Imp Act - Back In Time (Malcolm Tempt mix)

[MalcolmTempt]

This is my first mix of someone else's song, and really the only mix I've completed. So feedback is appreciated!
I really liked the feel of this song but felt some parts could use work. So this mix is just using the original recordings with little effects, as I feel that's fair to the band. I've extended it to create a short lead-in, and otherwise just tried to make every instrument heard and sound good. 
Next I'll work on a much bigger change!

[filipandrei]

Hey MalcomTempt,

First of all, thanks for listening and for your feedback on my mix.
I really like the intro of the song, and I would say, that for me, I would like to hear more of the drums and a bit more of the guitars

Cheers

[motomojo]

This is my first mix of someone else's song, and really the only mix I've completed. So feedback is appreciated!
I really liked the feel of this song but felt some parts could use work. So this mix is just using the original recordings with little effects, as I feel that's fair to the band. I've extended it to create a short lead-in, and otherwise just tried to make every instrument heard and sound good. 
Next I'll work on a much bigger change!

Howdy Malcom Tempt  Love that handle!
So a nice safe mix but ya gotta start somewhere.
Intro is cool I like the creativity shows you are thinking beyond the mix and have the ability to piece together something workable.
I'll try not to critique personal taste stuff as that ain't fair.
Drums have a nice sound need more of them though not really cutting thru.
Kick could use a bit of top click.
Low end sounds a bit muddy and undefined I would hi pass the guitars to get them out of that region so the bass and drums can breath a bit better.
Bass is a bit undefined and could use a bit of top or some distortion and some firming up EQ /Comp.
Guitars sound good but need that hi pass to get them cutting a bit more dynamically, maybe a spank of Compression.

You obviously have been mixing a bit so get creative and next mix go with your gut forget safe put it down how you feel it.
There are enough safe vanilla mixes being posted in this library of tracks don't get lost in those.
Have fun with it as no one here gives any kind of usable/helpful critiques anyway.
I was hoping the Artist that provide tracks would be more involved but I guess that's expecting too much.


Cheers
Moto

[mikej]

Have fun with it as no one here gives any kind of usable/helpful critiques anyway.
I was hoping the Artist that provide tracks would be more involved but I guess that's expecting too much.

Ooh, I dunno... 

Some forum member by the name of motomojo seems to have posted some helpful advice in this thread, amongst others? 

Quite a number of the artists who have kindly donated tracks to the forum (including this one, I recall) are generous enough to take the time to post now and again too.

Cheers!

[motomojo]

Have fun with it as no one here gives any kind of usable/helpful critiques anyway.
I was hoping the Artist that provide tracks would be more involved but I guess that's expecting too much.

Ooh, I dunno... 

Some forum member by the name of motomojo seems to have posted some helpful advice in this thread, amongst others? 

Quite a number of the artists who have kindly donated tracks to the forum (including this one, I recall) are generous enough to take the time to post now and again too.

Cheers!

Hi mike
I did not say artist were not involved.
If you read what i said it was "more" involved so you are putting words in my mouth.

As far as other useful critques well lets see.
While you were here attemptong to shame me
you could have listened to Malcome's track and provided some useful feedback...not seeing any nor am i seeing any comments from any of the folks he was kind enough to leave comments on save one so i can assume this was more about shaming me than helping him.
Have a nice day mate.

[mikej]

Hi mike
I did not say artist were not involved.
If you read what i said it was "more" involved so you are putting words in my mouth.

As far as other useful critques well lets see.
While you were here attemptong to shame me
you could have listened to Malcome's track and provided some useful feedback...not seeing any nor am i seeing any comments from any of the folks he was kind enough to leave comments on save one so i can assume this was more about shaming me than helping him.
Have a nice day mate.

Hey motomojo!

First off, I've no wish to "put words in your mouth" as I directly quoted the section of your post that I addressed. I've also no wish to shame you, as you put it either. I was simply pointing out the irony of you lamenting that "no one here gives any kind of usable/helpful critiques anyway" whilst you were in fact posting a useful critique.

Your comment did not go unnoticed. Personally I will say that I do think it is unfair to the members of this forum to say that "no one provides useful comment and critique". That's certainly not been my experience. I do sincerely hope that there are others that are having a positive experience here too. I know I have said it elsewhere but I am also incredibly grateful that artists have donated their multi-tracks to the forum for us to practice with too, let alone take the time to comment on some of our mixes also.

You are entirely correct to say that I could have listened to Malcolm's track. Why didn't I on this occasion? It's a fair comment. I'm not sure if my reply will satisfy your complaint, but I shall try to address it anyway. In this case, it so happens that yesterday I spent quite a few hours dealing with a whole list of forum issues, and discussing various things with other moderators.

I guess people may not realise this - moderating this forum - I like to think is one of the ways I can "pay it forward" with respect to this wonderful resource and this community, as well as commenting on people's mixes, etc when I can.

As much as I would like to comment on everyone's mixes and put forward a warm welcome to every new member - I, like many others, unfortunately simply do not always have the time to do that, and to give everyone's mixes the attention they deserve. I am also not always in a suitable listening environment to do so. I had already noted that this post had picked up a couple of good comments (include your good self here) from people that had actually mixed this track. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me It also generally takes me a long time to critique mixes. Generally I like to download the mix, and evaluate it level matched with a few reference mixes, and the library mix.

This might not be a satisfactory answer for you, but that is how it is for me I'm afraid. I also don't mind admitting that I consider myself a rank amateur when it comes to mixing, so I am not always confident that I have anything to offer in all cases, although I do of course try my best to help people when I hear something I feel I can actually help with.

