hi i bought sonic sweep 2 vst today (excellent plugin) and thought i would try to make a hardcore track i used the melody line from frontliner discorecord quickly to get some inspiration the mixing and mastering is not top notch I have not really spent much time on it but I would like your opinion especially about the kicks normally I actually only do techno and thought i would try something different so feedback good or bad ot doesnt matter I can take criticism

 

The sound is quite muddy; you need to better separate the individual instruments that have similar frequencies using EQ. Add more bass to the kick drum. Try to establish a basic structure first, and then pan each instrument slightly or add reverb to position it in the soundstage, either towards the front or back. The more sounds a project contains, the more difficult it becomes to position them in the soundstage.

Loud with little reverb -> sound source is close.
Quiet with a lot of reverb -> sound source is far away.

The song has potential.

 

I don't agree with Pulsewave completely. The overall mix is not muddy. The kick and offbeat bass could have more sub added though. Nothing crazy, just 3ish db. I think maybe the arp lead thing that starts in the breakdown at 1:26 and continues on through the drop may have too much low mids scooped out. Or its not loud enough. Feels a bit thin.

I do agree with Pulsewave that a couple of the elements could have very light, small decay reverb added to help position them and settle them into the mix. Best way to do reverb, put it on the track at 100%, cycle through presets or tweak until you find the overall vibe / tone, then turn it to 100% dry, and slowly bring it up while listening to the track (not soloed!!) Continue to slowly bring it up until you just start to be able to hear it, then turn it back down another 5-10% from there. The goal here isnt to create a washed out noticeable reverb, but just something to help place it in the mix.

 

That's always the problem with reverb, it quickly sounds muddy or it's so little that you barely notice it. I haven't really spent much time on the tack either, maybe I'll continue when I'm in a better mood.

 

I haven’t checked the track yet, but as a general rule with reverb: start with the send at zero, raise it until you clearly hear it, then pull it back slightly. Anything beyond that should be intentional.

 

haha great minds! i just said the same thing. Its crazy how much of a difference this made for me. Im not sure where or when I first heard this technique, its been years now, but it really made a night and day difference in my mixes. Funny how one seemingly simple thing can really change your mix.

Well, reframe how you are viewing reverb. If you are going for an obvious effect, something really washed out etc, then of course over-do it. For "mixing", aka creating glue, setting elements of your mix into a physical space and so on, just remember you shouldn't really notice it. Its just there to help elevate your mix, to enhance whats already there, not necessarily become an independent entity of your mix. This rule framed out by clone and myself really works. If you are still struggling with excess mud from reverbs, throw an EQ before AND after the reverb. Scoop the lows on the way in, and on the way out scoop low mids, or wherever there is excessive energy buildup from the verb. I like pro q for this, as you can visualize where there may be excessive buildup by comparing the spectrum of the two plugins. You can always use some sort of ducker as well, but try not to overdo it.

 

It is a practical way to do it. I don't think it's from a written rule, like Haas Effect is. It's a DRR direct to reverberant ratio adjustment like SNR is to compressor parameters. It makes getting it right very easy, unless you want to make it more complicated, and sometimes you want to. I think too heavy reverb settings are usually just from someone hearing the reverb and thinking it sounds great, because it is such an important function of hearing. Too much and it can make you feel seasick.

 

I think it is dope.

You had an idea, you followed it thru, you made it come to an end and that˝s it. Iterations, mix wise, can also come in a similar way so if a track is good it would be good to listen to it in a good state of mind.. so that if you do 1 or 2 tweaks, they should translate and be valuable to the track in whole.

Because you never know, energy and focus are limited, there are producers who made albums super fast and just relied on mastering engineers. You could have a great idea that cant be even mixed anymore, other than tweaks like low end/top end/mud etc.