I could use some critiquing of my mix since I'm out of my normal operating parameters with so many new timbres than my usual style.

 

Last edited: Aug 4, 2023

it sounds good, but I think you are maybe letting it get a little full or "busy". i would try starting your fast high hat pattern a few measures later after the start of the vocal. and then at 1:20-ish when it all kicks in, maybe a little thinning eq, or shorter reverb. that kind of thing. the bass sounds really nice. I think I just like the space and depth parts more.

 

The hats were bothering me too. Thanks, I'll lose them.

 

Nice little Trip hop beat. I don't know what was your target nor your reference but I'm not hearing anything that is really out of place here.

In my grot box (DMAX SC5) I hear the meat of your synth bassline as a nice blanket. If I have to be picky, maybe the kick is a bit recessed in the hooks and in the end when it's busy. ( or is it the top line of the drums that is too upfront !? hummm...yeah, probably) the relation of the synth bass / kick seems on point so I would vote for the latest option.

In my old trusty production monitors (APS Aeon2), Your hi percs ( hats, percs and cymbals ) it doesnt sound harsh at all. I also love the compromise between the sense of depth and the DR level. Maybe the choir sound a bit too upfront in the loud part which take a bit too much space? (HPF the synth choir a bit higher to give more space for the body of the vocals to cut through maybe? ) But in the fashion, I don't think it's out of place. It's an artistic decision in my opinion and I'd live with it happily ever after personally.

In the mastering monitors (Lipinski L-707) there's a very nice and polite game being played in the panning of the high percs. Love it. I have that same feel of ''over-forwardness'' of the choir in the hooks and the loud part at the end. Not by much though. The vocals seems a bit recessed ( a little 2db boost on the mains maybe ? ) Again, I could live with it. It doesn't feel like it's out of place at all. Or maybe just give it a gentle 0.5 bell push at 1.4khz or about. it would help with the intelligibility and get them to cut through a bit more. Though I can see them sit there as part of the whole nebulous aspect of the song. Again, as an artistic decision, I think it would live great as is. I really love the rough Attack on the synth bass. It sound like it's coming from an old sampler and it was ''roughly cut ''. The guitare in the end could be pushed a bit more upfront after everything is pushed back as it's a bit too shy imo. We also lose a bit of ineligibility in the quieter part or the vocals ( when she hit her lower notes). Maybe a bit of work there to make the vocal ride a bit more evenly.

Now If I use a reference that would quickly come to mind to A/B your mix, to me it would remember me of Royksopp ft Robyn - Monument. A masterful mix imo.

Your whole drums and percs would be quite a bit too upfront and your vocals so much behind in comparison but those are obviously 2 completely different attempt and I understand this was not your target. Yet, I think we could learn something by A/Bing them.

Or maybe we could use something like Bran van 3000 - Drinking in L.A. as a base reference. Then your whole instrumental part minus the drums would take too much space. Your vocals would also have a bit too much body as well. And as I said when listening in my old production monitors, maybe the choir and whole instrumental part could use a bit of carving in the body as well. But lets keep in mind that this mix was released decades ago and the target was completely different. Yet, I think your track could use of a bit of more space in that region for intelligibility purposes even though I love me some cream and body. Or cream on her body !? ...Humm, it's starting to feel kinky in here eh !?

On my iphone speaker, I come to the same conclusion. Vocals a bit too recessed, a choir hook line too upfront, and some prominent drums that could be pushed a bit in the back and keep the same knock factor.

On the whole mix, there's a lot of creamy body (200 to 400hz) which I personally love a lot but on a commercial release, that might be a bit too much to be competitive when A/Bing.

All in all, those would be my taste but I don't hear anything that comes out as an ''error'' to be corrected.

My favourite part of the song , other then the vibe, is the creamy sound of it. It doesn't sound harsh at all but it does become a bit too busy in the second part of every hook and in the end imo.

Honestly, this is high quality music and enjoyed it very much. Good job.

 

Thanks very much! I'd pre-emptively decided the choir was burying the chorus and it's now gone and there's more space. I agree, some of the drums that pan left and right are a bit harsh. This is the first mix I've ever done on Slate VSX as well, so don't consider this an endorsement, but I found it helped with the overall sound.

 

I don't think the top line of your drums sound harsh at all. I just think they are too upfront which messes with the ineligibility of the rest of the elements when it become busy.

 

Okay, gotcha. I'll pull them down a few dB. It does become busy at the end but this is a decision based on the songs message, where if you are exposed to so much disinformation it is hard to find truth. So I created some audio chaos.

 

First things first, nice job, especially for something that's out of your comfort zone.

How would I improve it (according to my very subjective taste)? Two possible ways.

1- It has a distinct 90s-very early 2000s vibe to it, but to my taste it's a bit too busy for that kinda sound. So I'd go head on in that direction, and lighten the arrangement. The "epic" percussion loops, for example, sound a bit out of place for that vibe (again, to my taste). I'd replace them with a sparser and longer loop, something like x0x perc sounds for instance.
Why longer? The ones you use are only one bar long, so they get repetitive pretty fast. So let's say the new basic loop is two bars long, and you add/subtract an element or two the second time it plays around, boom, that's a four bar loop that subtly evolves. Repeat the same process one more time, and you got an eight bar loop that's now an entire phrase/part on its own instead of the same loop repeating eight times.
So overall, a sparser arrangement, fewer elements, and replace some loops that don't fit that kinda vibe with something more fitting, and less repetitive. You can either program your own loops with midi, find longer loops, or do some editing using the mouse, ctrl+c, ctrl+v and delete (or whatever the hell they use on those damned Macs).
Still going for that vibe, I would personally add more air to the vocals, and while we're at it why not a layer of airy reverb?

