Hello Tuyop,
it's okay to write about other mixes even if you are just a beginner. I wouldn't give any specific adive if I where you and just stick to the things you can say even if you aren't a top notch engineer. In your case, that would be:
- How did the mix sound on your spekaers compared with other pro mixes (too loud, to muffled, to harsh)
- Did you have any kind of positive emotions when you heard the mix - like the need to bang your head? did the mix sound aggressive?
- same goes for the negative things. where there any situations where you lost interest because the mix was not exciting enough?
I turned off you mix after 30 seconds because you didn't get the basic stuff right.
- the volume levels are not well balanced
- there is no panning
- the instruments are not really seperated from each other
- it sounded really, really messy - probably too much saturation on each bus?
You should really start to get the levels and the panning right before doing everything else. no eq, no compression on single tracks and busses. start with the drums and balance their volume against each other. this will take a while before the drums will sound just right. notice that you actually have to turn DOWN the volume of the kick in the fast parts or it will be too loud so you might wanna add your first automation move and reduce the volume of the kick in each doublebass passage by -3db. see if thats enough -if not, change it until the kick is in the sweet spot.
then add the bass to the mix and solo the kick and bass. can you hear both clearly or do they need to be seperated because things get muffled? Dont use eq if you dont have to - most beginners think they HAVE to use eq and compression on EVERY TRACK EVERY TIME. hit play and listen to the drums and the bass. is everything in the right place? after this add more and more tracks. guitars need to be 100% left/right to really get the wall of sound you need for this music.
I can't tell you how to mix with just a few lines here. What I hear in your mix: you probably don't know what you are doing or you mix on really shitty monitors / shitty headphones. Don't get me wrong, I mix on headphones all the time, but I also use my monitors (Adams A7X) and tools like Reference or my trusty VRM Box to compensate for the fact that headphones are not ideal. You probably also don't compare your mix with pro mixes while you are mixing because otherwise you must have noticed that My Curse sounds totally different compared with your mix. It's totally okay if you don't know how to get "that" sound. That's what this forum is for.
My advice:
- Learn how to group stuff and organize tracks in a mix so you can work on specific groups or tracks and don't get overwhelmed
- Learn how to use the volume faders and how to pan things before doing anything else.
- use reference tracks in your mix. ALWAYS. Compare your mix with the pros and focus on the basics: does your mix has too much low end? too much high end? are the guitars in your mix too loud? the kick to low? always try to get the levels right first and start with volume automation if some elements are too loud in some parts of the song. you don't have to use a compressor to fix that.
- listen to the reference track again and again and again and compare it with your mix. use moderate high / low shelfs to change the sound of tracks or even whole groups like drums, guitars, vocals if they don't sound right even with the right volume. don't use substractive eq if you don't know or hear WHAT you should substract. Use the shelfes and focus on the basics - too much bass or too much high end? not enough bass, not enough high end? too much mids?
- get the panning right. ALWAYS. as a basic formula, use L C R for 90% of the mix. Guitars 100% Left and right, vocals 100% Center, snare, bass and kick 100% center. I really love to place special instruments like hihat, toms or melody guitars inbetween - two melody guitars panned l50 and r50, a special background vocal line at l25 or things like that. but the basic stuff should be either left, right, or center.
pro tip: try not to boost the things you like with shelves. it's smarter to take away things you don't like/need. lets say a vocal track needs more high end? the easy way would be to boost the high end with a 2db shelf, but you could also reduce the bass and low mids with a -2b shelf. that's essentially THE SAME THING - you only have to turn the volume up a little to compensate the fact that you took some stuff away therefore making the track quieter.
I hope that helps.
cheers, Dirk
it's okay to write about other mixes even if you are just a beginner. I wouldn't give any specific adive if I where you and just stick to the things you can say even if you aren't a top notch engineer. In your case, that would be:
- How did the mix sound on your spekaers compared with other pro mixes (too loud, to muffled, to harsh)
- Did you have any kind of positive emotions when you heard the mix - like the need to bang your head? did the mix sound aggressive?
- same goes for the negative things. where there any situations where you lost interest because the mix was not exciting enough?
I turned off you mix after 30 seconds because you didn't get the basic stuff right.
- the volume levels are not well balanced
- there is no panning
- the instruments are not really seperated from each other
- it sounded really, really messy - probably too much saturation on each bus?
You should really start to get the levels and the panning right before doing everything else. no eq, no compression on single tracks and busses. start with the drums and balance their volume against each other. this will take a while before the drums will sound just right. notice that you actually have to turn DOWN the volume of the kick in the fast parts or it will be too loud so you might wanna add your first automation move and reduce the volume of the kick in each doublebass passage by -3db. see if thats enough -if not, change it until the kick is in the sweet spot.
then add the bass to the mix and solo the kick and bass. can you hear both clearly or do they need to be seperated because things get muffled? Dont use eq if you dont have to - most beginners think they HAVE to use eq and compression on EVERY TRACK EVERY TIME. hit play and listen to the drums and the bass. is everything in the right place? after this add more and more tracks. guitars need to be 100% left/right to really get the wall of sound you need for this music.
I can't tell you how to mix with just a few lines here. What I hear in your mix: you probably don't know what you are doing or you mix on really shitty monitors / shitty headphones. Don't get me wrong, I mix on headphones all the time, but I also use my monitors (Adams A7X) and tools like Reference or my trusty VRM Box to compensate for the fact that headphones are not ideal. You probably also don't compare your mix with pro mixes while you are mixing because otherwise you must have noticed that My Curse sounds totally different compared with your mix. It's totally okay if you don't know how to get "that" sound. That's what this forum is for.
My advice:
- Learn how to group stuff and organize tracks in a mix so you can work on specific groups or tracks and don't get overwhelmed
- Learn how to use the volume faders and how to pan things before doing anything else.
- use reference tracks in your mix. ALWAYS. Compare your mix with the pros and focus on the basics: does your mix has too much low end? too much high end? are the guitars in your mix too loud? the kick to low? always try to get the levels right first and start with volume automation if some elements are too loud in some parts of the song. you don't have to use a compressor to fix that.
- listen to the reference track again and again and again and compare it with your mix. use moderate high / low shelfs to change the sound of tracks or even whole groups like drums, guitars, vocals if they don't sound right even with the right volume. don't use substractive eq if you don't know or hear WHAT you should substract. Use the shelfes and focus on the basics - too much bass or too much high end? not enough bass, not enough high end? too much mids?
- get the panning right. ALWAYS. as a basic formula, use L C R for 90% of the mix. Guitars 100% Left and right, vocals 100% Center, snare, bass and kick 100% center. I really love to place special instruments like hihat, toms or melody guitars inbetween - two melody guitars panned l50 and r50, a special background vocal line at l25 or things like that. but the basic stuff should be either left, right, or center.
pro tip: try not to boost the things you like with shelves. it's smarter to take away things you don't like/need. lets say a vocal track needs more high end? the easy way would be to boost the high end with a 2db shelf, but you could also reduce the bass and low mids with a -2b shelf. that's essentially THE SAME THING - you only have to turn the volume up a little to compensate the fact that you took some stuff away therefore making the track quieter.
I hope that helps.
cheers, Dirk