Hello everyone, I've been reading the forums here for a while and between the discussions here and the sister site I was inspired to attempt an album that has some kind of continuity.

I'm still learning how to mix, but I think I'm heading in the right direction, so please take a listen and let me know how to improve on the mixing. I hope you enjoy the music.

edit heres the finished version of Echos from the harbour...


edit - thanks to Arabian_jesus the first track has been updated and this is the new wider version... (just to avoid confusion I've deleted the older one from Soundcloud)





the whole albumis here...

soundcloud.com/user-334191475/sets/lockdown2

 

Last edited: Feb 16, 2021

Good job for just starting out mixing! Always nice to see someone trying their best and putting it out there to ask for constructive criticism

In the track you linked to, reflections, the instruments seem to be only panned dead center which makes the track very narrow while in all of the other tracks you seem to have used the stereo field to it's fullest. The tone of the guitars sound good and I really like the almost Pink Floyd type guitar playing in Echoes From the Harbour! The volume of the drums on the other hand is a bit low and they could use some more punch. I don't know what software you've used for the drums but you could try adding a bit of parallel compression and maybe a tape sim on the drum buss!

 

Thank you for the pat on the back, its very much appreciated and you know what – I was so caught up trying to get the mix right I totally over looked the width on Reflections… And I’ll take your advice on the drums on Echos from the Harbour. The drums are Superior Drummer. The Echos track became a monster and ground my laptop to a standstill more than once!

And WOW thanks so much for the Pink Floyd Comparison that’s great to hear…

I’ll post the updated tracks here, probably later today or tomorrow, and if you could take another listen I’d be most grateful.

I’m recording and mixing through an old Denon HiFi amp with old Bose speakers – little cube things and Bose Sub (all from the early 2000’s). So I had no idea what the sound would be like for other people.

Thanks for the tips – somethings to keep an eye on in future, and thanks again for the compliments it means a lot.

I’ll update those mixes and post them here today or tomorrow.

 

@MarkyMW Welcome to AS!
Refreshing to hear 'guitarist with a daw' here! Nice one.
Well done on completing an album of work.
Regards working with the Denon, just make sure the Loudness button is off and EQ is flat, and just listen to a Floyd album or something as a reference to know what your amp and speakers do.
If it has one, you can also punch in the Direct button which will bypass EQ but also probably bypass panning.

 

Like Smoove said, working with a couple of reference tracks is also a very good suggestion. You could either have the reference tracks in a plug-in like ADPTR Metric AB or just import them into the project. If you want to do the latter you need make sure that your mix goes to a separate mixbus so that the reference tracks doesn't run through your master/mixbus effect chain.

Keep up the good work!

 

OK so I’ve taken Arabian_jesus advice and adjusted 2 tracks and many thanks for the advice and the compliments, it means a lot.


The suggestions were spot on, my updates on the other hand…. I think the new versions are a big improvement, While I was finishing Echos from the harbour something was bothering me about the balance but I couldn’t put my finger on it and yes – the drums were too quiet. I love loud drums so I know I can overdo it in a mix - so I tend to air on the side of caution, anyway let me know what you think of the new improved version….

edit - I just realized I posted the same track twice..... so heres the new Echos from the harbour




edit - and here's the new Reflections



and I remembered when I went back to reflections I was too busy getting rid of all kinds of hiss and totally messed up the stereo with sends to tracks to clean up and then missed out on the panning , will I ever learn to make sure the levels are right and theres as little hiss as possible before recording??


The whole reference track thing
I’ve only just now started to get my head around just what that means, and I’ll definitely look into the ADPTR Metric AB or maybe load into a separate tab in Reaper? The problem I had in the past (apart from not having a clue how to use a reference track was I couldn’t think what track to pick, until a few days after it was finished..! I’ll definitely start using reference tracks from now on.

and thanks for the advice on the HiFi settings, I just checked and everything is on zero (no alteration on anything and the boots whatsit thingy is off).

