Hey everyone,

We just wrapped up our first track, and we’re throwing it to the wolves My band and I know it’s not perfect (we even managed to rough up the snare with a soft clipper while chasing loudness. Rookie move, maybe?)

Anyway, we’d like to have your honest ears on the mix: balance, punch, stereo space, whatever jumps out.

Here’s the track: https://youtube.com/shorts/klZl7CCh11k

Thanks a bunch!

 

I think it´s cool!

Following online advices versus following taste can be tricky tho.

It reminds me of Daft Punk - One More Time(unfair i know), male vocal around minute 1 is cool, i have no idea what the lyrics are but the vibe is there( ), tinly leads that came around 1:40 i wish i could hear them better, overall, i think there´s potentiall in it both mix and mastering wise.

So happy to see where you guys go!

 

Last edited: Sep 3, 2025 at 5:35 PM

The highs sound very unnatural and the mids disappear to some extend. In other words: It lacks quite some harshness.

Too much equalizing or spectral balancing.

 

Congratulations @The Royal Stay, finally something new, something good, something that makes you feel good... something that gives you hope. The song is a new star in the musical sky, bravo! The bass is great, the tempo and the ideas are top-notch.

I'm not much of a mixmaster, so I can only say that the male voice might need a de-esser;
it's a bit too harsh or too bright, and speech intelligibility could be a bit better.

 

I've heard your track a couple of times and made some notes over the course of the day. Keep in mind this is just my opinion.

Your drums don't sound very cohesive, like they don't belong to the same section/kit. A good part of that is because your hihats are significantly louder, a bit too bright and with a sort of stilted dynamic or velocity (If this is stylistic you can ignore that last part).

The resonance in your flanging guitar is a bit too aggressive, It pokes out too much when the filters near 3-4k but It also tends to disappear when It goes below that point.

Your bass sounds pretty good. Are you using Trilian by any chance or am I just hearing things?

I also agree with the others on this thread that your main vocal could use some de-essing, but more than that, It's a little too dynamic.
I would encourage you to automate It heavily before your compression/saturation/dynamic control.

The overall frequency balance is a bit off too. Your background vocals at the start of the song have a really nice balance actually. You could compare both tracks without effects and try to match your main vocal to the overall tone of the bg one. That could help a lot in the intelligibility and overall sound of It.

During the verses I feel like every instrument is fighting for my attention and I get kinda overwhelmed. Try reducing the volume of your guitar and use some reverb or filter a bit of high end to sit It a bit behind in the overall picture. I have a feeling that could help your stereo keys to be easier to hear as well.

I like the overall disco vibe and the strings at the end sound pretty nice.

 

it's good. it's not all there yet, but it is headed in the right direction. You have this percussive part come in at about 1:30. it's pitched in a way it almost resembles a wood block, but because of the rhythm it is playing; I think it is supposed to be a conga. It is adding more to the track, but not accomplishing anything. It sounds like it is supposed to be off the grid a little, but it could be too far out. It's not a major part so you could probably replace it pretty easily.

 

It certainly has a vibe. I think the mix is ok, it feels a little hollow at the low end, but if that sound was your intention, I don't see a reason to change it. One thing that I "dislike" is how the hats are a little louder than the vocals, it kinda gets fixed as the song progresses, but at the start it's a little too noticeable.

Not sure if I agree with the others on the de-essing, I use FiiO FT3s, and they're pretty treble-happy, but the esses don't make me jump like in many recent rock records (the newest Architects, Spiritbox and the sad re-release of Three Cheers from MCR come to mind). This and the previous complaint can be easily worked with TDR Arbiter, though.

Overall, I think it was a good effort, and certainly good enough to release. I would make the vocals a little bit louder, tame those hats a bit, and maybe do the de-essing if more people seem annoyed by it. As long as it doesn't become a lisp, it's fine to push it more.

