Well, just a regular mix from cambridge multitrack library. I just focused on balance nowadays, and i need some feedback from different speakers. I've got only one pair source for listening since i'm a poor boy, thx government btw.

here is the link:

https://vocaroo.com/1nrzOwn4sfTs

also i'd be appreciated different multitracks for mixing than cambridge library. Cheers!

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but your mix is fairly simple, i would suggest you dig a bit deeper and focus on two things, clean out some of those bad frequencies that you usually find between 125 and 800 on tracks, check and see if some of the tracks do have some excess of the mentioned frequencies and tame them by using Pro Q3 for exemple, and second compression, i'd love to hear some movement in the mix, like vocals being compressed and pushed to the front, maybe some compression on the bass to bring it out and make your mix a bit more alive, and don't forget the drums, you can always dial back a compressor mix knob if you feel that it's a bit too aggressive for the type of songs you're working on, my advice for you is experiment, and don't hold back, use all sort of compressors anywhere and everywhere, see how many types of equalizers affect the same source and pick your favorite, basically work on your own repertoire and start on cataloging how various comps and eqs and saturators work and how they affect the signal...

good luck.

 

sound fine, checked the eq curve with harbal and looks fine as well, just need to be a bit louder about 7-8db, but i never listen to this style of music so MrLyann might be a better judge when it comes to dynamics.

 

sounds perfect to me , great job !

 

After a quick listen, I really like it!

I'd consider volume automation in some places.
Particularly guitars aren't bold enough in their respective parts IMO (both acoustic and electric).
The triangle(?) at ~1:45 and ~2:15 onwards pokes out a bit too much and then drops out too much IMO.

I'd compress and saturate the vocals more.

 

As a starting point I'd raise the 'accompanying' instruments (gits, piano) and move the snare a bit to the back so it fits better to the toms.

Ride.

 

You are absolutely right, it's flat and kinda boring. But whenever i try to dig some extreme things with compression i screw really hard and it turns trash in a heartbeat. But i got the point your advices would lead me to next step on my journey. Thanks!

I just threw paz analyzer to master channel and aimed random picked reference track for decent frequency balance. I'm glad curve approves me! and yes, i will try mrlyann's advice next time, i hope i can get it aswell.

Thank you very much!

I'm trying less compression and more automation but I've got two tiny parallel compressions on vocal and kick and snare. I will try more saturate or compression next time

Actually i never thought that because i hate mixing toms. Editing toms are really time consuming and if i dont cut and edit and fade them, they are starting to create phase issues. So i never understand the tom's contribution to the mix. maybe i just need to work on toms or drum kit as whole. I just learnt one more thing! Thanks!

 

The snare is annoying and ruins the whole song.

 

Then you are probably using the wrong kind of compression, or at the wrong place of your chain.
do you follow any particular type of mixing? like do you use busses and such?

 

@TheMoss Your song is actually quite good I like it! Yes there are some things you could work on in the mix but that's only natural. What I actually want to do is something that a lot of people I teach find really useful, which is make a quick mastering video. By addressing the song as a whole, you can find things to fix in the mix, it's a super useful exercise that I think will really help you. I'll make that video and message you when I have it finished (maybe by tomorrow).

Things that immediately stick out to me are 1). the snare is too loud, turn it down by 1-2dB. maybe even 3. The triangle/cowbell toward the end is also too loud, turn it down also by 1-3dB.

Other comments:

• There's on overall imbalance in the frequencies, not enough low frequencies 150Hz and below, a buildup in the mids 500-1000Hz, and not enough high frequencies, I would say 4000 and above.
• The vocals could use some compression and EQ. EQ to remove about 1-3dB around 500Hz with a Q value of 1.4 (widen or narrow as you see fit). Compression ratio 4:1. attack 2ms, release 40ms, then adjust the threshold until only the loudest words and phrases in the vocal are being compressed. It does not matter which compressor you use, the stock one will be just fine. Just make sure nothing pokes out too much when you're listening to the vocal with the rest of the music.