2- Another direction I would explore is the opposite of the first one : take everything that sounds out of place for that 90s vibe, and go deeper on them.
What I mean is, take your loops, chop them up, rearrange them, reverse some of them, play with pitch, repeat divisions, panning etc. Go wild experimenting. And more FX. For instance, keep one hat/cymbal sound "natural" as the rhythmic anchor in the high register, but add FX to every other cymbal loop. Phasers, choruses, all kinds of delay, ring modulation, frequency shifting... And of course automating them to give them more life. A very easy, subtle yet effective trick is to have polymetric automation. So let's say one cymbal loop has an automated filter sweep that lasts 1.5 bars, another one has the phaser feedback automation for two bars etc.
But let's say you REALLY want to go bonkers with the whole chopping samples up and rearranging them thing to the point where not one newly created phrase ever repeats itself, each time you copy-paste a rearranged phrase it's different from the last one etc.
Then, you can choose to randomize the FX parameters as well. Some DAWs make it easier than others to do this (Bitwig is by far the best DAW for that kind of stuff, no contest), or some FX plugins have built-in randomization tools.
OR, you can keep the automation loops, so while your samples are no longer repetitive, there's still repetition going on with the FX.

If you take that mentality even further (and I realize I'm getting further away from answering your original question lol), a simple way to get crazy loops is this : create an FX chain, however you like it, but don't be shy from going against your intuition -nothing's stopping you from just going phaser > compressor > phaser > compressor > phaser (although I'm not responsible for the resulting sound lol). Next, take your MIDI controller, and randomly assign knobs to FX parameters. It's totally fine to have one knob controlling multiple parameters.
Then you press record, launch the loop, and just turn those knobs like a radio operator on a meth binge. Do it as long as you want, or as long as you can take it without bleeding from the ears.
You'll end up with a totally unique, unpredictable sound file. Usually most of it will suck (although even the sucking parts can be used in some ways) but there will be moments of insanely awesome sonic stuff happening.
Then it's back to chop chop time. Cut it, move it around, reverse, pitch shift etc. etc. and voila, you've created your own unique loops.

My apologies for giving a completely different answer than what you asked for, it's late and I'm very high lol.

 

Hey, it's early morning here and I'm drunk, so live and let live. C'est la vie mon amie! Thanks for your thoughts.

 

Last edited: Aug 4, 2023

You tried to do some shit. But everything you can do is a masterpiece.
You are way too talented. Give a little to me. Fuck you.
Everything you touch became platinum.
Pitty that you can't touch me you dirty little pervert.

Nice track buddy!

 

Thank you for trying to fuck me, but I am already fucked and have been fucked for many years. Do you know what being fucked is like? It's fucked.

 

Fun fact:
You know that when you quickly say fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck
It will sound like duck quacking?
It should be even easier now when you have inside veins little blood in the alcohol.

Happy quacking!

 

Last edited: Aug 4, 2023

Sounds good, a bit busy in the middle, a bit too "complex" poetically for beats but hey it's you.

 

Busy in the midrange? Arrangement? I know. I guess I'm trying to support the song as opposed to prioritising the beat. If that makes sense. First and foremost, it's a song with a meaning. The lyrics are the core of the song. I chose this style as a challenge to myself because I'm bored with being me. You should try being me....you wouldn't last a day. None of you!!! I have gallstones that are killing me and the number of times I have to pee through the night....oy oy oy..... now get off my lawn, you Damn kids!!

 

The arrangement in the crescendo of the song has too many elements and is so sonically busy it overwhelms the effect and just turns cacaphonous. If that was your intent so be it, I am just saying that from here, in my head and with my ears it gets so that I stop paying attention.

As far as you being you, that's what you do. Me and I do being me and can't be bothered to be anyone else.

Like I said, it's you.

 

Listen you dont need to push around Levels to get the perfect trim.

Assume for one sec, you did "everything right", you explored the max for most aspects

NOW do some Fader rides!
If you want to get the biggest Impact on the second part of the hook
Lower some things before
Perfect example the drums rolls could get progressively louder
But at the loudest part of the song should be the Vocals
and you arrange everything according to the biggest impact at that moment

Sometimes you only need a transient designer for some drum parts
to place them in space

Volume
Attack
Space
Frequency

Great Work!

 

For those of you who took the time to listen and give honest analysis, I thanks you. I have taken most of your criticism into account and I trust you know more than I. I am in something of a confused state. Do I follow public opinion or stick to my own idea? Artistically and philosophically, an artist who tries to please everyone will please no one, most off all himself. However, a consistent has been that it is too busy. Blame this on my four decades of ingrained production techniques and my love of layering sounds.
I will strip it back, not for an audience per se, but to know if a clean version has an advantage over the noisy version.
I must be doing something very wrong. The stats on my Bandcamp page showed that 116 people here listened to it and only 2 could give it a thumbs up. Perhaps 65 year olds have no business outside of their comfort zone.

 

I'm bored. gimme stems.

Nice track though, really. needs more low-end mixing, but I like bass-heavy stuff. Leans heavily towards a generic side of things, but again I like things that I like.

 

Is it clearer with all unnecessary sounds removed?

 

You're Magic Max, not Skid Marks, your an artist, an artist with a pokey prostrate, but an artist nonetheless. I'll not critique it because I'm not aurally cognitive these days, however, if this is a preliminary foray into a new creative direction I'd say throw those chunky gallstones in a martini shaker, add gin, a splash of vermouth and a teaspoon of bitters. What shall we call it?