It’s the only HiFi I’ve used for 20years so I’ve got to know it pretty well, the question was do my mixes translate? And thanks for answering this for me, I was expecting all kinds of problems. But it seems they're not that bad, so thats good and thanks letting me know I really do appreciate the feedback.

I didn’t know guitarists had a reputation of not doing the whole DAW thing! But yeh, I can see that, for me it was not wanting to join a band or play live, so I'm happy that DAWs exist so I can make music!

Thanks again for the warm welcome and please keep the feedback comming I really am keen to learn how to improve my mixing.

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Last edited: Feb 14, 2021

A very helpful tool. Better than the other option you mentioned. Up to 16 reference tracks; loopable sections; volume matching.

Good! Doesn't mean it's not coloured, yet it sounds like you already know the sound of it so it's just logical that you would mix within the sound of the amp and speakers that you already know. Around 20 years ago I had success with some tracks that were made using a terrible Aiwa all-in-one system. With ported speakers too! Ugh! Just had to use it with common-sense.

All sounds alright to me.

I don't know about that, but I was just referring to the abundance of 'beat' makers, and/or just electronic based creators. Some often with no instrumental background.
So it's really refreshing to hear all this stuff of yours.
Well done.
Will listen to how you've levelled up the drums on EchoEs now...They were a bit quiet eventually, when everything was in.

 

Hello again and thank you for your tips and suggestions. I’ve altered the drums levels again in Echos, yesterday I fell into the "lets do a quick fix" trap...... So I had to re-do it today and I’m finally happy, the drums kind of fade up and down just a little, not so you notice but I think it adds some life to the track.

Since I posted my request for constructive advice here I’ve re-learnt there’s no shortcut for learning or practice!! Frustrating as that process may be its ultimately rewarding, so thanks for giving me the impetus to push through, And I’m understanding the power of the DAW. It can be much more than "recording" and much more than just another instrument.

I could tinker around the edges of these track for ages, but I’ll put this project down and move on to the next, this was the first collection of tracks I was confident enough to share so thank you for the warm welcome and the encouragement, wish me luck with the next project and I'll get to grips with reference tracks!

Heres the new finished Echo’s…. (I’ve deleted the old one from sound cloud)





Thanks again

 

Sounds better! Man, I really like the echoes track. It really gives me the same feeling as listening to old 60's-70's acid rock! Reflections also sound much better now when the instruments are spread out. Nice touch with the auto panning on the synth!

 

I’m really glad you like the updates and WOW man thanks for the comment on Echo’s, - this'll make you smile -

a little while ago I felt stuck in a musical rut so one night I said OK if I could play any new sound, new feeling what would I play and the answer was the Live from Pompeii - the 1970’s film – that looks like FUN, but I thought let’s put the sound together from memory, no listening to it or anything like it that way I put together what I remember are the main sound and the feelings that made the music special to me (I loved this music back in the 80’s and 90’s – and still do), so I thought, if I put it together as best as I can from memory I'll get an honest representation of what made that music special to me – the main flavours will be there, so when it’s finished it may be a bag of crap, but at least its honest crap!

It came together really quick and recording it was a lot of FUN – I'd never used a synthesizer like Ledged before – hadn’t got a clue, still don’t really but as soon as I got the psychedelic slide thing going it all came together in my head and yeh I just dove in and went crazy - FUN


So when you say

That’s huge, I’d never tried to put something like that together before, I just thought – no way, that sound is way too big, I’m not even going to try...... So yeh I guess I hit it – not brilliant but not bad for a first attempt, So many thanks, it means a lot.

Off the back of all this I’ve learnt A LOT, now I just need to remember it all…!

I’ve de-squeaked Here and There… I listened to it on a kindle the other day, or tried to, and the squeaks set my teeth on edge – how did I miss that? It’s amazing how quickly my ears get used to something…




I'm getting to understand just what reference tracks are and WOW that VST you recommended WOW thanks for that, and I'm putting together a new template because mixing Echos was like trying to unravel spaghetti bolognaise while driving at speed on ice - so yeh A LOT LEARNT...


And thanks again– this forum has made me really keen to make more music!


oooh that was a huge post.... I did not mean to type that much....