the Master channel

Regarding the stereo width, I wondering what those imaging Plugins do? I have learnt some techniques on youtube to create a wider sound:
1) a simple delay with slight different delay time for L/R channel (Left=1ms Right =20ms) to create the stereo width,
2) different parameters for a M/S EQ?
But if those imaging plugins can do a few more tricks and magic to make my sound wider I might consider buying it

I have just started learning making music using ableton 3 months ago, still a long way to go!

 

Thank you mate!
I never knew the importance of mixing until I started producing!
It really plays a crucial role on your track's first impression!

 

My advice would be to look into some tutorials on mixing, and try to implement things you learn about stereo imaging as you make tracks. That way you'll train yourself to know exactly why and where you're putting your elements. Mastering is a very hard process to learn, and it takes years to master (no pun intended), and it's not that expensive to have it done by a professional. So if I were you, I'd focus on the music first, mixing roughly second, and leave the mastering for some other time, if you're still interested in it. One more reason for that would be that mastering is mostly about finesses an untrained ear (or a trained one in a badly sound treated space) doesn't really notice, so with 3 months of learning... You're not exactly close to that.

 

i totally agree with u that music should always comes first, mixing and mastering come second and third.
I have always heard that the low frequency of your kick, snare and bass (i.e. below 150Hz) shall be left in Mono to make the song sounds more focused
But what about Pad and lead/pluck? sometimes it's really hard to tell which one should sound wider than which one.. :S

 

Nice song. One thing I learned that cleans up a mix is to watch out for using tons of voices/fx on every sound. Often when you load up a bass/lead preset in a synth, it will have a bazillion voices and epic unison and detuning and sound ultra-phat on it's own, but when you put it in your song it completely overpowers everything.

And a little experiment to show you the importance of panning... try playing two sounds together, maybe a bass and a higher-pitch lead and turn one really loud so it you can't hear the other. Then try panning things around without adjusting the levels and you'll hear how the sounds start to separate and become clearer and more discernible.

 

Immediate impressions: The Kick-Bass-Hihat relationship needs to be fixed in production. Since this is the driving Element of your song that triangle needs to be working perfectly. The Bass and Kickdrum feel not tuned perfectly and the frequencies are not seperated well which takes away punch and clarity. Since the open hihat drives the rhythm it should be panned in the middle to allign with the kick and bass. It's a unit, imho. Also, I would drop the double Kick Drums, because they break up the Rhythm.

The rest is more on the production side and taste: sound selection and gainstaging. Basic Stuff. I am missing some excitement in the track. I'd try some side-chaining to bring more live into it maybe.