edit: Updated with video
Hey people! This is my first attempt to produce, mix and master a Synthwave track.
It would be useful if you could maybe take a listen and review it, as i did this with a cheap subwoofer and a pair of Presonus Eris E3.5's

Thanks in advance for your time!

 

Last edited: Jan 9, 2023

- snare is moved to the left, on purpose?
- toms could benefit from more reverb and a bit stereo spreading
- solo synth too loud and bit too boring (I'd add a bit saturation/distortion and reverb/delay)

Other than that, a nice one.

 

one-by-one on the spot! How did you do this?!?!
- Yes, snare is about 25% to the left in an attempt to spread the stereo image (that was the easy one)
- I inserted and deleted a reverb send for the toms for about 10 times! I thought they would be rather "cheesy" with it and kind of "weird" without it. I went for the weird
- The solo was initially for 4 bars, but i thought it was beautiful so i doubled it In fact, I did have the arturia ms-20 filter/distortion on it, but there were some strange artefacts when exporting to stems. I'll have a closer look on that.

I'll follow your advice!
I was mostly worried about a weak low end and the overall loudness/compression because this genre tends to be over-compressed and has an almost "muddy" feeling in regards to frequency balance.
Thank you!

 

Last edited: Jan 8, 2023

Surgically adjusted ears.
No, honestly, this comes just with experience.

I wouldn't do this with the snare...

Depends on the reverb's sound, length and amount, right?

That's how it's done.

Nothing wrong there, IMHO.

 

The kick is thumpy enough, feels solid like it has a place in musical spectrum.

The first thing i hear is a tiny bit overwhelming synth line and i dont know what else to say about it or how fix it, maybe a bit more low end on it, parallel stuff..but cool...yeah, "quality", more quality synth is the word i guess.

 

Well, i've updated it. The big difference came with auto-panning the toms (thanks No Avenger!)
Snares stayed partially panned to the left, because there was more clarity to them and the whole mix this way
Lead/solo got some delays and reverb and became more lush (distortion and saturation just made it, well... distorted... in an unpleasant way)

 

Ah, better. And nice vid, where's that coming from?

But, er,

Frequency masking, can be fixed by eqing or panning...
... oh, just checked it in mono to hear what happens to the snare, only to find out that this eliminates your wide pad sound almost completely.

 

The source of the clips: https://animeclips.online
and video made with the free Shotcut video editor

ha! I want a machine feeling in the track (and i got lazy going back and forth to the drum programming, exporting, importing, testing, mixing). I also got lazy programming more fills to add variation and i think this way they got less borring

yeap... not the whole sound though, just the high end of the pads
Man this genre is all about messed up mixing and mastering. I've had a really hard time finding a reference track that's balanced and has clarity!

 

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Last edited by a moderator: Feb 28, 2023

@Vampiretna you want comments just on the mix ? Or the whole composition?
I have friends making & being under contract with Amazon video making Johnny to soundtrack no names giving I am so jealous I installed their first daws when they started yes more than one & I was too much involved in plugs n teams Lost time with all that Your music could be easily a soundtrack to series Then I'm à former singer now on synths the more analog I can try to use less virtual I can I m an old fish released recording yet Last thing with Howie B
I could talk to you about the composition scrolling of events in it
And as said William S Burroughs nothing is Forbidden all is allowed !! Nothing against No Avenger you are the artist
I m sorry for thé little Novel
If we could talk private that would fit me better
Again nothing against anyone.
Thank you guyz for all those years I started losing my days n nights on Irc when modems went thru téléphone what a trip
But I don't regret the adventure
I m proud to see it served young people
Rock on!

 

Interesting.

That's correct.

What do you expect from the 80s?

 

Well, as i stated in my original post i was worried about my mix, because it was done with a crappy subwoofer and a pair of Eris 3.5 (also in an untreated room, at the worst possible spot: a corner) and it is my first track on this genre.
No Avenger spotted a couple of things that also really troubled me, so we got caught up in this conversation and eventually ended up with a better mix (in my opinion).

btw, a much more "artistically" complete track is on the way...

 

it wasnt a bad critic .... Just curious the song is very honest I am an old fish please when your other song is released I want to listen to it

 

Very nice! I buy everything in this piece, I'm completely in the synthetic / post everything mood, you could have extended this song to any duration, I have listened to its entirety!

Of course the snare is not centered, ok, right... But considering this music is a 100% synthetic and positronic product played by an army of Japanese robots (am I right?), I have the tendency to be overly forgiving...

Ya know, robots are sometimes clumsy, they sometimes make random little mixing errors, but is it really an error ?
...Or a subliminal message from the Giant AI (hallowed be Her Name!) who governs our entire worlds?

Last words before I dissolve myself in the Sacred Torrent of Big Data who travels freely across the entire Galaxy: The anime you have chosen is closely inspired by (or copied from? Or paying homage to?) a classic Japanese Manga / Anime Post-Apocalyptic Masterpiece:

Akira is the name, simply unforgettable, overwhelming... Simply said: world have never been the same after it...

 

This part i got! Thanks!

Thanks! I am not into anime really, but then again, i was not into synthwave either