(29-09-2022, 08:24 AM)Shul Wrote: What tracks did you use on the snare? and also what processing did you use? In my mix I used a mixture of the sample with the top snare track.. and I got a killer tone in the overall drum sound. Snare is sounding too dry and also it's louder than the main voice. You should consider taking different perspectives when analyzing your mixing approaches. If interested at all in my mix, I could share separate stems for the instrumental so you can get a better idea of how they sound individually.
Your Final1 has solid powerful midrange. And that's good. The only bad pointers that could be fix in my opinion is some volume choices on some tracks.
-snare sounding louder than vocals.. needs to come down a bit.
-There is some type of processing in the voice that is giving it a "masked" feel at points and it's not clean enough to pierce through the mix.
-last but not least.. everything sounds too squashed all together. Did you use a compressor on the master bus? Over compressing sometimes sucks the life out of the instruments.
Thanks man, for leaving a comment. Yeah, man, it's everywhere. I never liked my mixes the day after. Everything is not good enough. I was just in a jam on this song. Nothing I did make it sound good. So out of frustration I sought out help, from anything, anybody. Well, I "dialed the telephone but no one is home". No help from anybody. I have no choice but to go solo for now until someone takes pity on me and helps out. Then I thought of the gate. (I was running out of option) I know the EQ and what it can do. I barely hear the compressor but also know what it can do. But the gate? All I know is it can cut out noise and shorten the tail end and, if desirable, chop off the front end (the attack). Besides, it's not like I have anything to lose, right? In a way, I am like an addict. I'll do anything to get a good mix even if I have to play with the "lowly" gate .
The EQ and compressors don't seem to help, so the natural next step is going for the gate, mostly out of desperation, tbh. What can one do with the gate? A lot, it turns out. I spent roughly a week learning how to use the gate. I don't say I know how to use it properly yet, but there's always time.
Here is the new mix with the gate in action. No longer I suffer with the synths not showing up and pushing/ swinging, especially the deep evil one. No longer wondering where is the snare and why it's not snappy. And yeah, the guitars, no longer they cover the whole mix like a blanket without letting me making any moves. All that bc of the gate. From here on out the mix can only get better. Right now just let me wipe off my tears to enjoy my fruit of labor, for the next sobbing time is not too far away . It works like a charm, good today but bad tomorrow.
Well, I just want to share that with you bc "things grow by sharing, and it's not a competition!"- B.M (Queen)
Thanks for the offer. I really appreciate it. Very kind of you. I'll take you up on it. Thanks.
I usually just mix the song using whatever in the file. My processing is quite simple, just an EQ and a compressor. Sometimes a distortion, but nothing else. Mostly stock but I know them well. FX are just a verb and a couple delays.
Well, I hope you'd- or anyone- have some time to listen to my latest mix and tell me what you think of it. Thanks
08-10-2022, 01:43 AM (This post was last modified: 08-10-2022, 01:49 AM by Shul.)
new mix is a major improvement over your last mix!!! that's good work man.
Not liking your own mix the next day happens to all of us xD Listening to my mix I don't like it that much but that's what came out. You just gotta go with it and perhaps mix it another day
from scratch.
here are the stems of my mix in major groups. The tip that basically helped me when learning was mixing in groups. Get the drums, gtrs, etc in buses and mix each one individualy to good balance. Then go to the next ..etc. Once your major groups are somewhat balanced, bring up all the groups together and see how it sounds.. from there is fine tuning. I feel like many people
try to mix all tracks at once.. and they boost and boost and boost when they think they can't hear a specific part, Truth is not every single track is supposed to stand out. We have to learn to
differentiate between "goo stand out tracks" like a solo or "good back filler track" like cymbals, pads, sometimes bass.
anyways.. feel free to compare your sections with mine and see how different they are. Pay attention to eq, and amount of fx.Sometimes people tend to put way too much fx on tracks expecting it to "stand out" and in reality some fx are mean to be back fillers.
(08-10-2022, 01:43 AM)Shul Wrote: new mix is a major improvement over your last mix!!! that's good work man.
Not liking your own mix the next day happens to all of us xD Listening to my mix I don't like it that much but that's what came out. You just gotta go with it and perhaps mix it another day
from scratch.
here are the stems of my mix in major groups. The tip that basically helped me when learning was mixing in groups. Get the drums, gtrs, etc in buses and mix each one individualy to good balance. Then go to the next ..etc. Once your major groups are somewhat balanced, bring up all the groups together and see how it sounds.. from there is fine tuning. I feel like many people
try to mix all tracks at once.. and they boost and boost and boost when they think they can't hear a specific part, Truth is not every single track is supposed to stand out. We have to learn to
differentiate between "goo stand out tracks" like a solo or "good back filler track" like cymbals, pads, sometimes bass.
anyways.. feel free to compare your sections with mine and see how different they are. Pay attention to eq, and amount of fx.Sometimes people tend to put way too much fx on tracks expecting it to "stand out" and in reality some fx are mean to be back fillers.