Now, don't think for a second that I don't understand your complaint. Feel free to go ahead and check my post history. I've got around, I dunno, probably 60 odd mixes that currently have exactly 0 comments. Like you, I too had also noted that Malcolm had commented on many other mixes. Yeah I guess it can be frustrating that not everyone responds in kind to critiques on every occasion. I will say though that my experience has been that the odd comment from a more experienced mixer can totally transform how you approach a mix, or how you hear things. For me, those are the moments that make it all the hard work worth while. To be honest, those that really are hungry to learn how to mix are going to have the tenacity to keep plugging away at it whatever. I know I have a great experience here, and have had many good people help me on my mixing journey for which I am personally very grateful - and I do hope others are able to stick with it and have a similarly positive experience too.

Well, apologies to Malcolm for posting this essay in your thread, and for it being a slightly odd welcome. Please also accept my apologies for not personally commenting on your mix yet. I'll of course add it to my to-do list now though, but it may take me a while to get to it. (Typing all this out takes time too, but I hope you understand I felt there were a few things here that should be addressed. I certainly hope you'll stick around and post more mixes and have fun here never the less.)

motomojo (or anyone else for that matter) please do feel free to send me a PM if you feel the need to discuss anything, or to let me know if you feel that I am speaking out of turn, or whatever.

Cheers!

[MalcolmTempt]

Hi all,

I posted on some other mixes of this song because yes, I agree everyone should contribute and not just drop their mix for others to critique. That's what community means!

At the same time I have very little experience so I feel like I might be overstepping, but I try. I'm sure we're all doing our best. And thank you very much mikej for keeping this place running!

Back to the mix. I deliberately avoided listening to any other mixes, and even the released track, so I didn't alter my expectations, I wanted to approach it independently. And I like mine better than what was actually released, but now having listened to the mixes I agree it is fairly vanilla and I need to do more.

Thanks for saying "You obviously have been mixing a bit" but really I haven't, beyond my own stuff which is never really finished! I've watched a lot of videos and I think I have the basics but they never really cover how to make something sound /good/ and I guess that's up to the song and mixer. I would be interested to know what the band thought too, but not yet.

I had a lot of trouble with the drums, especially the kick, and yeah it's still too deep.
I really love the sound of the guitar tracks in my good headphones, but it's probably not coming through on speakers. I didn't do much with them, just light compression and EQ.
The bass needs attention too. I put very light saturation on the mix bus and could turn it up some more.

I was planning to do a much more involved mix, even remix, but haven't had time since this post.

Thanks for your notes

[mikej]

Hi!

Interesting comment regarding avoiding listening to other mixes. I've seen a few people mention something similar. I must admit I do not understand the benefit of NOT listening to the library mix and other mixes, etc? For me it gives me an idea of where the song needs to go, and gives something to aim at. To my mind you want to make a competitive mix, so you need to know where the competition, as such, is at surely? I also find I get lots of ideas and things from listening to commercial mixes too.

Yes - I agree your mix is off to a pretty good start. As others have already mentioned I too think the things to work on now is to figure out how to get the drums and guitars a little more upfront, and to get things a little more present, defined and in their own spot, so to speak. I did feel that adding 3db or so of eq around 3k helped the mix a little and brought out the guitars a bit more. It also might be worth experimenting with a bit of limiting on the master bus too, to bring the levels up a bit. Doing so might also tell you things about the mix that you might not otherwise had noticed too.

I found that breaking things down and working on things a bit at a time helped a lot. You know - like spending a day concentrating on bass, or drums, or figuring out monitoring etc, whatever you feel is the next thing that you need to work on.

Anyway - certainly keep at it!

Cheers!

[MalcolmTempt]

Hi mikej,

It's a personal strategy to avoid getting discouraged before I even start, due to lack of experience. I listened to the reference mix and thought it had room for improvement, but if I had listened and found someone else had done a great job, I might not have bothered.
So I wanted to push myself, free of any expectations or standards, to complete a mix the way I thought it should sound. I did, and maybe it was a little too tuned to my headphones (I don't have monitors or a treated room), but you've all given me great and specific feedback which helped me go further

Now having gotten this far, in future I may listen to other mixes and decide if there is further improvements I think I can do.

I've been tinkering with it further, not quite ready to drop it, but if I leave it for a while and come back I find something new to improve. I had a limiter on the mix bus as part of a standard pipeline, but I've pushed it further. Not really sure how far is sensible - the meter is well into the red near the end.
I've also made other tweaks and additions to add interest and flow.

I'll post a new mix when I feel I haven't got anything more to add and need feedback.

Thanks!

[mikej]

Yeah I get it that referencing mixes can be quite bruising to the old ego... Everyone is different though. For me I found it's really the only way to improve without fooling myself into thinking that my mixes are better than they are. It's a good judge of how far away I am and how much more work I need to put in. It will also help you to figure out the answer to how much limiting, etc to use, how to get your mixes to translate etc...

Another thing is that on the forum in most cases the library mix, and all our mixes are using the same session. (There are the odd cases where the library mix is slightly different - where maybe the drums were re-done or whatever).

So if someone on the forum is getting a killer snare sound or whatever, you know it's possible to achieve, and you can also try asking them how they did it, which might just help you on your way.

Mixing is really hard. I thought Attack-on-mixes put it quite well - mixes are won by inches, and not miles. (I've linked the thread below). We can't expect to get pro mixes straight away, it takes many years of hard work. If you keep working at closing that gap you will hopefully get there.

https://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/show...?tid=42024

Cheers!