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CRITIQUE THIS PLEASE!!! Celebrate -Chris Durban
#1
This is my new approach using a hybrid set-up.
Please Critique!!!


.mp3    EDM_ChrisDurban_Session 000.mp3 --  (Download: 11.32 MB)


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#2
From Mike Senior's Three Commandments Rule 1, part 1:

"If you want to receive constructive criticism, then give constructive criticism."

Just after a really brief listen, a few things come to mind. I think you should take a serious look at the significant disagreements between the kick, bass and synths... that seems to be the main weakness to my ears. The snare sounds like it's trespassing on the low end quite a bit, too, and the combined bass to low mid energy is causing you to struggle a bit to maintain clarity when the mix gets busy, so there are some abrasive qualities for a few instruments in the high mids as well. It basically sounds to me like you haven't made an executive decision as to which instruments should dominate the low frequency regions or that you might be EQing each instrument in solo without checking it against the full mix. GENERALLY you'd want the kick to cover the bottom few octaves and the bass the octaves above those... but the lack of melodic content mids in the bass synth and the very punchy midrange of the kick suggests to me you might want to try the reverse. Or distort the hell out of the bass synth so you can carve away more sub-bass without losing the track all-together.

The delay effect on the vocal is nice, but I think some refinements could strengthen it. First of all, try severe high cuts and low cuts on the wet delay signal and maybe softening it with a transient modeller... The combination of the two will result in increased focus and blend for the dry signal without being as distracting as it can be right now. It would also be helpful to lower the send channel volume during the verses so the effect will be less exposed. With these refinements, you get the cool tempo driven effect you're after... and it will also catapault the vocal to the front of the stereo image... have you ever listened to a slapback echo in a gym or out in a quiet park? The high frequency content has been converted to heat by friction before it gets back to you, so your brain over time learns to interpret a boxy echo as distance... so you get an awesome bit of mix trickery. Using psychoacoustics effectively is one of the skills that will separate your higher quality mixes from typical small studio work or homespun demos. At least in my opinion Big Grin

During the choruses, I feel like the heavily overdriven guitars and backing vocals are trespassing on space that should be reserved for the vocal... particularly in the 1 kHz to 2Khz octave, and in the case of the guitars, the general region around 4000. I'd lowpass the really heavily overdriven guitars because just about everything from 4000 up on an electric guitar is mostly noise that's gonna eat up headroom and mask the vocal's airiness... and a high shelving dip along with a general volume reduction on the backing vocals (but keep them in front of the delay return!) would push them behind the lead vocal a little bit... and since they're only reiterating the lead's lyrics, it really doesn't matter if you can understand them, now does it? Smile

At any rate, aside from low end difficulties I think your verses are on the right track, but the balance in the chorus needs some thought. On a spatial mix like this, it's pretty important to decide what simulated space you want things to inhabit (I'm thinking front to back more than left to right) and in doing so you'll probably solve a few mix difficulties on the way. Stuff in the back isn't generally where listener focus will be directed, so you can get away with harder EQ and compression to get them to fit. And if it won't fit or doesn't add anything... the best processing decision is often the mute button.

Try actively listening to others' mixes and writing detailed critiques... even if you're wrong, you'll be practicing your listening skills and you'll only get better at mixing. And you'll get a lot more critiques that way, too. Both ways, you win, and you might shed some new perspective on someone elses work as well. Keep it up!
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!
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#3
Thanks pauli for your brief listen and comments.
I use this forum for experimenting with new engineering and mixing ideas. So a "fail" is not a negative for me at all. In fact I learn more about people's tastes and the overall convention about what a "good" mix consists of doing "failures" here on this forum.
Thank you very much for your basic ideas on spacial placement. I am simply attempting something different even if it is conventionally "wrong". Utilizing this forum, I am actually more concerned with "compelling" and "new" than "right" and "true".
My motto:
In art, First you learn the basic rules of convention, Then you spend the rest of your life challenging and breaking them. Finally, if your work has been diligent and consistent, you then have created a signature, if successful, this signature now becomes convention.
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