PAIN REMAINS

[Shul]

This a dense mix bro!! I feel like many people skipped on the basic step for mixing. "Highpass anything you don't need low end in". This being a dense mix, low end is dangerous.

Anyhow, here is my mix. Hope you enjoy. Feedback always welcomed.

[Shul]

Revised version.

[heinim]

This a dense mix bro!! I feel like many people skipped on the basic step for mixing. "Highpass anything you don't need low end in". This being a dense mix, low end is dangerous.

Anyhow, here is my mix. Hope you enjoy. Feedback always welcomed.

Hello Shul! A good mix I like the density of it and the sound of the snare especially (I did struggle there). Good job, cheers!

[mikej]

Hi!

Good mix.

(Feel free to stop reading here and ignore anything below this line ).

Couple of general thoughts  -

Heavier guitars.  (Ha). For me they are maybe competing with mids of the vocal a little too much at times , and also the kick, bass and snare a little.  I feel a bit more shaping would have cleaned up the middle of the mix a whole lot and give the vocals a touch more space, as would pushing the odd thing a touch wider in the mix too.

Maybe have a go at finalising the mix too? I feel you can bring the volume up a few db more.  You’ve got a good overall frequency balance (did you ditch the Beyers ), and your mix will take it fine. Try hitting it a bit harder with a half decent limiter to bring it up to somewhere between -7 and -9 LUFS and it will hang a bit better with pro mixes, and it will be a little easier to reference the mix with them (level matched) as well.

Cheers!

[Shul]

Hi!

Good mix.

(Feel free to stop reading here and ignore anything below this line ).

Couple of general thoughts  -

Heavier guitars.  (Ha). For me they are maybe competing with mids of the vocal a little too much at times , and also the kick, bass and snare a little.  I feel a bit more shaping would have cleaned up the middle of the mix a whole lot and give the vocals a touch more space, as would pushing the odd thing a touch wider in the mix too.

Maybe have a go at finalising the mix too? I feel you can bring the volume up a few db more.  You’ve got a good overall frequency balance (did you ditch the Beyers ), and your mix will take it fine. Try hitting it a bit harder with a half decent limiter to bring it up to somewhere between -7 and -9 LUFS and it will hang a bit better with pro mixes, and it will be a little easier to reference the mix with them (level matched) as well.

Cheers!

Still Beyerdinamics headphones lol. Just listen to a few references to not loose track of the spectrum.
So I always use reaper and when limit my final mix, it's always to 0db on the master fader. Never above.. always compare to some mixes on yooutube and they always seem to have the same volume as some pro mixes. truth is I don't know how to go above that 0db.. not sure if my gain staging is wrong or what.. but some mixes can get very loud and some not as loud (and they both peak at 0db on the master)

[mikej]

Glad you are getting on ok with the Beyers now. I recalled that I felt one or two of your previous mixes were perhaps a little too bright, this mix is spot on. I daren't use my DT880 pros as I found they really screw up my frequency perception, such as it is.

To get the levels up a bit - Just put a limiter last on the mixbus. Set the output ceiling to -0.5dB, as mp3 conversion will tend to push the level above 0 true peak if you leave the ceiling at 0. Go to the loudest part of the mix and bring the threshold down until it sounds horribly distorted, then back it off a bit until it sounds good. Done.

You can use the Reaper LUFS meter to get an idea of where you are at. Reaper now gives you LUFS stats for the whole track on render too. (I tend to render out to wav, and then convert that to mp3).

Some limiters sound better when pushed than others. Just try as many as you can and see which ones you like.

Cheers!

[SonicTramp]

Great mix. I love the snare; I like the sound of snare sample so I notice it every time. But I think you lose some of the "ghost notes" (I think that's what drummers call it). The sample overwhelmed the original in level relatively. I can hear them but not without some effort. After carefully listening, here are a few things I notice from your mix. You may want to double check just to make sure bc I am listening in an entirely different environment, and, more importantly, I can always be wrong .

I don't hear the guitar2 (0:22-0:33), if it's there, I don't hear it.

The kick seems to fade back into the background in some parts, especially the denser parts. I also think you need more beater and it should stay steady all time, but that's just my taste.

I don't hear the guitars cleanly. I know they are there but sometimes got obscured by the synths.

The guitar3 (1:10-1:17) is not articulating clearly enough. I hear it but cannot distinguish the notes.

I also notice that your mix is warm but a bit dark; I think it can use a bit more midrange.

The reason I paid more attention to those mentioned above bc I have a hard time getting them to where they should be. I am not sure how to address those problems bc I am not good enough to help you but here's how I approach it: I grouped the bass, kick and the deep synth together and treated them as bottom end. I gathered the rest of the synth (since they live in the same area) and the guitars together and treated them as one to take care of the top end. My plug chain is quite simple: EQ, Comp, Gate all stock (if you have Pro tools, you should have the same ones). I include here my latest mix so you can check out to see if my method of madness works on my mix. If it produces positive results then it could work for you too. If not, maybe together we can figure out a way to battle this, right? I hope it helps. Cheers!

*btw, there's a youtube vid on compression with Puig I think is worth watching (The art of compression is the title, I think. Just google it). I watched it quite a few times over the years but never quite got what he taught until my hearing got better and I can somewhat hear the compressor. I think it would help.