I went back to an unfinished project and thought it'd be a good exercise (while I don't have a guitar) to just finish it and use it as a chance to improve my mixing.

I recorded a bit of a noodle on the guitar a while back and thats formed the base - so the structure isn't great, but the main idea was to use this to try to improve my mixing -

so let me know whats wrong with the mix, what could be better and what you'd do to it, (other than deleted it and start again )



don't worry about hurting my feelings, any constructive criticism is welcome

 

its perfect man! vocals sound a bit dry i think at points or too compressed i have no idea which of the two but its just humming no finished product

 

@petrr thanks man! I'm still not really hearing the compression thing, unless its way too much or I give my ears a rest for 24hrs and go back to something. So I'm overshooting or undershooting and not dialing it in.
I know what you mean about the dryness in the lead vocals I went the other way and added more reverb but didn't like the way the lead mixed with the backing vocals and probably went too far the other way and yes thinking about it (I've got too used to this track now) but thinking about it yes the leads do feel a bit too close.
So back off the compression and add a little reverb next time? Thanks @petrrr

 

Leveling vocals will help fit them in the mix

 

i'm a newbie at compression so ignore that, but cool tune man u seem to be able to get good sounds so its all good

 

@PifPafPif thanks for the tip - I'm a hobbiest so no experience - would automating the volume to reduce the differences between high and low volume be best in this case? or just turn the lead vocals down a bit? I really do just mix by feel and what I've picked up reading online and here so your insight would be great,

@petrrr thanks man I love creating and learning so yeh, it's all good

 

Last edited: Aug 7, 2022