There's literally a million other (optional) things you could do to improve. Mixing is a never ending process and you could tweak pretty much forever. But I think you've done a good job overall, and with a little bit more ear training and understanding of basic EQ and compression techniques you'll get to that more polished sound.

I'll message you soon!

 

Last edited: Jan 25, 2022

I think you've done a great job at delivering a mix, that can be presented for post. You've improved considerably and I think you've done a fine job here.

Areas where I think you could improve this particular track.

• Drums
  • separation
  • gain staging
    
  • frequency selection (snare is bit too boxy (400-500hz)
    
  • mild compression (toms)
• Vocal
  • compression is fine
  • saturation is fine
    
  • balance is a bit metallic
• Automation
  • increase and decrease presence of elements for focus
• Creative use of FX and reverb

I think you are at the point where you have to take everyone's advice with a grain of salt especially when it concerns loudness and overall balance. Your mix is serviceable as is and doesn't need wholesale changes in approach or loudness. When you get done with mixes and want to move on to post for loudness or normalization, that is an other discussion and probably an other thread.

 

My observations are more about aesthetics or taste rather than technical aspects.

I feel that the drums are too hard for this type of song. You have these latin, ballad-y type of acoustic guitars and a pop song feeling but some hard rock drums with that splatting snare that screems "oh yeah this f***in ROCKS, duuuude" (steve-o voice) all the time while the actual song is not that rocking mot of the time. This works in the solo section with the rock guitar and the climax but not for the rest of the song. I think thes snare should be different (less velocity) especially in the beginning.

 

I used channel strip on this mix generally, the ssl emulation one. 2 seperate busses for parallel compression; dbx 160 for kick and snare, 1176 for vocal parallel. What kind a compressors else do you advice for spesific elements?

Well, i will check and quick re-balance like you've mentioned above. maybe i could threw some pultec to the main bus for low and high end boost, than check vocal again. Thank you for your effort btw i'll keep my one eye on the inbox!

Dear @JMOUTTON , It's really great to see how share your experience and knowledge everytime when i need to guiedence.

unfortunately, drums was really hard to keep seperate without messing arround because this song contains 13 seperate tracks, too less drum mics. they were like kick-snare-oh-percussion and toms. And i just intervented with tiny eq movements. I have not much faders to be ride as i expected. But i can try some detailed automation aswell.

You are right, I wish i'd work in the recording-arranging phase but it's a educational, already released song so i had limited options to do I'd cut the transients or replace the drums with addictive trigger, maybe i should do that.

 

Yeah, it's the little things... to me it's mostly just minor eq cuts, and panning to get stuff out of the way of other stuff. I decided to have a go and see what I could do with in in an hour and I came up with this:

There's not a crap ton of compression on anything. In my humble opinion people abuse the heck out of compression. I used ProQ-3, Kramer Pie and TSAR-1 verb and that's it, except maybe a couple instances of other things (Darkglass on bass, IHeartNY on snare and Gulfoss at the end).

Not perfect, but I like it better than their reference mix :D The rhythm acoustic is a real pain in the ass. I could probably spend an hour on it alone...

 

Last edited: Jan 26, 2022

isn't that vocal tooooo unfront and so much bright, i can barely hear the drums :/ but still it's a nice one

 

I am going to venture a guess that that 4K-5K bump in the vocal that makes it sound metallic is part of the microphone's character curve.

 

Btw, i worked on some puremix tutorial imagine dragons song today. Here is the 1 min of song: https://vocaroo.com/1h3utQm4HrxT

i used some saturation plugins in this mix (such as decapitator, satin etc.) and mixbus tape emulations. ( I loved n4's atr tape emulation from 3rd party developer!)

ps: i think i got the point of 'balance' in the mix pretty used to placing elements where they belong to. Maybe just over loud drum elements ruining my judgement, i cant stand low volume drums i want to crank them up

 

Yep, got in the car and went, "Uhhhhhhh... crap" Agree on vocals totally. Hey, end of the day ear burn... lol I think to work though those drums need to lay back. Thanks!

 

Last edited: Jan 27, 2022