hey, guys just finished a trance track. I need to improve my mixing skills but I'm not sure how. let me know if you have any tips for me.

Cheers

 

well sounds ok to me, i struggle to get my tracks to sound full, but it takes time and i am improving, what i can comment on is the track as a production, i like the arrangement its well thought out, maybe add some plucks and counter plucks in the break, layer up to 4 synths playing the same melody with different patches, you can have 1 melody playing a high octave and the second a lower one playing the same clip and pan keeping the main synth center, overall i liked it

 

sweet as, thanks dude

 

there is a gr8 video tutorial around Dance Music Production making a trance track from scratch its the best i have seen, i followed what he did step by step and came up with a track identicle to his, of course thats not how to do it because its not your track, but it teached you the same methods as he implement, making chords and chord progressions, not that you need that as you already have a good understanding of music, i watched the course 3 times and changed the key and came up with a good track from it, also if you can find them some vid tuts from an english producer allan morrow, but yer gr8 work

 

 

Last edited: Feb 5, 2019

Yea i really want to get them but i dont really have the cash to spend on them. They look really good though.. i feel like iv hit a wall and i cant progress

 

Swear these beats need a warning label, can cause serious and unexpected neck injuries..

So you're looking for some tutorials eh? I'll see if my uncle bill can make one for you, he used to be one of those dj's down at the laundromat and can do some mean stuff on the ones and toos.

Wouldn't mind seeing the tutorial you scoped for those sinister choppy synth growls that play throughout your mix though!

Excellent stuff, a good complement to my coffee this morn

 

I think the track sounds good too! It's a bit messy in the high end, but that's not something ruining the experience if you know what i mean. The sound is there, it sounds clean to me, the elements in the mix all have their own space.
I don't know what you're looking for when you say you need to improve your mixing skills, but if you're really struggling then i suggest you to pick a reference track similar to yours that sounds good and run a comparison.

 

in my ears totally overall decent track. and the mix is really good but its also the only thing that could possibly be lacking and not up to pair with a "pro release"

there is something in the stereo picture that is not quit there yet if compared with a official release, and the mastering could get done a tiny bit better and reach that last punch.

but since you have done your best here, its something that would need to be done by a "pro" from a label? and there also add the touch of a mastering.

great job

 

Pretty good.

It sounds a bit too HiFi and too squashed.

 

great track and I don't think you should to improve anything well done

in the dance floor people like it !

 

Yep, I know, but that's part of the problem.

And btw, I love Trance music.

 

what do you want today you ask kid what do you think about war world 3 ?
they reply : Finally call of duty "LIVE"
today all the music like that.
and not only the music but everything , not like in 70s 80s everything done in low volume
and people done music not by greedy , but rather people done music because they love music and not the money and today you can see only Porno Stuff in
High Volume boom boom boom more higher Volume than for them it's batter .
and for producer who has family and kids should fallow the main stream (which is not good)
when the Money is the drive for making music , then it become not even a music !

 

Last edited: Feb 5, 2019

hey guys thanks for your replies, seems like most of the feedback is pretty good which is awesome. I tend to have a lot of confidence issues with music. when I put tunes up against pro-level songs it sounds to me that there is something that I'm missing. Their songs seem to have more weight and thickness. not sure if that's a mixing issue or a sound design issue

 

Difficult to say without comparison. Can you give an example, maybe we can hear something.

 

imho I would be a happy camper getting the tracks to the standard you have.

you dont have to be a songwriter, mixer and mastering engineer. making nice tracks that is the freaking source of everything, dont kill yourself with other stuff that will distract you from what maybe is your forte, the songwriting.

just make the decent basic mixes you have shown you can do to be able to present your work and then either leave the mixing/mastering to someone who focuses on just that or leave it to the label, if the tracks are good you will be offered those services, that seems to me like a reasonable way to approach this

 

yea sure ill list a few here.

they sound like they are on a whole other level. everything is so goddam punchy compared to mine lol

 

Cool track man!

There's something overly hyped and squeezed in the highs, which overall makes it feel like the whole time through someone's messing with your ear canal. Listen on headphones, that exaggerates the effect even more. I think if you let the high frequencies and the instruments in that part of the spectrum breathe more, filter them in some parts and let them come up and be annoying in others on purpose, you will get an even fresher sounding track out of it.

Another tip is to look into creating more space, reverbs and delays. Decide what you want tobe "in the distance". As long as something is, the brain percieves it as the WHOLE track being deep and awesome.

Remember you're comparing yourself to already-mastered pro releases. I guarantee you, their work even though it's pro, didn't sound like it does in the final result before mastering either. Think of what you did as a "test master", you're trying to get the track & mix to the point where you can send it to be mastered. Then you will have a very good chance to get on level to the pro guys sound.



The punch you're feeling in theirs is mainly coming from mastering compression settings. So it's not a whole lot of Ozone or other plugins stacked on it, it's actually just one or two compressors usually, but tuned perfect to the track. They got to be exactly right, there's a sweet spot every mastering engineer knows and looks for. Gives that exact punch you like.

 

Last edited: Feb 5, 2019

sweet as ill bring some of the highs down, I think I was being super worried about it not being bright and it seems I have cooked the highs a little too much hahaha. thanks man

 

Yeah comparing your song to the first reference song you sent which is similar it looks like the reference has more basses and less highs than yours. Try raising a bit the low end on the kick and you should be closer to the reference