That's awesome man, thanks for posting those stems. I'll see if I can emulate.
Yeah, man. Thanks for the tips. Imo, boosting EQ should be the secondary step and should do it with care, more so than cutting because of a few reasons. First, because cut is to make better (someone said that and I agreed). When we cut (annoying frequencies) in EQ, the intention is to make it sound better while preserving the original untouched, isn't it? Second, cut will prevent masking sometimes even before it happens. Third, cut, at the very least, keeps the whole mix cleaner than boost. Of course listening skill plays a major part in this business. One simply cannot perform if listening skill is not up to par. And, unfortunately, cutting is harder to hear than boosting. So, perhaps, choosing the path with the least resistance some go for the latter. But rest assured that we all will learn both what to do and what not to do in our own pace. I am guilty of whatever you described many times over and annoy the crap out of everybody, but isn't it how we learn, clumsy at first but in time get better? When I run into a mix like that now I'd probably say something about it and offer the way I'd do it and pray to the gods that I don't rub him/her the wrong way by doing so. But that's just my opinion. Yours may differ. Feel free to add more about it to make it more convincing or your opinions if it's different. I am here to learn from you guys.
Thanks for the positive comment on my last mix. It seems my hearing is improving, too slow tho, but improving. That's great to...hear! . It'll get better, you'll see. I spent only a couple hours on it, test drive, so to speak . I got too excited (first time hearing the gate in action, yeah, actually hear it) and I saw your post so I posted the last mix. Now that I have your stems and approval of the last mix, things seem promising. Like I said clumsy at first but better with time. Thanks for taking the time to do all that. I appreciate the effort and hope I can return the favor some day when I have a chance.
Spent more time fine tuning the mix mostly concentrate on separation since most of the masking is gone. I am now able to hear each instrument better and therefore easier to make decisions. They say that separation is one of the components in a good mix besides freq and levels balances. The listeners must be able to hear everything, no matter how briefly, clearly and fully. And it's the first on the list. So yeah, I'd like to tackle it first. Then I spent some time on balancing levels and frequency since they are quite related. This is what I came up with. Sounds good to me now. I can hear all the synths, yeah the source of my misery. I am able to bring the growl from the deep synth up and it sounds really nice holding down the bottom alongside the bass/kick. The bass is beefy, and the snare is clean. I'd want it a bit snappier tho but after 20 minutes of trying I gave up. It's not too bad anyway. I am not sure what I can do to make it even better so I just leave it. Maybe tomorrow I'll think of a way. Thanks for the listen. Let me know if you think I miss something.
P.S. I pushed the limiter to its limit with 7.2 dBs of gain without distortion (if there is, I don't hear it). It used to rattled with only 4dBs gain. Could the 3+dBs the results of the absence of dirt and mud? and they do take up real estate too, right? and I just want to know how loud I can get away with my mix .
Like everyone else I try to get my mix as loud as it can be without distortion, of course. I have heard mixes in here that are much louder than mine. Some are distorted, so tho loud but lost all quality. The price is just too much to bear. I want it loud but don't want to pay the price. Can you blame me?
My stereo bus is quite simple, just like my tracks except it's treated mid/sides separately. The only thing I have not used was the old rusty limiter. I never heard of putting limiters on the mid and sides before. I have it on the stereo bus but not on the mid/sides. I thought doing that would give me more control. Limiter on the stereo bus will push the sides down whether they like it or not, and us compensate the lost volume will bring the sides back up regardless its will. A limiter on the mid by itself, however, couldn't touch the sides even if it wanted to, the same to the limiter on the sides to the mid. They can be treated individually. The unintended benefit is I get to control the width of the mix by controlling the level of the sides w/o affecting the mid. The mid is the foundation, the meat of the mix, the sides are ear candy, controlling the width = controlling space. So much better! But that was only in theory. I need to put it to the test. And so I did.
After a long while struggling with it, I think I pinned it down adequately...for now b/c I don't hear weird stuffs while working. I find that having the limiters on the beginning instead ending (as should be) of the m/s chain works better. I can still use the EQ/comp/gate/whatever behind it to control wherever I want.
I got close to 3dBs increase in volume relatively with my last mix w/o distorting my mix. That's twice as loud psycho-acoustically speaking. I was hoping I can get a bit louder but never dreamed twice as loud. I can also get the mix wider by pushing the sides levels. I maybe automate the sides levels in parts of the song for effect later on. but I have not tried that yet. We'll see.
Anyway, I hope you find it useful. I know there's many ways of doing things, and this is one of them that I came up with. I am sure people have thought of this way a thousand years ago already, but I don't know that .
Btw, if you have time, let me know what you think of the mix. Thanks in advance.
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