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Hello, I just started doing some home recordings of my band and was hoping I could get some feedback on the mixing.

Praise/Bash away

http://soundcloud.c…"]To Do Well by ilcasdy on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free[/]="http://soundcloud.c…"]To Do Well by ilcasdy on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free[/]

Comments

RemyRAD Tue, 04/24/2012 - 21:36

As a newbie, it's a good start. Where I think it could be improved would be to make the lead vocal more prominent with a little more dynamics to it. It is quite heavily limited with too fast and attack time and/or usage of " look ahead ". Look ahead is good for preventing any peaks prior to an FM transmitter. This is crushed beyond any usable dynamic structure. Bass drum and bass guitar is nice and round and full. Almost like you mixed this on headphones. So it's a little tubby and lacks impact and punch. It's been over controlled. You can even utilize some more judicious usage of equalization to make it even more aggressive sounding in addition to the above suggestions. Also the use of high pass filters even on bass drums and bass guitars can be very beneficial. The mix is having some problems with placement and balance and high pass filtering will make it more omni-present sounding.

It takes a while to get into the pocket. I know it does for me because my jeans are so tight.
Mx. Remy Ann David

audiokid Wed, 04/25/2012 - 14:47

Same as Remy.

I love big kicks, always have. Your kick on this track is so in your face though that its distracting. I couldn't even think about the rest of the music so that tells you something. You are putting a tick in it, boosting 2.5k or thereabouts that I would kill. Its sounds like the 80's but without reverb. Kill that and add a bit of early reflection and some hall just enough to set it back and get it more glued into the mix and you will be rocking.

And of course follow Remy. Vocals are way too far back for the sound today.

Nice work otherwise!

Ilcasdy Wed, 04/25/2012 - 16:02

Hey guys I implemented some of the tweaks you suggested... I took my hands off of the throat of the song and let it breath a little bit with less compression and eq. Hopefully this is a little better.

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://soundcloud.c…"]To Do Well 04252012 by ilcasdy on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free[/]="http://soundcloud.c…"]To Do Well 04252012 by ilcasdy on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free[/]

RemyRAD Wed, 04/25/2012 - 21:32

Well that certainly is better and you turned that around rather quickly. I'm with audiokid on his recommendation as well. You know, they didn't turn out Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in a day? So just keep massaging it. You're getting closer each time.

What's the matter with the 80s? Isn't that called tradition?
Mx. Remy Ann David

Ilcasdy Thu, 04/26/2012 - 05:03

Style is usually cyclical by nature, so maybe one day those 80's kick drums will become the norm again! Anyways I'm feeling pretty good about the song now... on to the next one!

hueseph, I'd be willing for you guys to mix a song for me. It would be interested to hear what different people come up with. Once I'm done tracking another song I'll let you guys go at it. I'm not really sure how I can transfer the mass of files without megaupload!

audiokid Thu, 04/26/2012 - 10:25

Ilcasdy, post: 388663 wrote: Style is usually cyclical by nature, so maybe one day those 80's kick drums will become the norm again!

We used reverb back then, and you didn't seem to have any useful verb on your kick. So, the dryer the sound, the more in-your-face it will be.Thus, the kick was the most dominant sound to your track.

The 80's kick still exists but we do it better now. They're not so dominant in an obvious way. Back then sampling and big digital drums were the new thing so like all new things, it was fashionable to produce music with the sounds of that era and sometimes it was overdone, just like Autotune is today. Linn Drum samples, big gates, excessive reverb, lots of keyboards, guitar solo's and so on. Although I miss the guitar solo's and musicianship in today's music, I don't miss that trendy tick on a kick.
Kicks today either sound "real" or processed but they aren't in your face like that. Every generation thinks they've discovered something new but as you mature in this business, you learn the game and recognize the sounds that fit the style and know when it isn't right. Big topic and very important to know a lot about if you are interested in the pop culture and comercial marketing.

Looking forward to your next song.

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