All The Same

[Keandakin]

I did this mix some time ago, But I'm always looking for feedback on my work. Anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

[Mike Senior]

Welcome to the Discussion Zone! You've clearly got a feel for this kind of style, because a lot of the timbres feel respectable to me, and you start well too -- dark, unsettling, moody... all good things! The chorus texture also seems to be heading in the right direction, although I'd probably try to make a lot more of the bass guitar in the balance, because at the moment it feels a bit brittle overall. It also feels to me as if the guitars are spread a little too wide overall, which means you get a gulf in the centre whenever the singer's silent, and those instruments also take a dive in the mono balance.

Another thing for me, is that the chorus vocal seems a bit close and dry to me -- sort of like someone doing Karaoke against the backing track in their living room! The problem with this, from a psychological perspective, is that it implies that the singer isn't really part of the band, and it also undermines the illusion of size/power you're creating with the layered backing instruments and effects. (That said, the cymbals also suffer a bit from this for me too. They don't really blend very well, which makes them sound a bit too much like the virtual instrument they are.) A bit of careful reverb/modulation could work wonders here -- or indeed the fake double-tracking I pulled on the preview mix.

You could still work on some of the long-term dynamics issues too, because at the moment the choruses don't quite seem to hit hard enough when they arrive. But it's not just about pumping up the choruses, it's also about paring back the other sections. I notice in particular that you've allowed the verses a wide stereo picture, and while that sounds nice in isolation, it does prevent you announcing the choruses by spreading the image. Similarly, you could probably pull some of the effects levels lower during the verses without too much of a loss, again giving you something more to add when the choruses arrive.

A good stab at this, though -- it's not an easy one, by any means!

[Keandakin]

Wow, the first thing I'd like to say is thank you very much for taking some time to give me great feedback on this track. It's next to impossible to get a professional to hear mixes, and especially when they have worked with the same multitrack.

I've only been working with music in this way for right about 18 months, and this mix was probably about the fifth or sixth overall. I've done quite a few more since this; maybe about 15 total along with recording/mixing a few friend's songs. I'm doing a 6 song EP currently.. I can tell you that when I did this, I had just learned of stereo widening and thought it sounded freakishly great on double tracked guitars. I had no thoughts of being concerned with mono, and actually didn't even know how to make my DAW go mono! (OOH, the things you learn in time!).

Bass guitar has always given me trouble and I think it's due to my mixing space. As of now, it's completely untreated and I can hear the bass much differently in the rear than I can in my chair. I'll be leaving this house soon though, so no time for upgrades at the moment, although it will happen soon! I usually just try to hear the mix on as many systems as I can to judge the bass. I feel like i'm getting better with that.

I hadn't quite learned to use delays on vocals at this point, which I have become quite fond of since figuring that out so I was frightened to add too much reverb to things and end up drowning out the mix. And as you noted, both with the chorus vocals as well as the entire mix dynamics, I hadn't learned the value of changing pieces throughout. If I were to open this project again I would bet there's next to no automation, the vocals are one solid track with the same settings all the way through, etc.

You just made me clear of something that I never really taken into account as well; that of making parts more narrow than others to make things get bigger. It's a crazy simple idea, but somehow that has passed me by. Going back and listening to your mix of this, I see the power in that right away. Thanks for that little nugget!

Anyway, I hope to do some more tracks from this site in the future once I finish up my current projects and maybe I can get another listen to something else then. Thanks for this site too! It's the best thing I've stumbled across in some time.
Thanks for the listen!