Wow, you're doing absolutely fantastic for someone that's only been mixing for six months! I wish I had archived my first mixes properly so I could show them to you. Let me tell you, it took me at least a year before I had mixes sounding as good as this.
I would definitely have toned down the lingo if I knew that you were this fresh into mixing; yes, HF means high frequencies ( ="top end", "treble" etc.) Other than these abbreviations, I also write track names instead of the actual names of things. A track name is the same, but usually with a few vowels taken out to fit scribble strips back in the day; Vox equals vocals, mvox is main vocal, bvox is backing vocal and so forth. Hope I didn't confuse you all too much, I know I didn't understand half of what people said around me when I entered audio engineering.
Ah, you're a musician! That actually explains some of your rapid improvements. Musicians tend to have an ear for this naturally, and have somewhat of an innate perception of how things should sound. I started out with mixing and then became a musician after observing this phenomena. Glad to have you here!
The mix:
The level of the drums is one of those things you get with listening (mostly to others mixes). Some genres have certain sounds that tend to characterize them, and present drums is one of the thing that characterizes a typical rock mix. Overall, fader balance is pretty hard and takes a good while to fully get into. I've been mixing for many years now, and I still struggle with fader balance in some mixes!
Good to hear that you're not afraid to try out new things, as made clear with that delay. It's great to be bold. Some of the most genre-defining and well respected mixes were very bold. That said, throw delays (delays that highlight a certain word or phrase) are more common in pop. Doesn't mean delay isn't applicable in rock though! It's actually great for creating depth and width without clouding the soundstage like reverb tends to do. If you want to experiment with a throw delay, then go ahead! Just because something isn't the norm doesn't mean it can't work for the mix. Another popular way to implement delay is by creating a delay that echoes 1/8th notes all the time, but is mixed very low.
Compression is indeed one of the hardest things to get a solid grip on. I can't really give you any good tips other than to experiment with it. I know it took me four years of mixing before I at least had a partial grip on how it sounds. Some things you can read into are transients (and how they affect the sound) and what those pesky attack- and release knobs do. Until then, if you feel very unsure, I'd recommend utilizing presets. They're great not only for advancing mixes but also to hear what different settings do
Glad to hear I could help, and eager to hear what you come up with!
/Simon B
I would definitely have toned down the lingo if I knew that you were this fresh into mixing; yes, HF means high frequencies ( ="top end", "treble" etc.) Other than these abbreviations, I also write track names instead of the actual names of things. A track name is the same, but usually with a few vowels taken out to fit scribble strips back in the day; Vox equals vocals, mvox is main vocal, bvox is backing vocal and so forth. Hope I didn't confuse you all too much, I know I didn't understand half of what people said around me when I entered audio engineering.
Ah, you're a musician! That actually explains some of your rapid improvements. Musicians tend to have an ear for this naturally, and have somewhat of an innate perception of how things should sound. I started out with mixing and then became a musician after observing this phenomena. Glad to have you here!
The mix:
The level of the drums is one of those things you get with listening (mostly to others mixes). Some genres have certain sounds that tend to characterize them, and present drums is one of the thing that characterizes a typical rock mix. Overall, fader balance is pretty hard and takes a good while to fully get into. I've been mixing for many years now, and I still struggle with fader balance in some mixes!
Good to hear that you're not afraid to try out new things, as made clear with that delay. It's great to be bold. Some of the most genre-defining and well respected mixes were very bold. That said, throw delays (delays that highlight a certain word or phrase) are more common in pop. Doesn't mean delay isn't applicable in rock though! It's actually great for creating depth and width without clouding the soundstage like reverb tends to do. If you want to experiment with a throw delay, then go ahead! Just because something isn't the norm doesn't mean it can't work for the mix. Another popular way to implement delay is by creating a delay that echoes 1/8th notes all the time, but is mixed very low.
Compression is indeed one of the hardest things to get a solid grip on. I can't really give you any good tips other than to experiment with it. I know it took me four years of mixing before I at least had a partial grip on how it sounds. Some things you can read into are transients (and how they affect the sound) and what those pesky attack- and release knobs do. Until then, if you feel very unsure, I'd recommend utilizing presets. They're great not only for advancing mixes but also to hear what different settings do
Glad to hear I could help, and eager to hear what you come up with!
/Simon B