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Skelpolu - Together Alone mix
#1
Hey guys,

This is the second skelpolu track which i have mixed and i gotta say, it's great fun to mix dnb.

I have worked hard on this mix so it would be great if you could give this a listen and post any positive or negative comments on this. Thanks! Smile


.mp3    Skelpolu - Together Alone.mp3 --  (Download: 12.32 MB)


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#2
Hey sagar4848, nice mix Smile Your hard work is evident.

Just quietly listening on normal PC headphones... but from a balance perspective, everything is working for me, really. I think the acoustic guitar is louder than it needs to be, as is the synth pad... although in the case of the synth pad, I'd recommend trying some EQ cuts before you resort to bringing down the level altogether. The guitar could do with a high shelving filter to distance it from the listener a bit, in my opinion, and maybe an overall reduction in level as well.

The modulation effect on the piano is cool... there's not a whole lot going on in the raw tracks so FX are always a good idea to maintain interest. Is the wet/dry balance skewed a bit, though? Try mixing in a bit less of the modulation so that the foundation of the piano is a little more stable. Important in my opinion, as it's the most featured instrument in the song.

I also hear that you're pumping the track to the kick, which is pretty genre-typical for DnB... good thinking, there. It does feel as though the mix is ducking a bit much in response to it, though, at least in a few places. In the beginning, for instance, when nothing much is playing except for the piano and drums, the piano is very brutally ducking to the kick, and that effect really isn't necessary when the mix is so light in my opinion. The reason gain pumping to the kick works is that it psychologically mimics the natural compression our ears use to protect themselves during periods of stress... so it makes it feel subjectively louder and more exciting. But the illusion doesn't really work, at least in my opinion, unless there's enough sound going on to fool the ears into thinking it's loud.

So all in all, a good mix, and not bad thinking on the artistic use of effects. Just make sure you know to what end you're using them Big Grin
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!
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#3
(12-07-2014, 06:47 AM)pauli Wrote: Hey sagar4848, nice mix Smile Your hard work is evident.

Hey pauli,

I'm so glad to just see this! For the first time, someone actually thinks my mix is good! A milestone for me :p

With the piano infact i thought the effect was getting lost in the mix hence i brought it up a bit, but next time i'll take care not to overdo it like this.

Now that you have pointed it out to me, yes the synth does sound louder and the guitars could def use some high shelving : / guess i just lost perspective listening to it so many times.

I'm yet in those stages where im trying to hear the compression. I've not gotten a complete hang of it. I try and try but i just don't get as to how one compressor differs from another..there might be minute differences but i don't feel anything major yet. I've beaten this thing to death and have come to the resolution that only practice will make me finally hear compression :p I know the song is pumping to the kick, but i can't particularly hear it..all i can do is see it in the meters...so i guess your right with that.

Anyways thanks a lot for you comments! Helped boost my morale! Big Grin

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#4
It's hard getting started. Some of the first mixes I posted on this site were really, really bad! Sounds like you're understanding some of the very basic principles, though.

What I'm thinking is that you should work on your automation... keep the effect on the piano subtle when there's not much going on, and increase the wetness when you feel it's getting burried in the mix. Same thing with the compressor... dial it down when the effect isn't supporting the illusion, and turn it on when things get hot. Try to keep the gain reduction to only 3 or 4 decibels though, don't go too crazy or you could make sensitive people a little nauseous. Compression takes most people a good while to figure out... there are a lot of really confusing parameters and it's very easy to overdo it if you don't know what to listen for. A good rule of thumb... if your compressor's meter isn't returning 0 dB of reduction at least once or twice a measure, there's a good chance you're overdoing it. Look into attack and release times, because they'll make a big difference in this regard Smile

The reason they call those synths "pads" is because they fill out the mix... they pad it Tongue so keep that in mind when mix it in, and mix it in only after you've made sure there's enough space for the more important instruments. Often in my opinion a pad is better off sensed moreso than actively heard during busier sections of a song, and you can usually get away with pushing them out far to the sides as they're usually the least important component of the balance.

Hope that helps! BTW, you'll get a lot more comments if you surf the forum and comment on others work. It's also a great way to develop your mixing techniques, because you'll be teaching yourself how to listen for things like excessive compression and overly aggressive EQ, and it's much easier to do this objectively on someone elses work early on. And don't worry about being wrong... if you're wrong and someone points that out, then you'll have learned something, and that's never a bad thing!

Keep it up Big Grin
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!
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#5
Thanks for all your tips!! I'll definitely keep them in mind the next time Big Grin

Hahah and yes i guess ill start over and review other peoples mixes..though the main reason i wasn't doing that was that because i myself am an amateur so it wouldn't be right to give someone else advice until i myself am great at it...but u've got a point too...ill learn something in the process too. Gona start with yours :p
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#6
(12-07-2014, 09:32 PM)sagar4848 Wrote: Thanks for all your tips!! I'll definitely keep them in mind the next time Big Grin

Hahah and yes i guess ill start over and review other peoples mixes..though the main reason i wasn't doing that was that because i myself am an amateur so it wouldn't be right to give someone else advice until i myself am great at it...but u've got a point too...ill learn something in the process too. Gona start with yours :p

Feel free to offer any advice you like, I'm an amateur myself Big Grin I was just telling another guy though, the only reason I know anything at all is from giving bad advice and learning how to give better advice by listening closely
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!
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#7
Hey Sagar

Nice mix I like it, the thing I don't like is on the guitar part, you should attenuate those bad resonance freq on the 7.8k but I really like it good job!
Fabian
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