 

Wow, thank you so much! I mean, especially for the comparison. That’s high praise! We agree the mix and master still have room for improvement. About the lead synth at 1:40: we kept it low because it foreshadows the strings later on, and we like the “easter egg” idea of hiding details for a second listen. Plus, it competes a bit with the vocal line, so that was our thinking behind keeping it at that level

 

Hey
Do you mean overall? We didn’t use any global EQ. Mostly we EQ’d the vocals, and the hats and crashes are pretty airy (our reference was Glamour Profession… far off, I know!) The guitars are heavily filtered too. Thanks for the input!

 

Thanks so much for your kind words! We put a lot into this track—especially emotionally—so it really means a lot. And yes, agreed about the de-esser! Funny enough, I think our engineer (she's a band member) used an auto gain-riding technique that might have caused that issue, bringing up s tails... we'll look into it!

 

Hey there!
I agree about the guitar resonance and the vocal dynamics. To me, the guitar level has been the trickiest part. The song was built around that part, but over time the other elements kind of elbowed it out. Some people say “bring it up,” others say “bring it down”... the same back-and-forth we wrestled with before sharing the track. Go figure! Thanks for your time and kind words. I’ll be sure to pass the compliments to the arranger

 

You’re the third person to mention the tamborim (that’s what it’s called) being too swung! On its own it sounds fine, but yeah, we could definitely try a tamer take. Thanks so much for taking the time!

 

Thanks for the confidence boost, shinjiya! We’re still torn on the vocal level. Our singer is so self-conscious that if it were up to him, he’d bury the vocals until they’re barely audible, lol. We’ll check out that TDR Arbiter solution, hoping the learning curve isn’t too steep!

 

I don't read the comments before I listen to anything, or I would just focus (and probably hear) whatever they are mentioning. But that perc part is kind of attention grabbing as being "wrong". Maybe if you just dial back the gain on it; it might not stand out as much. Or you could try nudging it some. If I was working on it, I would probably mute it and bypass all the FX; then try replacing it with something on a new track that can add something more to the track; rather than trying to do damage control with it. If that doesn't work, unmute it and see what you can rig up with shaping or something. Maybe because it is a disco song, I am actually just expecting a conga, bongo, etc. to be there. What it reminds me of is that kids toy called a wooden clacker.

this thing:

 

Last edited: Sep 4, 2025 at 7:11 AM

A YouTube short? What am I supposed to hear there, two layers of conversions and YouTube's AI processing, all adjusted to fit the average platform loudness of -14 LUFS?
I'll come back to it and actually listen to it when I'm done with the day's chores but the only thing you could've done to make it worse is playing it to me from a phone speaker in a metro station when the train arrives.

 

As I expected, I don't know which faults are yours and which are the platform's.
The highs are all messed up. That's probably AI+conversion but if it's not - undo a few steps you did with high frequency processing on drums and voice.
Instruments conflict with each other, and the voice conflicts with them all. Carve some space for the voice, then dial it back and give it some reverb and slapback delay FFS, it sounds like it's in a different space from everything else. As it stands you won't be able to balance it properly, because frequency masking is the main issue, not the volume. Also my own opinion, but phasers on the vocals fuck them up, with no exception. Matter of taste, so take it for what it is.
What's with that tambourine? It can't catch the song's rhythm, like it's playing something else.
Where bass? Might be my personal preference but the subs are very thin. Good tone otherwise.
You can make the snare a bit deader. It has a very sharp bright transient that jumps out, but a good body.

 

If mixed, every single sound can have more space, drums could be more snappy and vocal more "in your face", also louder, but as of right now it is still a recording of a certain energy that was going on so it still counts as cool(in my brain tho).

I advise not taking comments too personally, i still remember a guy 2-3 years ago posting his track here and everyone bashed it on being "distorted" and slammed and it was some of the best songs i heard that year, i still remember the lyrics and 99% of the time i dont even listen to lyrics.. at all.

So keep going! ;)

 

Last edited: Sep 4, 2025 at 8:04 PM

Mixing Is the art of compromise, isn't It?

It's a good thing you're looking for feedback in the first place. It's the best way to improve your craft in my opinion.

I hope I didn't come across as too harsh, I'm just trying to help.